Seraphine's Transformation

"I do!" Seraphine didn't hesitate for even a moment.

She even took the initiative to pull off the silk gloves that noble ladies cherished most, revealing her soft, fair, and delicate hands.

Then she reached out and clasped Li Wei's hand tightly.

A few seconds later, cold sweat beaded on Seraphine's smooth forehead.

Her pupils contracted, her breathing grew ragged, and sweat quickly soaked her cheeks, plastering strands of hair messily to her face. It was as if some immense weight was pressing down on her, crushing her body and her heart.

"Take a deep breath and slow down." Li Wei let go in time.

He had anticipated Seraphine's reaction.

Because when he first crossed over and touched the original owner's memories, he had felt the same agony and shock.

Those memories held almost nothing but despair and pain. Even skimming through them as a bystander was enough to suffocate a person.

And Seraphine was far more naive and delicate than he was—the impact on her was bound to be even greater.

And so it was.

"Huff, huff—" Seraphine stared blankly, shaking off Li Wei's support as she staggered to steady herself.

She had seen things she could never have imagined before.

For instance, Seraphine had never known what it was really like to be an apprentice in her own family's factory.

She realized that everything she ate, used, and played with—every gold coin she casually spent—was welded together piece by piece by workers living in such torment.

And this work, which Seraphine couldn't bear even to imagine, was actually seen as a stroke of luck in the eyes of those Zaunite apprentices. Because their memories of Zaun were even more miserable.

"Now do you understand?" Li Wei had only shared a few fragments with her, but that was enough.

"Mm." Seraphine nodded slightly.

She finally understood how foolish she had been before—always sympathizing with the suffering she saw, yet having no real grasp of how deep that suffering went.

Li Wei didn't take the chance to lecture her.

Reality was more convincing than any grand principle. And Seraphine already had the courage and resolve to face it.

"Let's go." Those painful memory fragments had clearly left a heavy mental burden on Seraphine. Worried she might break down, Li Wei wanted to take her away.

But Seraphine shook her head. "Mr. Li Wei, can we wait a little longer?"

"I want to hear more—the voices of the Zaunites." With that, she turned to look at the beggars.

They were still lost in the beautiful music just played, their expressions as serene as saints bathing in the Ganges.

Enduring their suffering in silence, without a single complaint.

"Can I shake your hands?"

Summoning her courage, Seraphine stepped up to the beggars.

Maybe her song had truly touched them, or more likely, the magic's influence hadn't faded yet—these beggars all felt a strange reverence and respect for Seraphine.

Like fans meeting a celebrity.

"You, you want to shake our hands? How can this be? Someone as noble as you... how could you shake hands with us?" The beggars were flattered beyond belief.

They instinctively worshipped Seraphine, yet felt ashamed of themselves, afraid to approach.

"Please." Seraphine reached out her hand.

But the beggars only shrank back further—they themselves felt that touching this girl with their dirty hands would be a desecration of their "idol."

"I, I'll do it."

Finally, a Beggar Woman stepped forward, hesitant but excited. Her hands were a bit cleaner than the rough men's, the most presentable of the lot.

But even so, when that hand—calloused, cracked, with dust fused into the skin, black grime blending with the nails, the hand of a wretched beggar—was extended before Seraphine, she instinctively recoiled.

It was a completely different experience from shaking Li Wei's hand. His hands had calluses too, but they were well-kept; slender and long, with distinct knuckles, naturally quite beautiful.

Even without the pretense of "experiencing life," Seraphine would have been willing to hold such a hand.

But this Beggar Woman's hand...

It was just too dirty.

Just a glance up close made Seraphine, who had a slight aversion to filth, break out in goosebumps.

"I'm, I'm sorry, miss..." The Beggar Woman seemed to sense something and blushed, pulling her hand back.

That movement snapped Seraphine out of it.

"No! I'm the one who should apologize."

Seraphine was overwhelmed with shame.

She suddenly realized she had been a hypocrite!

All her life, she had sympathized with the suffering and wanted to help the poor.

She had always thought of herself as half a Zaunite, and whenever her parents badmouthed Zaun, she couldn't help but defend the homeland of her imagination.

But now, standing before these impoverished Zaunites, Seraphine finally understood.

She had always looked down on them.

A disdain so deep she hadn't even noticed it herself.

Her father was right—she was never a Zaunite. Never.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Fighting through her inner discomfort, Seraphine guiltily took the Beggar Woman's hand. Just that one touch made her feel as though a layer of grime had clung to her skin.

She didn't let go. She held on firmly, then looked up at the Beggar Woman and asked:

"Could you tell me how you came from Zaun to Piltover and ended up like this?"

The question held no magic, yet it pierced the illusion like a needle.

"Ah—" In an instant, a torrent of painful memories surged into Seraphine's mind.

She saw a girl who survived in Zaun by selling her parents' corpses and eating Sewer Rats. After scraping together enough money to buy an apprenticeship slot, she came to Piltover with dreams, only to lose everything in a factory accident. Fired by the factory, evicted by her landlord, deported by the Enforcers. She escaped by the skin of her teeth, but without legal status, she couldn't find work. Reduced to this, the woman even dreamed of becoming a prostitute, but the alchemical toxins from Zaun had scarred her face long ago, so no one would have her. In the end, she could only become a beggar, surviving on petty theft, dumpster diving, and handouts.

