Monica walked down the street, clearly in a great mood, chatting softly with Phil as she went.

“Miss Phil, look at those steamed buns, they smell so good.”

“If you want one, buy one.”

“But the facility already provided breakfast just now.”

“Then don’t buy it.”

“But they smell so good.”

“Then buy it.”

“But I already had breakfast…”

Phil took a deep breath, unwilling to continue this robotic loop of a conversation. She stopped in her tracks and looked at Monica.

“I am now ordering you to go buy one.”

Monica blinked.

A minute later, she was holding a piping hot steamed bun in both hands, her face filled with pure happiness.

“The Devil is truly terrifying.”

She took a bite of the bun and muttered softly.

“I actually couldn’t resist Miss Phil’s order at all.”

“…”

Phil adjusted her mindset and asked:

“So, where are we going next?”

“To buy gifts!”

“You have a plan?”

Monica immediately perked up, as if she had finally gotten the chance to show off the results of her preparations.

She pulled a small notebook out of her canvas bag. Upon opening it, the pages were densely packed with notes.

“First is Director Grandma. Director Grandma always feels cold in the winter, so I want to buy her a sweater and a shawl. Then there’s Xiao Nan. Xiao Nan likes drawing, so I need to buy a slightly nicer set of colored pens. Ah Lu has recently become obsessed with mecha cartoons, so I can get him one of those toys you assemble yourself…”

“And Xiao Rou…”

At this, Monica’s voice softened a bit.

She looked down at the last name in the notebook, her fingertips pressing gently against the page.

“Xiao Rou used to say she wanted to be a Calamity Hunter, so I’ll just get her an outdoor equipment set.”

Phil didn’t interrupt her.

Monica continued talking for a long time. Her tone was incredibly earnest as she spoke about each child.

Who was afraid of the dark, who loved to cry.

Who had recently grown a tiny bit taller and now stood by the wall to measure their height every day.

Who always secretly sneaked the vegetables they disliked into other people’s bowls…

Phil listened quietly.

She originally thought Monica wanted her to come along because she didn’t know what to buy.

But the truth was quite the opposite.

Turns out, she didn’t need an advisor at all. She had already figured out exactly what everyone liked and what to buy for them.

Even though she usually seemed so clumsy and always made a mess of herself, she actually did these things exceptionally well.

Phil looked at her, and after a moment, said with a sigh:

“The Director and the children… you’ve sorted them all out.”

“Mhm.”

“What about you?”

Monica tilted her head.

“Me?”

“What are you going to buy for yourself?”

“Huh, do I have to buy a gift for myself too?”

“This is the money you earned yourself. What do you mean ‘buy a gift for yourself’? It’s called spending money on yourself.”

Monica scratched her cheek, looking a bit troubled.

“But I don’t really want anything…”

Looking at her matter-of-fact expression, Phil suddenly felt a flare of irritation.

It wasn’t intense anger, but rather an exasperation akin to, “Why doesn’t this child know how to take care of herself at all?”

Perhaps because she was so used to that girl Jiang Wanfeng always doing as she pleased, Phil felt a little unaccustomed to seeing such a sensible girl like Monica.

“Be a little nicer to yourself. Even a devil wouldn’t be able to stand seeing you like this.”

With that, Phil pointed to the clothing store up ahead.

“Let’s go.”

“W-Where?”

“To buy you some clothes.”

“Eh—”

Without waiting for Monica to object, Phil had already started walking ahead on her own.

Monica chased after her, trying to say something.

But Phil decided to ignore her.

Over the next hour, Monica finally gained a profound understanding of what a true “Devil” was.

She was dragged by Phil, shuttling back and forth between several clothing stores.

Of course, from an outsider’s perspective, Monica just entered the stores alone, picked out clothes alone, went into the fitting rooms alone, walked out alone, and then stood in front of the mirror muttering softly to herself.

Occasionally, she would even nod at the empty air.

This caused the saleswomen to look at her with increasingly pitying eyes, as if they were looking at a beautiful but slightly mentally troubled poor girl.

“H-How about this outfit…”

Stepping out of the fitting room for what felt like the hundredth time, Monica felt her legs turning to jelly, but Phil still had not let her go.

Monica wore a light-blue top paired with a long white skirt, making her look a little quieter than usual.

