Vol 4. Chapter 23: Punishment

“Wuwuwu, it hurts, it really hurts...”

At this moment,

The silver-haired girl, wearing nothing but a pair of stockings and otherwise almost completely naked, lay weakly sprawled across the sofa, tightly clutching the torn black cloth in her hand as she continued to sob.

Mengxi’s eyes had long since turned red and were brimming with tears. Her lips trembled slightly, making her look extremely aggrieved.

Shimmering tears continuously welled in Mengxi’s eyes. Clearly, the silver-haired girl was trying to suppress the urge to cry. But as the burning pain from her bottom continued to assail her, the silver-haired girl’s endurance finally reached its limit.

Then, large, round, sparkling tears began streaming endlessly down the girl’s cheeks, soaking another patch of the fluffy sofa.

Hmm? Wait, why say “another”?

...

Mengxi cried softly, but her voice carried remarkably well, filled with a soul-stirring quality. Combined with her already breathtakingly beautiful face, the sight was enough to arouse sympathy in anyone who saw her.

“Sister Yumo, I really won’t dare do it again. Please don’t hit me anymore, wuwuwu...”

Eventually,

The silver-haired girl had cried until she was almost completely drained of strength, leaving her able only to plead quietly with the black-haired girl beside her.

“...”

Looking at the utterly miserable girl before her, Lady Yumo could not help feeling her heart ache. Her crimson eyes trembled continuously as she stood frozen in place, completely at a loss.

‘Mengxi...’

The sternness on Lady Yumo’s face gradually faded, replaced by deep reluctance and sympathy.

Actually,

Back in the Great Winter Forest, Lady Yumo had often used the feather duster to discipline those disobedient children who loved causing trouble.

And every time she finished spanking them and her anger subsided, a powerful feeling of reluctance would surge into Lady Yumo’s heart.

Disciplining children was something she did because she had no other choice, but afterward, Yumo inevitably felt distressed for them. Therefore, every time she brought out the feather duster, Yumo would spend a long time comforting the crying child afterward.

This time, Yumo had originally intended to do the same.

Mengxi was a bad girl who had deceived her for so long, constantly taken liberties with her, and even done something so shamelessly bold and provocative. Yumo had planned to spank her twice so that she would never dare do it again!

Besides, the girl herself had agreed to it.

However—

After the feather duster came down, Mengxi immediately began crying so miserably and screaming herself hoarse.

That was something Yumo had never expected.

And after seeing Mengxi’s pitiful appearance, all of Yumo’s previous displeasure immediately vanished without a trace.

All that remained was heartache and bewilderment.

Wh-Why?

Why did this happen?

‘I clearly controlled my strength, didn’t I?’

Lady Yumo muttered doubtfully to herself.

When it came to spanking, Lady Yumo was an absolute expert.

Whether they were Demon King-class existences feared by the entire world or the orphans Yumo had taken in, the children of the Great Winter Forest had certainly been spanked by Lady Yumo plenty of times.

Whenever those children disobeyed her and refused to change despite repeated warnings, Yumo disciplined them by spanking them.

On the one hand, spanking could bring children a certain degree of embarrassment, warning them not to make the same mistake again. On the other hand, the buttocks had plenty of flesh and could withstand a beating.

Naturally, the strength of those children varied enormously, ranging from Peak Eighth-Tier existences all the way down to children who had not even begun cultivating.

Yet whenever Yumo spanked them, she could perfectly control her strength. She would neither hit too hard nor too lightly, using exactly enough force to teach them a lesson without leaving any lasting consequences.

Naturally, with Mengxi possessing Mid Sixth-Tier strength, Yumo had controlled her strength accordingly.

She had only intended to give the bad girl a few swats and make her cry out a little.

Who would have thought that after only one strike of the feather duster, the girl would already be crying like this?

Since Mengxi had deceived her for so long, Yumo naturally suspected that the girl might deliberately be pretending in order to escape punishment.

However, after watching her for several seconds, Yumo dismissed that possibility.

Mengxi might have been able to fake her expression, but the convulsions of her body, the collapse of her Holy Mana, and the floodgates bursting open were all genuine signs of Mengxi’s condition...

This girl was not pretending.

She really had experienced tremendous suffering.

‘Why did this girl end up crying this badly?’

Was she particularly afraid of pain?

Or had Yumo been too angry just now and failed to properly control her strength?

Or perhaps—

Was it because of the feather duster?

Confused, Yumo blankly looked toward the legendary weapon tightly gripped in her right hand, which was radiating a faint yet dangerous crimson glow.

It was not as though she had never used the feather duster to spank naughty human children before.

But using the feather duster on someone from the Asumos Church who possessed Holy Mana—and even the Chosen One herself?

She really had never tried that before.

‘Could it really be because of this?’

Yumo narrowed her eyes slightly and thoughtfully glanced at the feather duster several times before slowly turning her head toward the beautiful girl who was still whimpering.

?!!

“S-Sis?! Sister Yumo?! I really can’t take it anymore, wuwuwu!”

Seeing Yumo turn around while still holding that terrifying murder weapon, Mengxi’s little heart once again began pounding wildly.

