When I opened my eyes, an entire night had already passed. It felt as though dawn had arrived the instant I closed my eyes. Aside from one bizarre dream, I had no memory whatsoever of the process of sleeping. I hadn't even noticed my daughter sneaking into the room. This energetic little one was probably the only person in the house besides Ding Dang who was always cheerful. Even Qian Qian, who was usually such a carefree optimist, had her low moods. I simply couldn't imagine what Little Pao Pao would look like worrying about the nation and its people.
Seeing Little Pao Pao sprawled across my chest and rubbing herself against me with all her might, my somewhat depressed mood over the Empire's dark history improved unbelievably. It seemed that having a well-behaved daughter really was a miracle cure for psychological trauma. I felt that as long as I held one of the little girls at home who knew how to act cute, I could laugh even while reading Les Misérables...
Suigintou had gotten up rather early today. I looked up and saw her large suitcase sitting firmly beneath the window. It was half-open and empty inside, except for a huge pile of white and black feathers. The white feathers came from Alaya. I had collected the feathers Angel Sister occasionally shed and used them as Suigintou's mattress. As for the black feathers, that was because...
A certain little doll had recently started molting.
I found this rather miraculous. What was the principle behind it? How could an alchemical life-form have a molting function?
Beside Suigintou's suitcase was a long row of suitcases, belonging to Shinku, Suiseiseki, and the rest of those little girls. Before going to bed last night, Suigintou had very seriously and carefully stacked every suitcase