Eustia sat cross-legged on a tree branch, a dim, flowing light circulating around her.
From her exposed, pale, and delicate palm, one could see a glow of magic power continuously circulating within her body.
She was practicing a technique, using her spirituality to manipulate magic power through complex cycles.
Ever since she learned that Liya White’s body had been disposed of and some identification documents had been taken, Eustia had traveled day and night, rushing directly from the Pioneer Camp in the Outlands to Grey Pine City.
During this time, she hadn’t rested at all.
She covered in one day the distance it took Shu Yue three days by carriage.
Even so, her body only felt a slight bit of fatigue.
Through quiet cultivation and meditation, she could recover her depleted spirituality and magic power, and the physical exhaustion could also be washed away.
Eustia had no intention of leaving for now.
Since there was nothing else to do, she was determined to keep a close watch on Shu Yue here.
The reason she wasn’t trying to kill her again was that she felt she had already tried and there was no need.
Killing her now might instead trigger the Karmic Tribulation early, causing irreversible effects on the future.
Eustia opened her eyes and murmured to herself, “I never thought I’d be caught in the threads too…”
In her previous life, she had no connection to Liya White, so naturally, she wasn’t affected by the Karmic Tribulation.
But in this life, she was entangled.
She didn’t know if it was fate playing tricks or a problem with her rebirth.
She was once just an ordinary girl.
Well, not entirely ordinary—she was a Half-Elf.
In the human world, Half-Elf girls were considered toys.
Both humans and pure-blooded elves preferred pure bloodlines; there was no concept of mixed blood.
Here, mixed blood was called ‘mongrel.’
Mongrels couldn’t be wives; they could only be used as playthings.
Being a Half-Elf, Eustia naturally didn’t have an easy life.
But she was fortunate enough to become a maid for a duke’s eldest daughter.
She displayed decent talent and achieved something through hard work, though she still faced much discrimination and scorn because of her bloodline…
But she was no longer the girl she started as.
As her mindset changed, she stepped onto a larger stage, made some close friends, and later shed her servant identity to walk her own path.
Though it wasn’t considered particularly high, it was something she built entirely on her own.
She originally thought life would just pass day by day like this, until she received news of the death of that first duke’s daughter, her benefactor.
Then, several of her close friends suffered injuries of varying degrees.
The mastermind behind it all was a young noble named Liya White.
He was a descendant of the White Knights and, shockingly, had marriage contracts with several ‘Daughters of Destiny.’
But Liya White was famously a useless clown.
In the end, to make his fiancée fall in love with him, he made a deal with evil spirits.
His deeds were eventually exposed, and he was killed.
All his marriage contracts were annulled.
Eustia’s benefactor, that duke’s daughter, also perished in this calamity.
Everyone thought it was just a farce that had ended.
No one paid any attention to that dead clown character.
Until a certain deadline arrived, a force called the ‘Karmic Tribulation’ backlashed against many Daughters of Destiny, causing them to fall in this tribulation.
Eustia received a blessing from a deity, granting her the ability to glimpse a thread of fate and causality.
This allowed her to see what was happening, but she could only see.
She never understood why it happened and couldn’t stop it.
She tried many times, but the Karmic Tribulation would ultimately fall upon the Daughters of Destiny.
These tribulations greatly weakened humanity’s strength, leading to the subsequent Great Calamity arriving even faster.
Eustia lived almost until the very end.
She thought she had died, but when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to when she was nine years old.
Living a second life could change many things, but some things were so difficult that even rebirth couldn’t alter them—like the crushing weight of fate.
Eustia lived in a daze for several years, as if she had never experienced her previous life.
Until one day, she suddenly decided to try and see if she could change this world’s future.
‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to make the world change because of me?’
That heart that had turned to ashes rekindled a spark.
Maybe she could save them.
Maybe she could let more people survive the Great Calamity.
But she didn’t really care that much.
Eustia could see a thread of fate and causality; she knew the Karmic Tribulation was a trial for them.
Doing all this was simply because she thought it would be fun.
Using what she gained in her previous life, she secured her freedom earlier in this one.
It was as if she had read the script; she took opportunities that belonged to others in the future.
Eustia was no longer that ordinary Half-Elf girl.
She displayed talent far surpassing ordinary people.
Then, she became a Daughter of Destiny…
Eustia spread her palm, and a flicker of silver flame appeared.
Star Tempering Art!
She dug up an Alchemist’s grave, rummaged inside, and found that Celestial Tome stone tablet—the one that recorded the mysterious alchemical technique and wasn’t supposed to appear for decades.
When she went, the corpse had only recently begun to rot.
“This thing is really hard to learn. Using it once can completely drain my spirituality.”
Eustia sighed.
The Star Tempering Art was too difficult for her to use.
Even though her soul’s rank had reached an exaggerated height and her spirituality was almost on par with a Grandmaster Alchemist, she could still only use it once.
Ordinary Alchemists couldn’t use this thing at all.
That dead old Alchemist definitely didn’t understand it properly, learned a superficial bit, got himself killed, and was just buried in a pit by his disciple.
Hah, not even a coffin.
But high cost was high cost.
As long as she could use it herself, it was fine.
Eustia felt this thing was prepared just for her.
