"What on earth..." Feliz stared at him in shock, completely taken aback by his swift actions.
"Give me back my wand!" Suddenly, she thought of something, and she blurted out petulantly.
"Not unless you promise not to use magic on me again!" Luo’er refused.
"Why should I promise you, give it back!" Feliz demanded, lunging at him in desperation.
Luo’er nimbly sidestepped her advance, easily evading her attack. Feliz came up empty, stumbled forward, and sprained her ankle on the step of a flowerbed. With a surged of intense pain, she fell into the flowerbed, clutching her sprained ankle and crying.
"Don’t cry," Seeing Feliz burst into tears, Luo’er was a bit taken aback. He came over and said to her, "Are you in pain?"
Feliz glared at him while her crying intensified. Luo’er let out a sigh and knelt to check her ankle. Her foot was heavily swollen, clearly serious.
Just as he was about to examine her injury, a crying Feliz landed a punch on him. However, such attack was ineffectual on him. He grabbed Feliz’s wrist and said to her, "If you want your foot to keep hurting, keep hitting me!"
At his words, Feliz stopped struggling, her tear-streaked face looking at him. Seeing her no longer resisting, Luo’er began to examine her injury.
He had learned first-aid treatments for sprains at Haiya Academy. He pressed the end of the wand to her swollen ankle and silently recited a weak ice spell. Chilly sensations seeped into her injured area, leading Feliz to shudder. Suddenly, she felt her foot was less painful.
She looked at Luo’er with curious eyes again. This guy, although a slave, seemed to know everything, not just martial arts, but even magic. It made her question his background.
"Are you really a slave?" Feliz sniffled and asked him.
"Of course, I’m a half-elf. My mother was actually a mage." Luo’er replied nonchalantly.
"Then why did you become a slave?" Feliz continued her questioning.
Luo’er glanced at her, and replied without batting an eye, "Being a slave doesn’t mean I was born one. Before my enslavement, I was a southern mage. I got captured during a battle against the Judgement Legion, and that’s how I ended up here."
"Judgment Legion." Feliz whispered this name, she knew them - one of the two main forces of the Church of Light, responsible for capturing heretics in the church-ruled regions and waging religious wars against the ancient states in the southern continents.
After a while of icing, the pain in her ankle lessened considerably. Luo’er removed her shoes, revealing her soft, pale foot. Feliz, being a pampered aristocrat, had delicate, fair feet. However, Luo’er wasn’t fixated on feet, so he ignored that and began to massage her ankle.
"You, a slave, dare to take off my shoe!" Feliz barked, even though her face had already turned red.
"If you want to crawl back to the dorm, put your shoes on yourself!" Luo’er said without looking up.
Feliz zipped her lips, puffing her cheeks in anger, watching as Luo’er gently massaged her foot.
Luo’er was proficient in his movements. He frequently got hurt during his time at Haiya Academy and Wang Xu would always patiently care for him. Over time, Luo’er naturally learned these first-aid skills.
Feliz furrowed her brow as she watched his tender gestures, feeling a sudden, inexplicable sense of frustration. She didn’t know why, but couldn’t resist kicking him with her uninjured foot.
"What are you doing?" Luo’er asked unflinchingly.
"I wanted to kick you, so what!" Feliz said defiantly.
"It would be interesting if that foot got sprained too." Luo’er continued massaging her foot, undeterred.
"Why did you want me to be your slave?" Luo’er asked suddenly while massaging.
"I just thought you looked rather appealing, that’s all!" Feliz said with a snort, then turned her head away awkwardly.
"But I’m a half-elf!" Luo’er pointed out.
"So what?" Feliz turned back with a question.
"Don’t you find me disgusting?" Luo’er queried.
"What’s disgusting about you?" Feliz took a closer look at him, scanning from head to toe. Other than his somewhat distinctive black hair, Luo’er was indeed very handsome.
"People say that half-elves are the offspring of prostitutes." Luo’er forthrightly said.
"So what, are you trying to disassociate from your mother?" Feliz suddenly became serious with her brows furrowed. "Although your mother may be lowly, she brought you into this world. What right do you have to despise her?"
Amused at how this young girl was lecturing him, Luo’er couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile.
