V2: Chapter 10: The Little Tentacles are Slowly Changing

How about I shut her up and treat her to afternoon milk again?

Clearly, Liang Lin was much more skilled the second time than the first. Although her face was still bright red, her movements of undressing were much smoother than the first time. She threw her clothes on the bed and placed the little guy back on her chest.

"Hey, don't cry anymore after you've had your fill."

When the little guy opened its mouth and started its first meal of the day, it indeed stopped crying. Liang Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that her journey of raising a child was incredibly difficult.

"Sigh... If only someone could help me take care of the child."

Meanwhile, Liang Di, who had already returned to the Langwendi mansion, sneezed.

Could it be Sister Liang Lin talking about me?

Liang Di wondered, but in the end, she shook her head, somewhat saddened.

"Sister Liang Lin dislikes me so much, how could she still be thinking about me? Sigh..." Liang Di closed the ledger.

She had been back at the Langwendi mansion for a month.

During her month in the Demon Tower, she had exceeded her mission targets, not only slaying the required thirty monsters but also killing seven or eight more.

After her return, she asked Octaville a question.

"Octaville, do you think the other side of the sea is the end of the world? Do you think those monsters are the most terrifying beings in the world?"

After hearing her question, Octaville fell into a long silence and contemplation. However, she couldn't answer the question; she didn't know, she was confused, and she wanted to explore.

The Langwendi family's business was booming, even attracting the attention of the royal family.

"Liang Di, wait a moment."

"Grandpa?"

Donald took out an invitation, pondered for a moment, "This is an invitation from the palace, inviting you to a ball. The royal family is holding another ball."

"They invited me?"

Liang Di was taken aback.

"Hmm," Donald's expression was somewhat grave, "The princes are all of marriageable age, and they're probably looking for potential partners now. The girl who received this invitation is one of their chosen ones."

Liang Di looked disgusted but accepted the invitation.

The date on the invitation was the 30th of next month, the last day of the month.

"They only invited you; they didn't invite Liang Lin."

Donald didn't know Liang Lin had left. He didn't stay home often; he preferred to be outside. Actually, becoming the head of the family was out of necessity. He didn't want to be the head; he longed for freedom.

But… he was betrayed by his brothers.

That's right.

Betrayed by his brothers.

At this point, everyone must be thinking of another sibling rivalry, but that's not the case.

Yes, that's right.

Those three brothers longed for freedom even more than he did. One by one, they feigned weakness, none of them willing to inherit the position of family head. To disappoint the previous family head, they used every trick in the book.

For example.

The eldest brother:

He would raise his pinky finger and, in a voice that was neither male nor female, say to everyone in a coquettish voice: "Oh~ how annoying! I just call this elegance~"

And for example.

The second brother:

He would feign a dazed expression, stick out his thumb, put it in his mouth, and mumble, even managing to look up with one eye and down with the other.

"Huh? There's such a thing? How come I didn't know?"

"What? How would I know one potato plus one potato, how many potatoes are there? Maybe it's a plate of shredded potatoes?"

Finally.

It's the third brother's:

This one is even more impressive.

To avoid going to school, he deliberately lay in bed pretending to be sick for a month. Finally, he was discovered, arrested, and then left a letter and ran away. The letter read, "Oh, my dear father, actually, I like men. Now I'm running away with my wild man. Goodbye!"

Third brother was away for a full two years before finally returning home.

So, all the heavy responsibilities fell to Donald, whose acting skills were terrible; he was forced to become the head of the family.

Although he was of good character and quick-witted, he was still lacking in the ability to manage the shops. Therefore, his management did not revive the Langwendi family's business; it only continued to decline in a mediocre way.

Donald's brothers were overjoyed for him becoming the head of the family. One by one, they treated Donald like a vengeful child, constantly mocking him in front of him, and Donald couldn't do anything about it.

"By the way, Liang Di, I haven't seen Liang Lin the last few times I've come."

