“Eh!? Stop joking around like that!”
Alice and Liyakade both froze for a moment after hearing her.
Liyakade was the first to react, lightly punching Field’s shoulder with her small fist before letting out a sigh of relief.
“I wasn’t planning on joking, but seeing how active your imaginations are, I just had to tease you a bit,” Field said.
Field watched Liyakade sigh.
Noticing a faint, almost imperceptible trace of regret on her small face, Field couldn’t help but continue the teasing.
“What’s wrong? Looking at you, Liyakade, you seem a bit disappointed. Don’t tell me… do you really want to carry my child that badly?”
“I do not!”
Even if she felt a tiny bit of regret, Liyakade was naturally embarrassed to be called out so directly by Field.
She denied it vehemently, her face turning as red as a ripe apple.
She shouted at Field, but then feeling that her denial was too harsh, she quickly tried to mend her words.
“It — it’s not… I only want to, a little bit… No, anyway… the point is…”
But Liyakade’s explanation only made things more obvious, allowing Field and Alice to see right through her.
‘There’s no way I can let Liyakade and Field spend the whole vacation alone together in the Palace,’ Alice thought to herself.
‘After I take them back to my hometown, I have to come back and live with them. Otherwise, these two might actually end up making a baby.’
Of course, Alice’s return to the Palace wasn’t to stop Liyakade from getting pregnant.
It was to beat Field to the punch and ensure that the child Liyakade carried was her own.
“Alright, stop picking on Liyakade.”
While Liyakade was in such an awkward position, Alice stepped in to move the conversation along.
She turned to Field and asked,
“If it wasn’t about that, then why did the Sister call you over alone, Field?”
“Actually, they detected Demonic Aura on Liyakade. They asked if she had come into contact with anything strange recently. It’s likely just lingering Demonic Qi from the battle with Darkness.”
As the three of them headed back toward the Palace, Field recounted what the Sister had told her.
Even though Liyakade did have the Demon Bloodline, she had never exposed it or her Demonic Aura in any previous examinations.
Therefore, even though something felt off now, the three of them simply assumed it was the residue of the battle with Darkness and didn’t think further about Liyakade’s own nature.
“Alice, why don’t you help Liyakade exorcise the Demonic Qi on her?”
“Okay.”
With that said, the problem seemed clear.
It was just that the Demonic Qi on Liyakade had not been fully cleansed.
After Field spoke, Alice clasped her hands together, and the surrounding Light Element suddenly grew dense.
“Eh? Wait — “
As Alice prepared to release her Magic, Liyakade felt an unprecedented sense of palpitations.
This had never happened before.
The dense Light Element made Liyakade feel an immediate sense of discomfort, even giving her the urge to trigger her Demonization.
She wanted to tell Alice to stop, but Alice didn’t need any chanting time for a simple Holy Light Exorcism.
It could be released in an instant.
“No!!!”
Golden holy light enveloped Liyakade.
She screamed in panic, her knees feeling weak as she instinctively shielded her face with her arms.
“Aah!!!”
When the Light Element touched Liyakade’s skin, her pale skin actually showed signs of carbonization.
The intense burning pain caused Liyakade to scream out loud.
The pain was even worse than when her arm had been severed.
Her screams even caught the attention of some servants cleaning the courtyard.
“Liyakade!?”
Since they were right beside her, the two of them noticed something was wrong immediately.
Alice hurried to stop her Magic and tried to step forward to support Liyakade.
But when Alice touched her, Liyakade unconsciously pushed Alice away.
“Li — Liyakade? What’s wrong?”
Although the push wasn’t strong, it hit Alice like a bolt from the blue, causing her to freeze in place.
She looked at the pained Liyakade in disbelief, her voice trembling with panic.
Small, scorched black patches appeared on Liyakade’s skin.
She slowly lowered the arms she had used to shield her face.
Her crimson pupils had turned blood-red, and the look in her eyes as she stared at Alice was filled with a trace of fear.
It was a look Alice had never seen before.
Even when Liyakade had bullied her at the very beginning, Alice had never seen her look afraid.
Alice felt as if her head had been struck by a heavy hammer; her mind went blank, leaving only a buzzing sound.
It wasn’t that Liyakade intended to show such a look.
At that moment, she truly felt fear.
She felt as though her blood were on fire.
Her vision was blurred, and Alice’s silhouette was the only thing she could see clearly.
She was doing her best to suppress her bloodline, but her eyes remained blood-red, and her fangs had grown out uncontrollably.
She hunched over, subtly using her arm to cover her mouth, terrified that someone would notice something was wrong.
“Liyakade?”
After Alice was pushed away, Field quickly stepped in to support Liyakade.
This time, Liyakade didn’t push her away.
“What’s… what’s wrong?”
Now that she was closer, Field naturally noticed Liyakade’s strange state.
Being nearer allowed Field to feel the changes in Liyakade more clearly.
Even though Field didn’t currently possess the Light Element, she could still sense the dangerous aura suddenly radiating from Liyakade.
Finally, Liyakade’s emotions began to stabilize.
However, emotional stability didn’t mean her physical changes had vanished.
Her fangs were still out, and her eyes remained blood-red.
“Sorry… Alice, are you okay?”
“Yeah… I’m fine.”
Seeing that Liyakade had regained her composure, Alice let out a sigh of relief.
She forced a smile and shook her head to show she was alright.
“I… something seems wrong with my body. Can you help me back to the Palace…?”
“Yes.”
“Liyakade… Can I help you too?”
“Yes, thank you, Alice.”
Alice stepped forward to support Liyakade’s other arm.
She could feel that Liyakade was still trembling.
Liyakade had pushed Alice unconsciously, but she hadn’t used any strength, and Alice hadn’t fallen.
Physically, she was fine.
But —
‘It’s just that Liyakade is feeling unwell… it must be that…’
Alice comforted herself in her mind, but that look of fear in Liyakade’s eyes was deeply etched into her memory, making it impossible for her to ignore…