A person could change in a single instant.
The moment she was refused, Zitan's fragile heart slowly shattered, then reshaped itself in the next instant into an indestructible strength.
For the first time, the once-weak human girl clearly understood that her loving father and mother, her brothers, her kind neighbors, the warmhearted villagers-everyone-were gone forever.
She would shoulder this hatred, and it would make her strong enough to fear nothing.
She accepted the silver-haired girl's kindness, but that was all.
She would not readily abandon her resolve to take revenge.
Throughout their journey, the evil aura clinging to the human girl had gone from barely perceptible to unmistakable. Her resentment fed it.
Han tried to dispel it for her, but as long as the resentment in her heart remained, the source of that evil aura could not be destroyed.
Her efforts were no more than a drop in the ocean, utterly futile.
Zitan's gaze grew ever firmer, her eyes ever deeper. She never pleaded again.
Every night they rested in the forest, Zitan either jolted awake or wept silently. Even in sleep, she found no peace.
Whenever the human girl gathered berries or caught fish, she prepared enough for several people. Even for those who had never eaten any, she still prepared their share with care, as though this were her way of expressing her gratitude through whatever little she could do, even if it went unaccepted. It seemed she had already resolved to undertake something dangerous, something from which she would never turn back or return alive, and so she wanted to repay every kindness shown to her as best she could. Thus, when the silver-haired demon who had always refused her finally picked up a purple berry from the leaves, carefully washed and dried, relief at last appeared