After getting back to the stone house, Lily dragged her bag to herself and zipped it open. What she found inside was utterly beyond her expectations. The strange black hole was nowhere to be found; the only thing inside was a small ring.
"Why is there a ring inside? Where is that strange thing?" Lily pondered, picking up the ring to examine it.
Upon careful inspection, she noticed the black traces that served as a design on the ring. "Don't tell me that thing turned into a ring," she murmured, slipping the ring onto her index finger.
As soon as the ring was on her finger, it glowed softly, and suddenly a huge supply of sanitary pads appeared in front of her, shocking her.
"Why so many pads?" Lily exclaimed in disbelief. Then all the pads vanished, leaving only one behind. "Err, is it just me, or does this ring actually serve as a storage ring?" she wondered, taking another glance at it. She tried removing the ring, but it was as if it had claimed her as its owner and refused to budge. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't take it off. "Forget it; if it's a storage ring, it would be best to utilize it for my goods, it's easy to carry around as well, Incase of emergency" she mused.
"Beauty, are you alright inside?" Liam's worried voice echoed from outside.
"Ah, I'm fine!" Lily replied. "I need to bathe first before changing," she thought, and right after her thought, a large bathtub appeared in front of her, filled with warm water. Hanging on the stick above it was a beautiful black garment; all the items she needed to complete her bath were very well prepared, along with the strange bathtub.
Seeing this, Lily's heart couldn't help but race faster. "Wow! This ring is just too good! Even in my world, I wouldn't dare imagine such an expensive bathtub," she exclaimed happily and jumped up several times, only for her stomach to hurt. "Ouch, this is painful!" she cursed inwardly and promptly stepped into the bathtub.
After a long period, Lily was finally done. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but admire her beauty again and again. "This increase in beauty must have something to do with Angus; better to conceal it to avoid future trouble," she thought, and suddenly different types of paste tubes appeared right before her.
"These are..." Lily bent down and calmly checked all the tubes. "These are concealment tubes! Very good! Just very good!" Lily laughed happily and began mixing the tubes together.
After a while, Lily was finally done. She took the mirror again to check her appearance, but upon seeing her reflection, she was stunned to the point of becoming utterly speechless.
"Angel, you've been in there for quite a while; are you okay?" Angus's panicked voice echoed, and without waiting for a response, he entered. Upon seeing Lily's appearance, his jaw dropped immediately.
"Angus, what happened to Beauty?" Liam's panicked voice echoed as well, and he entered; his expression was even worse compared to Angus's.
Malik sensed something was off and peeked in as well. Seeing Angel, his eyes widened in shock, and his mouth slowly fell open.
"Angel, what happened to you?" the three exclaimed in alarm.
From head to toe, Lily was completely black; her once peerless beauty had now been replaced with unsightly ugliness. Her face wrinkled like that of an aged woman, her long beautiful hair was still straight but looked heavy and unsightly. She was undeniably too ugly; even the ugliest female beasts would still be considered beautiful compared to her. Only her beautiful eyes were spared from the transformation from beauty to ugliness.
Angus, Liam, and Malik stood there, mouths agape.
Lily blinked twice. "Am I that bad looking?" she questioned.
Liam slowly circled Lily, his brows slightly knitted. "Why are you like this, Beauty?" he asked. Before Lily could reply, he suddenly licked her face to taste the stain that hadn't dried yet.
"What are you doing?! That's a chemical, do you understand? You can't lick it!" Lily scolded, her voice laced with urgency. "Spit it out!" she ordered.
"Err, I already swallowed it," Liam scratched the back of his head, but a grin spread across his face. "But it tasted good!" he added with a charming smile.
Lily's mouth fell slightly open in disbelief.
Malik rushed closer to Lily. "What's this stuff on your body?" he asked with curiosity.
"Concealment," Lily replied simply. "It's supposed to hide my beauty," she explained.
"Wow, Beauty, you're hiding your beauty!" Liam exclaimed suddenly, picking Lily up and spinning her around. "You're awesome!" he shouted. "You are hiding your beauty for only me to see right?" He asked, grinning like a baby.
"Put me down first! It's yet to dry; don't peel everything off me!" Lily protested, and Liam immediately set her down. "What's there to be so happy about? I'm just trying to avoid future trouble." She murmured.
Liam continued to grin.
"Beautiful sister, Angel!" Berry's voice echoed from outside.
"Berry!" A sweet smile appeared on Lily's face as she quickly fixed the spot that Liam had licked off before running out happily.
"Be careful!" Angus called out, promptly lifting Lily. "I will take you out; don't run," he declared, and Lily nodded.
...
"Berry!" Lily exclaimed as soon as she saw Berry, then ran up to her. "I was still planning on visiting you!" she smiled. Her expression, which was supposed to have a charm that could calm an uneasy soul, turned into a smile that directly attacked the soul. Her ugliness was just too overwhelming.
"B-B-beautiful sister, why...why are you reduced to this? How...how come your fair skin...your body?" Berry stammered in shock, rolling Lily around to check on her. "You...you are not sick; how could this happen?" Her eyes widened.
"So... this is the most beautiful sister with treasure fair skin you were talking about," a female cat with pale yellowish skin and green eyes, along with a pair of cat ears on her head and a little tail behind her, stared at Lily with a curious expression.
Lily lifted her head and glanced behind Berry, only to find a group of female cat-beasts in their human forms standing behind her. "This..." Lily looked at Berry.
"I brought them here; I boasted about your beauty to them. They didn't believe me, so I brought them here to see for themselves. I... just... never mind that, but what really happened? Why are you like this?" Berry asked, concern etched on her face.
"Nothing is wrong with me. Am I that bad looking?" Lily questioned, her eyes clear. "Damn this ring for making me look unsightly ugly," she cursed inwardly.
"She's even asking if she's bad looking. Tsk. Anyway, you might not be as beautiful as Berry described you, but I hope that your abilities are not the complete opposite of our expectations and opposite of what she said," another female cat-beast chimed in.
Lily felt slightly confused and looked at Berry. "What is she talking about?" she inquired.
"Err," Berry rubbed her nose slightly, looking a bit sheepish. "Actually, apart from coming to check on your beauty, I brought them here to... learn about the mating styles from you," Berry revealed.
Lily's eyes gradually widened in shock. "You... say...what?" she exclaimed, her voice a mix of disbelief and surprise.