Muzan: My daughter can't be that weak!

The next day, unfortunately, Xue Nai was unable to get up and go find flowers as she had hoped.

She was curled up in a ball under the covers, her face flushed, her breathing rapid and labored. Yuko's heart sank when she touched her forehead.

"Miss..." Yuko was both anxious and distressed. She hurriedly fetched cold water to soak the cloth. "I told you you shouldn't have run out yesterday. It was so windy outside, and you were barefoot..."

Yukina groggily opened her eyes, her magenta eyes watery and misty from discomfort. Seeing Yuko's worried face, she forced a weak smile.

"I'm sorry, Yuko-neechan..." Her voice was soft and nasal. "I know I was wrong..."

She reached out and gently tugged at Yuko's sleeve with her small hand.

"Don't be angry, Yuuko-neechan..." She leaned over and gently kissed Yuuko's cheek, like a kitten. "Yukina won't do it again..."

Yuko's heart melted at her actions, and she couldn't bear to scold her anymore. She gently pressed Yukina back into the blankets and placed a cool towel on her forehead.

"Miss, please take your medicine and rest well so you can get better soon." Yuko's voice softened. "Once you're better, we'll go pick the prettiest flowers, okay?"

"Hmm..." Yukina obediently closed her eyes, but quickly opened them again. "Then Father... that doctor..."

"The doctor has already come to examine the young master," Yuko said in a low voice, afraid of disturbing her. "The young master's illness... seems very serious. It suddenly worsened last night, and he has fallen into a coma."

Yukina's eyes widened suddenly.

"But!" Yuko quickly added, "That doctor said he has a way. Although it's very risky, there's... hope for a cure."

Father will be alright.

She believed that.

Yukina closed her eyes again, and this time she really fell asleep, with a faint smile on her lips.

For the next few days, Xue Nai could only lie in bed. Her body kept fluctuating, and she was given bowl after bowl of medicine, but the effect was minimal.

She had lost a lot of weight, and her already slender wrists now showed even more prominent bones.

Yuko would tell her news from the outside world every day.

"The doctor has begun treating the young master... using very special medicine."

"The young master woke up for a while today, but then fainted again..."

"The doctor said that treatment takes time and asked everyone to be patient..."

Yukina listened, nodding the whole time, her eyes always shining with hope. When she recovers, and her father recovers too, then…

This thought sustained her as she swallowed each mouthful of medicine.

After some time, Yukina's fever finally subsided, but she was still so weak that she needed Yuko's help to sit up.

She could barely lean against the porch to bask in the sun, and a strange atmosphere permeated the courtyard.

The servants whispered among themselves, their faces filled with fear.

"I heard... someone else went missing last night..."

"This is the third one already..."

"The authorities can't find the cause either..."

"Could it be... that? The man-eating demon..."

"Shh! Don't talk nonsense!"

Evil spirits.

The word began to circulate quietly in a corner of the Ubuyashiki family home.

Some said they saw a dark figure, others said they heard strange chewing sounds, but no one actually saw anything. More and more people went missing, all of them servants on night duty. The next morning, all that was left was a pool of blood and a few pieces of torn clothing.

Panic spread like a plague.

Yukina huddled in her room, hugging her knees, listening to the suppressed chatter outside. She didn't quite understand what "demons" were, but she could sense everyone's fear.

until that day.

A piercing scream tore through the night sky.

Yukina was startled awake, sat up, and her heart was pounding.

Yuko wasn't around; she'd been called to help out in the front yard tonight.

Outside the door came the sounds of hurried footsteps, cries, and things being smashed.

Yukina dared not move, but just gripped the corner of the blanket tightly, her eyes wide open in the darkness.

Then, she heard Madam Huixiang's voice.

It wasn't the usual clear and cheerful sound, but rather a hysterical cry.

"No...it can't be...my husband...how could he...?"

Father,

What happened to my father?

Xue Nai's heart clenched.

She heard more voices rushing in: some were talking loudly, some were crying, and some were screaming, "A ghost! It's a ghost! The young master has become a ghost!"

The chaos lasted for a long time, and things only barely calmed down by dawn.

Yuko returned to her room, her face pale and her eyes red and swollen, as if she had been crying for a long time. She looked at Yukina, her lips trembling, but she couldn't say a word.

"Yuko-neechan..." Yukina asked softly, "Father... what's wrong?"

Yuko finally couldn't hold back anymore and covered her face, bursting into tears.

"Young Master...Young Master...he has become..."

She couldn't continue.

But Yukina had already heard it.

Everyone heard it last night.

The young master, who had been sickly since childhood and was undergoing treatment, suddenly disappeared one night. When he reappeared, he was no longer human.

He needs to eat people.

After witnessing her husband eat people, Lady Huixiang hanged herself in her room that very night. Like Shili, she ended her life with a rope.

Yukina sat there blankly, her mind a complete blank.

Father... has turned into a man-eating demon?

The gentle person she imagined, the person with the same magenta eyes as her, the person she wanted to pick the most beautiful flowers to give to...

Has it turned into a monster?

The news pierced her small chest. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out. Everything went black, and she collapsed forward.

"Miss!"

Yuko's exclamation rang in my ears, but it grew farther and farther away.

Xuena's illness worsened.

This illness came on suddenly and violently, with persistent high fever, incessant coughing, and sometimes even coughing up blood.

The doctor came to see us, but just shook his head and prescribed some medicine, but everyone knows that these medicines are not very effective.

The Ubuyashiki family is in complete chaos.

The patriarch and his wife were busy dealing with the ghost scandal, appeasing the other clansmen, and covering up the truth. No one cared about the sickly girl anymore.

The servants' comments became increasingly unpleasant.

"They really are father and daughter... those eyes clearly don't belong to normal people..."

"Maybe one day she'll become a ghost too..."

"Stay away from her, she's bad luck..."

Yuko was trembling with anger, but she was powerless to refute it. She could only take even better care of Yukina, but Yukina's condition worsened day by day.

Yukina was mostly asleep. When she occasionally woke up, she would just stare blankly at the ceiling with her increasingly dim magenta eyes.

She no longer asked about her father, no longer mentioned going to pick flowers, and no longer brought up any thoughts about the future.

She just lay there quietly, her breathing so faint it seemed it might stop at any moment.

Yuko sat by her bedside, holding her hand, tears falling silently.

"Miss...you must hold on..."

Xue Nai did not answer.

My mother is gone, my father is gone, and life seems meaningless now.

It seems she has given up.