Liang Di's hand holding the invitations paused. 

"Well… she has her own things to do, so she left temporarily. She'll be back soon."

"Oh… I see."  "

Donald was such a perceptive man; he immediately noticed Liang Di's unusual reaction. However, he didn't press the issue.

Since she didn't want to talk about it, I won't pry. Everyone has secrets, especially a teenager like her.

"So, Liang Di, are you going to the palace next month?" Donald sighed. "Personally, I don't want you to go. I... well, I don't want you to be noticed by the princes."

Going to the palace and becoming a prince's wife—frankly, for a woman, it's just a constraint.

Liang Di didn't want to go either, but going would allow her to meet more nobles, build relationships with more families, and pave more paths for her business.

"I will go, Grandpa," Liang Di made up her mind, handing the invitation to Bellica behind her. "I will seize every opportunity to revitalize the family."

Donald didn't try to stop her again. The old man nodded.

"Good, think it over carefully. Once you've made your decision, that's fine."

After Donald left, Liang Di asked Bellica about the recent situation of Edwin and Miranda.

"The losses are severe, especially at the dessert shop, because we've snatched all the business away. Other dessert shops are doing quite poorly now; noble ladies and young women prefer to order our desserts."

"Heh, vanity is truly a wonderful thing, bringing me so much profit."

Liang Di toyed with her long, silver-white hair.

"Alright, let them continue like this. Soon, the Langwendi family will be mine."

Liang Di was quite ambitious, just like her adoptive mother, Octaville. After all, she was Octaville's daughter; how could she not inherit her ambition?

As for the reason for Octaville's ambition... Liang Di had heard Octaville explain.

Ultimately, Octaville was also a woman with a tragic fate.

She was born into a poor working-class family. Her parents were honest and hardworking commoners who made a living by farming. They kept some of their vegetables for themselves and sold the rest, but the profits were meager. They rarely ate meat, only having a small piece on holidays, which they shared among the family.

As a child, Octaville was too young to understand much. Seeing the plight of her neighbors, who were just as impoverished as her own, she assumed everyone lived the same life. Therefore, she was quite content with her loving parents. She didn't go to school; her family couldn't afford it. So, she stayed home to help her parents with farming and selling vegetables.

Even at a very young age, she would sit on the street hawking her wares and knew when to plant and harvest. This shouldn't be something a child her age should be doing.

This peaceful life continued until Octaville was about eight years old.

That day, she was sitting on the street hawking her vegetables when suddenly the sound of horses' hooves came from the other side of the street, followed by shouts of people yelling for her to make way. At that moment, Octaville's parents had gone to buy cheap rice with other commoners, leaving Octaville alone at her vegetable stall.

The eight-year-old girl hadn't even realized what was happening when she saw the radishes on her stall being trampled by horses' hooves. A pound of those radishes might sell for one Vitcoins!

Octaville cried out, rushing forward with heartache, stretching out her thin little arms to try and gather all the remaining radishes into her arms.

But the horses' hooves and cart wheels came hurtling towards her, terrifying Octaville. She dared not move rashly; she thought how painful it would be to be trampled by the horses' hooves or run over by the cart wheels—her arms might even be mangled.

And so, she could only watch helplessly as her most precious radishes were crushed into pieces of mush. Her heart bled, but she was powerless to do anything.

Tears streamed down Octaville's face. She looked up and saw the scene inside the carriage.

It was a noblewoman, dressed extravagantly, her hair adorned with expensive jewelry that glittered dazzlingly in the sunlight. The noblewoman's face was fair and flawless, without a speck of dust, like a princess straight out of a fairy tale.

Octaville stared, mesmerized.

The noblewoman leaned listlessly against the carriage window, her eyes meeting Octaville's for a fleeting second, and then she smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile, but a mocking one, seemingly mocking the ridiculous attire of Octaville, who was only about four years younger than her.

