Her fingertips lightly brushed every part of Mu Wan’s cheek.
The feeling was even newer than she had imagined, and Lisiluo unconsciously held her breath.
Cheek, the tip of the nose, the chin.
Places she had never touched before. This time, Lisiluo went over all of them.
The warmth of Mu Wan’s skin came through her fingertips, with a little spring to it.
Wah, wah, wah.
Touching a girl’s completely unguarded sleeping face ranked near the top of Lisiluo’s [The Hundred Things I Most Want to Do].
She had wanted to try it once, back when she was reading novels.
Today she had finally done it!
Lisiluo pressed down her excitement and carefully watched Mu Wan’s reaction.
Mu Wan did not move at all. She seemed entirely unaware of what Lisiluo had just done.
Mm… so this still isn’t enough…
That realization made Lisiluo a tiny bit bolder.
Fingertips became the pads of her fingers, then half a palm, and at last her whole hand was pressed to Mu Wan’s face.
Her palm cupped that round cheek, and she could clearly feel the rise and fall of Mu Wan’s breathing.
So small.
So Mu Wan’s face was this small. It was the first time Lisiluo had noticed.
Mu Wan was usually so aggressive that Lisiluo had never felt where the smallness was. She had unconsciously thought of Mu Wan as a mature adult, the same as Miss Luo Ling and the others.
But compared up close now, Mu Wan really did not look like a senpai several years older.
Her thumb brushed past the corner of Mu Wan’s mouth.
It finally stopped a few millimeters from the lips. She did not quite dare go on.
It was not that she was afraid Mu Wan would suddenly bite her or anything…
All right. She was a little afraid of that too.
More importantly, Lisiluo always felt that spot was far too intimate. As she was now, she still did not have the courage to touch it of her own accord.
Her gaze, though, would not move away.
— It really does look like a dessert.
The thought popped into her head again.
This time it startled even Lisiluo. She hurriedly shook her head, trying once more to drive the strange idea out.
Her gaze, though, fell on Mu Wan’s lips again and again, beyond her control.
And.
Not only the lips.
Mu Wan’s whole little face seemed to have become full of attraction. Not only visually, since Mu Wan really did look cute asleep.
It was more an instinctive urge.
Like seeing a small bread when one was hungry, and the body drawing closer on its own.
Lisiluo did not realize it at all.
She was slowly leaning down, bringing her face close to Mu Wan’s little head.
Only when the tip of her nose nearly touched Mu Wan’s ear did she suddenly come back to herself.
Hm?
Strange. What am I doing…
While Lisiluo was still puzzled, a fragrance drifted into her nose.
It might have come from the hair, or from Mu Wan’s skin. In any case, it was a scent that belonged to Mu Wan herself.
Unlike her mischievous personality, the fragrance first called to mind a cake fresh from the oven. Sweet, and enough to make a person want to bury their face in it and take a deep breath.
Reason told Lisiluo she ought to sit up at once.
Otherwise, if someone saw this, or if Mu Wan herself woke, they would definitely misunderstand and think she was about to do something bad.
Her body would not obey.
Her upper body, contrary to usual, kept leaning down. She wanted a more careful smell of that scent.
So fragrant.
Really so fragrant.
She had thought about it before, but only now did it feel especially clear, and especially tempting.
Lisiluo closed her eyes and sniffed beside Mu Wan’s ear.
The fragrance slipped in through her nose and burst open in her mind. For a moment her whole head went hazy.
Not enough.
Just smelling isn’t enough.
I want to go further —
She opened her eyes and stared at the nearest earlobe.
Small, soft, and faintly flesh-pink, the earlobe stood out sharply because of the way Mu Wan was lying on her side, as if it were inviting her.
Her hand moved down of its own accord. Her palm supported the other side of Mu Wan’s head, and she adjusted the angle.
Then.
Lisiluo bit down.
Her teeth slowly closed, holding that little piece of soft flesh in her mouth. Then, on instinct, she put out the tip of her tongue and swept it once over the surface of the earlobe.
She could taste the peculiar salt of skin, and the soft feel of the earlobe.
But in Lisiluo’s senses.
There was also a sweetness inside the skin of the earlobe, sweet enough to numb, like honey wrapped in candy paper. She only needed to put a little more pressure on her teeth —
“Mm…”
Asleep, Mu Wan let out a tiny muffled sound.
The hand holding Lisiluo’s unconsciously tightened, and the fingers slipped straight into the gaps between Lisiluo’s.
Lisiluo came awake at once.
She stopped every movement in an instant, and even her breathing nearly stopped.
Time seemed to freeze there.
The whole world was reduced to the sound of Lisiluo’s heartbeat, Mu Wan’s disordered breathing, and that little piece of warm, soft flesh in her mouth.
Fear, surprise, panic…
Every kind of emotion filled her head. She could barely think about what had happened, and could only stare blankly at Mu Wan’s reaction.
She did not know how long passed.
In Lisiluo’s eyes, it felt like several hundred years.
Mu Wan finally sank back into a sound sleep. The hand that had clenched gradually loosened, and her breathing grew even.
Realizing this, Lisiluo slowly opened her mouth, then sat bolt upright.
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait, wait —
Lisiluo hurriedly covered her mouth with her other hand, and only then kept herself from crying out.
I, I just —
With my mouth?!
Bit Mu Wan’s ear?!
Lisiluo instinctively touched her own lips.
The peculiar feel of the earlobe was still fresh in her memory, and that fragrance still lingered in her nose.
Proof that what had just happened was not an illusion.
She really had done it.
Lisiluo felt as if her head were about to explode. Every inch of skin from her neck to the roots of her ears was burning.
If she were not afraid of waking Mu Wan, she would already be rolling around on the ground.
Hold on!
Why did I do something like that?
Lisiluo recalled everything that had just happened, trying to sort out her thoughts.
At first it was only curiosity. Curiosity about what Mu Wan’s face felt like.
Then she had seen the lips, and then she had leaned down, and suddenly smelled the fragrance on Mu Wan.
At last, lured by the scent, she had wanted to taste the earlobe —
That can’t be right!
How can someone suddenly come up with an idea like ‘I want a taste’?!
That’s a living person, not some kind of food!
Lisiluo slapped her forehead hard, trying to knock herself awake.
The more she tried to drive the thoughts off, the clearer they became, as if they had taken root in her mind and could not be forgotten no matter what.
Her gaze fell on Mu Wan.
A damp trace still remained on the earlobe, along with a faint tooth mark.
The sight sent a cold sweat down the guilty Lisiluo’s back. She hurriedly grabbed her sleeve and wiped away the evidence of her crime.
Calm down.
I have to calm down first.
It must be because I’m too tired, and because I’ve gotten too close to Mu Wan, and her do-whatever-she-likes way of thinking has rubbed off on me.
That’s why I came up with this idea of ‘having a taste.’
Yes. It has to be that.
Lisiluo took a deep breath, then another, and barely pressed the panic down.
As long as she rested, these strange ideas would disappear on their own by the next day.
Mm. That’s it.
She was thinking exactly that when a loud roar suddenly came from overhead.
She looked up. Through the gaps in the canopy, she could see a small airship skimming almost against the treetops, flying toward the direction the two of them had come from.
The blast of air kicked up a wind that set the brim of Lisiluo’s hat shaking hard.
Stirred by the noise, Mu Wan shifted on her lap and turned over.
Then she opened her sleepy eyes.