Chapter 123 : What Potion
Chapter 123: What Potion
“Mm…”
Lilia tried to move her fingers, only to realize that even that bit of strength had been drained away.
Everything below her waist felt as if it had lost all sensation; only that bone-deep soreness and exhaustion remained, crazily asserting its presence.
A hand pressed against her lower back.
Immediately after, a gentle stream of magic poured in along her spine.
The feeling was like a dried-up riverbed suddenly being filled with a clear spring, or like chugging an entire bottle of ice-cold soda on a scorching day—every single cell seemed to be cheering.
“Al… alive again…”
Lilia buried her face in her arm and let out a whimper.
“Can’t handle it already?”
Hera’s voice, to Lilia’s ears, sounded like the whisper of a devil.
Hera raised an eyebrow, her fingertip idly spinning the ring on her ring finger.
“I remember someone shouting—‘please make sure to XX me hard’?”
Lilia: “……”
Just end it. Hurry up and destroy everything.
If there were a time machine, she would definitely go back and strangle that shameless version of herself who had said that for the sake of a reward.
“That was tactics! Strategy! It was to cooperate with the system’s algorithm!” Lilia retorted with a flushed face, though her voice grew smaller and smaller. “Besides… who knew your healing magic would be this useful…”
It could heal injuries and restore stamina.
It was practically a perpetual motion cheat device.
Hera chuckled softly and did not continue dwelling on the embarrassing topic.
“Get up.”
……
10 a.m., study of the Palace of Eternal Night.
Although her body had been fully restored by the healing spell, the psychological shadow it left behind was probably the size of a three-bedroom apartment.
Lilia mechanically sorted documents while furiously cursing that damn system in her mind.
A creaking sound rang out.
It was the sound of the door hinge turning.
The feather pen in Hera’s hand paused slightly. She didn’t look up, but a trace of cold light flashed through her golden eyes.
Lilia, who was holding a stack of files and about to climb down, suddenly felt a chill at the back of her neck.
The sensation was like being stared at by a cold venomous snake—its scales sliding across her skin, raising a layer of goosebumps.
She stiffly turned her head.
In the shadowed corner of the study where the light didn’t reach, a small figure had appeared at some unknown time.
It was Mary.
Mary did not look at Hera. Her large crimson eyes, devoid of any highlight, stared straight at Lilia on the ladder.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
However, Mary did not make a move.
She first tilted her head, as if confirming something. Then, on that doll-like face that had been completely expressionless, an emotion called “surprise” actually appeared.
Next came a long sigh of relief.
“Phew…”
Mary patted her chest, though there was nothing there.
Holding the Broken Teddy Bear, she tiptoed forward like a weightless ghost, silently drifting beneath the ladder.
“You’re not dead.”
Mary looked up, speaking in that innocent yet spine-chilling soft childish voice.
Lilia: “???”
Why did that sound so awkward?
What did she mean, “you’re not dead”? Was she actually hoping she’d be gone?
Lilia climbed down the ladder and deliberately kept a two-meter safe distance from this dangerous loli, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “Thanks to you, I’m alive and well. I could even eat two more bowls of food.”
Mary ignored Lilia’s sarcasm.
She suddenly leaned in, her small nose twitching like a puppy sniffing its prey.
“Mm…”
Mary circled around Lilia once. Her brows furrowed tighter and tighter, the confusion in her eyes gradually turning into shock, then into something like witnessing a world wonder.
“The smell… it’s all…”
She extended her pale little hand, pointing at Lilia’s neck, then pointing again.
“Here, and here…”
Mary leaned close to Lilia’s ear, lowering her voice. There was a trace of eerie excitement in her tone. “It’s all big sister Hera’s scent.”
Lilia’s face flushed red, and she subconsciously tried to cover her collar.
“Not just the outside…” A red glow flickered in Mary’s eyes, as if she could see right through Lilia. “Even the inside…”
Lilia: “!!!”
Why did everything sound like lines straight out of an R18 book when spoken by this loli?!
“Cough cough!” Lilia coughed violently, trying to cover up her panic while secretly glancing at Hera behind the desk.
Fortunately, Hera seemed focused on the documents and hadn’t “heard” the conversation.
Mary, however, paid no attention to Lilia’s reaction. It was as if she had discovered a new continent; a sickly flush even appeared on her perpetually gloomy face.
“Amazing… you actually managed to do it.”
“Looks like you’ve got some brains, knowing to dilute it.”
“Dilute what?”
“???”
Mary suddenly raised her head, staring straight into Lilia’s eyes.
“Where’s that potion?”
“‘Abyssal Love’!” Mary grew anxious, tightening her grip on the Broken Teddy Bear, nearly squeezing the stuffing out of it. “That pink bottle! Don’t tell me you drank it like a beverage!”
Only then did Lilia realize she was talking about that nuclear-level aphrodisiac that Hera had casually thrown into the trash.
“That one…” Lilia’s gaze drifted. “Didn’t use it.”
“Didn’t use it?”
Mary’s voice suddenly rose by an octave, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
She widened her eyes and looked at Lilia as if she were a monster, examining her from top to bottom as though seeing this silver-haired maid for the first time.
“You didn’t use the potion… and big sister Hera still… did that to you?”
Mary pointed at Lilia, then at Hera not far away, her fingers trembling.
Or perhaps Lilia hadn’t used the potion, failed the mission, and was personally dismantled by Hera.
No matter which outcome, Lilia should have been a corpse.
But now…
This weak maid with only a trace amount of magic was not only alive and kicking, but her body was covered in Hera’s exclusive marks—and it had all been done while she was “conscious”?
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”
Mary clutched her head, her worldview suffering a massive impact.
“Hera, who’s been a thousand-year-old iron tree that never blooms… how could she possibly get aroused by a human who doesn’t even wear split pants?!”
Lilia’s lips twitched.
She really wanted to tell this loli that whether the iron tree bloomed or not, she didn’t know—but if that iron tree really made a move, it was deadly.
“Maybe…” Lilia adjusted the buttons on her collar, trying to appear a bit more profound, “this is what you call personal charm.”
Mary stared blankly at Lilia. After a long while, she suddenly broke into a grin, revealing a somewhat satisfied smile.
The chill in the air dissipated along with Mary’s disappearance.