Under the hazy moonlight, the trees by the river cast deep shadows, while the river itself shimmered with occasional gleams. On the nearby grass, a woman stood, her white dress billowing in the wind, revealing a pair of slender legs.
A small bird circled above the woman's head for a while before disappearing. In its place, a few strands of hair floated down, landing on her shoulder.
A shadow detached itself from the trees, standing gently behind the woman. On his shoulder, a cat was crouching. He looked at the girl and sighed, "Are you poisoned? And severely so."
"You've finally come?" The girl turned around to look at Jason, managing a weak smile. "Mr. Jason, I'm sorry. I know you've been looking for me. But... I'm not the one you should be looking for. I want to find my parents, but..."
"I know you haven't found them yet. The search is just a process, and what we care about is this process. We must not be too obsessed with the result," Jason stepped closer, furrowing his brows as he said, "Why are you poisoned? And so severely. Was it what happened just now?"
"Yes, maybe it's all about the process. After all, they don't care if I'm doing well or not, even though they gave me a good life," the girl didn't answer Jason's later questions, but raised her face to look at him, even under the hazy moonlight, she looked incredibly beautiful.
"You're poisoned..." Jason frowned at her, "Why are you poisoned? What did you come into contact with? Sofia, why did you get poisoned in such a short period of time? What did you eat?"
"Because of this!" The girl, who had been hiding her hands behind her back, suddenly stretched them in front of her. She was holding a fruit, which she slowly opened to reveal a half-eaten fruit.
"An apple?" Jason was taken aback.
Something seemed off, and he tried to make sense of it.
A beautiful girl, a talking mirror, a jealous witch – it all seemed like a fairy tale, yet not quite. But now, a poisoned apple appeared, and this poisoned apple was eaten by possibly the most beautiful girl in the world.
"I ate this apple, and I started to feel weird," Sofia sighed lightly, "I was on the other side of the town, and I felt like I was being guided by something to come here, then I ate this apple. This apple was growing on this tree..." As she said this, she pointed to the side.
But there was nothing there.
"It was just here..." Sofia looked at Jason in surprise, then looked around herself. There was truly nothing, "There was an apple tree here, with apples on it, but only this one was right in front of me. I could reach out and grab it, the beautiful red apple... I swear, I didn't lie..." As she spoke, she burst into violent coughing, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. When she let go, the handkerchief was stained with fresh blood.
"I'm coughing up blood!" Sofia's face twisted in pain as she bent over, curling up.
Jason walked over to her, putting a hand on her wrist and frowning, "The poison has infiltrated your vital organs..." Saying this, he quickly jabbed a few points on her body, and then lifted her up in his arms.
With a flick of his fingers, a gleaming sword materialized in front of him. Holding the limp Sofia with one hand, he seized the sword with the other, chanting in his mind and then shouting, "Go--"
Instantly, he and the sword transformed into a beam of light, disappearing into the night sky.
With a "whoosh", it seemed as if a window had been pushed open, and the wind rushed in, causing the curtains to flutter. Denise quickly jumped up from her bed to close the window. As she was about to do so, a gust of wind blew in, and when she closed the window, she saw two more people in the room.
"God, can't you give a heads up before you come in? Who's this? Sofia?" Denise was smart and, although Jason's actions were strange and startling, she was more surprised by the girl he was carrying.
Even unconscious, she was incredibly beautiful. Denise stared at the girl in awe, watching as Jason laid her on her own bed. She didn't protest; instead, she just watched the girl, sighing.
"She is truly beautiful. You were right, she's so beautiful that I can't even feel jealous of her. I feel like I will never measure up to her. So all that's left is admiration," Denise said, deeply impressed.
"Stay on the side, don't make a noise, don't disturb," Jason told her as he sat Sofia cross-legged on the bed and quickly removed her clothes. He waved his hand and a silver needle appeared. As it moved swiftly, in a short while, Sofia was covered in needles.
She looked like a human pincushion. This shocked Denise, who had never seen acupuncture before. She wanted to stop Jason but remembered his instructions to not make any noise or disturbance. Sofia looked like a hedgehog, filled with silver needles.
Despite being filled with needles, Sofia's body was still as delicate as jade. She lacked the roughness typically seen in Europeans, instead, her skin was extremely delicate, as if soaked in milk, so tender it could be broken with a blow. All this made Denise feel a mix of admiration and fear. After all, Sofia was now like a hedgehog, full of needles.
Jason held a peachwood sword in his hand, slowly waving it in front of the bed. To Denise, it looked as if he was performing a ritualistic dance, full of mystery. But his movements were smooth and pleasing to the eye.
"Open--" Jason suddenly commanded in a low voice.
Immediately, the window opened, letting in a gust of wind that made the curtains sway. At the same time, moonlight shone through the window, illuminating Jason's wooden sword.
Jason slowly lifted the wooden sword, as if lifting a heavy object, with great effort. As the sword reached a parallel position, he suddenly shouted loudly, "Order--"
Suddenly, the moonlight hitting the sword seemed to come alive. It slowly moved from the tip of the sword, extending in the air until it reached Sofia's body. The strip of moonlight moved like a glowing worm, slowly crawling on Sofia's body, finally disappearing into her body.
"My God, this... this is truly amazing," Denise was filled with awe.
At that moment, Jason suddenly held the peachwood sword vertically in front of him and said in a low voice, "Withdraw--" Immediately, the silver needles that had filled Sofia's body turned into countless beams of light, disappearing into Jason's hand, and the peachwood sword also vanished.
Sofia suddenly bent forward.
Denise quickly came forward to support her. Sofia coughed violently, retching, and Jason handed over a glass container. As soon as it was placed in front of Sofia, she spat out a mouthful of blood into it.
The blood was black and carried a strong smell that nearly made Denise vomit. But Jason acted as if he neither smelled nor saw anything. After Sofia spat out another mouthful of blood, he had Denise bring a cup of water for Sofia to rinse her mouth. She had to admit, she was touched by Jason's attentiveness.
After rinsing, Jason slowly laid Sofia down and covered her with a blanket. He turned to Denise and said, "She was poisoned, but she's okay now."
"Was that... was that the magic you were talking about?"
"No, there's a fundamental difference with magic!" Jason smiled, "I told you, you won't be able to learn it!"
Denise hummed in response, looking at Sofia's sleeping face, then asked him quietly, "This is Sofia? She's really beautiful. But why would someone want to poison a girl like this?"
"Who knows, maybe she doesn't even know," Jason shook his head pensively, "The world is becoming more and more interesting. Sofia... who wants to harm you? Apart from the dead witch..."