Chapter 11: Black Tentacles

A figure slowly rose from the shadows.
First, messy white hair.
Then, pupils matching Asteris’s, but with a hexagram inside.
Finally, an identical thin frame.

But the girl’s eyes burned with a fanatical fire, unlike Asteris’s timid gaze.

“Delucia!”

Asteris screamed, her voice like shattering glass.

The new girl lunged at Liang Lai, leaving an afterimage.
Liang Lai was knocked back, her silver hair splaying across the examination table.

Delucia wrapped her arms around Liang Lai like an octopus.
Her star-shaped pupils dilated, nearly filling her eye sockets.

“You smell like my mother!”
Her voice was sharp, echoing like metallic friction.

Her smile was unsettling.
Unlike the shy Asteris, her enthusiasm toward Liang Lai was almost terrifying.

“Delucia…”

Asteris reached to pull her sister back.
A shadowy tentacle shot out, coiling around her wrist.
The dark threads left faint red marks on her skin.

Liang Lai chuckled softly.
She ruffled Delucia’s messy hair.
Her sleeve slipped, revealing a crystal scar on her wrist, not fully healed.

“You two have such a good relationship.”

An idea struck her.
She remembered teasing Duoluosa to call her “Mom.”
What would these two do?
Would they be shy and refuse?

“So, I’m your mother from now on?”
“Can you call me that for me to hear?”

“Mom!”

Delucia’s shout was so loud it shattered the bedside table’s glass.

As shards flew, Duoluosa saw Liang Lai instinctively shield the two girls with her body.

Asteris blushed faintly.
She bit her lip, hesitated a few seconds, then whispered, soft as a mosquito:

“Mom… Mom…”

Her eyes grew eager, but she seemed too shy to fling herself into Liang Lai’s arms like Delucia.

Hearing “Mom,” Liang Lai’s smile froze.

She’d meant it as a joke, like with Duoluosa.
But her ears reddened uncontrollably.
The silver-haired Saintess tried to sit up, but Delucia held her tight.

“Wait, I meant…”

Her voice drowned in Delucia’s cheers.

“Mom smells so good!”

Delucia buried her face in Liang Lai’s neck, inhaling deeply.
Her shadow spread across the floor like vines, wrapping around Liang Lai’s smooth ankles.

Asteris, though shy, quietly tugged Liang Lai’s robe.
The longing in her eyes was clear, like Liang Lai was a beacon in the dark.

“How old are you two?”

They looked young and frail.
Taller than Duoluosa, but thinner, clearly malnourished.
Maybe fourteen or fifteen?
They were short, barely reaching Liang Lai’s collarbone.

Asteris and Delucia exchanged a glance.
Asteris smiled, gently tugging Liang Lai’s sleeve.

“Mom, we’re fourteen this year~”

Delucia nodded in agreement.

They lied.

Liang Lai had read about Shadow Twins in an encyclopedia.
It didn’t mention some could communicate telepathically.

Moments ago, Delucia had asked Asteris:
“Should we tell her our real age? That we’re twenty-one?”

Asteris hesitated, then refused.
“No. The younger we seem, the more she’ll pity us, love us, and let her guard down. She’ll feel we’re her children, want to bond with us from a young age, and grow closer.”

Delucia pondered.
“So what’s a good age?”

Asteris replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll say. Just agree with me.”

“Okay.”

And so, the poor Saintess was kept in the dark.

She lovingly patted their heads.

“Poor kids, you’ve suffered so much, haven’t you?”
“So thin and small.”
“Don’t worry, I’m never short on money.”
“There’s endless food here.”
“I’ll fatten you up.”
“You’re still young and can grow!”
“If you’re bored, play with me and Duoluosa.”
“Oh, you have a sister named Duoluosa.”

The girls exchanged another look, their eyes ambiguous.
But when they turned to Liang Lai, their gazes were clear.

“Okay~” they said in unison, looking obedient.

A soft click came from outside the door.
Duoluosa’s ears twitched, catching familiar footsteps.
She fled in panic.

Liang Lai opened the door to an empty corridor.
Duoluosa had hidden in another room.

“Strange, I heard something…”
“Was it Duoluosa?”

Liang Lai muttered, closing the door.

“Where did she go to play?”

She shook her head, sighing.
She assumed Duoluosa was bored and wandered off, thinking no more of it.

But in the other room, Duoluosa crouched against the wall.
A ball of anger burned in her chest.

“What’s with… calling her ‘Mom’ so easily?”

She recalled a word her teammate once used—green tea.

Those two kids were clearly abnormal, weren’t they?
Yet Liang Lai adopted them…

“She must’ve been bewitched by those two…!”
“They’re just playing it safe!”
“Calling her ‘Mom’ so naturally on the first meeting, with those fawning smiles…”

Duoluosa didn’t notice how sharp her tone had grown.

“Liang Lai’s too kind and foolish to see it.”
“She’s been tricked by their pitiful act.”
“No…”

Duoluosa’s eyes hardened.
She stood from the corner, clenching her fists, psyching herself up.

“Just tell Liang Lai their true identities.”
“Let’s see how long they can pretend…!”

She made up her mind.

“But this might be a long fight.”
“Liang Lai’s so gullible and trusts too easily.”