The worst feeling in the world is when the air suddenly goes quiet.
After Paimon and Lumine left, the atmosphere turned awkward in an instant.
Fang Qiu found herself at a complete loss. Standing before her was a woman whose face was nearly identical to her own — and one who was, in all likelihood, an Adepti.
It was deeply, profoundly strange.
"Um… Miss Shenhe…"
Fang Qiu ventured, testing the waters.
She'd barely gotten the words half out before Shenhe cut in.
"Just Shenhe is fine," Shenhe said.
"Oh — alright then… shall we head back?" Fang Qiu said.
"Mm." Shenhe gave a small nod.
They made their way back to the rented room. Fang Qiu reached for her key out of habit — and then she saw it. A solid mass of ice had sealed the door, without so much as a hint of melting, and Fang Qiu fell silent.
She raised her hand and pushed. Hard.
Mm…
She wouldn't say it was entirely ineffective. She'd say it didn't move a single millimeter.
What could she even say…
On the bright side — thank goodness the Traveler and Paimon had handed Shenhe off to her. Otherwise, she'd have been sleeping under a bridge tonight, commiserating with strangers.
So Fang Qiu quietly stepped aside.
Let Shenhe handle it.
Then she watched as Shenhe stepped forward and gave the door a light push — and the ice sealing it shattered instantly.
Like it was made of paper.
Faced with this, Fang Qiu could only console herself: Shenhe must have withdrawn the power she'd infused into the ice, which was why it broke so easily. It had absolutely nothing to do with Fang Qiu's own lack of strength.
Still, it did give her a new idea.
So Cryo could be used like that, too.
Noted.
Since getting the lock replaced would have to wait until tomorrow, Fang Qiu had Shenhe refreeze the door shut after they went in.
Then she also had Shenhe help her move those ghost novels to the corner of the room.
According to Paimon, Shenhe might be an Adepti — and even if she wasn't, she still came from a lineage of exorcists.
With her here, there was nothing left to be afraid of.
Tomorrow, once Shenhe had rested properly, she could ask her to set up some kind of barrier or formation.
That's how it always went in those xianxia novels from her past life, wasn't it? Lay down a formation with spirit stones and nothing — no ghost, no demon — could get through.
Worst case, it'd cost a bit of Mora.
As for those ghost novels… she'd have Hu Tao come collect them later. From what she'd heard, Hu Tao actually enjoyed reading that sort of thing. Saved her the trouble of lining up at a bookstore.
"Paimon mentioned you had quite a tiring day. Go ahead and change into this nightdress to sleep — you'll be far more comfortable than in what you've got on now. Don't worry, I just bought it yesterday; it hasn't been worn."
Fang Qiu unhooked a nightdress that had been hung out to dry — one of the less revealing ones — and held it out to Shenhe.
As she did, an old TV drama scene from her past life drifted into her head at exactly the wrong moment.
How dare you wear Wanyu's clothes?
If you're going to court danger, you may as well go all in.
Mm… was the character's name Wanyu? She had the nagging feeling she was misremembering it…
"What about you?" Shenhe asked.
"I only just woke up tonight, so I want to read a little first. Don't worry — the light's not strong, it won't disturb your rest." Fang Qiu gave a soft smile.
"Mm. Alright then." Shenhe nodded.
Without any shyness, without a moment's hesitation, Shenhe simply began to undress.
One layer came off, then another. Smooth, fair skin gradually came into view, delicate as porcelain.
Refined collarbones. Elegant shoulders. A chest that was full, pert, and softly rounded with a lively springiness. A waist so slender it seemed sculpted. A stomach flat and taut without a trace of excess — and those long, graceful legs that seemed to go on forever. Every inch of her pulled at Fang Qiu's gaze.
It was profoundly, insufferably alluring.
Every single part of her.
And yet the sight sent Fang Qiu spiraling into a troubled introspection.
Their figures were practically identical — so why on earth was Shenhe so much stronger than her?
At first, she'd half-expected Shenhe to pull off her outer robes and reveal a body like that one character — what was her name, Mikasa — from an anime she'd watched in her past life. Ripped with lean muscle, eight-pack abs and all.
Same went for Hu Tao, honestly…
Neither of them looked particularly muscular, and yet both were leagues beyond her in sheer physical power…
Mm… it seemed like even the average sheltered young lady of good breeding had better physical conditioning than she did…
In that moment, she felt as though the entire world had conspired against her specifically.
While Fang Qiu was busy lamenting the injustice of fate, Shenhe had already finished changing.
She had to admit — she'd never quite noticed it when she wore the nightdresses Ying'er had gifted her, but watching Shenhe put one on now, she finally understood. Half-concealed was undeniably more alluring than bare skin. The nightdress made everything worse.
And with the outer layers gone, the resemblance between them was even more striking.
