“By-products?” Vanessa knew the concept. In a single refinement, when medicinal power is properly retained, there is a chance that by-products will be born. A by-product’s color differs from the main product, and the two are clearly distinct, making them easy to tell apart and easy to draw off and collect.

She didn’t know what effects they had, but since they were born from refining a restorative-class potion, they certainly wouldn’t be anything harmful to the body or laden with side effects.

“Rest easy. I put everything away for you,” Mirexia said. She naturally knew the very «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» first thing Vanessa would ask upon waking would be about the potion she’d refined—after all, she had poured all her heart into it these past days, and even used her own vital blood to complete it, so much so that Vanessa had nearly died of blood loss.

Just like last time.

Mirexia thought of that last time—Vanessa, to save the students controlled by the Demon Pillar, had challenged the Demon Pillar alone.

It was always like this. She never cared about her own safety.

Every time she thought of it, Mirexia grew anxious—afraid that sooner or later, because of this nature, Vanessa would fall into danger; or rather, with a nature like this, danger could crop up anywhere she went. Perhaps one day, the worst would happen.

“Mirexia.”

“... ... ... ...”

“Mirexia?” Vanessa called her name twice before Mirexia emerged from her thoughts. “You’re hurting me.”

“Hm?” Only then did Mirexia notice she had been holding Vanessa’s hand since just now—and squeezing harder and harder. Realizing it, she hurriedly let go.

[Virtue +100.]

[Current Virtue: 9624.]

“Sorry, Vanessa.”

“Did you have something on your mind just now?” Vanessa asked. She tested it—she still didn’t have the strength to lift her hand; earlier she could only let Mirexia hold it.

“Vanessa, in the future—before you do something like this, talk to me first. Can you?” After a brief pause, Mirexia regarded her with serious eyes. “You’ve been unconscious for a full day and night. Your condition earlier was truly dangerous.”

“Don’t do this again.”

Looking into the intense unease in Mirexia’s eyes, Vanessa knew what the other wanted was her definite promise.

This time, it seemed what she had done had truly frightened Mirexia—frightened her that something might have happened.

Come to think of it, as her childhood friend, Mirexia really had it rough—worrying herself sick over everything about her, then and now.

In a sense, becoming Mirexia’s childhood friend was truly an unfortunate fate, wasn’t it.

“Alright, alright, I get it~ Mainly, I didn’t expect the Kiss of the Blessing Angel to require so much of the Blessing Angel’s vital blood. I felt like I nearly drained myself dry. I hadn’t anticipated it—and the alchemy process couldn’t be stopped, or everything would be for nothing,” Vanessa said with a smile.

“Promise me,” Mirexia said, still not reassured.

“Pfft—does my childhood friend feel that unsafe with me?” Vanessa teased. “Okay, I promise. That’s good enough, right?”

Mirexia said nothing, then left the room. Before long, she returned carrying a bowl of congee.

“You haven’t eaten for a day and a night. You must be hungry.”

“I made you meat congee. Eat, then rest.”

“I don’t think I can move yet,” Vanessa said.

“It’s fine. I’ll feed you.” Mirexia picked up the spoon, stirred the meat congee, and blew on it gently.

“Come on—open up.”

“Okay.” Vanessa parted her lips; but as the spoon approached, she cheekily flicked out her small fragrant tongue and gave the spoon a lick.

Mirexia froze, and who knew what flashed through her mind—her cheeks bloomed with an undeniable blush.

[Virtue +50.]

[Current Virtue: 9674.]

“Alright—no more fooling around,” Mirexia said, a bit flustered.

“Hehe.” Though Vanessa was in poor shape, she still had the mind to tease Mirexia.

The meat congee was likely Mirexia’s own cooking. As for the taste—how to put it...

As a princess, Mirexia clearly hadn’t learned much cooking. For her to produce something that tasted like this was already very good—best not to ask for too much.