“Mommy, look! There was a little beggar outside!” the noblewoman exclaimed. “She looked so dirty, so dirty! I think she stinks.”

The noblewoman smiled, hugged her daughter, and pinched her chubby cheek, her voice full of affection.

“Sweetie, don’t look at that kind of person. It’ll dirty your eyes.”

Octaville heard her.

Mud from the horses’ hooves and cartwheels smeared onto the burlap sack she had placed under the radishes. Octaville stared blankly, for the first time questioning the world.

So, could girls really live so glamorously?

She walked to a puddle, squatted down, and looked at her dirty little face reflected in the water. Octaville felt a pang of sadness. Why couldn’t she live like those noble ladies? Why was she so dirty and smelly?

"Ouch!"

Octaville didn't notice the carriage behind her. She was knocked over and fell face-first into a mud puddle, her already filthy body and face becoming even dirtier.

It hurt, it hurt all over.

“Blind, lowly commoner!”

The coachman glared, brandishing his whip. He was the one who bumped into Octaville, yet he acted as if Octaville had hurt him. The coachman raised his whip and lashed Octaville hard, instantly tearing her skin.

Octaville screamed, scrambling and crawling, drawing laughter from the nobles behind her.

“Look at that lowly woman, she looks like a cockroach.”

“The way she crawls on the ground is hilarious, just like our dog.”

Octaville didn't know what she had done wrong. She was just squatting there; she hadn't done anything. Her radish was gone, and so was her dignity.

At that time, Octaville was only eight years old, but she felt her worldview had collapsed.

When she was nine, the old woman from the big family came to their house to propose marriage, but her father chased her away with a broom. Before the old woman was driven away, she pointed at her father and cursed.

"Oh dear! Which girl doesn't go through this? Nine years old? Huh? Nine years old is old enough to be engaged! Girls should marry! You're ruining her future!"

At that moment, Octaville's mother held her tightly in her arms, covering her ears to prevent her from hearing these things. But how could her calloused hands possibly block out all the sounds outside?

Octaville still heard them.

That was the second time her worldview collapsed.

But what truly broke her was when she was ten years old.

Whoosh~

Octaville's pupils were red, and reflected in the firelight, they appeared even redder. She stared blankly at everything before her, at her burning house, utterly lost.

“Dad, Mom?”

“Dad! Mom!”

At first, she called out to her parents softly, but she received no response. The only answer was the hissing sound of the burning house.

Octaville lay on the ground, neither crying nor making a sound; she stood there, stunned. She had been thrown out of the house by her parents, thrown out of the burning house.

That day, Octaville's family was gone, her home was gone.

She knew who did it: the youngest son of the local earl, and other noblemen and ladies. Octaville couldn't understand why these bad guys came to the commoners' quarter, why they left their comfortable aristocratic quarters to come to this place for fun, and why their fun was burning down their house.

From that moment on, Octaville became an orphan.

Ten years old, she had no idea what to do. The Knights didn't care about the lives of any of their civilians. They had heard rumors about the fire and were already reluctant to investigate the illnesses of civilians; now they were even less willing to come. In the end, it was hastily concluded as an accidental fire.

From then on, Octaville lived a life of sleeping in garbage dumps and eating garbage.

Until a year later, the previous Tower Master appeared. The man passed by that filthy alley and noticed strange energy emanating from the garbage cans. Magicians are always drawn to each other, so he found Octaville sleeping in the garbage can.

"Haha~ What a promising talent! Little girl, where are your family?"

The Tower Master wasn't particularly kind, but for Octaville, no one had been so gentle with her in a long time.

"I... I have no family. My family is all dead."

Octaville timidly took a few steps back, her large, watery eyes filled with tears, as if she would cry at any moment.

The previous Tower Master didn't ask her how her parents died. Instead, he was overjoyed to learn she was an orphan; now he wouldn't have to spend money buying children to bring back to the tower. So, he extended his hand to Octaville.

