Early in the morning, a girl’s water-dripping cry broke the silence of the room.
“Awoo awoo~”
Ophelia’s delicate eyebrows furrowed in frustration. “Merlinlia, you are no longer a little baby. And! I told you not to make that sound. How can you not stop doing that even after turning back into Adult Merlin? You sound like that all day long.”
“Mew meow meow.”
The target of the reprimand had already returned to her maiden form. Merlin was currently kneeling on the edge of the bed. Beneath her slightly thin loungewear, the white over-the-knee stockings wrapping her slender legs were taut due to her kneeling posture. As Merlin squirmed uneasily, the stockings rubbed against each other, creating a faint rustling sound. Merlin pursed her lips; she had become quite skilled at acting spoiled and showing off her cuteness during her time as Little Merlin.
“But didn’t you say last night that my baby will always be my baby?”
Even Ophelia felt her resolve waver when she saw her daughter pouting and acting spoiled like that, especially when she used her large, watery eyes to look up at her, having fully realized her own advantages.
However, there was no room for negotiation. Ophelia took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to rush over and hug her. “That is right, I did say you could always be a baby in front of Mother, but mistakes must be punished.”
Merlin shrank her neck, stirring her fingers with a guilty conscience. “I couldn’t help it… there was really no other way at that time.”
“There was no… way.” Ophelia approached slowly, radiating a sense of pressure. She bent down, her fingertips gently picking up a strand of Merlin’s hair, and then her voice rose sharply. “Was there really… no other way? Afterwards, I learned what happened from Mahina and discovered the anomaly. Did you not notice that you exchanged more power than necessary? That Magical Beast was crushed by you in just a few hits! Perhaps Soul Exchange was a last resort, but there were clearly safer ways to perform the exchange, and it was obviously Merlin who let her emotions get the better of her.”
Merlin still replied in a dainty tone, trying to reduce the punishment through spoiled behavior, as she had done as Little Merlin. It seemed the influence left behind from that period had not yet vanished. “I don’t know, I just performed the exchange, that’s all.”
If she were that soft, three-headed-height toddler, Ophelia might have hesitated. But facing her adult daughter, Ophelia showed no mercy as she reached out, grabbed Merlin’s exquisite cheek, and tugged outward. “Ouch! It hurts, hurts, hurts…”
“If you only wanted to save your life, you could have exchanged it for something much more conservative, you know? Merlinlia? Like your sense of taste or sense of smell would have been fine.” Ophelia did not loosen her grip at all, though her eyes turned slightly red. “Even near-sightedness would have worked… why use something so heavy? Are you trying to scare me to death?”
Ophelia, still not satisfied, began to pinch Merlin’s pointed ears. She gave them a firm twist. “Ah—!!”
Merlin immediately recoiled like a cat that had its tail stepped on, her entire body jolting. She pressed her legs tightly together, causing wrinkles to form on the bedsheet where her white-stocking-clad knees rested.
After all… when she was in her Little Merlin form, reasoning with that baby who only knew how to eat, drink, and sleep was like playing the lute to a cow. One could only watch that soft little thing and fret. Punishing Little Merlin made her heart ache too, and Ophelia had planned to spoil her well to make up for her childhood trauma. One couldn’t hit or scold a little baby, and she was just so soft and cute.
Ophelia had to keep all her grievances, anxiety, worry, and fear to herself all these days. Now that she was back to normal, Ophelia had to settle the score with her daughter properly. “It hurts! Mother! It hurts! My ears hurt!”
Merlin protected her wrists with her hands but dared not actually push her away. Tears immediately filled her eyes and slid down her cheeks. Seeing her daughter truly crying, Ophelia’s fingers trembled, but she hardened her heart and did not let go. Instead, she leaned in closer, her voice thick with suppressed sobs.
“Are you the only one in pain? Merlin, do you think Mother’s heart is made of iron? Do you think it doesn’t hurt me too? Do you have any idea how speechless I feel that my daughter can have accidents one after another just while taking an exam? Do you know how helpless and desperate I felt when you almost disappeared?” Even seeing her daughter crying like rain, Ophelia did not intend to let her off as easily as she had forgiven her recklessness the first time.
“Wuwuwu… it hurts.”
Because if she didn’t make her remember this pain, next time… next time there might not even be a chance to regret it. Her own heart ached too… aching as if it had been torn apart. Honestly, this child never considered her mother’s feelings. During the time Adult Merlin was asleep, Ophelia had secretly wiped away tears in the middle of the night while looking at her daughter’s sleeping face. In this Academy, Ophelia had no one to pour out her grievances to; she truly had to swallow everything alone.
“I’m sorry, Mother…” Merlin realized just how much she had caused Ophelia to worry, and in the end, she could only answer daintily, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’m sorry…”
She could have exchanged something much more trivial, but it had to be “Love.” Looking at those ears pinched bright red and those tear-stained cheeks, the defenses Ophelia had built finally collapsed. Her heart was still incredibly soft. She released her hand.
Merlin did not go to rub her ears; instead, she lunged forward, hugging Ophelia’s waist tightly. “I’m sorry… Mother… for making you worry… I was just carried away by my emotions. Merlin is sorry… I made you feel wronged.”
Ophelia couldn’t even take care of her own affairs properly. Merlin had learned of the past between Ophelia and Philia in that fairy-tale-like maze, a love story intertwined with both happiness and sorrow. Even though Ophelia herself had it hard enough, Merlin still kept making her worry. Why did she keep adding new wounds to her over and over again? Merlin felt very sorry for Ophelia too. She rubbed her head against her mother’s chest.
“Don’t be mad at me, Mother. Being mad is bad for you. You can punish me however you want, wu.”
Looking at her daughter, who had become increasingly skilled at acting spoiled and cute during her time as Little Merlin, Ophelia had to admit that even though she was very angry, at least her mood improved slightly now that this soft little meow had taken the initiative to show weakness.
Sigh, she really was no match for her. Ophelia gently stroked her daughter’s blue gradient hair. “Stop crying, stop crying.”
She gently used her fingertips to massage Merlin’s small head, lightly rubbing the base of the ears she had just pinched. The gentle touch did not stop Merlin’s sobbing, but rather triggered her emotions like a switch. Consequently, Merlin’s tears wouldn’t stop flowing.