After finishing the congee, Vanessa recovered a bit of strength. She glanced down and noticed none of her clothes had been changed; she was still in the Carillian Academy uniform dress she’d worn when she fainted—only the hair clip had been removed.

Which made sense. With Mirexia’s character, she certainly wouldn’t dare do something like changing her clothes; and given how urgent things were, she wouldn’t have had the mind for it either.

“Mirexia, can I see the potion I refined?” Vanessa asked once Mirexia had tidied the dishes and returned.

At that, Mirexia sighed.

The first thing Vanessa asked upon waking was to see the potion. Mirexia had expected as much.

She went to the cabinet and took out a box, opened it, and withdrew one bottle of pale pink potion—and three bottles of dark green potion.

Vanessa was very curious what the dark green potions were for, but clearly she couldn’t experiment now.

She shifted her gaze to the pale pink potion. In the sunlight, the bottle refracted a hint of Saint Light, and the white, foamlike motes within were like angels’ fluttering wings.

The Kiss of the Blessing Angel—lost for a hundred years—had reappeared in the world.

Vanessa observed that the pink of this “Kiss of the Blessing Angel” she’d refined seemed paler than the one Aesphyra had given her last time. Likely Aesphyra’s had been the Four-Wing Angel version.

She had drunk half a bottle of Aesphyra’s Four-Wing Kiss last time; this time she was giving Aesphyra a full bottle of the Two-Wing Kiss. That could count as making it up to her.

“By the way, Mirexia—how did you carry me back to your room?”

“Don’t worry. No one saw us along the way.” Mirexia was meticulous in matters like this—as shown by how, even while rescuing Vanessa, she hadn’t forgotten to sort the potions.

Otherwise, all of Vanessa’s efforts truly would have been in vain.

Vanessa nodded.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking—since I’ve stolen your bed, where have you been sleeping these days?” Vanessa asked with a smile.

“Isn’t there a bed in the study?” Mirexia replied.

“Oh, I see.” Vanessa tossed Mirexia a suggestive look—everything unspoken.

“... ... ...”

[Virtue +50.]

[Current Virtue: 9724.]

Honestly.

Seeing Mirexia’s reaction, Vanessa couldn’t help finding it a little funny.

If it were Aesphyra, she’d be at least somewhat less honest. But Mirexia was different—she was far too straightforward. At a time like this, the only thing on her mind was likely Vanessa’s safety, even after seeing she was fully out of danger.

Vanessa glanced at several empty vials on the counter—likely the alchemy potions Mirexia had used on her these past days.

Favors like this—once you start paying them back, they only pile higher.

A few days passed. In that time, Vanessa remained under Mirexia’s care. As the start of term drew near, Vanessa finally regained the ability to move before classes resumed—she could get out of bed.

But perhaps because she had lost too much vital blood and needed time to recuperate, Vanessa felt her mana capacity had decreased. She couldn’t use the [Saintess] or the [Saint’s Grace]; [Armor Fortress], however, was unaffected and still usable.

It was a significant impact on her strength—but not a fatal one.

After regaining mobility, Vanessa, long-missed, turned back into Vinny. He found that his male form’s abilities weren’t much restricted. As long as [Armor Fortress] remained usable, his male form wouldn’t be greatly weakened.

Mirexia insisted on taking Vinny for an examination. With no choice, he agreed; after a full round, nothing serious was found. Still not reassured, Mirexia repeated several sets of tests before she barely felt at ease.

In this incident, the female form took the heavier hit—losing a plug-in. That meant if Vinny ran into an unsolvable crisis and decided to become Vanessa, he could only summon a weakened Vanessa—possibly so weak right after transforming that she couldn’t even keep her balance. Better not to change at all.

On the other hand, Vinny worried whether, during the time he hadn’t shown himself in public, Aesphyra would notice and connect it to the matter of refining a potion.

As it turned out, there was no need to worry.

