"Hey, hey! What do you mean by half-beast loli fetish? Don't slander me out of thin air!" Ron André glared.
"Heh." Yuna shot him a sidelong glance, clearly not interested in talking.
Ron couldn't be bothered to argue further. After all, public opinion would decide what was fair.
He looked Yuna up and down, clicking his tongue in amazement. He figured this must be some kind of bone-shrinking technique.
Judging by her current appearance, she looked mature—like a plump, juicy fruit—at least twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
Considering that Battle Aura Vortex cultivation itself slowed aging, even if Yuna claimed she was thirty, forty, or even fifty or sixty, Ron would be willing to believe it.
"But…" Ron shook his head after finishing his appraisal. "Even if your age checks out, you still can't prove you're my aunt. I've never heard of you existing."
"Like I care whether you believe me or not." Yuna rolled her eyes and lightly kicked him again with her smooth jade foot. "Emperor André III, that old fossil, sent me here to show goodwill to you in the first place."
"You're now a Chosen One of the Goddess of Harvest — Hervesta, and he's the reigning emperor of the human empire. Your relationship is no longer just that of father and son."
"If he'd merely sent a spy to monitor you at close range, once discovered, it would've been a provocation against a goddess-blessed Chosen One. That old man isn't that stupid."
"Since you already knew I was coming, that means the Church of the Goddess of Harvest has shared its covert intelligence channels with you."
"André knows I'll stand on your side, and he also knows there must be a bridge for communication between you and him—that's why I'm here."
Those few sentences made Ron feel a little dizzy.
So, roughly speaking, his father sent his so-called aunt Yuna as a "spy," but in reality, she was meant to be a communication link between them?
"Hold on…" Ron said helplessly. "At the very least, you need to prove you're my mother's sister first, right? And you snuck into my shop in that earlier form—if I hadn't discovered you, how would you be a communication link at all?"
"How do you even prove something like that? Everyone involved is dead. Are you planning to march up to André and ask him face-to-face?" Yuna put her other foot on Ron's knee too, kicking him a few times. "As for the second question, that was just me amusing myself on a whim. If you hadn't noticed, I would've let you know sooner or later."
Ron pondered for a moment, then eyed her suspiciously. "You're not just making all this up on the spot, are you? Do spies put all their skill points into storytelling now? If you really are my mother's sister, then come with me tomorrow and verify blood relations. Someone at the Chaos City Magic Academy should be good at that."
"…"
Yuna's expression suddenly turned subtle. She fell silent, looking awkward.
"So you really are lying to me!?" Ron laughed in disbelief. "You've got some nerve."
"I'm not lying!" Yuna kicked him several times in anger. "Back then, because my sister and I were both fox-women, she begged that bastard André to buy me from the traffickers. Even though we're not blood-related, I treated her as my real sister! Don't you dare talk nonsense!"
Ron remained unconvinced.
His mother had died from complications during childbirth.
From the moment he was born, there had never been any trace of Yuna in his memories.
If Yuna truly regarded his mother as her real sister, then why had Ron never seen her all these years?
Yuna clearly understood his doubts. She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and then slowly explained:
"Back then, Emperor André III hadn't taken the throne yet. He was fighting his brothers for power. Your mother was just a maid by his side."
"At that time, André was deeply infatuated with your mother, so he was willing to grant her request and buy me—a fox-woman—from human traffickers."
"But how could a maid have a maid of her own? And I was only eight or nine years old then—I couldn't do servant work at all."
"André planned to give me away, saying he'd find me a 'good family,' maybe one of his subordinates. In his eyes, that was already an act of mercy."
"Fortunately, at my sister's insistence, I was tested and found to have extremely high talent in shadow battle aura. That's when André arranged for me to be trained in his covert forces."
"For all these years, I was on missions in the extreme northern Frozen Tundra of the beastmen lands. It wasn't until you were over a year old that I learned of my sister's death."
"André only let me return briefly to pay my respects. I saw you from afar, then he sent me out on missions again."
"It wasn't until this autumn—after I advanced to the sixth tier and you became a goddess-blessed Chosen One—that André summoned me back."
Ron stayed silent as he listened to her finish.
He grabbed Yuna's ankle and moved her foot aside as he spoke, "It's a touching story—just a bit cliché."
"You don't believe me?" Yuna glared at him.
"A spy sneaks into my room at midnight, gets caught, then spins a story with zero evidence and expects me to believe it?" Ron countered. "I could come up with a dozen different versions of that tale myself. I'm not going to believe you just because you're pretty."
"This matter is on hold. There's nothing to discuss right now."
"I never really minded that my father sent someone to watch me. If he wants to see, let him see."
"As for whether you're truly on his side, or really my mother's sworn sister—it means nothing to me at present."
"You just do your job as a spy and an employee. Report what needs reporting. When it's time to clean or serve customers, do that properly too."
"Everything else has nothing to do with me."
Yuna had been a bit angry at first, but after hearing Ron out, she gradually calmed down.
"I understand what you mean."
"Good." Ron shrugged. "Then go back to your room. And don't come sneaking into my room in the middle of the night again."
Yuna smiled. Her bones began to contract, as if she were reverting to youth.
In just a few seconds, she turned back into the one-and-a-half-meter-tall little Yuna, standing neatly in front of Ron, face-to-face with him as he sat on the bed.
Ron stared at the transformation, momentarily dazed.
Yuna pouted. "And you say you're not a loli-lover?"
"I'm just curious about that technique!" Ron rolled his eyes. "I like all pretty things, alright? Don't lump me into one category."
"Shameless." Yuna spat lightly, then suddenly smiled sweetly. With a flick of her wrist, several books with very enticing covers appeared out of thin air. "That line, I'll believe. But for the sake of your health, your dear aunt is confiscating these~."
"What the—!"
Before Ron could lunge forward to reclaim his treasured possessions, Yuna's figure dissolved into a puddle of shadow and vanished.
"I've really taken a huge loss…" Ron pressed his forehead and sighed, feeling a headache coming on.