Chapter 54: A Morning After the Night Before

“Ellis, Ellis, don’t sleep, wake up now!”

Inside the stone house, Ellis, who had been soundly asleep, was roused by a clamorous shout.

She opened her eyes, resentment and anger simmering within her. Didn’t they know she detested nothing more than having her sleep disturbed?

Ellis was always a light sleeper and found it difficult to drift off, which made her cherish every hard-won moment of slumber.

The first thing that greeted her vision was Larry’s shifty, rat-like face.

“It’s you, you rascal. What do you want?”

Larry raised a finger to his lips, shushing her. “Shh, keep your voice down. Let’s sneak out while they’re still asleep.”

Ellis shot an exasperated glance at the large bed on the other side of the room, where Julia and Irene lay sprawled like dead pigs. It seemed the past two days had truly worn them out.

Incidentally, this stone house contained only two beds: a single and a large double.

Ellis had claimed the spacious single bed, while Julia and Irene occupied the double.

As for Larry… Julia and Irene had once enthusiastically offered to share their bed with him.

Larry’s response, however, had been: “Absolutely not. I want to sleep with Ellis.”

That remark had instantly stirred a hornet’s nest. Before Ellis even had to lift a finger, Irene and Julia had bound Larry hand and foot and tossed him into a corner, ordering him to reflect on his actions.

It appeared this mischievous fellow had somehow broken free from his restraints and was now plotting to drag Ellis into his escape.

Ellis sat on her bed, gazing down at Larry, who was crouched before her, with icy eyes. “Heh, heheh, you disturbed my sleep for such a trivial matter!”

“Trivial? I’m practically dying here, alright?”

“Then go ahead and die. I’m going back to sleep.”

Her mind clouded with an overwhelming weariness, Ellis yearned only for her bed. She yawned adorably, ready to recline.

“Have some conscience, will you? Whose fault is it that I’m in this predicament?”

Larry, infuriated by the heartless woman, grabbed Ellis’s delicate elven foot.

With her small foot held captive, Ellis retorted, “If you want to leave, just go by yourself. Why do you insist on dragging me along?”

“Damn it, you put a curse on me, and Julia force-fed me a ton of potions! Now you want me to brave those dangerous mountain paths alone? And it’s the Thunder Kun Bird’s active time! What kind of joke is this? If you’ve got the guts, undo your curse, and I’ll fly straight to the heavens!”

‘Such an annoying man. I’m so sleepy.’

Ellis sighed, forcing herself to rally a little, then looked at Larry. “Give up. There’s no way I’m removing your curse. You’re crucial trade currency, and I’m counting on Julia to help me revert to my male form.”

Larry despaired. “Ellis, please do something a human would do.”

Ellis lowered her gaze to Larry, who seemed determined not to let go until he got what he wanted.

Wait, was he gripping her foot?

At that moment, Ellis, her mind hazy with sleepiness, was suddenly overcome by a mischievous impulse.

Instead of pulling her fair, exquisitely sculpted toes from Larry’s grasp, she controlled her foot, extending it towards his chin. Her pearl-like toes gently lifted.

Larry’s head tilted upwards in response. To be honest, this situation was entirely unexpected; he had no idea what Ellis intended.

In the past, if Ellis had treated him with her ‘stinky feet’ like this, he would have probably flipped her over. But now, Larry only felt a unique allure emanating from this assertive Ellis.

Ellis quietly observed her good friend, who was still crouched before her, with a gaze full of deterrence. It felt like she was training a little puppy, which excited her. Then, in what she considered a highly provocative tone, she said to Larry, “If you’re willing to lick my foot, I might consider it.”

Larry: “!!!”

An invincible, youthful beauty with purple hair and starry eyes, saying something so suggestive in such an alluring tone! Even knowing that the Ellis before him was his former good friend with whom he’d shared a bed…

But!

Larry twitched his nose, and a rich, lingering fragrance wafted into his nostrils.

‘Oh, why does it smell so good?’

It was truly wonderful that his buddy had turned into a girl. Their formerly mutually disdainful relationship had undergone significant ‘improvement.’ She was even providing him with benefits straight out of anime, hentai, and doujinshi.

Larry was moved to tears. “Then, I’ll begin!”

“Eh?”

Larry’s reaction completely blindsided Ellis. Shouldn’t he have disdainfully pushed her leg away and then started their usual playful bickering?

‘He must be joking, right?’

Ellis clung to that sliver of hope.

Then, the tickling sensation and sticky touch from her jade foot instantly made Ellis feel as if she had soaked in a hot spring for an entire day, completely cooked through.

“Aaaah!”

A scream, like that of a Deep-Sea Siren, nearly tore the entire house apart.

