The evening sun turned the entire teaching building a golden yellow.
Ling Ling arrived as promised, pushing open the rusty iron door to the rooftop.
She could see Lady Ye standing with her hands on the railing, gazing at the distant scenery. Her soft black hair was gently lifted by the evening breeze, and the setting sun cast a warm halo around her.
Upon hearing the footsteps, she didn’t turn around immediately. Instead, she tilted her head slightly and said to Ling Ling:
“…I thought you weren’t coming.”
Ling Ling walked to her side and imitated her by placing her own hands on the railing.
She didn’t speak. She just stood there quietly, waiting for Ye Fengxue to initiate the conversation.
After a long silence, Lady Ye pursed her lips, then parted them slightly, as if to say something more.
But every time the words reached the tip of her tongue, she swallowed them back.
It was like she was locked in a life-or-death struggle with some invisible sense of shame.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ling Ling watched the hesitant Lady Ye and sighed inwardly.
Lady Ye’s thoughts were actually quite easy to read. Seeing her caught in such a tangled mess, combined with recent events, Ling Ling had already guessed most of what she wanted to say.
“…Lady Ye, you didn’t call me here just to watch the sunset, did you?”
Ling Ling broke the silence first, then spoke in her usual emotionless, earnest voice:
“No matter what happens, I’ll always be by your side.”
Huh?
Lady Ye was completely thrown off by this sudden straight ball, but it also ended her internal battle with her own embarrassment.
Then, her voice tinged with shame and indignation, she said to Ling Ling:
“W-Wait a minute! I didn’t say anything! How can you just—”
“And that line about ‘always being by my side’—do you even know what you’re saying?!”
“Besides, that kind of line usually needs a reason! I haven’t told you anything!!!”
Ling Ling tilted her head, looking at Lady Ye, whose face was now burning red as she fumbled over her words.
She had already known what Lady Ye was going to say—it was about the Ye Family matter next month.
Although Ling Ling’s interference had weakened Ye Qinghai’s strength, the true power of Ye Qinghai and the Phantom Night Company remained shrouded in fog.
And she had a vague feeling that this incident involving the Ye Family might not be as simple as it seemed.
Lady Ye had probably sensed that too, and she doubted her father’s S-Class superhuman would be able to handle every contingency.
That was why she needed more help now.
But with Lady Ye’s twisted personality, asking for help was harder for her than climbing to the sky. So instead of letting her wrestle with her own shame forever, Ling Ling decided to take the initiative.
“I can guess what you’re thinking.”
“About the Ye Family matter next month. You need more help, but you’re too embarrassed to ask. So I said it for you.”
Ye Fengxue opened her mouth, as if to say something, but for a moment, she didn’t know what to say. So she closed it again.
The words she had been preparing for a long time, which she had even rehearsed in her mind several times, had been shattered.
She had planned to first explain the situation clearly, then analyze the risks, then subtly make her request, and finally give Ling Ling a valid reason to refuse.
But Ling Ling’s straight ball had smashed all of that to pieces.
“…Can’t you read the room?”
Lady Ye buried her head in the railing and said in a muffled voice: “I finally mustered up the courage to talk about something serious. Couldn’t you at least let me finish before responding like that? It makes it seem… like you’ve seen right through me.”
“Because I have.”
“You—!”
Ling Ling suddenly looked up at her, her eyes filled with shame and anger.
“You idiot! You blockhead! You log!”
Seeing her so flustered, Ling Ling thought she looked kind of cute.
Lady Ye always put on a haughty air in front of others, her speech full of pride. But in front of her, she often acted like an angry little cat.
“…Sorry.” Ling Ling said in a very sincere tone.
Lady Ye quickly regained her usual aristocratic composure.
“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong. I just—”
“I just think it’s unfair.”
“You always help me without being asked. That alley the first time we met, the port last night… this time too.”
“You never ask me what I need before you act. You just do it.”
“I haven’t even had a chance to say ‘thank you,’ and you’re already off to the next thing.”
“This time, I was planning to formally ask you, as the heir of the Ye Family, and then secure proper compensation for you afterward.”
“But you just had to go and block everything I wanted to say, you big idiot.”
After hearing Lady Ye’s words, Ling Ling paused for a moment.
Then she did something Lady Ye never expected—she took two steps back, performed an elegant gentleman’s hand salute in the refined manner befitting ‘Moriarty,’ and bowed solemnly to her.
Then she spoke in a serious tone.
“Madam, do you have any requests for assistance?”
Ye Fengxue froze.
She watched the white-haired girl before her, who had stepped back and bowed to her with an elegant gentleman’s bow. Her mind went blank for an instant.
The golden sunset shone upon the girl, transforming her ordinary student uniform into something that looked like a magnificent and dignified gown.
“Idiot, what are you doing?” Ye Fengxue’s voice softened.
“As you see, milady.” Ling Ling remained in her graceful, bowing posture like a gentleman. Although her tone was still flat, there was a hint of elegance in every word she spoke now.
Lady Ye snapped back to reality and let out a soft laugh.
“…You really are something.”
Ye Fengxue took a deep breath, struggling to regain the dignified bearing befitting the eldest daughter of the Ye Family.
She straightened up, folded her hands in front of her, and spoke in a formal tone.
“Student Lin Lingling.”
“Here.”
“I, Ye Fengxue, in the capacity of the heir to the Ye Family, formally invite you to serve as my personal guard. There is a possibility of direct confrontation with the Phantom Night Company.”
Ye Fengxue paused, but the last shred of hesitation in her heart had already been blown away by the wind.
“So, do you accept this request?”