"Mother!"
"Hil..."
The Gothic lolita's voice trembled, a mix of excitement, reverence, and dread. In contrast, the Mirror Lady's face remained an unbroken mask of calm, her radiant features betraying no emotion. Even her tone, as she called out to Hil, was as flat and indifferent as still water.
Only the fragments of "space" shattering and swirling violently around her gave away the tempest beneath her serene exterior.
Having once endured the grueling life of 996 work hours, Yi Bai was no stranger to reading people's expressions. He could tell—this facade of tranquility masked a killing intent so thick it could crush mountains. The feedback from his Eye of Insight confirmed it.
[Mirror Lady: Qingyuan / Soulless (Names can hold meanings far beyond simple labels—sometimes they carry secrets untold.)]
[Race: Mirror Wraith / Magic Mirror (By chance, she fused completely with the Soulless Magic Mirror she once wielded, catapulting her power to terrifying heights.)]
[Disposition: Overflowing with Murderous Intent (Sneaking into someone's sanctuary always brings their wrath, even if... you're just the unlucky scapegoat.)]
[Power Level: Blood Veil Pinnacle (Keep that "Return Scroll" close—you're on her turf, and she knows it.)]
[Likes: Control (She shapes the world within her mirror with a mere thought. But outside? Ah, the imperfection of reality gnaws at her soul.)]
[Weaknesses: Her Name, the Mirror.]
[Current State: I want to kill that brat! But Hil... damn it! That cursed bloodsucker! How dare he deceive my precious Hil?! Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable! (Messing with her home while she's out? Sure. But getting her daughter's support? That's hitting a whole new level of fury.)]
"Her name? A dual identity? Not simply a front but something hidden deeper..." Yi Bai's sharp eyes glinted as he latched onto the critical information, ignoring Qingyuan's murderous aura. This could be the key to unraveling the stalemate.
With the puzzle pieces in hand, Yi Bai exhaled softly, his nerves steadied by preparation. His hand, however, still gripped the Return Scroll tightly, ready to activate it at a moment's notice. After all, facing a Blood Veil Pinnacle wraith in her domain left no room for error.
"Hil, my dear Hil... have you forgotten your mother's instructions? Are you becoming a disobedient child?"
Qingyuan's voice was cold and distant, each word laced with frosty indifference that could chill the soul.
"No! Hil listens to Mother! Hil hasn't disobeyed your instructions!"
For the first time, the Gothic lolita found her courage. She stood her ground, refusing to be cowed into silence by her mother's words.
A flicker of surprise crossed Qingyuan's gaze, adding an undertone of complexity to her turmoil. Her daughter, Hil, had never talked back before. And now, she was doing it—for a bloodsucker she barely knew.
Anger and frustration boiled beneath Qingyuan's surface, warring with an odd pang of something else. Was it... the realization that her child was growing up? Her control over everything, which she held so dearly, was slipping through her fingers.
"You say you haven't disobeyed me, and yet—"
Qingyuan froze mid-sentence. Memories surfaced unbidden.
She had always instructed Hil to never leave the magic mirror. For her safety, she had forbade her from interacting with any outside entities. But... she had never anticipated that Hil might bring someone into the mirror instead.
A glaring oversight.
And now, all it had taken was the brief time Qingyuan spent at a meeting to return to a home in chaos. Her domain had been infiltrated. Worse, her precious daughter was now fiercely defending the intruder.
It was a betrayal so profound, it felt as though her carefully tended garden had been trampled by pigs—while the flowers sang their praises to the beasts.
"Uh, well..."
As much as Yi Bai appreciated the irony of the situation, the hostile energy radiating from Qingyuan left him little room to savor it. He cleared his throat, preparing to unleash his ultimate technique: Divine Art—Talk no Jutsu.
A mere cough was enough to shift Qingyuan's piercing gaze onto him, those crystalline, gem-like eyes brimming with a pressure that threatened to crush him.
Unfazed, Yi Bai unleashed his opening gambit.
"Lady, you wouldn't want your daughter to turn against you, would you?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the mirror world trembled. Countless shards of shattered space disintegrated into fine powder under the sheer force of Qingyuan's rage.
The towering landscapes and deep chasms within the mirror world roared in protest, their violent surges painting a picture of unbridled fury. Yet amidst the chaos, Yi Bai remained resolute.
He had no time to marvel at the grand spectacle before him. Instead, he pressed on.
"Mirror Lady, I must say, you're an excellent mother. That much is clear." His words, carefully measured, struck the first chord of Qingyuan's pride. Then came the twist. "But..."
Qingyuan narrowed her eyes, the shift in tone prompting her immediate attention.
"But what?" she demanded. "Hil is my daughter—no one loves her more than I do!"
"Exactly," Yi Bai replied, inwardly cringing at how much he wanted to agree with her sarcastically. Still, diplomacy won out. "You are undoubtedly the one who loves her most. But there's something you may not understand about love..."
Qingyuan's lips tightened, but Yi Bai pressed on, unyielding.
"Love, when it becomes too heavy, can turn into a burden."
The Mirror Lady fell silent, his words rippling through her like stones cast into a still pond.
Hil, on the other hand, reacted instantly. She spun around and threw herself into Yi Bai's arms, clutching him tightly, as if afraid he might vanish. Her grip was fierce, almost desperate, like she wanted to merge her being with his.
Yi Bai understood her response. His words had struck a chord within her, resonating with the cracks in her delicate heart.
Qingyuan, still reeling from the revelation, muttered under her breath, "Love... a burden?"
Her once unshakable composure wavered. For the first time, doubt seeped into her heart—a heart so used to controlling, commanding, and binding everything around her.