Chapter 60: Chapter 52: I Care About You a Great Deal

“I know, but you’re not a Magical Girl anymore, are you?”

Ye Qing leaned on the mop with one hand on her hip, her expression calm.

She still remembered the moving melody she had heard from the piano room that day. The silver-haired girl at the piano had been so elegant, so effortlessly graceful.

Her long, slender fingers had danced across the keys, as light as a dragonfly skimming water, as nimble as a wildcat pouncing on its prey…

‘She must treasure those hard-won hands,’ Ye Qing thought, ‘hands skillful enough to replace my own.’

To say she felt no resentment after three years of neglect would be a lie. But now that Gu Xuanyu was back by her side, Ye Qing had a belated realization.

Gu Xuanyu wasn’t as dependent on her as she’d once thought, and she, in turn, had grown accustomed to a life without her.

After joining the evil organization, Ye Qing’s life had become quite fulfilling.

Although Nuo and Shaoyao seemed to have ulterior motives… Ye Qing didn’t mind the feeling. It was a blessing to be cared for.

‘Just as long as they don’t try to top me.’

In contrast, her understanding of Gu Xuanyu seemed stuck three years in the past.

She was more like a younger sister who needed her company and care—always so good, always so obedient…

But Gu Xuanyu’s words just now had completely upended that perception.

What did she mean by ‘an attentive lover’…

‘Does that mean all those times you clung to me while we slept and insisted we bathe together, you were having wicked thoughts?’

‘I saw you as my sister, but you want to top me?’

‘How devious!’

Ye Qing didn’t want to dwell on it. In any case, Gu Xuanyu wasn’t a Magical Girl now. She couldn’t possibly launch an attack with those clumsy hands of hers.

And as long as Ye Qing continued to look after her clumsy self, she would have no choice but to remain her obedient little sister…

“Ye Qing, actually… I can become a Magical Girl again now.”

“?”

Ye Qing’s almond eyes widened, her amber pupils filled with a massive question mark.

‘What is this girl talking about?’

“Ye Qing, do you want me to become a Magical Girl again…?” Gu Xuanyu whispered, her voice as careful as if she were afraid of waking a sleeping infant.

“I want to take care of you, too. I want to protect you, not just cause you trouble all the time. And also…”

Ye Qing watched as Gu Xuanyu raised her hands and bashfully poked her index fingers together, a growing sense of dread creeping over her.

‘You also want a pair of deft hands that can write tirelessly, don’t you!’

Her gaze turned distant. Ye Qing averted her eyes, refusing to meet that pair of wine-red eyes brimming with affection.

‘This floor is so dirty,’ she thought. ‘I’d better mop it.’

“I don’t regret becoming a Magical Girl. I just despise Silver Moon… As despicable as her methods were, she wasn’t entirely lying.”

Her unexpected reply made Ye Qing freeze. She silently tightened her grip on the mop, her gaze deepening as she lost herself in thought.

She knew what Gu Xuanyu was trying to say.

Not everyone was as fortunate as Lin Shaoyao, who had the aid of a friend among the evil executives. When ordinary people were attacked by the evil organization, who could they turn to for help?

Magical Girls.

Though they often appeared on screen, they were far from mere pretty faces. They were Jinzhou’s only defense against the evil organization.

Conventional weapons were useless against magic-wielding evil executives, and weapons with greater destructive power couldn’t be used within the city. Thus, the only way to stop them was for Magical Girls to fight.

When Nuo awakened, Magical Girl Qing had arrived almost instantly to prevent her from causing havoc. The unreliable Chi, though late, had still resolutely stood in their way—even if the outcome had been disastrous.

But what if it hadn’t been a flustered Tang Nuo who appeared that day, but a malicious evil executive?

It was hard to imagine what would have happened to the two captured Magical Girls. At the very least, they would never have reappeared in public unscathed.

Magical Girls were beings who fought to protect people, fully aware that they could be harmed, humiliated, coerced, tortured, and brutally murdered.

Yet, those with the aptitude to become Magical Girls were so rare that a handful of young, inexperienced girls were forced to bear this crushing responsibility.

In contrast, the evil executives seemed far too free. They were accountable to no one, unbound by any law, and needed only to consider how to wield their immense power to seize whatever they desired.

It sounded unfair, didn’t it? But in truth, Magical Girls could do the same. Many possessed powers stronger and more wondrous than any evil executive.

If they chose a life of crime, no one could stop them. The world itself would be overturned.

“The CCB—Covenant and Cost Balance—behind her is an organization that exists to restrain Magical Girls. It finds girls like me and has them sign a contract, granting them one wish in exchange for becoming a Magical Girl.”

Gu Xuanyu held out her fair, jade-like hands. Her long, slender fingers were curled naturally, yet they trembled slightly from time to time, captivating Ye Qing’s gaze.

“Instead of a trivial wish like healing one’s hands, most people would choose to change their destiny. But what’s even more uncontrollable than the wish is the power that comes with being a Magical Girl.”

Gu Xuanyu clenched her fists. It might have looked like a soft gesture now, but she seemed to be recalling a power that was once nearly omnipotent.

Judging by how easily Shen Congqing had taken down those burly men, Gu Xuanyu had clearly possessed a strength no less formidable than hers.

As she pondered this, the ever-imaginative Ye Qing unfortunately conjured up some rather awful scenarios, and her face instantly turned pale.

‘Ugh, I’d be broken for sure.’

“To control us, the contract stipulates that we must surrender our transformation medium. This ensures our power isn’t used for the wrong purposes. But I never imagined that scoundrel Silver Moon would use it to alter my memories…”

Every time she mentioned Silver Moon, Gu Xuanyu would unconsciously clench her teeth.

She had now learned how to transform into a Magical Girl again. Although her original medium was destroyed, she had found a replacement—the notebook where she wrote her novel.

It couldn’t be used to grant a wish, but Gu Xuanyu’s wish had never truly been fulfilled anyway.

Her congenital defect was supposed to be remedied upon becoming a Magical Girl, but thanks to Silver Moon’s meddling, she’d had no contact with Ye Qing at all.

She had just graduated from middle school at the time. By arrangement, she was sent to the Magical Girl Academy, disguised as Thirteenth High, and became classmates with Liu Qingruo.

There, she learned everything a Magical Girl needed to know, and in the process, lost all connection to Ye Qing.

Her phone number was changed, and she rarely returned home, spending most of her time boarding at the academy. But if she had to be honest, the experience itself wasn’t all bad.

The only hateful part was that Silver Moon had taken Ye Qing’s place, pushing her through training in the guise of an “older sister.”

All the while, she had foolishly believed she simply wasn’t good enough, that she was failing to meet her expectations…

“I’m no longer under her control, but I’ll probably be a wanted person now. I can run, but I don’t want to drag you into this, so…”

“What are you thinking?”

A gentle flick suddenly landed on Gu Xuanyu’s forehead. Her wine-red eyes widened in a daze, and when she focused again, the black-haired girl was already close.

“Why do you think I joined an evil organization?”

Ye Qing’s voice was calm, but her brilliant, amber eyes were fixed on the bewildered silver-haired girl.

“It’s because I care about you a great deal.”