After finishing the Kiss of the Blessing Angel, Vinny searched the campus high and low for Aesphyra. But when he asked the Student Council members, he learned that Aesphyra had seldom gone to the Council lately—and hadn’t shown up at all recently.

Vinny’s heart tightened. He realized how serious this was.

With that petite little loaf’s personality, she wouldn’t slack off this badly. Something must have happened.

So Vinny headed straight for Aesphyra’s dorm, knocked on the courtyard gate—and got no response for a long time.

“Aesphyra? Aesphyra?” Vinny felt a sinking dread.

She—hadn’t something happened?

He knocked a few more times. Still no response.

No—that white-haired nut, if she were home, would definitely hear a racket like this. If she heard it was him, she wouldn’t mess with him at a time like this, would she?

Vinny grew anxious, wondering whether to climb the wall and take a look. After knocking again and getting nothing, he couldn’t hold back.

But just as he was about to haul himself up to the wall-top, a familiar voice came with familiar teasing.

“Classmate Vinny—have you spent this long absence up in the mountains, learning to be a monkey?”

“Aesphyra?” Vinny whipped around to the petite silver figure with the black bow at the back of her head. One hand pinched at her chin as she regarded his pose, amused.

“You—” Vinny’s heart jumped with a mix of surprise, joy, and puzzlement. “Where—where did you go? The Student Council said you haven’t shown up lately, and you wouldn’t answer the door.”

From her outfit, Aesphyra looked like she had just returned from outside.

“Oh? A little time apart and classmate Vinny misses me that much?” Aesphyra swept a hand along the hair before her ear, playful.

“Miss you, my foot!” Vinny groused, giving her a once-over from head to toe.

Well. He’d overthought it. She looked just fine.

“I thought you’d been holed up all this time, not answering the door, and were—”

“Collapsed at home and unable to call for help?” Aesphyra chuckled. “Classmate Vinny’s imagination is quite something. A pity you don’t write novels.”

“See? I knew there was nothing about you worth worrying over.” Vinny rolled his eyes at her.

She was highly adaptable; when she wasn’t well, she’d go to the infirmary on her own.

“Oh? So classmate Vinny cares about me that much?” Aesphyra’s lips curved. “Am I that important in your heart?”

“Important, my little nut—who cares about you? Don’t flatter yourself.” Vinny crossed his arms in feigned disdain. “I just came to see whether you’d kicked it, that’s all!”

Aesphyra had sampled enough of Vinny’s hard mouth to be used to it—yet still found it as entertaining as ever. And besides...

[Virtue +50.]

[Current Virtue: 9774.]

“So—where were you just now?” Vinny glanced at her.

“Dining.” Aesphyra sidestepped him, came to the gate, and used her student card to unlock it.

“Eating? Don’t you usually cook for yourself?” Vinny asked. “And by the way, the Student Council says they’ve barely seen you lately. What’s going on with you?”

“Didn’t classmate Vinny just say he didn’t care about me?” Aesphyra looked back with a smile.

“Tch...” Vinny was about to get mouthy again when Aesphyra suddenly dipped her head and coughed a few times.

With practiced ease, she took out a silk scarf, caught the blood, and dropped it into the bin by the gate.

Her coughing blood seemed worse than last time.

Vinny began to understand.

Because of her condition, the white-haired little nut had switched from daily mode to power-saving mode. She seldom went out; when she did, it was just to eat.

It seemed the injury caused by the backlash of the [Saint’s Grace] and the God-Blood was terrifying. It wouldn’t get better with time; it would only keep worsening.

“Hey—your symptoms aren’t getting worse again, are they?”

“Don’t worry, classmate Vinny. I won’t die for now.” Aesphyra said it with a breezy ease, as if it weren’t her injury at all. “If you have to worry about something, better worry about how you’ll pass your finals this term.”

“The potion you gave me last time—can it cure you?” Vinny didn’t banter with her further, asking seriously instead.

“Oh? What’s this all of a sudden—did classmate Vinny get his hands on a bottle?” Aesphyra said, amused.