First, apply a base coat to the nails. Once the base coat has completely dried, apply mint-blue nail polish. Immediately after applying it, place the magnet against the right side of the nail, then remove it a few seconds later. When it dries, the magnetic particles will spread out like stars. Apply another layer of polish, repeat the magnet step, brush on a top coat, and hold the magnet in place for another minute or two. The nails will then take on a galaxy-like swirl of color.
That wasn't all. The manicurist applied polish to a snowflake stamping plate, scraped off the excess, ran a stamper over it, and pressed it onto the dried nails. Finally, she applied a top coat. Just like that, a snowflake galaxy design with a subtle pattern was complete.
Yaxiu, who had been waiting nearby for a long time, stood up impatiently. "Are you finally done?!"
"Don't rush me."
Vichy spread the index fingers of both hands and admired the colors blooming on her nails. "Besides my fingernails, I still have toenails. I've been wanting to wear sandals lately. I hear the laser silver toenail art here makes your skin look very fair."
"Yes, miss." The manicurist smiled. "Besides laser silver, the shop owner recently developed a Radiant Diamond Blue. Under natural starlight it refracts a flowing shimmer. Many people like it."
Yaxiu sat back weakly. "Don't tell me."
"Of course not." Vichy stuck her tongue out at him. "I knew you had no patience."
The manicurist smiled. "You two are so close."
They both made vomiting expressions at the same time. Yaxiu waved a hand. "You've misunderstood. We're not the kind of relationship you're imagining."
"Oh? Then are you brother and sister? It's rare for an older or younger brother to be willing to come into the shop and wait. This gentleman even came back from the restroom so quickly. I can tell he's very worried about you."
"He's just afraid I'll run off." Vichy said sourly. "If I ran off, he'd have to put me in chains and drag me back."
The manicurist burst out laughing. "This is the first time I've heard anyone use a chain as a metaphor for an intimate relationship."
Yet Yaxiu and Vichy did not laugh. They only wore expressions of mutual disgust. The manicurist's smile gradually stiffened. "That was a metaphor just now, right?"
After paying, they returned to the star-lit pedestrian street. Yaxiu had both hands in his pockets. "Where to next?"
"Where should we gooo?"
Vichy strode forward, then suddenly spun around and tilted her head. "I've got it—let's go to the aquarium! There's one nearby!"
"Don't you find an aquarium boring for a demigod who's thousands of years old? Or do you want to see if some new species you haven't eaten yet will show up here?"
"If you're bored, then I won't be." Vichy spread her hands. "The only entertainment I have on my holiday is watching you suffer. Let's go, my dear master. Or are you going to abandon me, or end my holiday early?"
Yaxiu snorted. "You're just wasting your own holiday anyway. If you don't care, why should I?"
"Is that so? Then after the aquarium, I want to go to the mall and try on clothes."
"Didn't you go once this morning? And you didn't buy a single thing after trying them on. The shop assistants kept giving me weird looks!"
"So we'll go to a different mall later. There are many more clothing stores there. I guarantee we can stay until the mall closes, skipping dinner entirely."
"You—"
Seeing Vichy's provocative face—"Come on, you black-hearted slaver, hurry up and strip me of my holiday"—Yaxiu forced his anger down. "Fine, whatever!"
He somewhat regretted why he had casually promised such a perk a month ago.
On the day he took away Vichy's seventh void wing, Vichy's emotions had been extremely unstable. She had cried until her eyes were swollen. Although he didn't know whether this demigod was really affected by the menstrual cycle of a mortal body, out of a desire to make amends (by this point in his recollection, Yaxiu already thought his brain had short-circuited), Yaxiu very generously announced that Vichy would get a day off from her maid duties, allowing her to move freely for the day and adjust her condition as soon as possible.
Last month's maid day off, Vichy had lain in the villa all day. Apart from needing a little care from Rose, she hadn't stirred much, so Yaxiu never realized what he had done.
But this month's maid day off, Vichy asked to go out, and Yaxiu suddenly discovered a huge loophole—he absolutely could not let Vichy act alone!
Even though Vichy had to return to Yaxiu and check in every twelve hours, just letting this demon roam around outside for twelve hours was enough to make Yaxiu's anxiety explode.
Sending someone else to watch her was also out of the question. Igola was the kind of good swimmer most likely to drown; Harvey's worldview was too chaotic and easily distorted; Rose was a mortal; and Feili's blood would practically be an offering laid before a demon. After thinking it over, Yaxiu could only follow her himself.
As a result, Vichy called at six this morning to wake Yaxiu and have him open the door for her—only Yaxiu could open Vichy's door—then drove to downtown to drink coffee, took out a camera, and took street photos of passersby. Up to this point, Yaxiu still hadn't discovered Vichy's sinister intentions. It wasn't until the mall opened that the demon maid bared her fangs.
