Lotus smirked as she watched him throw the meat back on the plate.
"What do you want?" Leona grumbled with irritation and defeat.
"Ah, right." Lotus looked up in bewilderment, "Why are they calling you King?"
Leona raised a brow in bewilderment, "What does it have to do with you?"
"I'm just curious." Lotus questioned him in confusion, "Since you're a student here..."
Leona scowled but huffed and sat back on the beach chair, "It's because I'm a prince and my older brother is the king."
"A prince..." Lotus muttered in bewilderment.
"You..." Lotus hesitated, "want to be king?"
Leona froze in surprise before he growled, "Why should this matter? Leave me alone..."
"You..." Lotus folded her arms, "don't look like you want the title... You don't look as happy when you hear them say that earlier."
"Shut up!" He shouted at her.
However, Lotus wasn't fazed at all when she heard his switch with an angry expression on his face. She continued, "I was wondering earlier too, but, Leona... What is it that you want if you don't want the title?"
Leona glared at her when she recalled the history of the Lion King and spoke up one last time, "Maybe... you have the chance to escape the ending that Scar couldn't... many, many years ago..."
Her words surprised Leona this time, but Lotus yawned, "You know what? I'm getting tired too. Good night..."
"Wait!"
She then lept to the window before halting in her footsteps and turned to him, "Ah right... I heard you guys have a game coming up? There's some shiny blue tarantulas moving about the dorm grounds. Some idiot was plotting something on you and accidentally let loose of them. If you see them, kill then with magic. They could stun your dorm members. I'll give you the antidote in two more days."
She paused before continuing, "As for why I'm warning you... I have my own motive, so I don't care if you trust me or not. Bye bye!"
.....
Returning from the trip, Lotus came back to her room and found that everything was still well. She smiled and decided to turn in for the night.
The next morning, she went to the Savanaclaw dorm again and caught a tarantula this time. In the afternoon, she returned to her dorm and made about fifteen vials of the antidotes. However, there was an incident when she was about to head to the Library again.
"Gah!"
Lotus froze when she saw a familiar figure grimace and stomp on the ground. She hurried over to find that it was Jack!
She quickly strode over and reached out to him with a look of surprise, "Jack?"
The wolf looked to her in surprise, "Um... Lotus, was it? What do you want?"
"Just asking what happened since it wasn't like you to shout." Lotus answered when she noticed the tarantula on the ground, "Aren't these..."
"You know this thing?" Jack growled, "It bit me on the neck!"
Lotus frowned and turned to Jack, "That's right. I know. However, they're not from these parts... Forget it..."
She sighed as she knew that she had to give up one of her vials already. She continued, "Peony asked me to make antidotes to these tarantulas last night out of the blue. I think I'm starting to get the reason why now..."
"Antidotes?!" Jack narrowed his eyes, "You mean..."
"Getting bit by these things should get you stunned for a good while." Lotus shook her head with a sigh, "That child... I wonder if it was her who messed up again?"
"Who exactly is Peony?" Jack spoke up with a scowl.
Lotus sighed, "First, take this. I don't care if you will consume it or not. Just don't blame me if you get stunned before the games."
Jack looked at the brown vial with a frown before taking it and turning to her in confusion, "Why..."
Lotus shrugged, "I told you I always return a favor back, didn't I? You helped save my friends the other day."
"Huh..." Jack raised a brow wondering what would've happened if he hadn't stepped in that day.
"As for Peony..." Lotus thought for a bit, "I'm not really sure myself. She's been a friend of mine ever since I started school here, but she doesn't share much about herself to me. Anyway, I need to give her the antidotes tonight. I believe she'll have quite a mess to clean up the next few days."
"Huh." Jack narrowed his eyes but nodded.
After she headed in the library with the spider carcass, Lotus gave Cater a text saying that the spiders are looking for someone, it seems, and have gotten Jack. She's given him an antidote but used Peony's name. On the other hand, she believes that the people are looking for someone by the scent of blood. It seems that the person shed some blood back in Heartslabyul dorm and is looking for them. Lotus quickly added how she doesn't know why they came to Jack, but they did.
Of course, all of this was a lie, but they were buying it and that's all that she's needed. It wasn't hard to make them believe is something this naive. After all, these were children sheltered by their families' quite often.
She quickly received a message from Cater in less than three minutes. She looked down on her phone and nodded.
"Got it! Thank you~!"
Lotus returned the books she borrowed and went back to look over the aisles for another. Over the past few days, she has been studying studiously in her ring over the books. Rarely was she able to be rewarded with a wink of sleep, but, as a cultivator now, she did not have to worry about food or sleep.
As she trained herself, her mental strength have become so that she could continue to survive through day to day without it as long as her mental capacity was enough to allow her to do so. As she reached out to the books on potions and plants, she paused when she felt a strange presence in the room and raised a brow. She frowned and looked around to find that nobody was around. She felt a little off and quickly sent out her energy.
