Dark-colored Fairy Tale: Seven Magicians - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The moment before Liu Menglu touched the delicate, cold little face, her hand was slapped away.

Liu Menglu rubbed the tip of her nose and gave a sheepish smile, awkwardly changing the subject. She said, “So, you don’t know my name yet, do you? My name is Liu Menglu.”

Chloe nodded, then said with some hesitation, “Chloe Merlin.”

“Merlin? As in the Merlin from Harry Potter?” Liu Menglu asked curiously.

Chloe shook her head. “No. I have the surname Merlin because I am the holder of one of the Seven Ancient Offerings, the Merlin Chaotic Dragon.”

“What’s that? It sounds powerful.” Liu Menglu didn’t know anything about it, but she knew to latch onto her and ask for details.

She looked at Chloe with her big, watery blue eyes, full of eagerness.

Chloe felt her heart skip a beat. Still, she kept her mouth shut. Some things were better just to be known, but digging too deep wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Seeing Chloe’s refusal, Liu Menglu felt a little disappointed but quickly adjusted her attitude. “Then, can you tell me some interesting things that have happened to you during your years as a magical girl?”

“Interesting things?” Chloe shook her head. The encounters of a magical being were never interesting. However, speaking of interesting…

“You… you’re the first ordinary person I’ve ever met who wasn’t scared when they saw a demon. You even managed to use insults to almost drive it insane.”

Thinking of everything she saw in the shadows yesterday, Chloe still felt the urge to laugh.

Liu Menglu also remembered her true nature being exposed yesterday. She puffed out her cheeks, a little embarrassed.

The world was like that. As a hardcore otaku, her use of insults was inevitable.

Seeing the girl sitting there silently, her face red with embarrassment, Chloe shook her head. She then looked at a family photo on the wall, getting lost in thought.

The family of three in the picture looked very harmonious, but Liu Menglu, who should have been sitting in the middle of her parents, was closer to her father.

Chloe didn’t think much of it, only assuming the girl was closer to her father.

Seeing that Chloe wasn’t talking, Liu Menglu quietly looked up. She glanced at the time and suddenly shouted, “Oh no! It’s almost 11 o’clock! We need to go to sleep quickly. I have a heavy workload at school tomorrow.”

Chloe looked at the girl rushing toward her room. She suddenly remembered a scene from her memory and said, “Then have a good dream. And… I’ll give you a surprise tomorrow.”

…

The next day…

Liu Menglu looked at the large dark circles under her eyes, which were filled with despair. It was all Chloe’s fault!

She said she was going to give me a big surprise today, which made me stay up all night wondering what it was.

Could it be that she finally gave in and gave me a chance to become a magical girl? Could I finally become a magical girl just like her? Thinking of this, Liu Menglu got so excited that she had a successful night of insomnia.

Because she was full of anticipation, she couldn’t get a good night’s sleep.

She woke up before dawn, impatient, and made a whole bunch of delicious breakfast, ready to bribe the seemingly aloof magical girl.

But reality was cruel. When she knocked on the guest room door, she found the bed neatly made, but the person was gone!

Liu Menglu suddenly felt like she was on the verge of a breakdown. Was her so-called surprise the complete and utter end of her magical girl dream? Did she just disappear?

Just as Liu Menglu was standing there with a mournful expression, the alarm clock suddenly rang. The sound of the wake-up alarm made Liu Menglu sigh. She then turned her sadness and anger into motivation, eating two servings of breakfast in one go. She was ready to go to school, “pregnant” with the magical girl’s baby! She meandered slowly down the road to school, as if grieving their deceased love.

Thinking of this, a pang of sadness went through Liu Menglu’s heart. She ate two more big bowls of food with tears in her eyes. The dejected look on her face when she entered the classroom made Yang Shishi a little curious.

“Mengmeng, what’s wrong with you?” Yang Shishi asked, concerned about the listless Liu Menglu.

Liu Menglu pouted, her eyes full of tears. “Did you know? My child is gone! I lost a huge opportunity!”

“…” Yang Shishi was stunned, then she laughed.

Like a spring flower, her smile was radiant, and her gentle tone carried a hint of coldness. “Whose?”

Liu Menglu flopped her head onto her desk, her face full of sorrow. “A magical girl’s. Never mind, you wouldn’t understand.” She quickly corrected herself, “No, it wasn’t that. Forget it, you wouldn’t understand.”

Yang Shishi frowned and replied carelessly. “A magical girl? That’s an anime thing. How could there be magical girls in the real world?” As she said this, she patted Liu Menglu’s shoulder as if to comfort her. But in a place Liu Menglu couldn’t see, a yellow talisman was stuck to her back.

Yang Shishi glanced at it and let out a sigh of relief.

Looks like she was just making things up again. She didn’t encounter any real demons or magical beings.

Shaking her head at someone who was daydreaming, Yang Shishi felt both annoyed and amused. She suggested, “Did you not sleep well again last night? You don’t look good. Do you want to take a day off and rest in the infirmary?”

Liu Menglu thought for a moment and decided to go!

Between last night and the night before, she had definitely not gotten enough sleep lately.

Just as Liu Menglu was trying to find an excuse to go to the infirmary, the homeroom teacher suddenly walked in, which made Liu Menglu raise an eyebrow.

Normally, the homeroom teacher wouldn’t come to the classroom during the morning self-study period. Why was he here this time?

“Everyone, quiet down.” The homeroom teacher lightly coughed twice. When everyone quieted down, he smiled and said, “Today, we have a new transfer student in our class. Let’s give them a round of applause.”

Liu Menglu was still in a slump because of the disappearance of her magical girl. She wasn’t at all interested in the new student. But as a perfect beauty in the eyes of others, she still showed a sweet smile and clapped gently.

And then—

“It’s you!” My “child’s” magical girl! The mother!

Chloe looked at Liu Menglu, who had stood up in surprise, and gave her a fleeting smile. The smile was short and beautiful.

It was like a lotus on a snow-capped mountain suddenly blooming, or a night-blooming cereus suddenly appearing and then vanishing.

The homeroom teacher looked at the excited Liu Menglu and asked with some curiosity, “What’s wrong, Class President? Do you know this new student?”