Bai Li was anxious, her footsteps hurried as she rushed down the left corridor toward Ziya’s office.
But as fate would have it, she had just left when Ziya, who had finished discussing business with Rongrong and was coming from the right corridor to find her, passed right by.
Neither of them noticed the other.
As Ziya walked, she privately pondered Sister Baining’s intentions. Before she knew it, she had reached the entrance of the library.
She instinctively raised her hand and lightly patted her cheeks.
‘I need Mother to see me full of energy!’
With that thought, she skipped forward and pushed open the library doors with a look of pure joy.
***
On the other side, Bai Li was already standing in front of the office door. She raised her hand and knocked gently.
The door opened shortly after. It was Rongrong, who had remained behind.
“Madam?”
“Oh, Rongrong. Is Ziya inside?”
“In response to Madam, Her Highness is not here. She just stepped out.”
“Oh, what bad luck. I must have missed her. Sorry to disturb you, Rongrong.”
“Madam is too kind,” Rongrong replied softly.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, a hint of playfulness flickered in the depths of her eyes.
‘Oh? This is interesting…’
“That… Madam, has your body felt a bit strange lately?”
Bai Li was just about to turn around and hurry back to the library to find Ziya, but Rongrong’s casual words acted like a nail, pinning her to the spot.
“It has… Rongrong, do you—do you know what’s going on?”
“I know a thing or two. Have you felt moments recently where your body was not under your control?”
“Yes! Why is that happening?”
Rongrong fell silent for a moment, then offered a gentle smile.
“I know the reason. However, it is inconvenient to speak at the doorway. Madam, let us go inside to talk.”
“Alright, but Ziya…”
Rongrong gently interrupted Bai Li’s unfinished sentence with a certain tone.
“If Her Highness cannot find you at the library, she will naturally come looking for you here. We only need to wait a moment.”
“…Alright.”
Bai Li sighed inwardly.
‘Rongrong seems to understand Ziya even better than I do as her father.’
Rongrong truly lived up to her reputation as the personal maid who had been by Ziya’s side since childhood.
Her meticulousness and thoroughness were incredibly professional.
Not only did she keep the household chores in perfect order and handle the palace’s affairs with ease, but she was even capable of teaching Ziya how to govern or handling government business on her own.
No matter how one looked at it, she didn’t seem like an ordinary maid…
In fact, she felt more like a real mother than Bai Li did in this temporary “Mother” role.
*Click—*
Rongrong locked the door behind them.
“Madam, please remove all your clothing now.”
“…”
Bai Li’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at Rongrong in disbelief. However, Rongrong simply gazed back calmly.
Her expression was serious, without the slightest hint of a joke.
“…It seemed she really wasn’t joking.”
Besides, Rongrong had always been steady and reliable; she would never do something meaningless.
Bai Li bit her lip and spoke with a sense of trust.
“Um… Rongrong, could you turn around first?”
“Of course.”
Rongrong obediently turned her back.
Only then did Bai Li begin to undress.
Moments later, a completely naked Bai Li sat awkwardly in a chair, allowing Rongrong to examine her body.
“Hmm… So the Mark has already deepened to this extent… Madam, please bear with me. I am going to touch it gently.”
“Mng… Okay…”
Bai Li was bewildered herself.
‘When did such an eerie and ambiguous Mark appear on my lower abdomen?’
‘I didn’t see it when I was bathing before…’
What she didn’t know was that she had unconsciously absorbed a large amount of magic over the past few days.
That Mark had become like a tattoo, deeply branded into her skin.
The moment Rongrong’s fingertips made contact—
“Ah~”
A numbing, itchy, and indescribable sensation instantly swept from her abdomen throughout her entire body.
The Mark emitted a faint purple glow, making one’s face flush with heat.
‘This is… so embarrassing…’
Having her abdomen touched by Rongrong while being completely exposed made Bai Li’s face turn bright red and her heart pound, even though she knew it was for a physical exam.
Rongrong withdrew her hand and slowly stood up straight.
“Madam, the examination is over. This is…”
She paused, her tone becoming a bit more solemn.
“The side effects of the Dream Demon Transformation Secret Law are beginning to manifest.”
“Then—then how do we fix it?”
“For now… it is unclear. Everyone’s side effects are different.”
“Ah… Does Ziya not know either?”
“I believe Her Highness is also unaware. However, Madam, if you were fine before, then this sudden flare-up is likely caused by the chaotic and unstable magic within your body.”
“I see… Lately, I’ve been secretly teaching myself some Succubus magic…”
“Then you absolutely must stop. Before a complete solution is found, if you rashly use magic, it will be easy for this Mark to influence your mind. At that point, the consequences… could be unimaginable.”
“Okay… Thank you, Rongrong. You really are the most capable and reliable maid I’ve ever met.”
“I am honored by Madam’s praise. Please, put your clothes back on.”
Rongrong reached out to pick up the clothing nearby.
Just then… Ziya’s aggrieved and anxious voice came from outside the door.
“Rongrong… I looked everywhere in the library and the palace, but I couldn’t find Mother… *sob*…”
The moment she finished speaking, the door was pushed open with a *creak*.
Ziya looked up and instantly froze in place, her eyes widening into circles.
She saw Bai Li sitting in the chair in an awkward pose, completely naked, facing Rongrong.
The air solidified instantly.
“Rongrong? Mother? You two…?”
Ziya’s brain short-circuited on the spot. Her beautiful eyes literally spun in circles, and she stood there utterly stunned.
“Your Highness, let me explain…”
***
After a chaotic explanation, Ziya finally understood the situation.
“So the current situation is…”
Ziya looked at Bai Li with a complicated expression and spoke softly, “Mother, you taught yourself magic, and that magic was absorbed by the Mark I planted earlier, which in turn affected your mind. Is that right?”
“Based on the current situation, it seems that way…”
Bai Li lowered her head, her voice carrying a hint of dejection.
She wasn’t upset that something was wrong with her body, but rather that she only now found out that the strange Mark had been planted by Ziya.
She had previously been racking her brain, unable to understand how such a thing could have appeared on her for no reason.
In the end, it was actually her most cherished and protected youngest daughter.
“Truly…”
Longjiu fed her Dragon Blood, Baining gave her the First Embrace, and Ziya secretly planted a Mark…
These three little girls were each a handful, yet they all found different ways to torment their pops.
Although she was only in her thirties and not exactly ancient, looking back at her experiences lately…
She went from a dignified man to a petite, delicate girl. Then she was urged by Longjiu and Baining to be their daughter.
Now Ziya called her “Mother” at every turn.
And now, even the Mark was having issues. She didn’t even know what she would become in the future.
*Sigh…* It was hard.
It was truly difficult.
She realized that trying to properly raise a few monster daughters was not an easy task at all.
“However…”
Bai Li looked up slightly, glancing at the worried Ziya standing before her.
‘I… have never regretted it.’
‘However, from now on, perhaps I really need to re-examine my educational methods. Maybe… I should be a little firmer. I can’t just keep being soft-hearted and indulgent.’
‘But for now, I should focus on properly resolving this troublesome Mark issue.’
*Sigh…*