Chapter 348

The handkerchief smells a bit? After hearing the muffled reminder from his younger brother whose face was covered, Leon suddenly remembered that he had just used his handkerchief to wipe the “treasure” Melanie found. He quickly put the handkerchief away and vigorously rubbed William’s face with his sleeve, laughing nervously as he covered up, “Maybe it wasn’t damp enough. Let me go wash it first… Senior Emma, where’s the water?”

“I’ll do it.”

After giving Leon a slightly reproachful look, Emma, who had already finished wiping her daughter’s face, didn’t expose Leon’s secret about the handkerchief. Instead, she beckoned to William and then used the part of the cloth that hadn’t gotten dirty to wipe his face again.

Thanks to the enhanced body control abilities of the cleaner, Emma’s movements were gentle and unhurried, seemingly not using any force at all, yet the dirt on William’s face was visibly disappearing right before their eyes.

And upon seeing this, Melanie, who was nearby and suffering through her own painful “torture,” couldn’t help but protest again:

“Sis Anna, look, it clearly doesn’t have to be so forceful. How about I…”

“How about you shut up and sit properly, or I’ll deduct your allowance for next week too! You choose!”

“Ugh…”

As Anna brutally suppressed Melanie’s uprising, Elie, who had once again transformed into a little porcelain doll, curiously approached Leon, examining this strange uncle who inexplicably made people want to get close.

“What’s wrong?”

Although Leon knew that Little Elie wasn’t really a child but an anomalous item born from Senior Emma’s longing for her daughter, he still felt a surge of affection when he saw the timid little girl wanting to approach him.

Squatting slightly to align his gaze with Little Elie, Leon smiled gently and asked, “Do you have something you want to say to me?”

“Hmm…”

Still not accustomed to communicating with older people, Elie blinked shyly and couldn’t help but glance back at Emma before gathering courage under her encouraging look and saying,

“I… I drew a picture a few days ago. It’s… it’s of you, and I wanted to give it to you…”

A picture of me? Upon hearing Elie’s words, Leon couldn’t help but pause momentarily, then nodded warmly and smiled in response, “Thank you… Where’s the drawing?”

“It’s in my room…”

Seeing that Leon hadn’t refused, Elie couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Subconsciously, her little hands began tugging at the hem of her dress as she said bashfully,

“If it doesn’t look very good, would you still accept it?”

“Of course.”

Looking at Elie, whose demeanor was completely different from the two troublemakers at home, making her seem pitifully obedient, Leon couldn’t resist lightly touching her head through his wide-brimmed soft hat. Then, standing up, he took her gloved little hand and smiled while making a polite gesture.

“The cutest Miss Elie, would you take me to admire your work?”

“Yes!”

Upon receiving Leon’s enthusiastic response, Elie’s face instantly lit up with a big smile. Under Emma’s gentle gaze, she pulled Leon’s hand and entered the inner room, handing him a somewhat crumpled piece of drawing paper.

At the center of this painting with naive strokes was a large rectangular frame that looked somewhat like a fallen coffin, with a dark hole opening above it. In front of the large frame, there was a chaotic mess of colors, as if the wastewater discharged by a paint factory had flowed into a river.

Three long strip-like tentacle monsters floated above these dazzling color blocks, dancing around a round object that seemed to be emitting flames, holding some sort of evil ritual.

So… where am I? Not wanting to admit that he didn’t fully understand, Leon could only awkwardly point to the only element he could identify and praised, “Not bad, the use of color is very bold, and the style is very avant-garde… What are these flames?”

“They’re candles!”

Candles, huh!

Relieved by the hint, Leon secretly sighed in relief and continued guessing based on this information.

Is the thing below, which looks like a barrel filled with fuel and has a horizontal stripe in the middle, the birthday cake? Are the strip-like tentacle monsters the people holding hands? Are the garish color patches beneath them the garden? Is the fallen coffin the small house? So the real meaning of this painting is actually people celebrating her birthday in the garden, holding hands around the birthday cake?

“It seems… it doesn’t quite resemble… let me modify it!”