At least this nightdress, while somewhat revealing, didn't have that auto-compression function. Small mercies.
She sincerely hoped Ying'er wouldn't bother developing that particular feature going forward.
And that thought made Fang Qiu suddenly a little worried about the panda pajama design she'd handed over to Ying'er.
She wouldn't go and add something strange to it, would she? Like that auto-compression function from the other nightdress, or — heaven forbid — some bizarre feature in the lower half…
"It suits you well. And you look lovely in it." Fang Qiu smiled and offered the compliment.
As she spoke, she quietly withdrew her gaze from the pert Southern Hemisphere and the slender waist now hidden beneath the nightdress.
"Because we're alike," Shenhe said with a small nod. "Our bodies are alike too."
Fang Qiu gave a mild smile to cover her embarrassment.
She'd just realized something: complimenting Shenhe was essentially complimenting herself.
"Aren't you changing?" Shenhe asked.
"I'll change right before I sleep," Fang Qiu said with a smile.
"Mm." Shenhe nodded. "If anything comes up, you can call me at any time. I'm a light sleeper — one word from you and I'll be awake."
"Got it." Fang Qiu nodded.
With that, Shenhe lay down on the bed. Watching Shenhe's eyes flutter gently closed, that serene expression settling over her face in sleep, Fang Qiu felt the strangeness wash over her anew.
It was like watching herself lying there on the bed.
Fang Qiu smiled, stretched languidly, and picked up the book at her side.
What's a Kept Man to Do When His Obsessive Young Mistress Won't Let Him Go?
Mm…
A perfectly standard light novel title. You could deduce the entire plot from the name alone.
Fang Qiu turned the first page and began to read carefully.
Hm?
The protagonist was a girl?
A girl… being kept by an obsessive young mistress?
Or maybe the story opened from the obsessive young mistress's perspective first…
With that thought in mind, Fang Qiu continued reading.
The protagonist was a trainee cultivating at the Kamisato Estate, by the name of Bai Lingying.
After finishing her sword practice at the Kamisato Estate Dojo and bathing, she made her way to a new-style confectionery shop in Inazuma City to work her part-time job.
Today, the shop's owner — the young mistress, Sanae Saori — had arranged a new uniform for her, freshly arrived from Mondstadt.
A maid outfit.
Needing to support her younger sister, and with Sanae Saori offering triple the usual hourly rate, Bai Lingying relented.
They made their way to the changing room, where Sanae Saori pressed Bai Lingying firmly back against the changing cabinet. Bai Lingying felt her resistance melt away under the attention — her body going weak, helpless.
After a series of events not suitable for younger readers, Sanae Saori finally helped a thoroughly flustered, scarlet-faced Bai Lingying into her new uniform.
The author's craft was genuinely impressive. Reading through the scene, Fang Qiu felt as though the changing room were unfolding right before her eyes.
And as some author from her past life had once correctly observed — reading late at night, when the world was still and quiet, created a uniquely immersive feeling unlike any other…
The trouble was, that immersive quality, applied to a blooming yuri scene, was considerably less than ideal…
Especially when there was a breathtaking beauty lying in her bed just behind her — one who had, not long ago, changed her clothes right in front of her…
"Yet another book like this… what on earth are the editors at Yae Publishing House thinking…"
Not wanting to disturb Shenhe's sleep, Fang Qiu bit down gently on her lower lip to keep the complaint from escaping as anything louder than a breath.
The plot was exactly like Junior Sister, Go Easy, Senior Sister Hurts…
Which inevitably called to mind the dream she'd had last night…
I can't keep reading this. If I do, my body's going to start doing something very inconvenient…
Fang Qiu set the book firmly aside and reached for another.
Lady Shina Falls for Me.
With the soft rhythm of Shenhe's quiet breathing and the faint, occasional crackle of the oil lamp, Fang Qiu turned the pages one by one in the hushed stillness. Time drifted slowly past. A pleasant drowsiness began to settle in.
"Forget it. I'll just sleep here."
She glanced over at Shenhe, sleeping soundly on the bed, and after a moment's thought decided to simply sleep at the writing desk.
So as not to disturb her.
Fang Qiu slipped off her outer robe, leaving only her thin inner layer, then pulled the blanket that had been draped over Jumpy Dumpty around her shoulders and folded herself down onto the desk to sleep.
Time flowed on, unhurried.
She was a single breath away from falling asleep when something shifted.
Hm?
It came from the direction of the bed… probably just Shenhe turning over in her sleep.
Go back to sleep…
But just as she let it go, the quiet creak of someone rising from the bed reached her ears.
Hm?
She blinked, momentarily confused — and then heard the soft pad of footsteps approaching, drawing closer, stopping directly in front of her.
A cold dread crept up through Fang Qiu's chest.
She suddenly recalled a joke from her past life.
