The long, curly blond hair cascaded slowly down her shoulders. In her sea-blue eyes sparkled bright glimmers like twinkling stars, and her facial features, with a light touch of makeup, were as soft and delicate as a sculpture.
The girl in Daphne's eyes was still as beautiful and lively as she remembered, yet there were a few more profound meanings in her eyes and expressions that Daphne had never seen before.
Was this still Edith? Could it be a disguise by the blood clan?
She felt a bit of danger, but she couldn't use "Running in the Shadows" to escape right in front of Edith. That would expose herself prematurely instead.
Let's test the waters a little first to see what the situation really is.
"Firstly, I'm very grateful for your kindness, Miss Edith," Daphne frowned and put on a solemn expression. She used a slightly more forceful voice to assume the air that a great scripture reciter should have. "But after a long journey, being unexpectedly attacked, and stillimmerse oneself in the grief of losing my companions, I just want to be alone now."
However, Edith seemed not to have heard her and took a step forward.
Under the white ruffled hem of her water-blue long dress, her fair calves in white silk stockings showed delicate and slender lines. The sound of her black flat-heeled shoes stepping on the floor startled Daphne. The half-blood girl in disguise couldn't help but take half a step back guiltily.
"Miss Edith, could I trouble you—"
Daphne was just about to politely ask Edith to leave first, but she didn't expect that her adopted daughter, who usually seemed frail and sickly, would suddenly take a quick step forward at this moment, seize her unprepared hands, and push her against the wall behind her.
The impact wasn't too violent, but for the highly sensitive back, it was a huge stimulus.
Before she could even scream out in surprise, a pair of warm, soft, and moist lips pressed against hers, turning all the sounds stuck in Daphne's throat into muffled groans.
Her first kiss... was taken away by her most beloved adopted daughter!?
A soft and wet tongue tentatively stretched out and then gently licked and swept around the slightly parted teeth, as if trying to break through this fragile gate and reach the core inside.
The fragrance of star flowers on the girl's body was so strong that it made Daphne's mind go blank for a moment, and her whole body went slightly limp.
Daphne was terrified and struggled fiercely. To her surprise, she actually managed to break free from Edith's grasp. "Miss Edith, what's the meaning of this? We... we're meeting for the first time, right?" Pushing Edith away a little distance, Daphne, though panicked, still didn't forget to play the role of Elenna. "This is an offense to a great scripture reciter. If I report this to the General Holy See in Sallenz, you might very well be excommunicated! Before the situation becomes irreversible, please stop now."
Unfortunately, Daphne couldn't see what she herself looked like at the moment. Her long silver hair was in disarray, and in her emerald-green eyes like jade was a thin layer of mist. While panting softly, she was saying some righteously indignant words with a deliberately strong yet soft voice, which instead made it easier to arouse others' desire to possess her.
And she never expected that Edith had actually let her go on purpose.
"You're not Elenna Perkin, are you?"
A simple question.
The room suddenly fell silent, and even the sounds from the hall downstairs could be faintly heard.
Daphne's expressions and movements froze all at once. Even the next lines she had prepared got stuck in her throat. She felt that her heartbeat seemed to pause for a moment.
"It's the blood clan? No... This mild feeling is more like that of a half-blood of mediocre level." Edith rubbed her temples and her scrutinizing gaze swept from the silver hair on Daphne's head all the way down to her snow-white ankle boots. "The real Elenna Perkin is dead, and you, a self-conceited half-blood, have disguised yourself as a great scripture reciter and come here under her name."
Edith's tone rose slightly along with the corners of her mouth, and a look of complacency gradually appeared on her face.
"Am I right?"
How could this be!?
Just half a month ago, this girl couldn't even tell pure-blooded blood clans apart. Now the pain reaction caused by the half-blood was even milder, yet she caught it right away?
The reason Daphne dared to pretend to be Elenna and come back was that she knew Edith's ability to distinguish the disguises of the blood clan was still immature.
After all, in the original plot of the game that she hadn't interfered with, Edith's rare talent for this ability wasn't fully mastered until she was on her deathbed ten years later. When players did this side quest in the Empire's Ayer Territory, they had to use some kind of evil magic to make Edith's brain and skull into a prop similar to a detector to complete the task, and the reward related to the task was this skull detector that could identify the disguises of the blood clan.
Because it was so grotesque, this side quest plot had quite a high discussion rate among players.
Daphne had always regarded Edith's experience as a tragedy, so six years ago, she went to the capital city of Ayer Territory, Lovisa, to look for the then-young Edith who was begging on the streets.
But now Edith seemed to have already mastered this ability as if she were proficient in it, and she could even judge whether it was a pure-blooded blood clan or a half-blood based on the intensity of the pain.
Could it be that because she was brought back to the religious territory of Sallenz, fed well and had good nutrition, her ability awakened ahead of time?
No good deed goes unpunished!
Cleverness may overreach itself!
So when Edith showed no reaction to the three pure-blooded blood clans half a month ago, was it actually on purpose that she endured and pretended nothing happened? When did that innocent, lively, simple-minded, and understanding Edith become so scheming?
Edith didn't know that the half-blood girl who had exposed her disguise was actually her beloved father, nor did she know what a fierce mental storm was raging in the little head of the half-blood girl in this short moment.
All she knew was that she had found a new toy for herself.
Excitement and joy, these were the only two emotions Edith had at the moment.
"You're really bold. How dare you pretend to be the great scripture reciter of the church." The girl took the flustered and helpless Daphne's hands and pinned her against the wall again. Then she looked straight at her with those deep sea-blue eyes. "If I tell everyone the truth, what will happen to you?"
A threat!?
This was not the angelic Edith that Daphne knew at all. In her eyes, the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl in front of her seemed to have turned into a hideous, greedy, and treacherous evil spirit, about to devour her, who was weak and helpless.
All the efforts to enhance her strength seemed to be of little use. She couldn't really lay a heavy hand on her own adopted daughter, could she?
What's more, the situation had become even more complicated now. If Edith told others that she was a half-blood, Daphne probably wouldn't be able to get out of Cole Town alive.
The strength of those Templar Knights was much higher than hers at present. By then, she probably wouldn't be able to fight them off or escape.
Not to mention there was also Grevia. The scene of Daphne provoking her before was still vivid in her mind. Daphne didn't even dare to think about what horrible things Grevia would do to her if she caught her.
This time, with her actions, she had kicked herself back into the tiger's den.
Another failure!
"What do you want? Since you didn't expose me right away, it means I still have value to you, right?" Daphne still wanted to struggle a bit and planned to negotiate terms with Edith.
"So smart." Edith smiled slightly. "What I want is very simple."
Another sudden attack that Daphne didn't expect. The blond girl pressed her lips against hers again and gently bit Daphne's soft, tender, and pink lips.
Daphne's heart skipped a beat again.
As if deliberately teasing her, Edith only kissed her briefly and then loosened a little. A silvery thread of saliva stretched and then broke in the middle due to gravity.
Facing the half-blood girl who was already in a daze of affection, panting softly, and with her legs trembling just from being kissed twice, Edith smiled slyly.
"I want you."