Finally.
Qiye couldn’t make up her mind.
“Sigh～”
A long sigh mingled with the white mist exhaled. Qiye ultimately only saved the image, disconnecting from the foreign network. As she pressed the lock screen button, the struggle in her eyes intensified.
Magic surged from her palm, lifting the empty bottle, melting it into orange-red droplets at high temperatures…
It was supposed to be important news—Silvia had regained her female form. But why…? Qiye felt a heaviness in her heart.
“Something feels off…”
Qiye murmured, gazing at the distant horizon where the snow clouds churned. From the moment Ling Cheyin sent the message, it seemed she had no choice but to comply?
This must have been part of Ling Qinghe’s plan. So, from the very beginning, Qiye had no choice…
…
In a apartment in the heart of Honghua City, Weizhan knelt naked on the bed, the sheets crumpling beneath her knees into undulating waves. She trembled as she pressed Silvia’s lace underwear to her chest, inhaling deeply to capture a familiar warmth from the lingering scent.
Immediately after, Weizhan rolled up the old, crotchless black stockings to her thighs, the garters leaving faint marks on her skin before she lay down sideways, burying herself in a pile of shirts, scarves, and handkerchiefs.
“Silvia…”
Weizhan’s voice was soft as she smoothed out the wrinkles in the clothes, nuzzling the wool of the scarf. Collecting Silvia’s used clothing—a habit she kept hidden, second only to her secret confession of love for her senior. Each piece held her unspoken affection for Silvia.
At the foot of the bed, the full-length mirror reflected her twisted silhouette. Her short, ear-length blue hair was streaked with a few strands of wool—taken from Silvia’s sweater…
Suddenly, the television screen, which had been on standby, lit up, signaling the start of the scheduled, looping broadcast. The cold light highlighted Weizhan’s reddish eyes as she listened to the anchor’s repeated report:
“The evidence of Zhennu Yibai’s treason, her collusion with the witch faction, is conclusive…”
“It must all be fake, right?”
Weizhan wondered how many times she had tried to reassure herself? Suddenly, she bit down on the hem of a shirt, muffling her sobs with the fabric. But it wasn’t enough to stop the racing thoughts. Weizhan had no choice but to use her own water magic—
Pause.
Thin blue water tendrils erupted from the floor and ceiling, wrapping around Weizhan’s wrists and ankles, binding her as she hung upside down on the bed. One tendril encircled her neck.
Water trickled down her spine, pooling at the small of her back. Yet, Weizhan felt no cold. In the dizziness of reversed blood flow, she stared upside down at the photo frame of herself and Silvia.
“Senior, do you think of me when you’re abroad?”
…
A short while later.
Weizhan felt the blood rush to her head, causing dizziness and slight suffocation from the water tendrils. But her gaze shifted to the cabinet, where rows of neatly arranged test tubes held Silvia’s silver hair, used bandages, and even half a lipstick…
In the moment before her consciousness faded, she heard her own hoarse whisper, perhaps spoken from the depths of her heart:
“Even if the whole world rejects you, I’ll keep you in my collection.”
Weizhan’s sobs mingled with the sound of water droplets falling. But the water couldn’t wet Silvia’s pile of clothes—this was deliberate on Weizhan’s part.
…
Meanwhile, in the adjacent room, the glow of a computer screen cast an eerie blue light on Xincheng, who yawned as she sat there. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her nightgown, her yellow hair tied back in a messy ponytail, swaying at her neck.
At the computer desk, the internal network search bar of the Magic Girl Association flashed with keywords like “witch invasion,” “border infiltration,” and “Zhennu Yibai’s treason.” The latest file update time was 3:17 AM.
Xincheng stared at a snapshot of Silvia without the Great Witch in the frame—was he helping Ling Qinghe sharpen his blade? Or was he kneeling there…
Additionally, there was a video clip showing, in broad daylight, more than a dozen witches carrying…
Silvia was seen disappearing in a burst of crimson light.
After viewing, a look of loss and resignation crept into Xincheng’s eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder if she and Silvia would ever see each other again?
Actually, ever since Silvia became a man and was suspected of gender fraud, leading to her imprisonment, Xincheng had a wild and daring thought—she wanted to escape from the Feather Kingdom with Silvia, to a country where same-s*x love was permitted, and be together openly.
But this thought went against everything she had been taught since childhood. In this kingdom, where female-female love was the norm and men were despised, her feelings would never be understood or accepted; they would be seen as ‘heresy’.
Was there really no other way?
Xincheng clicked the mouse, continuing to browse and search for border information. At one point, she even had the crazier idea of escaping the Feather Kingdom without a second thought, going out into the world to find Silvia, to reunite? But this thought was quickly suppressed again, as she knew it was impossible.
After a while, Xincheng slumped back in her chair, her gaze dull with no leads. After a long time, she slowly stood up, barefoot, and walked out onto the balcony to clear her mind.
Snowflakes fell, landing on her slender shoulders. Xincheng cupped her palm to catch the snow, watching it melt in her warmth. She looked up at the night sky, where a crescent moon hung in the snowy veil, its light cold and falling on her face.
Suddenly, she felt something—
“People have joy and sorrow, the moon has its phases…”
At this moment, the moon was incomplete, much like their forced separation from Silvia. But Xincheng knew that the moon would eventually be full, and people scattered would reunite.
At the same time, in different parts of Honghua City, Qiye stood in the pavilion on Sunrise Mountain, clutching a phone with Silvia’s latest photo, pondering her choice in the wind and snow. Weizhan was binding herself, waiting in pain and longing for a chance to clear Silvia’s name. The snow fell heavier…
Three girls, each with different worries, guarded their secrets and obsessions in this snowy night. Perhaps they had different ways of longing, but they shared the same belief—
They would see Silvia again someday…
Far away, Silvia and Xia Naxin raced through the snowy night sky as two streams of light. Silvia gazed down at the endless snowfields, the night wind rustling her pink hair. For some reason, a bitter taste rose in her heart. She didn’t know that beneath the snowy night in her homeland, three beating hearts were resonating with her pulse, transcending borders and prejudice…
At the same time, Silvia also missed Qiye and the others in her heart. It had only been less than a day since she left the country, but she was already overwhelmed with longing for those three little ones…
Thinking of this, Silvia’s lips curled into a smile, but it quickly froze on her face—
Silvia looked down at her petite body… only then did she realize that she was probably not as tall as Weizhan now! In the past, Qiye, Weizhan, and Xincheng often teased her with words and actions, making her blush. Now, as a petite and cute loli, Silvia imagined their reactions when they discovered her ‘shrunken’ and changed appearance, her cheeks flushed.
“If they knew I was this small now, only…”
Silvia covered her warm cheeks, not daring to think further. She was already looking forward to Qiye’s crimson eyes sparkling with intense light, Weizhan eagerly embracing her and nuzzling her hair, and Xincheng, blushing, reaching out to pinch her cheeks.
“Mmm…”
Silvia let out a soft hum, burying her face in Xia Naxin’s shoulder to hide her blush, but the redness on her ears wouldn’t fade.
“We’ll see each other soon.”
Silvia whispered to the wind and snow, her pink hair tracing a path of ‘anticipation’ in the night sky.
“With my new self, I’ll go see you. Wait for me…”
Hearing this, Xia Naxin also held her lover’s waist, offering silent support. She understood that Silvia’s return this time was to reunite with those magic girl seniors…