No.
No no no, what am I thinking?!
The horrifying realization jolted Lisiluo back to full awareness, but the dizziness quickly returned.
Was I… craving blood?
She was a hybrid. She shouldn’t need to drink blood. So why…?
A flood of terrifying thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
What if Yu Weian and Mu Wan found out about her condition? Would they start avoiding her or even despise her like the other students?
If that happened, even if the love letter never got exposed, she might still be expelled from the academy.
No. Absolutely not.
She couldn’t afford to pass out.
She… she had to do something…
But after struggling for a while, Lisiluo lost to the overwhelming fatigue and slumped softly against Mu Wan’s shoulder.
“Ugh, you’re heavier than you look.”
Much heavier than expected. Mu Wan had to put in real effort to get Lisiluo onto a chair.
When she stood up, she noticed the hem of her uniform jacket was still being clutched tightly in Lisiluo’s hand.
Huh? It won’t come loose.
Do you really have to hold on this tight? Let go already!
After several failed attempts, Mu Wan was left panting.
Hmph. It’s just a uniform jacket. You can keep it.
Aside from that minor incident, everything had gone exactly as Mu Wan expected.
Of course, according to the game plot, this should have been the moment Lisiluo confessed to Yu Weian. But no matter which route the player took, Lisiluo’s confession always ended in failure.
The Yu Weian controlled by the player would politely say that while she was happy to know how Lisiluo felt, she currently had no energy to accept those feelings.
The only difference this time was that the person who witnessed Lisiluo fainting had changed from the heroine to Mu Wan, the villainess.
Since Yu Weian knew nothing about it, she wouldn’t feel guilty and wouldn’t temporarily accept Lisiluo’s confession out of pity.
Whew. Phase one of the “steal the lover” plan: success!
Wait, why does that make me sound like some kind of villain…
Oh right. I am the villain now. Never mind, then.
—— —— —— —— —— ——
After a long while, Lisiluo’s consciousness slowly returned.
She opened her eyes in a daze, already having a rough guess of what she would see.
Most likely, she would be lying alone on the cold floor. Or perhaps some passing student had taken her to the infirmary. Either way, it wouldn’t make much difference.
Reality, however, was completely different.
“Oh, so these glasses can adjust their tint? That’s pretty amazing.”
A blue pleated skirt was spread across the desk. A pair of legs wrapped in black stockings swung restlessly back and forth, making the skirt hem bounce with each movement.
Their owner was currently holding something up to examine it from every angle, occasionally letting out impressed murmurs.
Lisiluo looked around.
Yu Weian-senpai… wasn’t there. None of the other students were either.
When she turned her head, she saw Mu Wan bent over, pushing up the glasses on her nose as she winked at her.
“Hi. Finally awake?”
“You really like to sleep in, junior. I got bored just waiting, so I borrowed your glasses to play with.”
Lisiluo instinctively reached for her nose, only to grasp empty air.
Eh? Where are my glasses?
The discovery instantly cleared away most of her drowsiness.
She sat up in a panic. The deep blue jacket that had been covering her slipped down to her lap.
Only then did she realize she was lying on several chairs pushed together. The lecture notes had been neatly stacked beside her, as if someone had deliberately organized them.
“Ah, my glasses… P-Please give them back.”
Lisiluo whimpered softly, shrinking into the corner of the chair like a frightened animal. She hugged the jacket tightly to her chest.
“If you want them, you’ll have to come get them yourself. That’s the rule~”
“How can you do this… My glasses—”
Bloodkin eyes were extremely sensitive to light.
Even ordinary daylight was blindingly bright to Lisiluo. She needed specially enchanted glasses just to go outside. Indoors she could manage without them, but without the glasses she felt incredibly self-conscious when talking to others.
Right now, Lisiluo didn’t have the courage to make eye contact with anyone up close. She could only bury her face in the jacket and hide behind her silver bangs while peeking out.
No matter how far she stretched, she couldn’t reach Mu Wan’s face.
“Ohhh, I see, I see.”
Mu Wan’s smile grew wider and wider. She hopped down from the desk and walked over to stand in front of Lisiluo.
The closer she got, the deeper Lisiluo buried her face, until only her bright red ears were visible.
The jacket carried a sweet, pleasant scent. It felt strangely familiar, though in her panic she couldn’t place where she had smelled it before.
Mu Wan didn’t rush her. She simply watched Lisiluo’s reaction with great interest.
In the game, Lisiluo’s glasses were practically glued to her face. The only times she ever took them off were during those large-break CGs where she beat up the heroine. Mu Wan had always assumed the glasses were some kind of seal—that removing them would force her to attack someone.
Now she understood. Lisiluo probably just felt that in those dark, dim environments, the other person wouldn’t be able to see her clearly anyway.
“G-Give my glasses back…”
Mu Wan straightened up, letting Lisiluo’s hand grab nothing but air.
“Too bad, so close. Try harder~”
She held the glasses in front of her face and deliberately bent down, bringing them right in front of Lisiluo before dodging away at the last second.
She repeated the game over and over, clearly enjoying herself.
“Junior, you’re hopeless~ Trash~ Trash~”
“This is your last chance, okay? If you can’t grab them, you have to promise me one condition.”
Whether it was the taunting that lit a fire in her, Lisiluo suddenly felt her focus sharpen. Time seemed to slow down.
