“What?”
Anna pretended not to know what was going on and came over to look at the photos with Naclis. At that moment, Naclis seemed frozen in place. She rubbed her eyes, still unable to believe what she was seeing.
“These photos…”
Naclis stammered, wanting to ask what was going on but not knowing how to put it into words.
“Yes, these are photos of us. I took lots of them.”
As she spoke, Anna took out more photos and laid them in front of Naclis.
At that moment, Naclis looked as though she didn’t recognize Anna. Pointing at Anna in one of the photos, she asked:
“Who is this woman?”
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“It’s me! My dear older sister, don’t you even recognize me?”
Naclis seemed unable to hear anything. She shifted her finger to Reflection Naclis in the photo.
“Who is this woman? She looks so unfamiliar. How come I’ve never seen her before?”
Naclis instinctively began lying to herself. Anna simply took out a small mirror, which reflected Naclis’s face.
Only then did Naclis notice that her pupils were trembling. She touched her face, looked at the mirror, then looked back at the photo.
She compared their appearances over and over, even making all sorts of strange movements, as if trying to confirm that the person in the mirror really was herself.
“Stop looking. The one in the photo is your reflection.”
“My reflection? What reflection?”
“Accept reality, Older Sister. The one in the photo is your reflection!”
Anna cupped Naclis’s face and emphasized each word.
“My reflection? What reflection? How could my reflection end up in a photo?”
“Ugh…”
Anna sighed. She didn’t know what to say. This had hit Naclis hard, and she still couldn’t accept reality.
“Forget it. I’ll go get your reflection and let her explain it to you herself. I’m sure she’ll be very happy.
“But she should still be inside Master Mentor’s shadow. I’ll go get her now…”
“Wait!”
Naclis had caught the key phrase and regained some of her senses. At least she remembered what a reflection was.
“What were you doing in the photos? I can’t understand your behavior.”
Naclis turned the photos this way and that, studying what exactly was going on in them.
At this point, Anna could only explain it to Naclis in the most direct terms:
“We were making love. It’s a way for us to take our feelings for each other to the next level.
“Now, both your reflection and I are ahead of you.”
Hearing Anna’s answer, Naclis calmly nodded.
“Oh, I see…”
The next moment, Naclis fainted.
“Hey, Naclis, don’t scare me…”
Naclis’s sudden collapse startled Anna. She’d only meant to tease her and give her a little push. She hadn’t intended to actually do anything to her. This was completely unexpected.
Anna hurriedly checked Naclis’s breathing. Only after confirming that her vital signs were stable and she had merely fainted did Anna finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Is Naclis really that fragile?”
Anna was just about to wake Naclis when she thought of something and ran toward Loren.
“Master Mentor! This is bad! Naclis fainted!”
“What?”
The moment Loren heard the news, he jumped down from the second floor and flew over to Naclis.
He checked Naclis’s vital signs first. Only after confirming she was all right did he turn to question Anna:
“What happened here…? Actually, never mind. You don’t have to tell me.”
Before Anna could answer, Loren spotted the photos scattered across the floor.
“Did Naclis faint because she couldn’t handle seeing these?”
“Yes~”
As Anna answered, she tried to get away with a cute act, but Loren wasn’t buying it.
“You really showed Naclis those photos!”
Loren tapped Anna on the head. Anna crouched down, clutching it, and complained in a rather aggrieved voice:
“I just wanted Naclis to accept reality and give her a little push, that’s all.”
“You… sigh… Forget it.”
In the end, Loren said nothing more. He simply picked Naclis up and quietly returned to his room.
“I wonder if this will leave Naclis traumatized.”
Loren sighed. This really had been quite a shock for Naclis.
Anna had always helped the others along, but had never been willing to do the same for Naclis.
Loren had assumed Anna had at least a little conscience, and knew that Naclis’s relationship with him was special, so she’d refrained from helping push things along with her.
That meant Naclis was one of the few witches who hadn’t been corrupted. And that was exactly why this scene had hit her so hard.
Now it seemed Anna had simply wanted to get ahead of Naclis. Once she succeeded, she planned to help Naclis along, too.
Anna had always snatched up the foods that were supposedly good for enlarging breasts, afraid that Naclis would grow bigger.
But her worries were unnecessary. Even if Naclis grew ten times over, she still wouldn’t be able to match Anna.
“Master Mentor…”
While Loren was looking after Naclis, Reflection Naclis crawled out of Loren’s shadow.
Loren casually stroked her hair, then started complaining to her:
“Honestly, Anna. She really did show Naclis those photos, and Naclis couldn’t handle the shock and fainted.”
“Are these the ones?”
As she spoke, Reflection Naclis took out a whole stack of photos. They were the very ones Anna had taken earlier.
“These are the ones. Put them away quickly, before Naclis wakes up and sees them, then gets shocked all over again…
“Naclis is waking up! Hurry!”
The moment Loren noticed Naclis’s eyelids beginning to move, he shoved Reflection Naclis back into his shadow.
“Master Mentor? What happened just now?”
Naclis rubbed her eyes, seeming to have forgotten what had happened.
“Nothing. You were just tired and suddenly fell asleep.”
There was no way Loren could tell Naclis what had just happened. He didn’t want to shock her all over again.
“All right.”
Naclis looked into Loren’s eyes and smiled.
Sure enough, that terrifying thing had only been a nightmare.
Just then, Loren’s expression changed. While he wasn’t paying attention, Reflection Naclis suddenly opened her mouth without warning, making quite a bit of noise.
Hearing it, Naclis looked puzzled and immediately turned toward the source of the sound. Then she locked eyes with Reflection Naclis.
Reflection Naclis struggled to lift her head, straining her eyes upward until she finally managed to meet Naclis’s gaze.
“Helwo…”
Reflection Naclis greeted Naclis, though her words came out a little slurred.