Someone, who wasn't suppose to be here, is definitely here!
She frowned in thought before getting up and walking towards the front desk with her books. As she moved, she could feel the energy around her move as well. Lotus smirked and continued walking till she saw a dark shadow rushed by her. She decidedly walked away.
However, despite this, she never noticed the presence again after that. It had retreated away from the library to the hall of mirrors. The Savanaclaw dorm.
.....
That night, she went to the Savanaclaw dorm again and found Leona having gone to his room. She left the vials there and disappeared into the darkness slinking behind the lights of the torches around the dorm. She had already set up a bunch of defenses in the dorm prepared especially for this.
This time, she turned the switch of her ring. Her black uniform disappeared and her ponytail that flickered against the wind vanished. It has been a long time since she's used this appearance much like familiar clothing.
Her sleeveless dress had a couple of white layers with the outer clothing being black with red flower embrioderies and black leggings. Her hair was tied up into a long black ponytail. embroidered with red lycoris flowers around the band.
Her face had a light tone to contrast her dark hair and her cheeks have little rosy blush. Compared to her younger skinny and sickly pale appearance, Peony have grown taller and a healthy slim appearance. Her chest was also no longer as flat or her shoulders sturdy. However, compared to Riddle's height, she still requires a little more growth. Yet, having tirelessly tried to raise her properly, this was the appearance her mother was so proud of...
She raised a brow in confusion, "Huh, I still think a bun would work better..."
Ying Hui sighed, "Milady isn't a child anymore. Since when have you ever cared for what fashion your hair was in?"
"Nah." Lotus shrugged, "I just don't want someone to grab a hold of it. The last time that happened, I was ready to chop it off if mother hadn't stopped me."
Ying Hui shook her head in exasperation, "Milady really shouldn't joke around."
"Also," Lotus looked to her ring in confusion, "Why did you suddenly change the way you refer to me?"
Inside the ring, Ying Hui smiled with an overjoyed look on her face, "I've always wanted to call you milady! You have so much potential and beauty. It was such a shame to hide it all!"
Lotus shook her head and sighed in exasperation, "You only know how to run your mouth with flowery words. Did you take this from your brother again? If I hear those words coming from Little Jun, you can go on and starve without medicinal pills for a few months. And, that goes for you too, Xiao Li! Who told you to teach your sister to say shameless words?"
"You can't do that! What shameless?! How could it be shameless if it was true?" Ying Hui pouted and said in defense of the two of them, "I was saying a few praises and you're punishing me?! That's just the opposite of good education! Just so you know I only make contracts to girls with the best cultivation!"
"You're already not a child anymore and you still claim you need education?" Lotus rolled her eyes, "And it's not like I'm too grown up to have my hair in buns..."
"Wasn't it you that said we were never too old to learn?" Ying Hui pointed out, "As for your hair, I think you look best with a mature appearance. Also, I'm still young! I haven't even gotten a single wrinkle on me!"
They could hear Xiao Li snickering in the background as Ying Hui snapped her head around, "Shut up!"
Lotus shook her head with a sigh, "Alright, alright. Let's stop here. We can't keep arguing the entire night away and I'll lose all my energy if we keep continuing. Let's get this done before dawn breaks. I still have class to take tomorrow."
Having taken this as her win, Yin Hui obediently held back with a triumphant smile on her face, "I understand!"
"But what are you going to do?" Xiao Li spoke up curiously, "The Niersi Lily have been gone long before we were created. There has hardly been any record of people ever coming across them again."
"There is a way..." Lotus answered with a frown, "However, it'll be a bit troublesome. Xiao Li, get me the jar of nectar from the Zhi Lilies."
Lotus slipped through the dry grass and cool wind as she could feel the warm earth under her barefeet. She rushed along the dry grass and dirt with ease. It wasn't long before she found a ring of trees. Lotus recalled reading from a text how people had one believed that a ring of mushrooms was like an entrance to a world of fairies and such. It was quite an unusual tale. However, Lotus would need this for something else today.
With that, she slipped into the ring where she could feel the cool grass around the small river and waterfall. Luckily, the water was clean and the night had a much more fuller moon than before. She went ahead and found a few flowers and vines hanging from the trees as she opened the bottle of nectar and carefully poured it on the flowers before backing away behind the boulder. An hour passed with no signs after she put away the bottle. The humid air enveloped her as she waited.
Xiao Li spoke up, "What are you waiting for, Mistress?"
"Shh..." Lotus responded with a smirk, "It's coming."
Sure enough, there was a little white dot that floated into the view and landed on the flower. Lotus breathed in slowly as she watched more began to follow. This was what she was looking for! She almost couldn't believe her luck when she took this chance!
Ivory Soul Butterflies!