In the dim, cramped wardrobe, the fresh scent of sunlight mixed with something more personal periodically stimulated Kiana's nerve endings.
She was curled up in a gap between a kendo uniform and a silk dress, her nails digging deep into her palms.
Three hours ago, she had been brimming with confidence. Now, just hearing a sound made her heart accelerate and blood rush to her head.
"...Can Mei actually be this proactive?"
Little Bug had never seen this side of Mei.
The noble-born Raiden Mei possessed the pride of a young lady, as well as the gentleness of a Yamato Nadeshiko from the Far East.
She was well-read and well-mannered, graceful and virtuous, her every movement exuding an elegant wisdom.
Even with Kiana, despite how close they were, she had only ever seen Mei's gentle side.
After all, even when they were "together" in the past, Mei had always been so reserved and shy.
But when it was just her and Ye Feng, it was as if some kind of restraint had been unlocked, releasing her most primal, instinctual nature.
Kiana couldn't resist the urge to peek out, but she was afraid of being discovered by Mei.
"Hiding in a wardrobe to secretly watch the person you love being intimate with the opposite sex"—even the carefree Little Bug didn't want to be labeled with something like that.
But the rustling sounds that reached her ears, like the friction of two different body temperatures, made Kiana's heart itch as if scratched by a cat's paw.
She wanted to rush out right now!
Not to get a closer look, of course, but to condemn this morally outrageous act.
But Little Bug felt as if she had been frozen in place, rooted to the spot like a statue.
No buff had been cast on Kiana. She was just...
"This is a competition... A knight of the Kaslana family is never a coward who gives up halfway."
Can't see? Hmph, all the better!
The hand pressed against the inner wall of the wardrobe relaxed again.
However, since Ye Feng had made Little Bug hide here, if he closed one door, he would naturally open another window.
A sliver of light shone in, a white light.
A crack had appeared at the bottom of the wardrobe door. Through this gap, Kiana could see the neat and clean brown wooden floor.
Mei's snow-white, slender feet stepped back into view. Her steps were small, as if she were resisting something, yet also welcoming it.
Kiana instantly held her breath.
What a pair of beautiful feet!
Mei's jade-like feet were like exquisitely carved works of art, made all the more bewitching by her black high-heeled sandals.
The soles of her feet were as white as jade with a faint pinkish hue, like the finest mutton-fat jade. Her slender ankles were gently entwined by the thin straps of the sandals, like a carefully bound fairy, both fragile and alluring.
The black high-heeled sandals were like an intricately designed cage, holding Mei's beautiful feet firmly within. The straps were as soft as silk, yet they cinched tightly around her instep and ankle, outlining their graceful curves. Each strap was like a shackle, both imprisoning her freedom and adding an indescribable temptation.
They were like a touch of purity on a clear winter's day. Her skin was fair with a faint pinkish glow, and her jade-like toes were as nimble as the tips of tender bamboo shoots, so translucent they seemed to be bathed in bright light. The lines on the soles of her snow-white feet were faint and fine, almost imperceptible.
Kiana stared, mesmerized. Her sky-blue pupils reflected the pair of exquisitely fair feet, and she couldn't help but murmur, "Mei's feet... are so beautiful..."
Suddenly, a discordant sound pulled the engrossed Kiana back to reality.
Thud~!
The warm, pinkish flesh of a sole landed on the hard, cold wood of the floor.
In her haste, one slender foot had slipped out of its high-heeled sandal. It seemed as if Mei herself was about to fall, as a section of her jade-white calf bent toward the ground, but it quickly froze in place.
Kiana's vision in the wardrobe was limited. Through the gap at the bottom, she couldn't see anything above the calf, but seeing a part to guess the whole, she could roughly imagine the scene: Ye Feng with one arm around Mei's waist, slowly pressing her upper body down.
Beside their two pairs of legs, a single crystalline high-heeled shoe lay crookedly on the wooden floor, reflecting a silvery-white light.
"Tsk... how intense..."
Kiana felt an indescribable taste in her heart.
Her heart tightened, her head grew hot, and her thoughts seemed to freeze.
"Mei, your hair is messy."
"?"
Mei looked at her lover in confusion. At a time like this, who cared if her hair was messy? It was only going to get messier.
At the same time, Ye Feng's hoarse and magnetic voice made the air in the wardrobe instantly solidify.
Kiana immediately recognized it as Ye Feng's voice, but it had a unique quality that Little Bug had never heard before.
So that dog bastard Ye Feng can be this gentle?
Mei, on the other hand, was surprisingly proactive...
Kiana's heart was a cocktail of emotions.
Why is he so rough with me?!
Little Bug clenched her teeth.
She bit down so hard on her back molars that her jaw began to ache, and Kiana's field of vision widened.
Through a gap between two dresses, she saw Ye Feng's fingers twine into Mei's soft purple hair. His fingers slid through the strands, slowly smoothing them down. He paused for a moment when he reached her ear.
Kiana's breath hitched again.
An amethyst earring dangled from Mei's earlobe, refracting the dim yellow light from the bedside lamp.
Kiana had given that to Mei. A few days ago, when she, Mei, and Ye Feng were on the commercial street in Arc City—she clearly remembered a streak of light roaring overhead that day.
Of course, that wasn't the point.
The amethyst earring Kiana had personally given to Mei suited her so perfectly, further accentuating the girl's noble elegance.
Yet now, it had become—
"Mei, this earring suits you very well. It's truly beautiful, like a princess from a crystal castle."
"Eh? I-Is that so..."
Her fair earlobe and the translucent amethyst complemented each other perfectly.
Mei turned her head to let her lover get a better look.
"Yes. The purple gives it even more charm."
Mei lightly pinched the earring. As she tilted her head, her delicate chin, exquisite earlobe, and smooth, fragrant shoulder formed a golden triangle, shining with an intoxicating light.
"Are the earrings beautiful, or am I?"
To think Mei would ask such a girlish question.
Kiana's heart ached a little watching this, but she also felt another inexplicable emotion.
After all, Mei was wearing the earring she had given her... even if it was to please that dog bastard Ye Feng.
Only, at this moment, Kiana seemed to have forgotten why she was hiding here. She also didn't notice that the pink progress bar above her head had ticked up by one notch.
"They are most beautiful on Mei's ear. Without Mei, the earring would lose its luster."
Before Mei could speak, Ye Feng asked again, "Mei has such good taste. Where did you pick out this earring?"
"Mmm..."
Mei hesitated, about to speak but then stopping.
Kiana pressed her forehead hard against the crack in the door. No, Mei, my Mei... what is there that you can't say about this?!