Listening to Luo Xiaosu’s voice, Aiweila tried to clear her mind.
‘Focus. Calm down, Aiweila. You can do this.’
However, strange images kept popping into her mind at the most inopportune moments:
The pink blush spreading across Sister’s cheeks when she was shy.
Sister’s puffed cheeks when she was angry.
And in the misty steam of the bathroom, Sister’s jade-white delicate skin and strands of slipping hair.
“…”
Thinking of this, Aiweila’s face instantly flushed crimson.
“Don’t resist those images. Magic isn’t just about rigid formulas.”
Luo Xiaosu keenly noticed the change in Aiweila’s aura.
A smirk curled at the corner of her mouth, as if everything was under control.
“It originates from your emotions, your desires. Seize that moment that makes your heart race—that is the spark of magic.”
‘The feeling of a racing heart?’
Aiweila’s breath hitched.
Last night’s dream flooded back into her mind like a tide.
In the dream, that sweet, soft little cake had somehow turned into Sister’s face.
She was so close, as if just leaning forward a little, she could taste her warm, soft lips.
At this thought, Aiweila’s heart began to pound wildly, thump thump.
Seeing Aiweila’s flushed face and rapid breathing, Luo Xiaosu nodded in satisfaction.
‘Mm-hmm, as expected of the female lead. Her comprehension is so fast! It feels like it won’t be long before she can fully control her magic and stop accidentally losing control.’
She was immersed in the joy of having completed her teaching, completely unaware that behind her, cracks were silently spreading across the ground, and tiny vines were quietly poking out from them.
Aiweila kept her eyes tightly shut, her consciousness submerged in her fantasies.
Her golden hair behind her moved without wind, slowly floating in the air.
“Ah!”
Just as she was concentrating on her attempt, suddenly a short, sharp cry interrupted her thoughts.
‘Is that Sister’s voice?’
Aiweila opened her eyes in confusion.
The sight before her instantly caused her mind to go blank, and she stood frozen in place.
Luo Xiaosu’s ankles were tightly wrapped by two thick vines, and she was dangling upside down in the air.
The wide cloak she had been wearing slipped down with a whoosh due to gravity, revealing her fair, slender legs clad in white shorts.
Her slender waist kept twisting, trying to break free from the vine’s grip.
She grabbed the edges of the hanging cloak with both hands and pulled them apart forcefully, barely managing to reveal a flushed red face through the gap.
Her eyes, once full of confidence, now held fear, humiliation, and a hint of helplessness.
“Aiweila! What… what are you doing!”
Luo Xiaosu yelled while struggling, her voice trembling from being upside down.
“Ahh… Sister, I don’t know either!”
Aiweila panicked, flustered and at a loss.
Although rationality told her she should immediately help Luo Xiaosu escape the vines, seeing her dangling upside down, a ridiculous thought flashed through Aiweila’s mind: ‘It’s fine if she stays hanging like this.’
It was as if some strange switch inside her had been flipped with a click.
‘It seems… Sister’s helpless look is… also cute?’
But as soon as this thought appeared, Aiweila fiercely shook it out of her mind.
‘No no! How could I think that?’
‘But… the book had a picture… wasn’t it like this?’
Just then, Luo Xiaosu finally freed a hand and raised her magic wand, intending to cast a fire spell to burn away all the annoying vines.
“Let go… of me!”
However, just as the wand lit up, two slender vines suddenly shot out and whipped across the back of her hand with a loud smack, leaving a faint red mark.
“Eep!” With a pained cry, Luo Xiaosu dropped her wand.
It traced a graceful arc in the air and landed far away on the ground.
Then the two vines didn’t stop; instead, they went further, reaching over to forcibly wrap around both her wrists, pulling them together and raising them high above her head, pinned behind her neck.
Without the support of her hands, the wide cloak completely fell down, enveloping Luo Xiaosu’s entire upper body in darkness.
Her vision was instantly cut off, and Luo Xiaosu’s face burned red.
At that moment, the only thing she was grateful for was that she had trusted her intuition and chosen not to wear the long dress, but instead wore shorts for easy movement.
“Aiweila! Stop it!”
Muffled by the cloak, Luo Xiaosu’s voice came out, tinged with panic.
“But… but… I don’t know how to stop!”
Aiweila was so anxious she was about to cry, tears pooling in her eyes.
Seeing Luo Xiaosu’s pitiful state, completely helpless and toyed with by the vines, she felt extremely anxious.
Hearing Aiweila’s sobbing tone, Luo Xiaosu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
‘Calm down, Luo Xiaosu, calm down. It’s just showing a little leg! I’m wearing shorts, not a skirt. Why panic!’
She frantically comforted herself in her mind, then adjusted her breathing and spoke to Aiweila in as gentle a tone as possible.
“Aiweila, listen to Sister. Don’t panic. Calm down.
These vines are summoned by your magic, and they are under your control.
The more flustered you are, the more violent they become.
What you need to do now is to take control of them and give them orders.”
Listening to Luo Xiaosu’s guidance, Aiweila sniffled and forcibly suppressed all the messy thoughts in her head.
She closed her eyes tight, bit her lower lip, clenched her fists, and kept recalling Luo Xiaosu’s words.
‘Let go of Sister! Let go of Sister!’
With her thoughts, the vines that had been tightly binding Luo Xiaosu’s hands and feet finally began to slowly loosen.
Feeling the magic return to her control, Aiweila reopened her eyes.
Her gaze fell on Luo Xiaosu, and a strange thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.
‘If only… I could touch Sister’s body without restraint, like the vines, and pose her like a doll however I like. That would be wonderful.’
At that moment, completely unaware of Aiweila’s dangerous thoughts, Luo Xiaosu felt the tightness around her wrists and ankles gradually disappear.
She let out a heavy sigh of relief, a joy of surviving a disaster rising in her heart.
‘Great! Saved!’
But this joy lasted less than half a second.
The vines did not lower her as expected.
They paused in midair, then instead wrapped around her again in an even more cunning manner, even more excessive than before.