Mathilda’s face turned crimson, and she nervously fidgeted with the clothes before muttering in a small voice,
"Lana... I am sorry."
"You should be." Lana’s lips curved into a smile, while her eyes showed a trace of impatience. "But since you are done, I need to leave, Miss Mathilda."
Mathilda was taken aback before she blurted out, "Wait... my son."
"Has been cured." Lana interrupted before Mathilda could begin, and a sweet smile remained on her face. "And now I see no reason as to why you are here?"
"That... our villa is plagued by bad luck, and we are very troubled," Mathilda murmured in a small voice.
"Is that so? What a coincidence, I am troubled too. But let’s look past the bad things and be grateful for what we have." Lana’s words were filled with hidden implication, and this time Mathilda lowered her head in shame before nodding and turning to leave.
Lana calmly watched Mathilda’s shrinking figure before rolling her eyes.
’Hypocrite. If she truly was sorry, she would have brought some compensation.’
’What if she was planning to give it to you after you accepted her apology?’ Mr. Crow questioned curiously.
Lana scoffed, her sapphire eyes shone with a cold glint matching the slight coldness around her.
"Later? No, Mr. Crow, people like her can use people like me and hand out small charities and use the excuse that they feared the people whom I have offended and hence couldn’t hand out more."
Mr. Crow fell silent; the gentle breeze carried a rare trace of earthly smell, making him sigh.
"Let’s go; I have to cultivate and then return to my university; otherwise, some impatient people may start to sniff for my location."
"University? Which university?" Mr. Crow asked in curiosity.
"Shadowridge University," Lana murmured, her expression turned dreamy. In her past life, the university had become a nightmare.
But this time... Lana smirked.
Mr. Crow’s heart thudded loudly against his chest. Lana... looked evil when she smirked... but even with that... she looked charming and mesmerizing.
For the next 5 days, Lana’s main focus was on her talisman-making practices and cultivation.
With the daily practice, Lana almost reached the perfection stage, where 9 out of 10 talismans were successful Basic Exorcism Talismans.
On the sixth day, she ordered some black dye and tried to dye her hair. As a result, she almost cried.
"What the fuck! Why is the dye not working? And why is it sliding off my hair as if my hair is rejecting it?" Lana groaned, staring at the dark, inky liquid dripping helplessly into the sink.
The reflection in the mirror showed her slightly reddened cheeks and frustrated eyes. Thıs content belongs to novel(ꜰ)ire.net
A stubborn lock of her silvery hair shimmered under the bathroom light, gleaming mockingly... untouched, pristine, and absolutely undyeable.
Mr. Crow, perched lazily on the counter, tilted his head and let out a sound somewhere between a caw and a snort.
"Perhaps the heavens themselves refuse to let you disguise your brilliance."
"Brilliance, my foot!" Lana snapped, grabbing a towel and scrubbing furiously at her damp strands. "I’ll look suspicious with this color. Everyone in the university knows I had black hair before. What am I supposed to say now that I went through spiritual bleaching?"
Mr. Crow’s shoulders shook as he barely suppressed laughter. "Actually... that doesn’t sound far from the truth."
Lana glared at him in the mirror. "Laugh more, and I will dye your feathers white. Let the world see a crow who had gone through a spiritual bleaching."
With a sigh, Lana opted for the alternative option.
Using the online ordering app, she bought a fake hair wig worth $2000.
The next day, a sleek black box arrived at the temple gates. Lana tore it open with the kind of excitement only a desperate woman could have.
Inside lay a luxurious, jet-black wig, smooth, glossy, and eerily realistic. The kind that even professional stylists would envy.
Lana’s lips curled upward. "Finally, some good luck!"
She carefully adjusted the wig on her head, tucking her silvery locks beneath. The transformation was almost perfect.
Mr. Crow blinked twice, then tilted his head to the side. "You look... like a movie villain trying to go undercover."
Before Lana could speak, a bleach bottle rolled out of the black box.
Mr. Crow’s eyes narrowed before he flapped his wing and flew away. Lana smirked evilly and muttered, "Sometimes I wonder why he even thinks of teasing me again and again."
After making preparations, Lana was all set for Shadowridge University.
Lana opened her eyes, her piercing gaze swept over the room, and she sighed.
"My mystic energy seems to have risen significantly..."
"Though there is no breakthrough, you can now deal with a ghost possessing 4 years of cultivation." Mr. Crow added.
"Well, that’s a good addition," Lana muttered and took a quick shower.
On the way, she worshipped the goddess before leaving for her university.
Hailing a cab was a difficult task, and yet Lana succeeded in the end.
The cascading black hair shone under the sunlight, and a casual denim jacket over her crisp white shirt added a unique charm to her.
Black lenses replaced her sapphire blue eyes.
’She seems to have gone from Holy Saintess to a Campus belle.’ Mr. Crow thought with amusement. In the past few days, after staying with Lana, he had gotten to know about many modern words.
On reaching outside Shadowridge University, Lana paid the driver.
The grand gates of Shadowridge University loomed ahead, towering black iron, etched with faint runes that flickered when the morning light struck them.
Few noticed those runes, but Lana did.
They weren’t simple decorations; they were protective seals, meant to suppress the ghost that might be lurking outside the campus.
The grand Shadowridge University stretched over a hundred acres of lush land; it was made using the most modern technology and gave off a corporate office vibe rather than a university one.