Dragged by the ear, Ella was forced to stand up from the corner.
Her body instinctively tilted in the direction her ear was being pulled, her hands flailing uselessly in the air in an attempt to grab onto something for balance.
“You! You—!”
She wanted to find a word to describe Yiwen, but her vocabulary seemed to have been wiped clean in that moment.
All the venom, all the arrogance, all the ferocity condensed into one powerless, childish insult that was completely beneath her dignity—
“Failure!”
Yiwen did not turn around. She simply continued dragging Ella forward by the ear.
“Yes, yes, yes, I’m a failure. So this failure is taking her disobedient creator to take a bath. Is there a problem?”
Ella was pulled down the corridor, through one door after another.
Her eyes swept over the unfamiliar cabins, unfamiliar passages, and unfamiliar corners, trying to memorize every route, every possible exit, every spot that could be used for escape or counterattack.
But her ear hurt too much.
It hurt so much that only one thought remained in her mind.
When I get the chance.
When I get the chance.
I’m going to turn the person dragging my ear—
Into the lowest-ranking worker insect.
She would make her spend day after day transporting secretions in the deepest corner of the nest until her fingers wore down to bone, until her bones ground into powder, until that powder fused with the walls of the nest—
Never to rise again for all eternity.
“We’re here.”
Yiwen released her hand.
Ella covered her reddened ear and looked up to see a half-open door.
Warm steam wafted through the gap, carrying a faint scent that mixed sea salt with some kind of herbal plant.
Beyond the door was a bathroom.
It wasn’t large, but it was clean.
Water had already been drawn in the bathtub, with several unknown plant leaves floating on the surface.
Steam rose gently from the water, drawing soft curves in the air.
Ella stared at the bathtub, at the pool of warm water, at her own blurry reflection on the surface—silver hair, crimson eyes, face covered in bloodstains, looking utterly disheveled.
Her throat bobbed.
“I’ll wash myself.”
Her voice suddenly became very low, almost a murmur.
Yiwen looked at her. A trace of barely noticeable amusement flashed in her red pupils.
“Alright.”
She took a step back and stood outside the door.
“I’ll wait right here. If you need anything—”
“Get out.”
Ella did not look at her.
She walked straight into the bathroom and closed the door behind her with a firm push.
Bang.
She leaned back against the door, listening as Yiwen’s footsteps moved a few steps away before stopping—just far enough outside to hear any sounds from the bathroom without disturbing her bath.
Ella closed her eyes.
The warm steam wrapped around her cheeks, softening the dried blood scabs on her skin and bringing a long-lost, unfamiliar warmth that almost made her want to cry.
She slowly walked to the edge of the bathtub and reached out, dipping her fingertips into the water.
The temperature was perfect.
She removed the wrinkled black robe, revealing the body beneath covered in wounds.
Silver hair fell over her shoulders, collarbones, chest, and waist. She looked at her current body—complete, clear, and unobstructed.
Slender waist, delicate collarbones, skin so fair it was nearly translucent, now marred by red marks from the chains and dried bloodstains.
She stared at this body for a long time. It felt somewhat familiar?
Then she stepped into the bathtub.
Warm water rose past her ankles, calves, knees, thighs, and waist until her entire body was enveloped by the pool of warm water.
She leaned against the edge of the tub.
Her silver hair spread out across the water’s surface like a blood-stained flower blooming in the pool.
Her eyes remained open, staring at a corner of the ceiling.
The tentacle emerged from the water.
The indentations at the tip were still there—four deep marks left by Zhuluo’s spider legs. In the warm water, they were slightly swollen and tinged a faint pink.
She reached out and gently touched the marks.
It hurts~
She closed her eyes.
In this small, warm space filled with steam, in this moment without Dieyi, without Zhuluo, without Yiwen, in this brief instant where she could finally drop all her defenses, all her pretenses, all her arrogance and ferocity—
Her lips trembled slightly.
And then nothing more.
A single drop of water slid from her chin and merged into the bathwater.
It was impossible to tell whether it was bathwater or something else.
She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed all her emotions back into that dark corner deep in her chest—the one she had somehow learned to use.
Then she began washing the bloodstains off her body.
“Hey, you finally came, my creator.”
“Hm? It’s you?!”
Ella whipped her head around and realized Dieyi had been hiding in the bathtub the entire time, apparently holding her breath underwater for quite a while.