"What’s so funny? If you were as I said, you’d truly be disgusting and..." Cutting her off, she yanked her foot back from Luo’er ignoring the pain, "Someone disgusting has no right to touch my foot!"
"I am not disgusting!" Luo’er argued, bravely pulling her foot back into his hold.
After the exchange, Luo’er inexplicably felt his regard for Feliz increase. He no longer viewed her through his rigid prejudices, instead, adopting a new attitude towards the proud, arrogant young noblewoman before him.
"You damned slave!" Feliz bit her lip, kicking him several times, but the kick felt like little more than a tickle.
"If you lift your leg a few inches higher, your skirt is going to ride up." Luo’er said cheekily, keeping his gaze politely on her ankles.
"You!" Conscious of her rising skirt, Feliz immediately clutched at it. Her dress was a knee-length one designed specifically for her by Earth’s fashion designer in an Otherworld style. Reminded by Luo’er, she couldn’t help but blush and stare angrily at him.
They stood off in silence, Luo’er gently massaged her foot, and after a while, he released it, saying gently, "Alright, see if you can walk."
Feliz murmured, retracted her leg, and gently stepped on the floor. As expected, the pain in her ankle lessened significantly. She tried to stand up, only to experience a sharp jolt of pain causing her to groan and collapsed straight onto the ground.
"Are you really that stubborn?" Luo’er timely held her back, speaking with an exasperated expression.
"You..." Feliz’s face turned completely red this time, even reaching her ears. Luo’er’s abrupt embrace was so unexpected that, despite her openness, she had never experienced anything like it before.
"Let... let me go!!!" Feliz yelled, desperately struggling.
"Stop squirming around unless you want to fall again," said Luo’er, restraining her.
"Who gave you the right to hold me !" Feliz growled, but she couldn’t meet his eyes.
"So, should I throw you on the ground?" Luo’er asked nonchalantly.
"You dare!" Feliz shouted, gripping onto his clothes.
"Want me to carry you back to the dorm?" Luo’er asked, holding her in his arms.
"Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?" Feliz turned her head away, her face flushing red as she spoke.
Luo’er chuckled and hoisted Feliz onto his back and picked up her shoes that she had left behind. Feliz clung tightly to his clothes, afraid that he might drop her.
With Feliz on his back, Luo’er started heading back to their dorm. Despite having a typical large frame of the Aud people, Feliz looks petite and not particularly heavy, probably due to her age.
She lay on Luo’er’s back, observing him curiously from time to time. Then she asked, "Why is your hair black?"
"Because my father’s hair was black!" Luo’er answered without looking back.
"Where is he now?" she continued asking.
"He has passed away!" Luo’er replied.
"Oh." Feeling like she had asked a sensitive question, Feliz obediently shut up and didn’t push further.
After a while, she seemed to have a new question, so she asked, "Are you really a slave?"
"Of course!" Luo’er answered, gesturing at the metal collar around his neck.
"You seem different from the other slaves." Feliz said.
"Indeed, I wasn’t a slave before my defeat!" Luo’er said with a wry smile. He felt that the Southerner’s reason was getting smoother with each use, and it was too easy to deceive a naive girl like Feliz.
"Hey," After a pause, Feliz asked again, "If, let’s say, you are no longer a slave, then would you..."
"Are you planning to buy my freedom?" Luo’er asked.
"I was just supposing," Feliz stubbornly said, then she looked at him suspiciously, "But why don’t you seem happy about it?"
"I don’t care," Luo’er responded nonchalantly when facing Feliz’s sceptical gaze, and continued speaking, "Actually, I voluntarily serve Miss Audrey."
"Why that person?" the mention of Tangmo made Feliz’s face sour.
"Miss Audrey is actually a very good person. I don’t know what conflict you two have." Luo’er sighed.
"I envy her!" Feliz candidly admitted her inner thoughts.
"Magic aptitude is innate, being envious is useless. You’d better interact more with her, make a friend, share some magic knowledge," Luo’er said helplessly.
"With that kind of person, a nouveau riche!" Feliz frowned, a disdainful look flashing across her face.
"You can tolerate a slave like me, but not a nouveau riche?" Luo’er questioned.
"You are different!" Feliz answered immediately!