The treatment of being a Daughter of Destiny was really different, huh.
“This secret art is probably something only I know in this world~”
Even having lived a second life, Eustia couldn’t help but feel a bit smug about this.
—
At that moment, Shu Yue had already lain down, but she couldn’t sleep.
She kept feeling like Eustia was staring at her, which made her very uncomfortable.
She tossed and turned in bed, her face showing clear distress.
Suddenly, the door opened.
The slight sound startled Shu Yue.
She straightened her body and pretended to be asleep.
If it were an assassin, they definitely wouldn’t use the main door.
Besides, Eustia probably wouldn’t allow her to be assassinated at this time.
What if she died?
Who would cooperate with her then?
Shu Yue frowned inwardly.
She heard footsteps getting closer, very light, as if the person wasn’t wearing shoes.
Then, they got onto the bed and carefully slipped under the covers.
Huh?
Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted upright from the bed, glaring at the woman who had climbed into her bed in the dead of night.
“A-Anna… sister?”
Shu Yue almost couldn’t control her voice, because the person who came had startled her quite a bit.
There had been maids trying to climb into her bed for a night assault before, wanting to ‘play a round’ with her.
Unfortunately, Shu Yue wasn’t into that, plus she didn’t have the capability.
If they had come earlier, she might have gone for it.
Too bad, sister, you’re too late.
After a stern warning, the maids became much more well-behaved and didn’t do such things anymore.
But Shu Yue never expected Sister Anna to come.
Anna hadn’t removed her disguise; she still wore the face of that dead maid.
She gazed at Shu Yue with tender affection.
That look was familiar to Shu Yue—it was the same burning, intense look in the eyes of those first few maids who tried night assaults, so scorching it made Shu Yue feel a bit suffocated.
Anna breathed lightly, her chest rising and falling, matching her lovely face, bright and captivating.
“Master~”
Her voice was soft, sweet, and cloying, the kind that would make any man’s heart itch with desire.
Anna was wearing a strappy dress, rose-pink in color, revealing her cool, pale skin, which was now flushed with arousal.
Her whole body was emitting a rich, feminine scent.
Even though Shu Yue had become a girl, smelling the ambiguous fragrance filling the air made her mind sway a little.
If she were still a boy, it would probably cut her rationality in half.
It was somewhat similar to the scent on that woman from the Alchemists Guild?
Shu Yue quickly thought of that woman named Sharon.
The impression she gave was of being big, soft, and fragrant.
But why did Sister Anna have this strange, alluring fragrance on her?
As she was pondering, Anna crawled toward her.
She pushed Shu Yue down onto the bed, pressed on Shu Yue’s shoulders while panting orchid-scented breath, straddled Shu Yue over the thin blanket, her eyes rippling with passion, so scorching that Shu Yue could hardly look directly at her.
Anna leaned down, trying to kiss Shu Yue, but Shu Yue turned her head away and pushed Anna off with both hands.
Shu Yue scrambled back a few more times and whispered sharply.
“Anna sister, don’t do this!”
“……”
After being pushed away, Anna froze in place. Her eyes were slightly red, staring fixedly at Shu Yue, who had turned her head away.
Words of质问 squeezed from her throat, tinged with hoarseness.
“Why… why did you push me away?”
“I don’t think this is appropriate.”
“What’s inappropriate about it, Shu Yue? We’ve been together for three years, lived together for a full three years.”
“But…”
“Just to satisfy my desire. You’re willing to do this for your sister, right?”
Anna pressed closer to Shu Yue again.
“That Noble young lady looks down on you; she won’t like you. And all nobles practice in bed with maids before marriage. Rather than practicing with other women, why not practice with your sister? Sister has always liked you. Don’t you like your sister?”
“……”
Shu Yue felt today’s Anna was a bit strange, making her feel unfamiliar, completely different from before.
Anna came before Shu Yue once more, reaching out to caress Shu Yue’s cheek.
Shu Yue dodged.
That half-step back made Anna’s expression turn somewhat ugly.
“Shu Yue, sister doesn’t need any status. I just want to be by your side. But I want a child of yours.”
“Anna sister.”
This light call sounded a bit cold and stiff.
Shu Yue had never encountered this kind of situation before.
She didn’t know how to handle it.
Perhaps she could tell Sister Anna she had turned into a girl, though it seemed they could still have a child together…
But Shu Yue had never considered this.
She didn’t want to become the protagonist of a ‘pregnant and on the run’ novel!
Sweating a little from anxiety, Shu Yue finally thought of a stupid move.
Change the subject.
She grabbed Anna’s shoulders, putting on a casual expression as if nothing had happened.
“Anna sister, we’re in danger right now. Here’s what we’ll do. You take Mundo and leave tonight, go to the Pioneer Camp in the Outlands. I’ll come over in a couple of days and meet up with you there.”
As she spoke, Shu Yue hurriedly climbed off the bed, went to rummage through the cabinet, and took out all the gold notes.
“Anna sister, this, this is the money I withdrew. Take it, take it and go.”
“……”
The spring-like desire on Anna’s face completely died down. She gazed幽怨ly at Shu Yue, who was avoiding her eyes.
“Shu Yue, do you think I’m dirty?”