A sleepwalking roommate who picked up a knife and started patting their roommate's head like a watermelon — checking if it was ripe.
She remembered reading that joke and then spending the better part of six months unable to sleep soundly, living in constant fear of her roommate sleepwalking…
It had left a genuine scar on her.
Surely Shenhe didn't have a habit of killing people in her sleep?
Come to think of it, Paimon and the Traveler had mentioned that Shenhe had been living out in the wilds for a long time. The wilderness was dangerous. Developing automatic defensive instincts while unconscious seemed entirely plausible.
As Fang Qiu's mind raced with rising panic, bracing to sit up and ask if something was wrong — she felt it. Shenhe's arm reached around from behind her, slipped under her arm through the gap below her shoulder, and closed around… her chest. Not with force, exactly, but her fingers sank in deeply all the same.
Fang Qiu's slender frame gave a small, helpless shudder. She bit back the sound that almost escaped her.
Wha—?
What?!
What is Shenhe doing?!
Just as she was on the verge of full-blown panic — Shenhe withdrew the hand from her chest and placed it against her side instead. The other hand slipped beneath the back of her knees.
Before Fang Qiu had time to process it, she felt a gentle exertion of strength from Shenhe's arms — and left the ground entirely.
She's… carrying me?
Fang Qiu kept her eyes gently shut and felt Shenhe carry her step by step to the bed, then set her down.
The soft press of the bedding against her back made Fang Qiu exhale quietly in relief.
Of course. Shenhe must have woken, found her slumped over the desk, and worried she'd catch a chill — so she'd carried her to bed.
For someone who wore such an unreadable, unworldly expression, Shenhe was remarkably thoughtful when it came to caring for others.
She really was a good person.
The sort worth keeping around.
Just as Fang Qiu was settling in to let herself drift off, a strange sensation passed over her body…
Hm?
What was that?
What — wait!
Shenhe isn't undressing her, is she?!
Fang Qiu kept her eyes firmly shut, her lashes trembling the tiniest bit, not daring to move.
As it turned out, Shenhe was, in fact, undressing her.
Shenhe gently eased her upright, and the garment was drawn away from her body.
Shenhe's movements were extraordinarily light — at the scale of this kind of undressing, combined with Fang Qiu only wearing the thin inner layer which came off easily — Fang Qiu was quite certain that if she had actually been asleep, she wouldn't have felt a thing.
And Shenhe's touch was gentle and precise, every motion carefully calibrated to avoid making Fang Qiu feel what was happening.
Only the faint chill of air against newly bared skin confirmed that her clothes were, inch by inch, being removed.
Truly worthy of being an Adepti… even undressing someone is done with such terrifying skill…
No, wait — that's not the point right now…
Why is Shenhe undressing her?!
In a flash, she thought of the novel she'd just been reading — the protagonist Bai Lingying, whose clothes had been peeled off her layer by layer by Sanae Saori, only to very nearly be devoured whole.
Fang Qiu did not dare to move.
Within moments, she had been stripped down to the very last line of defense.
The cool air of the room settled against her skin and Fang Qiu's frame gave a small, delicate shiver.
Not from cold — but from a creeping apprehension.
She had no idea what Shenhe intended to do…
Surely she wasn't going to do that to her…
That's terrifying.
They were both women, weren't they…
Although… given what she'd just read in that book…
She should have known that women could also…
What was she supposed to do now…
Just as she was wavering over whether to open her eyes — Shenhe placed her fingers at the edge of that last remaining garment and began gently, carefully tugging it downward.
Only — halfway through, she stopped.
And let go.
Hm?
Why did she stop?
Not that she was hoping Shenhe would continue — she was simply genuinely curious why Shenhe had changed her mind.
Fang Qiu went very still, puzzled.
Then, before the confusion had time to settle, she felt her right arm being guided smoothly into a soft, airy sleeve. A moment later, her other arm followed. Then the whole of her was enveloped in something light and yielding.
This is…?
Shenhe is… putting a nightdress on her?
Just as the realization dawned on Fang Qiu, Shenhe quietly lay down beside her — and made no further moves.
There was just one small issue.
Shenhe had forgotten to pull the undergarment back up from where she'd left it halfway down.
But Shenhe wasn't asleep yet — and Fang Qiu didn't dare reach down to fix it herself. Any movement now would give the whole performance away.
A clean, subtle fragrance drifted slowly into her senses.
Something like Ganyu's scent — not quite the same, but close. A blend of Qingxin and Glaze Lily and Silk Flower, all together.
A scent that settled something deep and quiet in the chest.
The Traveler and Paimon had mentioned that these were the things Shenhe ate every day. Perhaps that was why.
And so, cradled in that gentle fragrance, Fang Qiu sank into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Outside the window, the night was perfect.
Glaze Lilies swayed softly in the breeze.
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