Chapter 30: Snuggle Snuggle

The door to Lilith’s room was locked by Bai Jin, isolating the curious gazes from the corridor.

The room was filled with Lilith’s scent, a fresh and pleasant floral fragrance.

Bai Jin gently placed the girl in her arms on the large bed with plain-colored sheets.
Lilith was like a fledgling bird ravaged by a storm, now showing her utmost vulnerability.

Bai Jin took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable emotions in her heart, and walked to the washbasin stand in the corner.

Cold well water was poured into the basin.
She wrung out a soft cloth, walked back to the bedside, and looked at the unconscious Lilith on the bed.
Bai Jin’s movements paused.

Lilith’s body was completely soaked in mucus, outlining the girl’s youthful and slender figure.

The memory of being a man in her previous life suddenly stirred up at this inappropriate moment, and a strong sense of shame and moral condemnation of not looking at what is inappropriate hit her.

She subconsciously looked away, her ears feeling slightly hot.

‘Damn, what the hell is this! Although I am using a girl’s body now, the habits I have acquired from nearly thirty years of life have become a part of me.’

‘Seeing the naked body of an unconscious girl, how is this different from taking advantage of someone in distress?!’

However, her concern for Lilith eventually drew her gaze back.
Lilith’s exposed skin was wrinkled from being soaked, so pale it was almost transparent.

On her slender neck, a few ligature marks that had not yet completely faded snaked in deep red imprints on her fragile skin.

Below her delicate collarbones were the gently rising, not yet fully developed soft curves, and her slender waist looked as if it could be encircled with one hand.

‘So thin… even thinner than she looks. She’s been infused with the power of the Holy Blood for five hundred years, yet she doesn’t seem to have developed at all. Is this also the price of immortality…’

A feeling mixed with pity and a strange sense of responsibility welled up in her heart, overpowering that bit of unusual awkwardness.

She was Bai Jin now, Lilith’s attendant nun, the only person who could take care of her at this moment.

“Just think of it as… a nurse taking care of a patient.”
Bai Jin found a clumsy excuse for herself in a low voice, as if she were trying to convince her subconscious.

The damp cloth gently wiped the girl’s youthful and beautiful body.
Bai Jin’s heart beat uncontrollably faster, her cheeks burning hot.

Bai Jin forced herself to concentrate, focusing her gaze on the mucus, avoiding those distracting curves.

Bai Jin gently brushed over Lilith’s skin, wiping away the slimy filth.
Her fingertips would occasionally, unavoidably, touch that delicate skin.

Every contact was like a faint electric current shooting through her, making Bai Jin’s movements even stiffer.

A soft moan grazed Bai Jin’s tense nerves, almost making her drop the cloth in her hand.

After changing the water back and forth several times, finally, the difficult cleaning work was completed.

Bai Jin quickly put a clean nightgown on Lilith and let out a long sigh of relief.

Her back was actually soaked in a layer of sweat, more tiring than going through a battle.

She pulled the thin blanket over, carefully covering Lilith up to her chin, leaving only her pale and delicate sleeping face exposed.

“…Sister?”
Lilith’s voice was weak, as if she were talking in her sleep, with a hint of uncertain probing.

That call was as light as a feather, but Bai Jin’s heart clenched fiercely.
She subconsciously tightened her fists.

The cross-shaped chains made a slight rubbing sound as her body tensed.
She opened her mouth, but the words of denial got stuck in her throat and eventually turned into a soft sigh.

“It’s me, Bai Jin. How are you feeling?”

Lilith’s gaze slowly moved to Bai Jin.
Her misty eyes gradually focused, and she saw the person sitting by the bed.

Lilith’s eyes flickered.
She saw the undisguised worry and fatigue in Bai Jin’s eyes, as well as the few conspicuous strands of black hair among her silver ones.

“Cold…”
Lilith’s voice was still very soft.
She curled up slightly, with a hint of fragility.
“And… empty.”

Bai Jin tried to understand what she meant by “empty.”
Forcibly pulling her back from the torrent of the Holy Blood’s consciousness had clearly caused her a lot of suffering.

Although the Holy Blood’s contract was still stable, everything in that dream was deeply torturing Lilith.

“It’s alright, you’re back now. It’s… very safe here.”
Bai Jin said words she herself didn’t quite believe.
After all, there were still the Shepherd and Hunter sent by the Holy Blood in the church, watching with covetous eyes.

Lilith didn’t respond to the question of safety.
Her gaze fell again on Bai Jin’s highlight-like black hair, as if confirming something.

“You… used that power… to reverse Its will, right?”

When her consciousness was sinking, she clearly felt that the power that pulled her out, and the figure that rushed towards her, were all the doing of the person in front of her.

Bai Jin nodded silently.

“Why?”
Lilith’s azure eyes stared at Bai Jin without blinking.

“You could have… escaped. I was trapped, the contract was forcibly cut off. That was your best chance.”
Lilith’s words were so direct they were almost cruel.

Bai Jin met her gaze, her heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

‘Why? For that damned contract? To be able to continue using the Blood Contract?’

‘No, that’s not it. If she was still confused before, she now had a goal in her heart.’

She had done all this to save the soul before her, who was as fragile as a porcelain doll, yet had shouldered five hundred years of pain and despair.

Bai Jin turned her head to look out the window.
The bright afternoon sun was baking the wooden floor, giving off the fresh scent of wood.

“I don’t know. Probably… because I heard you calling me.”
She finally chose a vague but true answer.

That call from the depths of her consciousness was the only guide that made her disregard everything.

Lilith’s body trembled slightly.
She didn’t ask any more questions, just closed her eyes.
Her thick golden eyelashes cast two curved shadows on her pale cheeks.

The room fell into silence, with only the sound of their two breaths intertwining.

The afternoon sun enveloped them both.
Fatigue, as if it were tangible, wrapped around them.

Bai Jin leaned against the bed, her consciousness beginning to blur again.

“…Come up.”
Lilith’s voice suddenly broke the silence, carrying the commanding tone from before, but because of her weakness, it lacked some of its usual sharpness.

Bai Jin was stunned for a moment, “What?”

Lilith didn’t open her eyes, just shifted her body inwards, making room for half the bed, and lifted a corner of the thin blanket.

“I said, come up and sleep.”
She sounded a little annoyed, yet it was also like a clumsy invitation?

“The chair is uncomfortable… and,”
she paused, her voice getting lower, “it’s cold…”

Bai Jin looked at the empty space, then at Lilith’s tightly pressed lips.

Bai Jin sighed helplessly, carefully lifted the thin blanket, and lay down on the empty outer side, trying to keep as far away from Lilith as possible.

The bed was soft, with the scent of being sun-dried and Lilith’s own scent.
Bai Jin lay stiffly, not daring to move.

She could feel Lilith’s slender arm, seemingly brushing against her own arm inadvertently.

“Don’t… stay so far away.”
Lilith’s hand fumbled, grabbed Bai Jin’s arm, and pulled it towards her.

Their bodies inevitably pressed against each other.
Through the thin fabric, Bai Jin felt the soft curves of Lilith’s body and her cold skin.

Her blood seemed to have all rushed to her cheeks, her mind a blank slate.
Her entire body was being held by Lilith.

Lilith seemed to have found a comfortable position.
Her breathing soon became even and long, and she fell completely into a deep sleep.

Her warm breath gently brushed against the side of Bai Jin’s neck, bringing a numb and tingling itchiness.

The sunlight outside the window slowly moved.
In the depths of the Twilight Church, a storm had temporarily subsided.

All that was left were two souls, entwined as if by the curse of fate, holding each other tightly.