Chapter148

Elara had just brought the child back to the governor's residence when a report came from the patrol team. It turned out that the assistant at the pharmacy had his eyes on the herbs in Haochen's hands. After seeing that Haochen seemed to be an orphan with no family or guardians, he set his sights on him and incited a group of children to rob Haochen under the pretense of theft.

Elara nodded and ordered them to be punished severely according to the law. Then she told the attendants to take the child to bathe. She also went to take a bath and change into clean clothes.

After she finished bathing, Elara didn't bother drying her wet hair. She directly asked Uno to help her dry it using internal energy.

In a world without electricity or hairdryers, internal energy truly solved many problems.

Once she was completely clean and dry, the child who had also been bathed was brought back to her.

As soon as he finished bathing, the child eagerly ran toward her, even refusing the attendants who wanted to apply medicine to his wounds.

Elara looked at the bruises on his thin body under the bathrobe. She picked him up and threw a dry towel on his head, telling him to dry his own hair. Then she took out some ointment, pulled down his clothes, and got ready to apply the medicine.

But just as Elara had pulled his robe down to his waist, the child, who had been clinging to her constantly, suddenly grabbed the falling fabric. His bright eyes stared at her with a very odd expression.

"Sis, do you want to look at my body?"

Elara laughed. This child wasn't just thoughtful but also far too mature for his age. The way he spoke made it seem like she had some improper intentions.

But a nine-year-old kid's body wasn't even fully developed. If not for applying medicine, why would she look at it?

Elara let go of the robe and handed him the ointment. "Otherwise? Or do you want to apply the medicine yourself?"

Seeing her let go, the child also quickly released his hold on the robe. He didn't care that his bathrobe had slipped off, leaving him nearly naked. He threw himself into Elara's arms again, returning to his usual clingy behavior.

"No, it's just that no one's ever seen my body before. They always say you shouldn't let others see it. But if it's you, sis... then it's okay. I want you to see it."

...Why did he say that in such a strange tone? Even his voice didn't sound like a child's. It had the playful teasing of someone from a brothel.

But no matter how precocious he was, he was still only nine years old.

Could it be due to what happened when he was taken to the slave brothel?

That seemed like the only possible explanation.

Holding the naked child in her arms, Elara grumbled silently in her mind. Then she opened the ointment and began applying it carefully to all the bruised areas.

But she had only applied a little when the child started acting up again.

Every time she dabbed the ointment on a bruise, his body would tremble slightly, and he would let out a strange moan.

At first, Elara thought she was using too much force, so she tried to be gentler.

Then suddenly, the child grabbed her hand and pressed it hard onto the bruise. The pressure was so much that it made the already red-purple bruise start to bleed slightly. The child tilted his head back and let out a high-pitched moan. His expression was both pained and strangely satisfied, as if he were floating.

Elara was stunned for a moment. Looking at his oddly pleased expression, a memory flashed through her mind from that time in the princess residence.

Was this world really full of such twisted people? There was already an adult in her residence who found pleasure in pain. Now this child had the same issue?

No wonder he hadn't fought back when the older kids beat him up. It wasn't that he couldn't. He was enjoying it?

Seeing how he reacted, Elara started to think this was why he had survived in a slave den but still ended up being bullied by kids only a few years older than him.

Her face darkened for a moment.

But most people with this condition weren't born with it. It often developed after long-term abuse, the kind that made life worse than death. When someone had no way to escape or avoid the pain, the body would adapt by associating pain with pleasure, just to find a way to mentally survive and comfort itself.

Thinking about everything this child must have gone through, Elara suddenly felt unable to speak.

But no matter what, this wasn't a healthy habit.

She didn't want him to one day be on the verge of death and still enjoying the beating.

With that thought, Elara slapped the child's hand away from hers. She ignored the low moan of "feels so good" he whispered while sticking close to her. She also ignored the unnatural blush on his face. Grabbing him by the waist so he couldn't move, she quickly finished applying the rest of the ointment.

Once the medicine was applied, the child finally calmed down. He lay trembling and panting in her arms like he was basking in the afterglow.

Elara's face was dark with frustration. If someone saw her like this, they might think she had some strange hobbies.

She tried to pull the child off her, but whenever she moved, the child tightened his grip and clung to her, breathing weakly and pitifully, like he was the saddest thing in the world.

Elara thought this kid really was one of a kind. For someone so young, he could change his expression instantly and use any means to get what he wanted.

The child deliberately showed off his bruises and kept whispering in her ear about how much it hurt.

