In the cafeteria…
Lunchtime had been over for a long while—normally the place would've been cleared out by now, yet plenty of people still lingered.
Simple reason: they'd never seen Chiemi Representative make an expression so… girlish.
Right now, Chiemi was holding Wuyou tightly, her arms trembling slightly.
Her voice was full of aftershock. "You really… How could you run all the way here without your cane? What if you'd fallen and gotten hurt?"
Wuyou leaned against her chest, took a small breath—like he was enduring pain—and explained quietly.
"I ran into Gold Ship on the way. She dragged me around and messed with me for a while… so I got delayed. I was scared you'd be waiting too long, so I hurried over."
He paused, then added in a low voice, "I ran a bit too fast, so I might've… scraped myself somewhere."
Chiemi immediately loosened her hold a little and looked him over carefully.
Scraped himself? This was way beyond "scraped."
One look and Chiemi could tell Wuyou had definitely taken more than one fall.
He'd nearly fallen the moment he entered the cafeteria—never mind what must've happened on the way here.
And he was clearly trying to hide his right elbow under his coat, like he didn't want her to see it.
Her heart clenched. She reached out and took hold of his arm.
Not hard—just enough to stop him from pulling away.
A flash of panic crossed Wuyou's face. He tried to force calm, but it didn't escape Chiemi's eyes.
She applied a bit more pressure, trying to tug his right arm out from beneath the shadow of his coat.
Seeing that, Wuyou hurriedly said, "I'm fine, Chiemi. I'm really fine."
But Chiemi leaned close to his ear. Her rich, magnetic voice turned slightly hoarse—ticklishly intimate, but carrying an aura that was impossible to refuse.
"Be good, Yuyou. Let me see."
For this move, Chiemi had absolute confidence.
Back when she worked at the butler café, she'd used that "bewitching whisper" to make plenty of girls swoon—some even awakened very questionable preferences.
Sure enough, Wuyou's body shivered, and his ears started turning faintly red.
Chiemi, even while aching with worry, couldn't help feeling a tiny bit smug.
Looks like even Yuyou couldn't withstand it. Maybe she should use it more often—
But the smugness didn't last.
The moment she saw his right elbow, only guilt remained.
His slightly thin shirt sleeve was smeared with dust, like he'd been scraping along the ground, and she could even see scuffed skin with fine scratches underneath.
Chiemi bit her lower lip and lightly touched near his elbow with her fingertips. "Does it hurt?"
"No…"
Wuyou tried to lie again, but under Chiemi's stubborn stare, he finally mumbled a vague, reluctant "Mm."
"I fell once on the way… but it's nothing."
That "it's nothing" made Chiemi feel worse.
She remembered how she'd purposely turned her face away earlier, hoping to make him apologize… those petty little resentments.
Meanwhile, he couldn't see, yet still felt his way along the walls and staggered all the way here—maybe enduring pain the whole time.
Guilt flooded her like a tide.
She pulled him back into a tight embrace, her voice soft and rough with emotion.
"I'm sorry… I had your cane. I should've gone to find you sooner…"
"It's okay… it's on me too," Wuyou murmured. "If I'd just shown myself in the hallway, it would've been fine."
"No." Chiemi denied it quietly. "If you'd shown yourself, it would've gotten even more chaotic…"
"Haha…"
Of course, Chiemi wasn't telling the full truth.
She was afraid that if Wuyou showed himself, Orfe would snatch him away.
She was certain of it—because she'd seen a different kind of desire in Orfe's eyes.
She really wanted to interrogate Wuyou about how he'd managed to attract yet another troublesome "rival," but seeing him hurt because of her, she swallowed it all and buried her cheek in the crook of his neck.
Wuyou quietly curled his fingers and gave her a small, gentle hug back, speaking with perfectly measured weariness.
"I'm really okay… don't worry."
Chiemi only held him tighter.
But…
From an angle Chiemi couldn't see, the corner of Wuyou's mouth lifted just slightly.
All according to plan—
Truth was, he didn't need the cane at all.
He'd said it before: Wuyou's sense of smell, touch, and hearing were far beyond normal—he could practically use them like sonar.
Gold Ship knew that too—otherwise she'd never have just left him there.
The dust and grass bits? He'd rubbed them on his sleeve when passing a flower bed.
The stumble into the table? He'd calculated the angle and acted it out.
Even the slightly ragged breathing—deliberately controlled.
He'd walked the route from the classroom building to the cafeteria countless times; he could do it smoothly with his eyes closed.
Ah—though the scrape on his elbow was real. He'd genuinely knocked it against a wall.
But for a fairy with self-healing, that kind of wound was nothing.
The reason was simple:
If he arrived looking too calm and composed, Chiemi would probably still be carrying a bit of sulkiness, half-real and half-playful, grumbling about him being late.
Better to make her worry. If she worried, she wouldn't be mad.
In Chiemi's warm embrace, Wuyou lowered his gaze, listened to her quickened heartbeat, and felt the careful gentleness of her fingers as they traced his "injury."
He knew that whatever tiny dissatisfaction she'd had… was already gone.
Still, this tactic was pretty nasty.
He'd basically pulled a green-tea act and fished her guilt right out of her chest.
Judging by her state now, she was still blaming herself…
Honestly, not very human of him.
Then again—he wasn't human to begin with, so that checks out.
Carrot spirit?
Green-tea spirit.
Chiemi's muffled voice carried a nasal edge. "Next time… don't do that again."
Wuyou felt her arms tighten, and amidst that faint satisfaction of success, a real thread of guilt rose in his own chest.
Crap. This was one of those "hurt the enemy by a thousand, hurt yourself by eight hundred" plays.
You feel guilty, I feel guilty—keep this up and they'll be bowing to each other on the floor.
He lifted his left hand and gently patted Chiemi's back. "Yeah. I won't."
At some point, the faint whispering in the cafeteria had gone completely silent.
The onlookers stared—because the normally carefree, dashing Chiemi Representative was showing such raw, undisguised concern and vulnerability.
Nobody went over to interrupt.
They just quietly withdrew their gazes—lowering their heads to pretend to eat, or tiptoeing out.
Seeing this, Wuyou decided to make it up to her.
He quietly circulated his fairy power, stirring the vitality inside him, and a clean, tranquil fragrance slowly spread from his body.
Not ordinary floral perfume—something with a unique, soothing quality that calmed the mind and eased emotions.
But Wuyou had apparently forgotten…
Carrots are a horse girl's favorite food.
And as a carrot spirit, his body scent—well, to a horse girl, it was even better than carrots.
Now add the push of fairy power, and it was basically a concentrated refinement of that already rich aroma.
Chiemi Representative's gaze deepened into something… darker.
....
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