Once Yaxiu complained even slightly, Vichy immediately jumped in front of him with a punchable expression, as if making Yaxiu retract his promise and deprive her of her holiday would be a great victory in her rebellion against him, thoroughly proving that Yaxiu wasn't a good person either.
But the problem was that from Blood Moon to Stars, Yaxiu had never once been dealt the good-guy card.
He was neither an upright gentleman nor a big shot with a reputation. He was just a Legendary Sorcerer. So what if he treated what he said like farts?
Besides, toward an evil demon like Vichy, there was no need to talk about benevolence or morality. Even if he broke his promise to her, he could still stand on the moral high ground and piss!
But there was always a but.
Yaxiu thought this was very likely part of the Spectre Prophet's scheme. If he chose to retract his promise, he would in some sense be submitting to the Spectre Prophet. Vichy might use this psychological loophole to further corrupt Yaxiu.
More importantly, today's Vichy was truly infuriating. Her nasty attitude of being willing to give up entertainment just to disgust Yaxiu stood in stark contrast to the flattery she had shown him for the previous twenty-nine days. It made Yaxiu more aware than ever that he was keeping company with a viper.
It was hard to describe Yaxiu's dedication to fulfilling this promise—rather than a good person proving to a bad person that the world wasn't entirely garbage like her, it was more like the second-to-last place declaring to the last place, "Even if I win by one point, it's a huge win."
Even if it was only to avoid conceding to Vichy, Yaxiu was willing to endure for one day. Fine. Once he got past twelve, he'd have the Spectre Prophet wash his feet!
Yaxiu glared angrily at the maid striding ahead with her head high and chest out. Although he knew this kind of humiliation couldn't disgust Vichy at all, it would at least make him feel better... and soothe the fatigue in his calves. Passing a dessert shop, Vichy bought two ice creams and handed one to Yaxiu. After Yaxiu had taken a few licks, she suddenly said, "Actually, I licked yours just now."
"...No way. My ice cream's shape is completely intact. There's no trace of it being licked."
Vichy stuck out her long tongue and licked a circle around the edge of her untouched ice cream. The tip of her tongue turned slightly white. The ice cream shrank only a little. No trace of licking was visible at all.
Yaxiu's mouth twitched. His eyes went wide. Vichy took a huge bite of her ice cream, leaned close to Yaxiu, and exhaled a breath of cold air carrying the smell of milk. "Don't waste it—anyway, you've already eaten the part I licked."
"There's a saying in my hometown: don't offend the person who hands you food. Learned your lesson, Master?"
"Have you forgotten that your holiday only lasts until midnight tonight?"
"It doesn't have to wait until midnight. You can spit right into my mouth right now, ah— ah—"
Vichy opened her mouth wide. Yaxiu stuffed the rest of the ice cream straight into it. Vichy didn't mind at all; between bites she said, "Master, you're so good to me. You deliberately ate only the part I licked. This maid is truly flattered."
Yaxiu had to admit his level really was thousands of years below Vichy's, so he changed the subject. "Since we're buying clothes, why don't we buy a few outfits for Igola and the others? I wanted to buy them clothes before, but Igola said he didn't trust my taste. Honestly, I'm not Harvey..."
Vichy asked, "Then what style of clothes do you think suits Igola?"
"That kind, maybe."
Following Yaxiu's finger, Vichy saw a street performer playing music in the distance. He wore a glittering outfit straight out of a nightclub, as if the next second he would tear off his clothes and writhe around a pole in a raunchy dance. "...You want to mess with Igola?"
"No, don't you think it suits him?" Yaxiu said. "A blond Veela like him in that outfit would definitely become the most eye-catching superstar in the whole place!"
"Hmm, maybe Igola and Harvey have overshadowed your brilliance, but you're actually a freak who keeps it well hidden, Master." Vichy said impatiently, "Fine. Later I'll pick out a few outfits for them."
"You're one to talk! A demigod who actually likes getting manicures—if word got out, you'd probably become a joke in the divine realm."
"You're really wrong about that. We longevity elves have a technique that can inscribe sorcery procedures onto our nails. Later, for aesthetics, it gradually developed into a nail art culture. So my hobby isn't a joke—it proves that I have existed for a very long time." Vichy said unhurriedly, "In the divine realm, if you see elven nail art or dwarven rings, you'd better raise your guard several levels."
"Dwarven rings?" Yaxiu asked. "Is there even a race called dwarves?"
"There used to be, but now..." Vichy said faintly. "If you've never heard of them, then they've disappeared too."
Chapter 862