"Come on, child, I'll take you to my home. There are many children your age there; you can get along very well."

Octaville hesitated to take his hand, but her stomach growled, reminding her how hungry she was. Octaville rubbed her stomach, a longing look on her face.

"If I get to your place, will I have enough to eat?"

So that's what she was worried about.

The previous Tower Master patted his chest. "Of course! And there's meat several times a week!"

At the mention of meat, little Octaville's eyes finally lit up. Faced with hunger, she knew no fear and immediately grasped the previous tower master's hand.

And so, she was brought back to the Magic Tower by a hazy, confused mind.

However, she didn't grow up in a daze.

During her studies of magic, Octaville realized a truth.

Since she didn't possess the powerful authority of the nobles, she needed to possess formidable magical abilities. Octaville's strength grew, and her desire for the position of the Magic Tower's Master grew ever stronger. She firmly believed that only by ascending to that position could she change this absurd empire.

Within the Magic Tower, the strong prey on the weak.

Initially, when Octaville first arrived, she hadn't adapted to the environment or grasped the essence of magic, so her progress was extremely slow. Although her magical power was strong, she couldn't comprehend it and had no way to do so. Sometimes, even the Tower Master who took her in wondered if he had picked up the wrong person or misjudged her.

At that time, she was constantly ridiculed or verbally insulted by the people within the Magic Tower.  Of course, none of this bothered her. Her years outside the Magic Tower were far more difficult than here.

Until one day, as if a sudden enlightenment had struck, Octaville understood, and she became the most powerful dark horse among the new generation of magicians.

The deaths of her parents were a thorn in her heart. She often woke up in the middle of the night from nightmares, dreams of her parents throwing her out in tears, their faces contorted in agony, and their charred corpses.

At fifteen, during another mission, Octaville met the love of her life—Hilary. Actually, their meeting wasn't romantic; it was even somewhat ridiculous, somewhat comical.

Well, Liang Di didn't know what happened next, because Octaville only told her so much. She didn't tell her the rest, not because there was anything embarrassing to say, but simply because Octaville was asked by Hilary to wash her hair.

"Sigh, she's such a henpecked husband," Liang Di remarked to Octaville.

Meanwhile, on Liang Lin's side...

After resting for two days, Liang Lin couldn't wait to return to the battlefield, to unleash her killing spree, to fight.

She had a kind of childish, "This time, I'm going to take back everything that's mine!" feeling.

It was during these two days that Liang Lin noticed something was wrong with the little tentacles she had grown.

"Hey, you little thing, why is your color getting paler? Will you fade?"

Liang Lin poked the little tentacle's head, muttering, "Is it just my imagination? Why do you seem less red than before? Could it be that I'm remembering wrong? No way..."

Yes, the little tentacle was initially a bright red, but now it was almost a pale pink.

The little thing seemed unhappy about being poked so much that it curled up Liang Lin's fingers in protest. Every time it did this, Liang Lin would feel a sense of disorientation, as if she wasn't raising a child, but rather a very, very cute little pet.

"Sigh, do you think you'll ever turn into a human child?"

Liang Lin lay on the bed, chin buried in her elbow, staring intently at the little tentacle.

The little tentacle wriggled on the bed, moving closer to her.

"Hmm?"

Before she knew it, Liang Lin was pressed against the little tentacle!

It was against her cheek, gazing affectionately at her face like a kitten, its eyes narrowed to slits, looking quite content.

"Cough cough cough!"

Liang Lin jerked her head up, refusing the touch, actually just shy.

"Why are you suddenly so close? Seriously, you look exactly like your other… you, uh, you look exactly like Liang Di."

For some reason, Liang Di's face suddenly flashed into her mind, and Liang Lin quickly shook her head, trying not to think about it. She couldn't afford to think about it.