Looking up at Leon in front of her, then down at the strip-like tentacle monster in the painting, Elie’s face turned slightly red. She quickly took back the drawing, dressed one of the tentacle monsters in a black coat, added two dots on what was probably its face, and drew a downward curved short arc line as its mouth.

After modifying Leon’s image, she decided to go all out and grabbed the crayon to draw a tree in the garden, adding a small tentacle monster feeling the bird’s nest on the tree, and below the tree, there was a large tentacle monster with hands on her hips, looking angrily upward.

“This time it seems… a bit better…”

After drawing several black dots next to Melanie to imply the precious treasures she found from the hidden passage, Elie finally breathed a sigh of relief after completing her second creation. Her face flushed red as she handed the rather abstract painting to Leon.

“For you, thank you for coming to celebrate my birthday.”

“Not… not at all…”

His lips twitched slightly, Leon carefully received this avant-garde artwork titled “Tentacle Monsters Ravaging the Sewage River” and put it away. Then, squatting down, he smiled and said, “I really like your gift. I also have a birthday present for you.”

“Really?”

Hearing Leon’s words, Elie’s eyes sparkled with surprise as she asked, “What is it?”

“It’s not time yet~”

Smiling mysteriously, Leon did not take out the fireworks and firecrackers he had hurriedly ordered overnight but instead asked,

No mistake in the content within 69 book bar!

“Elie, before giving the gift, can you take off your gloves and shake hands with me?”

Shake hands?

Hearing Leon’s words, Elie hesitated slightly, then shyly nodded, taking off her gloves used to block sunlight and placing her small palm in Leon’s hand.

【Name: Baohua’s Sorrow (Soul, Life and Death, Reflection)】

【Appearance: A well-behaved girl who can grow normally but can only appear near Baohua Manor. She becomes temporarily transparent when exposed to too much sunlight.】

【Ability: Soul Stability (Limited), Resurrection (Limited), Wish Reflection (Region Limited)】

【Cost: None】

【Profile: After realizing that the execution of the Baohua Family was inevitable, Emma Arman traded the location of the Baohua Family’s secret treasury to ensure her daughter’s survival under Leonard Cooko’s protection.

To obtain the wealth accumulated by the Baohua Family, Leonard Cooko agreed to this deal. However, after confirming the authenticity of the secret treasury’s location, fearing that protecting the remnants of the Baohua family would displease the king, he directly broke the promise and personally drowned the less-than-a-year-old Elie Arman in the lake…

…

When the drowsy soul returned to the human world with her mother, the body-less Elie Arman could not resurrect and was about to completely dissipate under the sunlight.

In order to retain her last remaining family member, Emma Arman’s strong desire voluntarily split a part of the power of “Baohua’s Sin” and combined it with the souls of many closely related clan members who died and dispersed, creating this special anomalous item that could only be “used” within the Baohua Manor…】

【Evaluation: When together with “Baohua’s Sin” Emma Arman, it should have gained the additional ability to regenerate after dying six hundred sixty-six times, but due to the lack of the original body, this characteristic has never been activated】

【Taint Value: 0.1】

It’s pretty much what I guessed, but it seems even better somehow.

After reading Elie’s “explanation,” Leon couldn’t help but smile. The shiny cufflink on his sleeve flickered slightly, and a small children’s firework appeared in Elie’s palm.

Immediately after, the personally crafted 【Desire Dream Infiltrator】 by the Third-Generation Bureau Director activated, and a dreamlike flame quietly appeared, igniting the petal-like small colored paper at the end of the firework. A small cluster of brilliant fireworks then spurted out from between the petal-shaped colored paper.

“Wow!!!”

“The real gift might not be ready today, so let me give you this one first.”

Holding Elie’s small hand, teaching her how to draw circles in the air with the bright spot at the end of the firework, Leon looked at the delighted Elie in front of him, extended his pinky finger to her, and smiled brightly, saying,

“If Elie can help me with a favor and make a wish when blowing out the candles on the cake tonight, asking Senior Emma to stay home with you all day tomorrow, then I will give you an even better gift. What do you think?”

(End of Chapter)