Her ears itched from the whining. Thinking of that old man's teary face and the child's tragic past, Elara sighed a little.

She warned the kid not to make any strange sounds or movements again, or she wouldn't hug him anymore.

The child immediately agreed cheerfully. He kept rubbing against her while hugging her tightly, his bright eyes staring right at her.

"Sis, you're so nice..."

Elara let out a dry laugh. The fact that she hadn't thrown this brat out already really made her feel like she was quite kind for once.

Ever since she pulled him out from under those other kids, Haochen had sensed that Elara was no longer so firm about keeping him at a distance.

So after she finished applying the medicine, he stayed in her arms and refused to leave. Whenever she tried to move him, he'd start whining about being in pain.

Elara was speechless. She ended up holding him while taking care of things the whole afternoon.

By bedtime, no matter how many pitiful faces the kid made, Elara didn't let him into her bed.

Her bed wasn't even big enough for herself. She didn't want to squeeze in another person, even if it was just a child.

So she had a servant make up a temporary nest for him on the soft couch in her room and told him to sleep there.

The child saw she wasn't going to change her mind, so he finally crawled into the little nest.

But Elara didn't expect to wake up in the middle of the night and find the child lying by her bed, pitifully holding her hand, his face pressed into her palm.

His small body leaned against the bed, fast asleep next to her.

Elara stared.

Who knew how long this kid had been sneaking there. His face against her hand was cold, and his whole body was curled up tightly like he had frozen.

She looked up at the quiet ceiling above.

After a few seconds, she sighed.

Forget it. He was only nine.

She picked up the cold little body and placed him on the bed.

As soon as he felt the warmth, the freezing child wrapped his arms and legs tightly around her like an octopus.

Elara tugged at his arms, but he clung even tighter.

She gave up and lay back down, covering them both with the blanket and closing her eyes.

What she didn't know was that about an hour after she fell asleep holding him, the kid suddenly woke up.

He blinked slowly. The look in his eyes no longer held the caution of a child. It was more like a grown man waking from a long dream, calm and unhurried.

Almost five days had passed... He was just now fully awake. That poison pill he swallowed had been too much.

But now that he was awake, it meant the main part of the poison had been cleared from his body. From now on, his sleep would be shorter and he'd stay conscious longer.

The man yawned slowly, his mood relaxed. He spent a few seconds checking his body and everything that had happened while he was unconscious in the child's form.

He looked up at the girl's face right in front of him. Warmth kept flowing from her body, and he could feel her holding him close.

He smiled. Even though it was the middle of the night, the room still held a strict, watchful atmosphere in all corners.

He glanced toward the hidden spots.

The guards from the Wei family were stationed around her as always. There were quite a few, especially the top-ranked one. With him here, it wouldn't be easy to make a move.

But that didn't matter. If he couldn't act, it didn't mean he couldn't do anything at all.

He pulled his attention back from the surroundings and leaned his face even closer to Elara's, until their lips almost touched. He stopped just before they met.

He looked at her peaceful face and quietly sighed. Being in a child's body really made things difficult. But at least while he was like this, she actually let him on her bed.

He stared at her sleeping face. His eyes shifted from her delicate eyebrows to her soft red lips.

Then, as if something drew him in, he moved closer and lightly touched her lips. He gently licked them like he was tasting something.

So soft... kind of delicious...

He continued to explore her lips, completely absorbed, until Elara slightly furrowed her brow in her sleep. She seemed to sense something.

Only then did he let go. His eyes, glowing faintly in the dark, kept watching her sleeping face.

She soon relaxed again, her arms pulling him a little closer as if wanting to hug him more tightly.

The man's lips curled into a silent smile. He shifted closer into her embrace, pressing his small body against her.

He tightened his hold around her, and the hand resting behind her waist moved slightly.

Something invisible brushed against her lower back in the dark.

At that moment, in the depth of Elara's unconscious mind, a warning suddenly rang out from System 92.

[Ding~ Unknown energy detected. Defense system activated. Automatically deducting 10 points of national luck to eliminate the invading energy.]

[Ding~ Elimination complete.]

Even System 92 was shocked by the sudden alert. It stared blankly at the warning, then looked at the child in Elara's arms.

The system trembled and tried to wake her.

But as soon as its data began to move, the main system's voice interrupted:

[Ding~ The detected energy is linked to the origin of this world. It is a forbidden substance. Details cannot be revealed to the host. The assistant system will now be sealed and related memory data will be erased.]

[Sealing and deletion in progress...]

[Ding~ Sealing and deletion complete. Returning to normal state.]