"Fufu..." I stared at him with narrowed eyes. He was currently sleeping. Cute~

Moving my fingers over to his face one at a time, they settled on his cheeks softly, where a peaceful expression laid undisturbed. His rhythmic breathing set my cold heart aflutter, placing me in a mood to think about the things I'd experienced alongside him. Ah, that's right... I closed my eyes in an attempt to feel like a human again, even though the source of my vision was from a skill.

...Up to the point where we had left the cave, I still did not feel that it was real. After all, it had already been countless of years. So much so that I no longer hoped that someone would have saved me from this nightmare. I couldn't help but deny that some part in me felt that it was already impossible to escape from. Yet this person, who'd filled my body with a new core... it seemed as if he didn't know the impact he had on my life, and what would become of my life in the future. I felt a little angry that I was the only one of us thinking this much into it, that he was merely just taking this as part of something he should have done. No, not everyone would have thought to save a monster like me. Even now, my feelings of anger seemed to only be but a light ember in comparison to the lively emotions of a human.

Should I do something to him before he wakes up? ...

Why did I hesitate today, I wonder. ...Kissing seemed like an afterthought suddenly, as I reminisced the first time we had touched lips. Not that it mattered too much to me who had lost my human emotion, but as I came in contact with him, I began to understand what it felt like to be the human that I used to be. Feeling that tingling sensation in my non-existent heart, I understood something. This was what he had felt too at that time. Or did he? Was I too forceful? Before I knew it, I had begun to feel concern for him, who had become my Master over the course of a week. Those questions came to sting me as time passed by frivolously looking at him sleeping. ...When the time comes where I'd have to face my past actions towards him, will he forgive me I wonder. My eyes lowered, as I felt a different kind of emotion weighing onto my heart. How did I look like, in his eyes...?

Then, what would happen had he not save me from this place? In the first place, did I need saving? What was my purpose travelling with him now? To take revenge on the 'hero' who'd taken the life of the first true friend I had? The fleeting moments still felt like yesterday, with Inaho.

A disturbing feeling of insecurity I've never felt before, born from the lack of understanding between us. Even though we had connected once before through our bodies, I had never ever gotten to understand him beyond that. Why did I think like this?

I transformed my hands from slime into the appearance of the hands of a human female, and then back into slime again. A meaningless action, yet proof of a status that I could not get rid of. My body was made of liquid, I was a Queen Slime after all. At the very least, I don't think I hate my current state as much as I did when I'd first arrived in this world. I heard, from the System that slimes that are blue in colour tend to be the common ones. But what about mine?

The exterior jelly of my body was pale white, I inspected myself for the first time in a long while.

"Say, is there a reason why I'm a white-colored slime..."

I asked the System. It replied with the voice of the Goddess, as usual.

Slimes that have undergone the gender change are differenciated through the white in their skin. As the mana loses its consistent flow around the host's body, the color of mana turns white. Thus, the whit-

"Ah, enough..." I stopped the explanation. It wasn't really an answer I wanted. Listening to it just made me remember that I'd deviated from being a human a long time ago. I had started to see how much of a monster I had become. What was I lacking? What answer did I expect from asking such a question?

I recalled something that she had said to me before.

"...Hey, have you... ever fallen in love, seriously before?"

Those words echoed within me. An animosity born between that woman and I. How curious, to have felt irritated, threatened even from her existence near this young man. I felt it was best to adopt my cold-headedness at times like this, and it was a convenient thing. Yet, I didn't feel like pushing these feelings away today.

Mnn...I still don't understand very much...

Feeling a little under the weather, I decided to hold off night activities for today. A little fatigue, it would seem to have accumulated within me for today. I liquidified the bottom half of my body, and coiled around him as if it was the most natural thing to do. Although slimes and undead did not require sleep, it was still possible to shut down my motor functions within me in order to achieve such a state. It would refresh most of my mental fatigue like a human too.

It's already so dark...

A soft and cold sensation tapped my head lightly. I looked up with the same unsettling feeling in where my chest would've been. A visage of white painted the skies.

"...It's snowing."

This is rather sudden, I silently thought to myself. To think that I had not noticed the sudden change in weather tonight.

Or maybe, I was too focused with looking at my Master sleeping. I had started to realize that the cold was seeping into the surroundings. I quickly slithered my lower half, carrying him into the tent behind us. Resting him onto the makeshift bed made with boar skin, I realized that it wasn't warm enough for him still. I released the substances that created something called the "Fire Potion" within my body, and wrapped around him even more tightly, but not enough to suffocate him.

The insides of the tent began to feel warmer. I could see an even more comfortable expression on his face now.

...This is it.

I found that missing feeling that I was looking for, and it resonated with the whirpool stirring in my 'core'. Soon, it turned calm again. But this was yet a different kind of feeling again.

Rather confused, I decided to relax myself and indulge in this sensation rather than think too hard about it. My senses blurred, and I felt another set of breathing near us. Looks like she had already slept huh, I guess it's impossible to send anyone else for night watch today. The snow was beginning to collect outside. I sent a mental command to L'althukul through the skill Hive Mind. There wouldn't be any intruders able to best it anyway.

Having set everything in place, I looked at the snowscape outside until I fell asleep.

That night, I had a very good sleep.