“I’m going to war in a few days. You’re still so young. I’m worried about leaving you here alone. What will you do?” Liang Lin said, scratching her head in distress. “Oh, no, I can’t leave you here alone. You’ll starve if you don’t have milk. Ugh, this is so annoying…”

Liang Lin didn’t say anything like, “If only I hadn’t given birth to you.” Even though she knew the little one couldn’t understand, she didn’t want to say such things. It was too disrespectful to a person’s life. How heartbroken and sad the child would be if she knew later.

"Fine, you can stay by my side then. I'll take you to the battlefield and show you my handsome figure, okay?"

Liang Lin started bragging, not caring whether the other figure understood or not, and went on to boast about her achievements.

"Hey, you should be grateful you have me as your mother! If you become a human child in the future, I'll pass on all my swordsmanship to you. Then you'll be the strongest swordsman besides me, okay? Of course, you can't surpass me, because I'm a genius!"

Yes, still quite narcissistic.

The little guy suddenly opened her mouth and made a "purring" sound.

After two days together, Liang Lin had basically figured out what the little guy's various actions and sounds meant. Opening her mouth and making a "purring" sound meant she was hungry.

"You, so tiny, yet you eat so much, really..."

After breastfeeding for so many days, Liang Lin was completely used to it. Without batting an eye, she took off her clothes and naturally held the little one in her arms, beginning to nurse it.

After this feeding, Liang Lin felt that the baby seemed a little whiter.

"Hiss~ It's definitely not a hallucination, you've really faded!"

She held the little one's head, letting its tentacles flail and kick in the air, without letting go. She spun it around, stroking its chin, observing it carefully.

Suddenly, she was pleasantly surprised, her imagination running wild.

"Oh dear! You're going to turn into a human child, aren't you? Haha~ That's too... no way."

If it turned into a human child, it would definitely cry and fuss, and its size would increase. Without its suction cups, it wouldn't be able to attach to her. Then she'd have to carry it in a bag or hold it in her arms, which would be too inconvenient on the battlefield.

Liang Lin felt a headache coming on. “Maybe I should just forget it. I should wait until you become a human child fully.”

Ha, women, their moods change so quickly.

Headache aside, Liang Lin decided to see her uncle today to discuss going to the battlefield.

When she placed the little tentacle on her stomach again, she remembered she hadn't named the child yet. With her brain, thinking of a name would take her ages.

“Forget it, I'll just call you ‘little one.’ I'll think of a name for you later.”

Then she simply gave up, not wanting to waste time here.

“Anyway, you wouldn't understand if I called you by your name.”

Yeah, that was purely an excuse for her dullness.

Liang Lin knocked on Sylvester's door.

Seeing her uncle again, Liang Lin noticed that in just two days, the man had lost even more weight. When he saw her, he gave that forced smile again.

"What's wrong, Liang Lin? Are you not used to the place?"

The fact that his niece murdered his nephew was a huge blow to him; he hadn't recovered yet, and his mind was in a daze.

"Uncle, I want to go to the battlefield, the day after tomorrow. Time is of the essence. We can't let the Heraze Empire continue to be so arrogant. Our borders also need to be rectified. More and more civilians are going hungry; you should know that, right?"

"Hmm..."

Sylvester was lost in thought, seemingly not listening to what the other was saying.

"Uncle?"

Liang Lin waved to Sylvester, but he didn't react. Liang Lin patted her uncle's shoulder, somewhat worried, "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"Hmm?"

"Hmm."

"Hmm..."

Sylvester lowered his head, finally coming to his senses. He looked up again, his lips moving slightly, as if he wanted to say something to Liang Lin, but after a long pause, he swallowed his words.

"Uncle, what do you want to say?"

Liang Lin had a premonition that what he wanted to say was something very important.

Sylvester hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head again, "Wait for me to think about it..."

After a while, he seemed to have made up his mind and suddenly raised his head.

"Liang Lin... I know where Irene is."