Julia and Irene immediately sprang from their beds, their sleepiness vanished as they entered a combat-ready state.

However, as they scanned their surroundings, they found no enemy. Instead, they witnessed an utterly unbelievable sight.

Ellis, clad in a thin nightgown, her bare white feet exposed, had lost all her usual fortitude. Like a fragile woman, she was huddled in a corner, clutching her knees tightly, her gaze trembling forward.

In Ellis’s line of sight was Larry, looking utterly bewildered, one hand still raised as if savoring something.

“Why are you screaming?”

Larry asked, perplexed.

Ellis’s eyes were misty with tears as she whispered indignantly, “You did *that* to me! It would be truly demonic if I *didn’t* scream!”

“But that wasn’t you…”

Larry hadn’t even finished his sentence when he felt two piercing gazes on his back.

He trembled as he turned, discovering two abyssal demons slowly approaching him with the gait of walking corpses. The black aura emanating from them threatened to fill the entire room.

‘Hiss~’

“Larry! We were both sleeping soundly in bed, and it could have been either of us, but you *had* to go to *her*!”

“In your eyes, are we two less charming than someone who only recently turned into a woman?!”

Larry swallowed hard, his body trembling, unsure how to respond.

“Ellis, explain to them! I was just…”

When Larry turned back, he found Ellis inexplicably sprawled on the bed, already fast asleep!

“Larry, let’s have a good talk outside!”

The two women dragged Larry out of the house. Irene’s fluffy pet then gagged his mouth. In despair, beneath Ellis’s peaceful slumber, and masked by the thunder outside, Larry endured an unforgettable night.

“Ah~”

The next morning, Ellis let out a huge yawn as she sat up. Drowsily, she looked around, surprised to find Irene and Julia still asleep. She wondered what kind of cultivation they had practiced yesterday.

She had a very strange dream last night. In it, she woke up and treated Larry like a little puppy, teasing him with her foot. Larry had actually licked her foot like a little puppy. Haha, how amusing… Wait, where was Larry?

He ran away?!

Ellis instantly lost all traces of sleepiness. She was still counting on Julia to restore her body! This was no time for him to escape!

Ellis rushed out of the house, only to collide with a hard, spherical object.

“Ouch!”

Ellis rubbed her slightly red and swollen forehead, looking up angrily. She wanted to see which scoundrel was so blind this early in the morning.

Then she saw Larry, hanging upside down by the doorway, just woken by their collision, looking around in confusion.

Ellis asked, amused, “You… Is this a new sleeping technique?”

Larry replied, feeling wronged, “It’s all because of you! Hurry and get me down!”

Laughing or not, Ellis still helped Larry down. After all, sleeping like that outside must have been incredibly uncomfortable.

She watched Larry stretching his limbs on the ground and asked curiously, “From the looks of it, Julia and Irene must have dealt with you. Did you try to sneak attack them last night?”

Larry looked at Ellis strangely. “You don’t remember anything that happened yesterday?”

Ellis scratched her head, puzzled. “What happened? Does your being here have something to do with me?”

Larry was silent for a moment, then looked at the rope on the eaves before decisively shaking his head. “Nothing. It was just an undeserved calamity, sigh.”

“Relax, relax. Just wait until I revert to my male form, then you can find a way to slip away. There’ll be a light at the end of the tunnel someday.”

Ellis patted Larry’s shoulder.

Larry wailed, “How long will I have to wait?!”

“It’s fine. I’ll urge her to get it done today. I’ll even make you some breakfast as a reward.”

Ellis hummed a little tune as she returned to the stone house’s kitchen. The two women had stocked up on plenty of ingredients, and Ellis’s culinary efforts were so impressive that even Julia and Irene, who had been sleeping like dead pigs, were lured awake by the aroma.

But when Julia and Irene saw Larry sitting expectantly at the dining table, their expressions turned peculiar as they looked at Ellis.

Ellis was baffled by their strange looks.

Ellis asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Larry, he…”

Irene pointed at Larry, hesitating, as if there was something difficult to say.

“He did something so beastly, and you’re still indulging him?”

Julia, however, spoke bluntly, making Larry, who was stuffing food into his mouth, nearly spit it out.

Ellis’s eyes widened as she stared intently at Larry, asking in disbelief, “You’re finally not a spineless coward anymore? You actually planned to sneak attack Julia and Irene!”

Larry almost choked, whispering, “No, cough, cough, nothing. Eat, eat.”

“What are you talking about? Larry was clearly trying to sneak attack *you* and we caught him red-handed! Ellis, how can you not remember any of this?”

Then, the outspoken Julia dropped a bombshell, leaving Ellis stunned on the spot.

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