Late night, past midnight.
Yuna lay on the cotton bed in the attic bedroom and suddenly opened her eyes.
"So I really moved in…" Yuna muttered, one wrist resting on her forehead. Her voice was no longer the childish tone from earlier, but that of a mature adult woman.
She threw back the blanket and sat up on the edge of the bed. The shadow beneath her seemed to come alive, slowly splitting apart into several streams of flowing darkness that darted off in all directions.
"Mmm… patrol squads, that nun—no suspicious people nearby…" Yuna spoke with her eyes closed, as if she could see everything around her. A cruel curve slowly formed at the corner of her lips. "East street corner—one. Oh, little things are hiding pretty well. Two to the north, and another to the west."
"Tonight's appetizer."
The next instant, Yuna's entire body melted like ink, blending into the floor and vanishing.
More than ten minutes later, after dealing with the surrounding hidden sentries and scouts, Yuna returned to the room, an expression of lingering satisfaction on her face.
There wasn't the slightest trace of blood on her. Once she reined in her expression, she reverted to a harmless-looking one-and-a-half-meter-tall little girl.
She wasn't sleepy at all. Her eyes flickered, and her body once again turned into a mass of shadow and sank into the ground.
Second-floor master bedroom.
Ron lay on the bed, circulating the Natural Meditation Technique, immersed in deep meditation.
[System: "The spy has entered your room."]
Ron instantly snapped out of his meditative state, but immediately controlled himself and did not open his eyes.
If the other party had malicious intent, the system would probably have issued a mission already.
So Ron wasn't panicking. He decided to observe quietly and see what she was up to.
A shadow like black ink rose from the floor, gradually forming into a humanoid shape that condensed into Yuna's figure.
Yuna stepped barefoot onto the floorboards without making a single sound.
If Ron had still been in meditation, he probably wouldn't have noticed any change in the room.
But now that he was awake, even with his eyes closed, he could still sense her presence through the faint vibrations in the floor.
Yuna slowly walked to the bedside, leaned over, and looked at Ron lying there. For a long time, she didn't move at all.
The room was completely silent.
If not for the system's alert, Ron might have thought she had already left.
Just as Ron was deciding whether to keep pretending to sleep or open his eyes and expose her, a cold touch suddenly brushed against his cheek.
???
Ron's mind filled with question marks. He had no idea what she was doing.
A soft, smooth little hand caressed his face.
Her fingers traced across his lips, climbed up his nose bridge, and finally rested on his eyebrows, gently stroking them.
If Ron had opened his eyes at that moment, he would have seen the tenderness in Yuna's gaze as she looked at his brows, as if recalling something.
So similar…
Exactly like my sister's eyebrows…
In the next instant, Ron opened his eyes.
At the same time, Yuna instantly dissolved into an inky shadow and sank into the floor.
Ron only caught a brief flicker of darkness before his eyes—nothing else.
But with the system's notification, he knew very clearly that Yuna had been standing by his bed just moments ago, even reaching out to touch his face.
What kind of weird habit is that?
Ron sat up on the edge of the bed, touching his cheek as he pondered how to start the conversation.
Yuna was still in the room.
After all, the system helpfully informed him: "The spy is under the bed."
Even legends like Commander Webster and Vosbites couldn't evade the system's detection, let alone Yuna.
After thinking it over, for the sake of long-term peace, Ron decided to be direct. He patted the edge of the bed and said:
"I know you're under the bed. Come out, Yuna. Let's talk."
!?
Yuna, already in shadow form, was startled. She couldn't understand how Ron had discovered her.
She held her breath and didn't come out rashly.
Ron sighed helplessly and knocked on the bedframe again.
"You were just sneaking a feel of my face, and now you're shy?"
Still no response.
"My father sent you, right? I knew it before you even came to the flower shop."
Yuna wavered.
"I thought you'd behave yourself on the first night. Didn't expect you to be this bold… Come out and talk. Let's discuss your future work arrangements."
A shadow shot out from under the bed, rose from the floor, and finally condensed into a one-and-a-half-meter-tall little girl.
Suspicion lingered on Yuna's face. Her childish features carried a maturity that didn't belong to her apparent age.
"When did you wake up?" she asked.
"The moment you came in."
"Then why didn't you open your eyes?"
"How was I supposed to know you'd start touching me?"
"Tch." Yuna plopped herself onto the nearby table, one leg bent on the tabletop while the other dangled in the air. She lifted her chin and said indifferently, "So what if I touched you? It's not like you lost a piece of flesh."
Ron stroked his chin and looked at her, pretending to be troubled.
"I can't just act as if nothing happened… What if you've fallen for me? I mean, I'm so—"
"Bullshit! Who'd like a little brat like you?" Yuna snapped.
"Who are you calling a little brat?"
"You!" Yuna spat, then immediately realized something and flared up. "You tricked me!?"
Ron shrugged and said leisurely, "Have some respect. Even after being exposed, you're still this arrogant? Since you're my father's subordinate, you should at least call me 'Prince Ron,' right? You were saying it pretty nicely before."
Yuna snorted and blurted out, "If we're counting like that, I'm your aunt! Why don't you call me 'Auntie' and let me hear it?"
"What nonsense?" Ron frowned. "Be serious."
"What? I'm not lying." Yuna crossed her arms and turned her head away with a pout.
"My mother was twenty when she gave birth to me. I'm eighteen now. You look, what—fourteen?" Ron rolled his eyes. "Besides, I've never heard that my mother had a sister. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable."
"Fourteen?" Yuna looked at Ron with a half-smile that wasn't quite a smile. She planted one hand on the table and hopped down.
What left Ron utterly dumbfounded was that as Yuna jumped down, her body gradually stretched. Her legs, arms, and frame all began to grow.
A series of crisp crackling sounds of bones shifting echoed through the room.
The Yuna who had been only one and a half meters tall now stood nearly one point seven five meters when she straightened up.
The shabby cotton clothes she wore were suddenly stretched tight by her now-full figure.
Her long legs extended, turning her trousers into shorts. Moonlight poured in, coating them with a layer of silvery frost.
Her once-childish face fully matured into one of alluring elegance, leaving Ron staring in shock.
Yuna leaned against the table, lifted one long leg, and casually rested it on Ron's knee.
Her snow-white fox ears stood out vividly amidst her smooth black hair. As she toyed with her hair, she lightly kicked Ron with her foot and muttered:
"If it weren't for sneaking into your shop, you half-beast-loli-loving idiot, do you think I'd turn myself into that earlier form?"