Despite Lu Mi's repeated warnings to hide well, Noel still found two people during the night and ate them until only their skulls and skeletons remained.
Looking at the gruesome sight before her, Jin Bi tugged on the sleeve of the man beside her. "She seems even hungrier than she was on the first night."
He Shengguang gave a slightly awkward cough. "Keep your hands to yourself," he said, but he didn't shake her hand off.
"Let's go. We still have to cook for Noel."
Someone spoke up, but when they turned to leave, they saw the butler standing rigidly outside the door like a statue.
After witnessing last night's slaughter, the sight of the butler's corpse-white face sent a chill through everyone.
"He just won't leave us alone. What the hell does he want?" He Shengguang cursed under his breath.
The butler had come to inform them that this morning's lessons had been canceled. At first, that sounded like good news. After all, they could be killed if they taught poorly.
"You didn't play with Noel the night before last." Lu Mi and Roman had put Noel to bed before ten that night, and the butler had recorded that in his notebook as well. "Today, you'll have to make up for it."
The players found this rather strange.
Jin Bi leaned closer to He Shengguang. "What new trick is this? During the day, the butterflies only fly away when Noel eats. She's fairly safe the rest of the time. Playing with her in the morning doesn't seem to meet the conditions for her to go berserk."
He Shengguang also felt that something was wrong. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Don't be scared. Whatever he does, you've got me."
Watching the pair, Lu Mi couldn't help smiling. They were so shippable. He loved it.
But his smile soon vanished.
"I knew the butler wouldn't let us off that easily!"
A maid had already shoved a dogskin coat right in Jin Bi's face. She took it, cursing. "So we still have to wear these things after all. If Yu Shaoqiang had managed to rip them all apart, at least he wouldn't have died for nothing."
Yet the butler simply stood there in silence. Only after seeing everyone put on their dogskin coats did he smile. "Please wait on the lawn. The young lady still needs to wash and dress."
"Of course she does. She ate two people in one go last night. Just washing the smell off her must take ages."
There was nothing they could do. They were at his mercy. Even knowing that what came next would be dangerous, they had no choice but to obey. All they could do was spit out a few vicious curses.
Light snow was still drifting from the sky. Lu Mi pulled his dogskin coat tighter around him. Since he had to wear it, he might as well get the most out of it.
By the time the butler brought the freshly washed and dressed Noel over, everyone's hands and feet were freezing.
She wore a brand-new, full-skirted dress and looked every inch an innocent, adorable child.
But as soon as Noel approached Lu Mi and the others, the pair of butterflies over her eyes clamped their wings shut as though they had seen a ghost.
Noel stared silently at them for several seconds. Her mouth gradually opened wider, and she let out a string of screams that pierced everyone's eardrums.
The players trembled with fear. They were still more than ten meters apart, yet Noel's reaction was already this intense.
Even so, the butler continued dragging Noel forward against her will. "Go and play games with your tutors."
Her childish voice gradually grew hoarse, turning into the agonized shrieks of a vengeful ghost. Black blood flowed from her eye sockets, dripping onto the pristine snow wherever she stepped.
Lu Mi looked away. He desperately wanted all of this to end.
Faintly, he heard something approaching. There were many of them, and the sound seemed to be coming from above.
He looked up and saw a dense mass of butterflies swarming overhead. Their brightly colored wings overlapped, their beating low and unnerving.
The butler had already led Noel up to the players. She seemed to be struggling to hold something back, her little fists clenched tight.
Seeing this, He Shengguang and Jin Bi quietly backed away a few steps.
But the butler immediately noticed their movement and shoved Noel toward them. "Miss, have you had a good look at what they're wearing?"
Caught off guard, Noel was pushed against Jin Bi. Her face pressed into the dogskin coat and immediately crumpled. "It's... it's Feili..."
With Noel pressed against her and stark black blood smearing her coat, Jin Bi was so terrified that her legs shook.
The gruesome images of the people Noel had eaten flashed through her mind over and over.
Then she thought of the man beside her.
"Shengguang."
He Shengguang was also staring fixedly at Noel. "Don't move, Jin Bi. Noel is trying to control herself. Don't interrupt her."
Jin Bi's voice cracked with tears. "What if... what if she can't?"
"She won't. Noel is a good child when she's lucid." He Shengguang took her hand and did his best to soothe her. "You said it yourself. Neither of the two conditions that make Noel go berserk has been met."
"How horrifying. These tutors caught lively little Feili and skinned Feili alive to make warm clothes," the butler said. "Miss, can you feel Feili's warmth?"
Noel's small body stopped trembling.
The pair of butterflies over her eyes suddenly spread their wings. At that instant, Lu Mi shouted, "Run!!!"
Jin Bi screamed in terror. Without hesitation, she shoved the man holding her hand into Noel, then fled toward the castle without looking back. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!!"
The players scattered. Fear, betrayal-this was exactly what the butler wanted to see. Only two men remained where they stood, perhaps too frightened to move.
Amid the uproar, the butler unhurriedly began telling a story:
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a paradise called the Magic Manor. Her favorite thing was to lie on the grass and bask in the sun. She even befriended a butterfly."
Every tooth in Noel's mouth had become as sharp and terrifying as a beast's. He Shengguang screamed in agony, drops of fresh blood staining the snow red.
"One day, while she was sunbathing, the little butterfly perched on the tip of her nose. In the sunlight, the patterns on its wings shimmered."
The mass of butterflies in the sky swooped down, surrounding the two tangled figures.
"Slowly, the little butterfly climbed onto the little girl's eyelashes. Delighted, the girl opened her eyes wide to admire the beautiful little butterfly up close. And the butterfly, curious, dipped its long proboscis into the girl's eye and tasted a hint of sweetness."
He Shengguang tried to escape, but Noel and the swarm of butterflies held him captive.
He tried to open his mouth to call for help, but wave after wave of butterflies swarmed inside, clogging his throat. He even felt as though butterflies were dancing wildly in his stomach.
The butler continued his story, amusement in his voice. "Once it began, it couldn't stop. The little butterfly greedily sucked at the girl's eyes, attracting many of its companions."
"At sunset, swarms upon swarms of butterflies flew over the manor walls and settled on the little girl's eyes, her arms, her belly... a magnificent sight, wouldn't you say?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the dense swarm of butterflies took flight. Noel stepped back as well, revealing He Shengguang lying on the bloodstained snow.
His clothes were torn, and his arms and thighs had been eaten down to the bone.
But most striking of all was the pair of butterflies covering his hollow eyes. As they slowly spread their wings, it looked as though human eyes were opening.
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