Naive Seraphine had never imagined that for a woman, even becoming a prostitute could be an unattainable dream.

This memory—

It hurt. It hurt so much.

"Ah—" The pain was real.

"What's wrong, Seraphine?"

"My ability... it's been triggered out of control." Seraphine clutched her head, splitting with pain. "The sounds—everywhere, there's nothing but suffering! Aaaah!"

This was the Zaunite Community, so of course it was filled with melodies of pain. Almost exclusively those.

Mr. Ervin hadn't let her come here precisely because he feared her ability would spiral out of control in a place like this.

"Seraphine!"

Seeing her on the verge of fainting from the agony, Li Wei finally panicked.

Forgetting everything else, he caught her swaying form and lifted her into his arms. Seraphine's head lolled weakly against his chest, as if she were about to pass out.

"Hang on. I'm getting you out of here."

Li Wei turned to leave quickly.

But Seraphine forced herself to stay conscious, her gaze blurry as she looked at the beggars:

"You can go to the Factory District. Find Mr. Ervin at the Hextech Sound Factory. Ask him for a job, help you get your apprentice status back. Don't forget to mention my name. I'm—"

"Seraphine!"

Seraphine woke from the darkness.

When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by Piltover's clean, bustling streets.

The sky was so clear, the sun so bright. It felt as though everything she'd seen in the Zaunite Community was just a nightmare.

As for Seraphine herself, she was being carefully supported by a man, carried steadily on his back. His shoulders were broad, just right for her to sleep comfortably.

"Oh, Mr. Li Wei." She groggily recognized him, then relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder again.

And then she faintly "heard" it: Li Wei was singing to her in his heart, and he hadn't stopped.

The melody was soft and sweet, the rhythm gentle and soothing, bringing an indescribable sense of peace.

This wasn't a Piltover tune. It was one she'd never heard before.

"Mr. Li Wei?" Seraphine perked up, fully awake. "What song is that?"

"You're awake? Good, you weren't out long." Li Wei sighed in relief.

And finally, as Seraphine had hoped, he shared music with her:

"This is a 'Lullaby.' You said your father's nursery rhymes help ease your pain. I thought this might work too."

"Mmm." Seraphine savored the gentle melody, and her mind did feel much lighter.

This song really could help her.

"Thank you, Mr. Li Wei."

"Is this 'Lullaby' your composition too? Your style is so versatile—it seems like you can handle any theme. You're a genius!"

"No, I didn't write this. It's Schubert's piece."

"Schubert?"

"You don't know him? But can't you read minds?"

"No, Mr. Li Wei. Your soul seems to be 'protected' by some force. There are things I simply can't read."

"I see." So Seraphine couldn't access memories that would reveal his identity as a time-traveler.

It seemed his earlier frantic effort to focus only on the original owner's memories for her to see had been completely unnecessary.

"So, who is Schubert?"

"That's hard to explain—just take it as my creation. Anyway, just listen to the music. Whatever style you want, I can 'play' it for you."

"You mean you know many, many more songs this beautiful?" Seraphine's eyes sparkled.

"Mm." Li Wei nodded. As an amateur enthusiast, his music library was quite extensive.

"Would you be willing to teach them all to me?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Mr. Li Wei! You're so kind to me!"

"Uh... am I?" He couldn't count how many times he'd called her an idiot.

"Better than before." Seraphine smiled contentedly.

That was true.

Seraphine was willing to admit her own naivety and innocence, willing to step down from her pedestal and speak directly with the lowest of the low, even reflecting on and feeling guilty for her past ignorance.

And at the critical moment, she'd forced her nearly broken spirit to point those beggars toward a path.

She hadn't just moved herself and run off, tossed out charity and slipped away, or pulled out some baffling poverty-alleviation method like "Let me sing you a song."

Instead, she'd thought practically and given them what they urgently needed—apprentice status and a job.

Every one of Seraphine's actions exceeded Li Wei's initial expectations. After all, he'd originally seen her as nothing but a fool.

So Li Wei's impression of this naive young lady had unknowingly shifted quite a bit.

"Not just a shift..." Suddenly, Li Wei noticed Seraphine's breath against his cheek growing warm and hot.

She leaned on his shoulder, stammering:

"Mr. Li Wei, you... you seem..."

"To be starting to like me a little."

Li Wei: "..."

"Nonsense! I—"

Damn! He hadn't even noticed himself, and she already knew.

This girl was terrifying.

No privacy at all. Whoever married her would be in for a life sentence!

"M-Mr. Li Wei, how did you jump to marriage? That's terribly ungentlemanly. We've only known each other for half a day!"

Li Wei: "..."

"Seraphine, this is where you fall short of Sona."

"Sona?" The parts of Li Wei's memory about the game's story were also content Seraphine couldn't read: "Who's Sona?"

"A girl with abilities similar to yours."

"Huh? Then where am I worse than her?"

"She's mute. She can't talk."