She stood in front of the mirror, nervously tugging at her cuffs.

Phil crossed her arms and looked her over for two seconds.

“Too obedient-looking. Doesn’t really suit you. Next.”

“Eh—”

Monica wailed, but unable to resist Miss Phil’s forceful order, she could only obediently go change into the next outfit in the direction Phil pointed.

Watching Monica run back and forth, Phil, for some reason, suddenly discovered a little joy in shopping.

In the past, whenever she accompanied Jiang Wanfeng shopping, she only felt her legs turn to jelly and her soul leave her body, thinking that the mall was a more terrifying place than a battlefield.

But now, watching Monica try on outfit after outfit, she inexplicably found it quite interesting.

In short, by the time Monica was finally let off the hook, she was already sitting exhausted on a small sofa in the mall, staring blankly, with several paper bags full of clothes resting beside her.

Phil also felt it was about enough and floated to the side, waiting for Monica to rest.

Monica slumped there for a while before suddenly looking up at Phil.

“Wait, why are we only buying clothes for me? What about Miss Phil?”

“Why would I buy clothes?”

“Miss Phil wears the exact same outfit every day, don’t you find it monotonous?”

Monica mimicked Phil’s earlier tone and tried hard to keep a straight face.

“Be better to yourself. If you keep this up, even your Contractor won’t be able to stand it.”

“…”

What a fast boomerang.

“I don’t need any.”

“No, no, I can’t be the only one being toyed with by Miss Phil!”

Monica rarely acted shamelessly.

“Miss Phil has to try some on too!”

“Did you forget that others can’t see me?”

“Then just let me be the only one to see.”

Monica blinked.

“I want to see Miss Phil wear different clothes. I really want to see!”

Phil originally wanted to refuse, but couldn’t think of a good reason to do so.

Speaking of which, was this girl getting a little confused about who was in charge lately? Phil was obviously the Devil, but these past two days she felt like she was constantly being led by the nose by Monica.

She was still too kind-hearted.

Phil was silent for a moment, then finally sighed, raised her hand, and gently snapped her fingers.

[Illusion] activated.

The black gothic dress faded away as if swallowed by mist.

In its place was an outfit she had seen earlier while picking out clothes for Monica.

A white turtleneck sweater, paired with a light-colored coat, the skirt was a slightly preppy pleated skirt, and on her legs were black thigh-high socks and ankle boots.

Her silver-white long hair fell loose, with one side gently pinned up by a tiny blue hairpin.

Phil looked down at herself and felt like a high school girl who had just run out of some prestigious school.

Then, Phil suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

Helping others choose outfits was fine, but acting like a real girl and changing clothes herself, while being stared at by someone else, was a completely different matter.

After all, deep down, she was still a macho man…

She turned her face away, her voice slightly stiff.

“How is it?”

Monica didn’t answer.

Phil’s voice was hesitant: “Is it weird?”

Monica still didn’t speak.

Phil suddenly felt unsure of herself.

Was her taste really that bad? But she thought this outfit should be okay, right? She had clearly chosen it by imitating Jiang Wanfeng’s style…

So embarrassing…

Phil raised her hand, ready to change her clothes back.

“Forget it.”

“Don’t!”

Monica finally snapped out of it, her eyes frighteningly bright, two patches of blush appearing on her cheeks, looking as if she was about to get a nosebleed.

“It’s too, too, too, too, too cute!”

“Eh?”

She lunged forward so suddenly that even Phil didn’t have time to react.

“Miss Phil is too cute! So cute, so cute! So cute that it makes me want to hug you! Rub rub! Let me rub against you!”

“You’re already hugging me!”

Because Phil was in a soul state, Monica’s lunge went straight through her body.

Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone around, and Phil used [Illusion] to cover it up in time, otherwise someone would probably have started suspecting Monica.

Monica turned her head back regretfully.

“If only I could really hug Miss Phil.”

“Don’t be too greedy.”

Saying this, Phil felt her face getting a little hot.

Of course, Phil also knew that as a soul right now, she couldn’t really blush, so it was just an illusion.

But being liked in such a straightforward, almost clumsy way made her, who wasn’t very straightforward to begin with, feel even more awkward.

But…

It didn’t feel bad.

Looking at Monica, who was happy like an idiot, the corners of Phil’s mouth couldn’t be held back from curving up just a little bit.