Shadow Slave

Projected onto the wall, a languid jade beauty with a slim waist and long eyelashes was traversing a labyrinth of crimson coral, her voluptuous figure barely covered by a flimsy seaweed attire. A teenage boy of about thirteen years of age was scurrying along as he shouted:

"...Are you crazy?!"

Sitting on the sofa near the real Changing Star, Rain felt like sinking into the earth. As the movie went by, her cheeks slowly turned bright red. The daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, on the contrary, became increasingly more deadpan and devoid of emotion. By now, her face was so still that it seemed paralyzed.

Rain awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Uh… come to think of it, the actress they chose does not look like you at all. You are much prettier!"

Nephis shifted and briefly glanced down. Then, she said evenly:

"Thank you."

After a while, she added:

"Why would they cast a child to play Sunny? What a strange decision. Only a complete fool could mistake him for a young boy."

Rain let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah! Yeah… definitely…"

She looked away in utter embarrassment, and then forced out:

"And what is up with that stupid catchphrase? That does not sound like something Sunny would say at all!"

Changing Star moved, suddenly becoming a little more lively.

"Oh, no. That actually happened. A lot!"

passed, and instead, Changing Star seemed to grow more rigid and cold with each scene. Rain felt so uncomfortable that she could not bring

kind of idiot directed that stupid

broad shoulders and a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much of what was shown about her relationship with the heroic Han Li

apparent relationship

been an actual love triangle between

failed to glimpse anything from Changing Star's stoic face. The movie progressed, slowly

face of the actor playing Sir Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the

not matter… but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns,

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

it me, or is it getting

a single muscle moved on Changing Star's face. She looked at the

however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

the teenage girl noticed a thin stream of it rising

'That's strange...'

her mouth to say

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

and violently interrupted, Rain only stayed for long enough to help Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector. Then, she found an excuse, grabbed her

was going

lingered for a bit, then went back into the guest bedroom and rummaged through Effie's closet. She had no clothes apart from the tracksuit that the Academy had issued to her, which was soaked with sweat after the night she had

of course… but she had worn armor for the better part of the last three years. Putting on something mundane was

of gym shorts to match it. Sadly, other articles of Effie's clothing did not fit her too well. She was going to have to do some shopping

again felt very

room with nothing to do. She simply sat in silence for a while, trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of

stared at it for some time, then