Her entire body curled up as her pale-purple eyes filled with fear.

Seeing this,

Lady Yumo immediately felt another wave of regret. Tenderness and guilt instantly appeared in her crimson eyes as she hurriedly comforted the frightened Child of Destiny.

“S-Sorry... I won’t hit you anymore. I won’t...”

“Wuwu...”

However, Mengxi continued sobbing, staring fearfully at the feather duster.

Realizing this,

Lady Yumo hurriedly snapped her fingers.

Accompanied by a ripple of crimson Shadow of Silence Power and a swarm of fluttering Blood Butterflies, the legendary weapon in Yumo’s hand, which radiated waves of ominous energy, vanished without a trace after another flash of crimson light.

With the feather duster’s disappearance, the atmosphere inside the entire tent finally returned to normal.

As for Mengxi—

After seeing that terrifying feather duster finally disappear, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

Without the spiritual oppression brought by the feather duster, Mengxi’s body was no longer tense, nor did she remain curled up. The girl simply relaxed and lay limply across the sofa.

However—

The feather duster disappearing did not mean the bloody welt on Mengxi’s bottom would disappear as well.

The bone-piercing pain continued pouring endlessly from the wound and rapidly spreading throughout every part of her body, leaving Mengxi’s delicate brows tightly furrowed as she continued whimpering.

She looked terribly pitiful.

“Does it... still hurt a lot?”

Staring at the vicious wound on Mengxi’s bottom, Yumo asked with complicated emotions.

“N-No, it doesn’t hurt anymore...”

Mengxi replied weakly.

At this moment, Lady Mengxi’s entire body exuded an air of misery. Tears clung to her long eyelashes, making her look as delicate and beautiful as a lotus emerging from the water.

However, perhaps because she did not want to appear weak in front of Yumo, those tears seemed reluctant to leave her flawless white skin and stubbornly refused to fall~

Yet when another wave of body-rending agony suddenly surged from her bottom, the girl once again began sobbing uncontrollably as large tears rolled from her eyes.

“Wuwuwuwu, it hurts... It really hurts... Sister Yumo, it really hurts...”

The girl finally stopped suppressing her emotions.

As though venting everything she had endured, she hugged the cushion beside her and began crying pitifully, making Lady Yumo lower her head guiltily.

“I’m sorry... I... I didn’t control myself properly...”

As she apologized,

Another glow of Shadow of Silence Power suddenly rippled across Yumo’s palm.

Of course, what emerged from Yumo’s internal space this time was not some dangerous weapon, but the elven treasure known as the healing holy medicine—‘Tears of Nature.’

Holding the expensive medicine bottle, Yumo soothingly brushed aside a strand of Mengxi’s beautiful hair that had become soaked with sweat and stuck to her forehead, fully revealing her breathtaking yet miserable face.

“Let me apply some medicine first... That way, it won’t hurt as much.”

“...Mm...”

Still sniffling, Mengxi raised her hand to wipe away her tears before obediently nodding slightly.

...

...

A short while later, after a process difficult to describe, Yumo patiently cleaned away the dirty blood around Mengxi’s wound, along with some strange fluids.

Afterward, the black-haired girl poured the ‘Tears of Nature’ into her palm and slowly applied it to Mengxi’s wound.

Staring at the vicious wound on Mengxi’s soft, fair bottom, which had already begun to fester, Yumo’s heart trembled.

‘I hope... it doesn’t leave a scar...’

As a cool sensation flowed into the wound, Mengxi’s pain was successfully reduced by a considerable degree.

The lovely girl lying across Yumo’s thighs gradually stopped trembling, and tears were no longer pouring endlessly from her eyes.

She seemed to have finally recovered her usual elegant, saintly demeanor.

Of course, that was provided one ignored Lady Mengxi’s slightly swollen eyes from all the crying.

“Feeling better?”

“Mm...”

The silver-haired girl nodded slightly.

Then, she stared somewhat resentfully at the guilt-ridden Lady Yumo.

“My body feels a little better... but emotionally, I still feel awful...”

“Hm? Wh-Why? Is it because I hit you too hard? I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to. I originally only wanted to give you a few light swats... I never expected the effect would be so...”

But before Yumo could finish speaking, Mengxi shook her head.

“N-No... It’s not because of that...”

“Hm? Then... then why?”

“Because... because it’s unfair...”

“Unfair?”

“Mm. I lied and kept taking liberties with Sister Yumo, so Sister Yumo spanked me... But Sister Yumo lied to me too! And back in the Great Winter Forest, you took plenty of liberties with me as well...”

“Th-That was because I was forced to...”

“I don’t care!”

Feeling deeply wronged after being spanked, Lady Mengxi could not help speaking in a willful tone.

“Anyway, when Sister helped me bathe back then and treated me like a dress-up doll, you took plenty of advantage of me too! It’s completely unfair that I’m the only one being punished while Sister Yumo gets away with everything! So... so Sister Yumo has to be punished too!”

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Yumo could not help freezing.

After hesitating for a moment, driven by her guilt, Lady Yumo stammered somewhat awkwardly,

“Th-Then... how do you want to punish me?”