Felix immediately discovered Vichy's loophole when he heard this, and Ash asked, "So, there is no need to remove the ruby ​​chain from the beginning?"

"I don't want to quarrel with you," Vichy looked at Ash dimly and said in a low voice with confidence, "I just want to take advantage of the situation and trick you into removing the chains. Is there anything hard to understand? Do you really have to embarrass me at this time?"

Why do you say it as if it's my fault... Ash didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He thought for a moment and shook his head: "I said, I will help you complete the trial. You don't need to face it alone."

"But don't you still need to help Sword Lady and Witch?" Wei Xi's voice was weak. Just this kind of low-level argument made her feel exhausted like a drowned dog, with a thin layer of sweat all over her body. "Can't you just ignore me and concentrate on helping them?"

At other times, Ash would have suspected that Vichy was jealous and said something sarcastic, but now Vichy had no time to be sarcastic, she really meant it.

Ash wiped the sweat off Vichy's neck and asked, "Why do you want to complete the trial alone so much?"

"Because I can. Isn't that reason enough?"

"Not enough." Ash suddenly held Vichy's face, forcing her to look him in the face: "Did you lie just now? Do you have a wish that needs my help to fulfill?"

Vichy wanted to look away, but Ash came right up to her and pressed his forehead against hers. She closed her eyes and said firmly, "No."

Ash clenched his right hand, and an illusory ruby ​​collar appeared around her neck, and the chain extended into Ash's hand. "Lying is meaningless to me," he said calmly, "I can directly order you to speak it out. Since you have a wish, then I can help you fulfill it and pass the trial, why do you have to--"

His voice stopped abruptly.

Wei Xi slowly opened her watery eyes and looked at him with tearful eyes. A teardrop ran down her face and fell on the back of his hand. "No." Her voice was a little hoarse, "No!"

"Don't ask anything. Just let me complete the trial by myself, okay? I really don't need you to take care of me...why don't you go help Sword Princess and Witch?"

Ash wiped her tears with his thumb and sighed helplessly: "After learning the specific form of the trial from the dramatic poet, what I was most worried about was whether the Sword Princess and the Witch would insist on completing the trial on their own in order not to trouble me. The only thing I didn't expect was that you would go against me... You clearly knew the content of the trial with me, and you clearly knew that cooperation was the easiest shortcut... I don't understand why you insisted on doing the trial alone."

"Are you really unwilling to let me know your wish?" Ash's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid to burst a bubble that he didn't want to accept: "Does it make you so uncomfortable to expose your heart to me? Would you rather take a huge risk than let a stranger into your world?"

"No, no." Wei Xi shook his head: "It has nothing to do with wishes... Please don't think like that, okay?"

"Then why don't you let me help you fulfill your wish?"

"Because I'm not rejecting you!" Vichy seemed to have used up all his strength to say this, leaning on Ash and panting, "What I'm rejecting is...your help. I don't want you to help me, understand?"

"I don't understand." Ash couldn't understand. "I thought you were the most cooperative one. You are not like Sword Lady and Witch who would put my interests above everything else. In your heart, you are the most important. You want to use me to become the Supreme of Magic. Have you forgotten? You just need to accept my help shamelessly like in the past. Why are you suddenly so...rebellious?"

Felix next to him felt something was wrong. The application scenario of rebellion should be a good kid turning into a bad kid, but now it is like describing a rich second generation who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun every day suddenly wanting to start a business and invest.

"It is because I am the most important person, so I must refuse your help." The sickly elf propped himself up: "I can't rely on you anymore."

“Why can’t you rely on me?”

"Because I'm afraid I can't leave you." Wei Xi tightly grasped Ash's shoulders, raised her eyebrows, and revealed a stubborn tearful face: "I'm afraid you really locked me up!"

"You're always worried that I'll betray you one day... Actually, I'm worried too." She said, "I'm worried that when that day comes, I won't be able to betray you anymore."

"But what will I have left then? A beautiful shell called a demon maid? Maybe you think that's the best version of me, with emotions and bonds, armor and weaknesses... But I've lost the self that I've maintained for thousands of years. What's the difference between that and death?"

"When you tied me up with ruby ​​chains, I wasn't afraid. Even though my soul was locked, my heart was still free. But when the trial began, I had a strong premonition..." Vichy said softly, "If I accept your help this time, I will really lose my last freedom."

Felix stared at Vichy's true feelings, as if he was meeting this crazy lunatic for the first time. Vichy, who seemed to have no principles and put interests above all else, actually had a bottom line that could not be crushed by more interests. She would not compromise even in front of Ash... because this bottom line was her life. If she denied this bottom line, what would she have left?

"Yash, tell me, who am I?" Vichy grabbed Ash's collar, bit his lower lip and asked, "Who can I be? Who should I be?"

Her attitude was so tough, but the tears in her eyes were so soft that Ash lost his mind a little. After a short silence, Ash sighed and clenched the ruby ​​chain with his fingers.

A trace of sadness flashed across Vichy's eyes, but her face was still stubborn and she opened her mouth to bite Ash. Ash stretched out his index finger and touched her forehead, and the chain swung back and forth in front of her eyes.

"Ghost Prophet."

Ash said seriously: "All the restrictions I have imposed on you are invalid as of this second!"

Vichy stared at him blankly, her expression seemed to be hesitant as to whether to laugh or cry, which actually made her look a little silly and cute. She seemed to want to say something, but her eyes closed softly, and she relaxed in Ash's arms.

Ash and Felix looked at each other and smiled helplessly. When Ash picked up Vichy, a silver light flashed across the passage and turned into a voice that sounded in their ears:

"Something happened to Sword Princess."

…

…

When Ash arrived at Sword Princess's bedroom, Weisser asked, "Where's Felix?"

"She's taking care of Vichy." Ash walked quickly to the bedside and touched Jian Ji's forehead, burning his palm red. "What's going on?"

"Just a while ago, her condition suddenly worsened, and her body temperature gradually rose. If this is the resistance mechanism of the soul body taking effect, then it means that the trial curse is getting stronger." Weisser said: "If this continues, I doubt that only one of the trial curse and her will survive."

"Why did it suddenly get worse?" Ash was stunned. "The witch's condition has obviously improved--"

“I don’t know if it’s related,” Deda Rose said, “but when Sword Princess’ body temperature started to change, you happened to be returning from the tower with the witch.”

Perhaps because it was about Sword Princess, Ash instantly guessed the connection between the trials of the three of them: "When I help one of them complete the trial, the curses of the other two will become more severe?"

"We can't rule out this possibility." Weisser said, "Now the question is how can we help Sword Princess?"

"The current clue is that fulfilling their wishes will help them pass the trial, but..."

Ash held Sonia's hand. The once lively red-haired girl frowned in pain. He felt distressed and suddenly thought of Vichy who was so weak that she could only crawl on the carpet. No wonder Vichy asked who completed the trial as soon as they met. It turned out that her curse had also worsened... Seeing the sword princess in such pain, Ash couldn't imagine how much pain Vichy was enduring when bargaining with him.

But now Sword Lady is ill and unconscious, how can he know Sword Lady's wish?

Suddenly, Ash heard Sonia whispering something, so he immediately got into bed and lay beside her to listen. Sonia naturally leaned sideways in Ash's arms, and Ash felt like he was hugging a big stove.

Sonia's voice was hazy, like an unconscious mumbling. Ash listened for a long time before he finally heard a key word:

"Mother."

Ash stared at the red-haired girl whose frown gradually relaxed, sighed softly, and hugged her tightly in his arms.