“Are you feeling any discomfort, Krisha?”
In the meditation room.
A faint ticking sound echoed.
It came from the mechanical clock hanging on the wall.
The hands swept across the markings, producing a steady and elegant tick, each click, each rotation, carrying time toward a more precise moment.
Xu Xi extended his hands, wrapping them around Krisha’s arms and waist, helping the dazed girl sit up.
Her reaction was slightly delayed, and after a while, she shook her head blankly.
“No…”
“Good, that puts my mind at ease.”
The furrow in his brow relaxed.
Xu Xi steadied the girl and took out a roll of homemade sealing bandages, wrapping them around her body, one layer after another, meticulously.
The hidden demonic traits were in a highly sensitive state, and without treatment, they could easily reappear.
In more severe cases, they might even affect the girl’s control over her body.
Therefore.
Xu Xi wrapped the sealing bandages around her, using this magical material to suppress Krisha’s residual horns and scales, rendering them completely dormant.
Layer by layer.
The white bandages covered most of Krisha’s body.
Especially the residual horn on her head, which was tightly wrapped, leaving no gaps.
Xu Xi reached out to touch it, then stepped back to examine it, ensuring nothing was missed before letting the girl stand.
“Krisha, you’ll need to keep the bandages on for the next few days. If you feel any discomfort, remember to tell me.”
Xu Xi instructed.
“Yes, I’ll remember.”
Krisha responded softly.
Her small face was expressionless, already appearing pitiful and lifeless, but after being wrapped in bandages, that fragmented fragility became even more pronounced, like a broken toy forcibly stitched back together.
Her hollow eyes, pale lips, and frail body.
Every part of her had endured silent torment.
Though those wounds had long since healed, the pain of the past was still deeply etched in unseen places, making the bandaged demon girl seem even more pitiful.
“…”
Krisha’s eyes were fixed solely on Xu Xi. After the procedure, Xu Xi began tidying up the tools and materials.
That was originally Krisha’s task, but Xu Xi wouldn’t allow it.
He insisted that Krisha rest after the procedure.
Ah…
Ahh…
She had truly become “human.”
Krisha lowered her head slightly, reaching up to touch the place where her horn had been, unable to believe that the cursed horn, which had brought her so much misfortune, had disappeared so easily.
In the past, whenever people saw that twisted, broken horn, they would curse and beat her.
Countless painful nights, she had fantasized about this cursed horn vanishing.
But now.
The dream had come true, yet her heart remained unmoved.
It wasn’t due to a lack of emotion, but rather, she felt it was something that didn’t warrant joy.
Whether she was human or demon.
Such things no longer mattered to her.
The reason she wanted to become human, the reason she had to become human, was simply because she felt this form would allow her to stand closer to that man.
“If I become human, maybe I can get a little closer to him?”
Krisha’s thoughts were that simple.
Just a little closer, just a little more, and she could more clearly feel that warmth, that light.
Unconsciously.
Krisha reached out toward Xu Xi.
Tentatively, hesitantly, extending her trembling, bandaged hand.
The girl, who had long been as quiet and will-less as a doll, for the first time had something she truly wanted to do, but her hand paused midway, then slowly retracted.
It’s not allowed. It’s not permitted.
How could an “object” dare to approach its master on its own?
Krisha thought this, slowly withdrawing her hand, even though she adored Xu Xi and wanted to be closer to him, she needed to understand her place.
“Krisha?”
Suddenly.
Xu Xi noticed Krisha’s movement.
Looking at the girl’s hand frozen in mid-air, like a shy mimosa plant, neither advancing nor retreating, he seemed to misunderstand something.
He took her hand gently, his tone apologetic:
“I’m sorry for keeping you so long today. You must be exhausted, Krisha.”
“I’ll take you back to your room.”
With that.
Xu Xi led Krisha step by step, carefully and gently, toward the bedroom that belonged solely to the girl.
Several times along the way, Krisha wanted to speak.
To say she wasn’t tired.
To say she could walk on her own.
But somehow, feeling the warmth from his palm, all her words lodged in her throat, unable to be spoken.
She only wanted to feel it more, to experience it more.
She even wished time could freeze in this moment forever.
“I’m sorry, Mother… Krisha has become a lying, bad child…”, as this thought surfaced, Krisha instinctively tightened her grip on that warm hand.
At this moment.
She absolutely didn’t want to let go.
…
[Your transformation of the demon girl’s appearance was a success. After four days of tightly wrapped bandages, you removed them, revealing a strikingly beautiful human girl.]
[No twisted, deformed horns.]
[No unsightly protruding scales.]
[From head to toe, Krisha showed no trace of her demonic traits. To anyone who saw her, she appeared to be nothing more than a human girl.]
[You were overjoyed, for this meant that from today onward, Krisha’s life would change completely.]
[It had been nearly a year since you adopted Krisha. Though in that time, she had never expressed a desire to go outside or interact with anyone other than you.]
[You always believed that Krisha’s life should be richer, not confined to this small courtyard.]
[Seizing the opportunity, you decided to gift Krisha a wand.]
[As a newly promoted official mage, Krisha needed a proper wand to unleash her true potential.]
The wand was brown.
Its body carved from ashwood.
Slender and elegant.
It was also embedded with several mana gems, capable of storing a large amount of mana, serving as a strategic reserve for the mage.
This wand, named “Gray Rekindling,” was not cheap, but Xu Xi felt it was worth the price.
Thus, Xu Xi purchased Gray Rekindling and presented it to Krisha.
In addition.
He also bought her a spatial ring.
For a mage, a wand and a spatial ring were indispensable tools.
“Thank you, I love it.”
The moment she received the gift, Krisha’s face remained expressionless, but from the slight trembling of her eyelashes, Xu Xi sensed that she was pleased.
“Try it out and see if it suits you.”
Xu Xi smiled, beginning to teach Krisha how to wield the wand more effectively, as well as sharing various insights every mage should know.