She lunged forward, moving much faster than before.
She was about to touch them!
Then her eyes caught Mu Wan’s cheek… and the reflection of the silver-haired girl in the lenses.
The memory of her earlier bloodlust flashed through her mind. Her movement froze on the spot.
As expected, Mu Wan reacted in time and pulled away.
She had failed.
“Uuu… I really am trash…”
While Lisiluo was drowning in disappointment, Mu Wan looked positively delighted. She planted her hands on her hips and let out the classic villainess laugh.
“Hehehehahaha—!”
Lisiluo buried her face completely into the jacket and muttered to herself in a muffled voice.
“Confession failed, got hated by senpai, can’t even protect my own glasses… Someone as useless as me should just disappear already…”
Seeing Lisiluo start spiraling into self-loathing, Mu Wan decided this was the perfect moment for some brainwashing… no, comforting.
“Hmph. I’m in a good mood right now, so I’ll grant your wishes for you—”
As she spoke, Mu Wan sat down beside Lisiluo and carefully placed the glasses back onto her nose. The sensation of the temple sliding over her ear made Lisiluo shiver slightly.
“There we go~ All three wishes fulfilled at once.”
“Eh?”
Lisiluo blinked, not understanding what Mu Wan meant.
She cautiously lifted her head. Through the glasses, Mu Wan could see that her red eyes were slightly moist, like two glistening rubies.
Mu Wan pulled the love letter from her skirt pocket. “Confession.”
She pointed at herself. “Senpai.”
Then she pointed at Lisiluo. “Glasses.”
“See? With me as your senpai-turned-lover, and your glasses back on your face, haven’t all three wishes come true?”
“L-Lover?!”
Only then did Lisiluo remember that this little devil had actually accepted her fake confession earlier.
Wait.
Because everything had happened so fast, there was one very important question she had completely forgotten to ask.
“Um… Does that mean you’ve been waiting here with me this whole time?”
“What else? You expect me to just leave my unconscious lover alone in an empty classroom?”
Mu Wan rested her chin on both hands and tilted her head like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then she suddenly clapped her hands as if she had just thought of something.
“Ah, or were you actually hoping I’d do something to you while you were out…?”
“N-No no no, this is fine! Really, this is enough.”
Lisiluo waved her hands frantically. For some reason, she felt oddly relieved.
It seemed Mu Wan hadn’t thought anything strange about her earlier episode and was still treating their “lover” relationship as real.
Lisiluo couldn’t tell whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
The good part was that Mu Wan didn’t hate her and probably wouldn’t seek revenge for now.
The bad part was that she had no way out anymore.
In the worst-case scenario, she might have to keep pretending to be Mu Wan’s girlfriend for a while.
But the other girl was the young lady of one of the continent’s greatest merchant houses—the family that controlled the entire economy. Plus, she had that mischievous personality. This whole “relationship” was probably just a passing whim. Once she got bored, she would naturally break it off.
Yeah. That’s right.
She just had to play along for a little while. Once everything settled down, she could explain everything to Yu Weian properly.
As if she had been waiting for Lisiluo to finish thinking, Mu Wan spoke up again.
“Since you’re awake now, let’s get going. The dessert shop shouldn’t be too crowded yet.”
“Eh? R-Right now?”
“Of course. Just eating sweets isn’t enough for a first date. We should visit a few other places too.”
Mu Wan stood up, smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt, and extended her hand toward Lisiluo.
“This is your punishment for losing to me. No refusing allowed~”
A small palm was held out in front of her. Lisiluo hesitated for a few seconds.
It’s just a date in name. As long as we don’t do anything weird, it’s basically the same as hanging out with a friend… Yeah. That’s all it is.
Just like Yu Weian-senpai said.
We’re only friends. Going out to eat something together is completely normal.
So I’m not cheating, I’m not cheating, I’m not cheating—
Repeating the words like a mantra in her heart, she placed her hand in Mu Wan’s.
When Lisiluo stood up in front of her, Mu Wan suddenly stopped moving and stared straight at her.
She stared for nearly ten full seconds.
Lisiluo felt her skin crawl. She hugged the jacket in her arms even tighter.
Only now did she realize something.
Compared to when Mu Wan was being mischievous, the silence was somehow even more terrifying.
Is she thinking my hand is too cold? Or that I look too messy? Or… has she seen through me?
“S-Senpai… Did I do something wrong?”
Lisiluo finally couldn’t hold back and asked in a small voice, trying to read something from those amber eyes.
“Hmm? I was just wondering…”
Mu Wan tilted her head and pointed at the deep blue uniform jacket Lisiluo was clutching to her chest.
“When exactly were you planning to give that back to me?”
“J-Jacket?”
Lisiluo looked down.
The deep blue uniform jacket was crumpled from how tightly she had been gripping it.
Then she looked back at Mu Wan.
Mu Wan’s own jacket was gone. She was now only wearing her white shirt, the collar slightly open and revealing a small stretch of delicate collarbone.
Without the jacket covering her, her petite figure looked even more slender.
That… That scent earlier… Don’t tell me…
Lisiluo’s face flushed from the tip of her nose all the way to the roots of her ears.
The familiar, sweet fragrance she had been smelling this whole time… was clearly Mu Wan’s own scent.
And she had buried her face in it and sniffed it for who knows how long like some kind of pervert!