Chapter 128 : Time to Collect Some Interest

She flew all the way to the top of the clock tower. Milly sat on the edge, her back against the heavy bell.

Her small feet, clad only in dirty white socks, dangled in the air.

The night wind whipped past, tangling her white hair, but it couldn’t dispel the turmoil in her mind.

Her wings had healed. She could have flown out of the city, away from Starlight City. But the chaos in her mind had led her to the highest point in the vicinity.

No one but her would come here in the middle of the night.

Before she left, she needed to clear her head. She had to remember every detail of what had just happened.

From the moment she signed the contract, the electricity in her body had become restless. After she had taken down Maurice, her electricity should have been completely depleted.

And when she had faced Stacy’s tentacles, she had only managed a weak spark.

So, where did this new surge of power come from?

And that wasn’t all.

She opened her palm. The arcs of electricity were bright in the darkness.

She released a bolt into the sky. A blinding white light flashed, for a moment, almost turning the night to day.

A deafening roar, like the thunder from a few days ago.

She had just released it casually, but the intensity was almost as strong as when she had used all her strength. And when she had unconsciously released it at Stacy, she seemed to have taken a step back.

Before, her electricity had never had any effect on Stacy.

The only explanation was…

The scroll.

She bit her lip. From the moment Stacy had forced her to sign, her depleted electricity had been fully restored, and her injured wings had healed, as if the seal on her had been lifted.

But she could still feel the old fool’s seal. The contract Stacy had made her sign seemed to have bypassed the seal, restoring some of her abilities.

She tried to summon Broken. A faint light flickered from her fingertips and then disappeared. It seemed her own abilities were still sealed. The contract couldn’t break it.

If her sealed abilities were a barren land, then the contract was a new, fertile ground.

As for what other changes the contract had brought, she couldn’t tell for now.

But, given its complexity, and the fact that her appraisal skill couldn’t identify it, she had reason to believe its effects were not so simple.

She replayed the entire encounter with Stacy in her mind. The final image was of Stacy letting go of her hand, letting her sign the contract.

That was unusual. From what she knew of her, she would have grabbed her hand and forced her to sign, enjoying the process. Unless the contract required the signer’s consent.

And she hadn’t chased after her. It was as if her only goal was to make her sign the contract. And all the coercion before that was just to force her to choose.

To go through all that trouble, just to make her sign a contract that seemed to be helping her.

“Tch… what a difficult woman.”

But she also knew that if Stacy had just handed her the contract, she would have never signed it. So, Stacy had to go through all that trouble to force her.

This also explained some of the strange things she had noticed. Stacy’s emotions had not been genuine. She had been forcing herself.

But all this was just her own speculation. She couldn’t confirm it. Although she could guess Stacy’s motives, and she knew she had gone through all that trouble just to make her sign this contract.

With that, she had a theory about Stacy’s purpose.

From the dungeon… maybe even earlier. Stacy’s attitude had changed significantly from the night she had found her in the rain.

From then on, no matter what Stacy did, the end result was always to help her, to be good to her.

Following that line of thought, she realized that the gentle Stacy was trying to test their relationship.

If it weren’t for everything that had happened before, maybe she would have fallen into the gentle trap.

But because of everything she had been through, she couldn’t be sure if Stacy was sincere or just pretending.

She couldn’t take the risk. One wrong step, and she might be back in that hell.

If her guess was right, she could understand Stacy’s purpose, her motives. But she still couldn’t understand Stacy.

“What an infuriating way to do things.”

If she could use force, she wouldn’t talk. If Stacy had just told her to sign the contract, and then forced her when she refused, it would have been better than this roundabout way.

And the whole process, Stacy’s true intentions, she had to guess them all on her own.

From the moment she met Stacy, she had been like this. She had asked her to leave this world, but gave no reason, no method.

Why did she think she would just understand?

Milly would never forgive Stacy for what she had done. And she wouldn’t be grateful for this contract that was helping her.

But…

She looked at the lightning in her palm. She wouldn’t just throw away this power. Since Stacy had gone through so much trouble to force it on her, if she didn’t use it to her advantage, it would be a waste.

One day, she would return everything Stacy had done to her. Until then, no matter what Stacy did, she would never forgive her.

She looked down. The lightning had attracted attention.

Good. Before, she had only thought of escaping. Now, she had no such intention.

She spread her wings and jumped from the clock tower, feeling the night wind rush past her. She accelerated toward the city wall.

The guards on the wall were on alert. They had heard a noise from the clock tower. The escaped demon girl was likely there.

For them, a powerless Milly was a prize. If they could find her, she would be an easy catch.

The one on watch tonight was jealous of his comrades who were out hunting her.

The guard didn’t notice the figure above him, nor the lightning in her hand.

“Boom!”

The guard on the watchtower fell, his armor crackling with electricity.

Milly landed lightly on the battlements, her small, white-socked feet stepping over the motionless guard.

“After being chased for so long…” she raised her hand and released another bolt. The approaching guards froze and fell from the wall.

“It’s time to collect some interest.”