Seeing Liu Bei looking so troubled like a child, the girl’s playful side suddenly surfaced.
After all, Mengde was still just a thirteen-year-old girl herself.
A mischievous smile appeared on her delicate, fair face as she silently tiptoed toward Liu Bei.
Then, with a burst of energy, she playfully smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“Hey!”
To her surprise, Liu Bei didn’t seem startled by her sneak attack at all.
Instead, he calmly turned his head and greeted her with a slight nod.
“Miss, you’ve arrived.”
“I’ve arrived…? Wait, what?”
Mengde quickly shook her head, her face showing both surprise and disappointment.
“Hold on! How did you know I was coming?”
Liu Bei pointed toward the distant tent.
“I heard your footsteps when you stepped out of the tent.”
“You heard my footsteps the moment I came out of the tent?”
She turned around in shock, looking back at the distance between the tent and Liu Bei.
After estimating the space, she exclaimed,
“Wait a second, you’re at least a hundred meters away from the tent! How did you even hear that?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
Liu Bei asked back in confusion.
“Isn’t it?!”
Mengde tilted her head and blinked, equally puzzled.
***
After a long pause, the girl seemed to realize something.
Her brows furrowed, and she grumbled in frustration.
“Ugh, that’s so unfair… damn high-fantasy world.”
“High-fantasy world? What’s that?”
“Nothing!”
She brushed off Liu Bei’s confusion with a vague response and then changed the subject.
“Anyway, it’s so late already. Why aren’t you asleep?”
“That…”
Liu Bei gave a helpless smile.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You couldn’t sleep? Why’s that?”
Mengde already had a vague idea, but she asked anyway.
As she expected, Liu Bei replied, “Because I’m afraid.”
“Afraid? Of what? Don’t tell me you’re scared of ghosts. Or… are you still shaken from what happened earlier today?”
“Mm…”
Liu Bei nodded, confirming her guess.
Upon hearing this, Miss Mengde lowered her head and fell into thought, frowning slightly.
In both her past and present lives, she had never even killed a chicken, so she had no idea what it felt like to take a life.
Nor did she know how to comfort someone who had just killed a person.
‘How did the Liu Bei in real history manage to grow used to killing during the Yellow Turban Rebellion…?’
Mengde frowned in frustration.
With no experience to rely on, all she could do was try out some of the comforting words she’d heard from others in her previous life.
She began to gently console Liu Bei.
“Don’t worry. You really don’t need to feel guilty. The people you killed today were all violent criminals. Killing them was actually saving innocent lives. Just think about it—hundreds, maybe thousands of people might be spared because of your actions today. You should be proud of that.”
“I know. So I don’t feel guilty… I’m just scared of the act of killing itself…” Liu Bei lowered his head, his body trembling slightly.
“Every time I close my eyes, I see the way those people died. It was awful. I’m so scared, I can’t sleep…”
“I see…”
Mengde’s expression changed subtly, and she nodded slightly in understanding.
In truth, she had been watching from behind when Liu Bei fought during the day.
Those people really did die horribly.
To be honest, Mengde herself was also affected by what she saw.
But since she had watched from a distance and couldn’t see the details too clearly, the psychological impact on her wasn’t as severe.
Still, nearly a third of the bandits had been killed by Liu Bei alone—more than twenty people.
He saw everything: the way their bodies were slashed open, the way they fell from horseback and struggled on the ground, the intestines spilling from torn abdomens, the desperate twitches before death… and not just once.
He had seen it all, clearly and repeatedly.
In that situation, it would be strange if he wasn’t scared.
After all, empathy doesn’t just come from pitying others—it also comes from fear for oneself.
After killing so many people, wouldn’t Liu Bei be afraid that one day he might die in the same way? The moment he started imagining those dying faces as his own, of course he’d become so afraid he couldn’t sleep.
Once she realized that, Mengde let out a quiet sigh of relief.
But then came a wave of helplessness.
How was she supposed to comfort someone like this?
She had no experience in something like this!
Was there some kind of method to soothe a boy in this situation?
Mengde furrowed her brows and began to dig through her memories from her past life.
***
After a while, she suddenly remembered something—something she’d seen often in different kinds of works back then.
A method that seemed… oddly effective when comforting boys.
‘But… was she really going to do that?’
Mengde bit her lip lightly, her face turning slightly red as she looked down and hesitated for a while.
Then, she finally nodded to herself in secret.
‘Fine… let this idiot benefit a little.’
Her cheeks puffed up in annoyance as she thought to herself.
Then, sitting down on the grass in a duck-legged posture, she gently lifted the hem of her dress and reached out her slender arms to pull Liu Bei’s head toward her.
Liu Bei was stunned by Mengde’s sudden action.
“M-Miss…?”
“Don’t move!”
Liu Bei opened his eyes wide in confusion and struggled a bit, but the girl quickly scolded him in a soft voice.
At that, he obediently stopped moving.
Mengde gently pushed Liu Bei’s head down, and he gradually lay back under the pressure of her hands.
In the end, Liu Bei felt his head resting on something soft.
It was soft, smooth, and a little cool to the touch.
It felt like fine white jade—and upon closer inspection, it was clearly human skin…
Liu Bei glanced around in confusion and realized—he was resting on the girl’s thighs!
“Wha-wha—”
Liu Bei’s heart instantly went into shock.
He looked up in a panic.
The girl’s chest—still undeveloped—was perfectly flat, offering no obstruction to his upward view.
Under the silvery glow of the full moon, Liu Bei could clearly see the girl’s face blushing furiously with embarrassment.
Her rosy cheeks looked especially alluring under the moonlight, and a sudden thought popped into Liu Bei’s head—he wanted to lean up and take a playful bite out of her cheek.
But the next second, he imagined how furious Mengde would be if he actually did it.
She might kill him on the spot.
So, very reluctantly, Liu Bei buried the thought deep inside his heart.
‘Sigh…’
He gave a regretful shake of his head.
At the same time, Mengde—feeling his gaze on her—turned her head away shyly and muttered defensively.
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea! I just thought you looked pitiful and wanted to comfort you, that’s all. I heard somewhere that this method works really well. That’s the only reason I did it. So… how do you feel now? Do you feel any better?”
‘How do I feel…?’
Liu Bei echoed the question silently in his heart.
And then, he realized something strange—lying on the girl’s thighs, looking up at her face… he actually felt unexpectedly calm inside.
Cute moments like this really brings it all together.