"Mmm so comfortable~"
In the room, the just-awakened Sparkle sat up and stretched her arms, her whole body feeling an inexplicable sense of ease.
For Sparkle, playing around with Pei Guang all the way here had been quite fun. Most of what Pei Guang did was within her expectations, but all the accidents were outside her predictions.
Especially that last fire jar: after it was done, even within the dream she felt her whole body relaxed and brimming with energy.
While Sparkle was still feeling the changes in her body, Pei Guang's voice sounded by her ear.
"Sparkle, you're awake. How do you feel?"
"Oh~ you've already figured out who I am? Well, that's only natural. With hints this obvious, if you still hadn't realized, I really would have to suspect something's wrong with your head~"
Before sleeping, she had taken off her coat, revealing the set of clothes Pei Guang had seen before. In Sparkle's eyes, such an obvious hint: if he still couldn't guess her identity, then she would have to doubt whether the person before her was really Pei Guang.
Looking at Sparkle, full of confidence and wearing the expression of "I deliberately left a flaw for you to discover," Pei Guang nodded seriously and earnestly: "Yes! Too obvious. As long as you're not brain-damaged, you can tell."
The marker on the minimap was that big: it really was at a level where only cognitive issues could keep you from noticing.
Sparkle stood up, but the moment she did, Firefly, who had been silent all along, almost lost her composure.
As for Stelle beside her? From the moment Sparkle awoke, a radiant smile had already appeared on her face.
Looking at the seven differently colored fire jar marks on Sparkle's back, each giving off three unique fragrances—twenty-one in total—let alone Stelle, even Firefly had to rely on silence to suppress the urge to laugh.
Sparkle: "Hm? Why are you staring at me like that? Could it be~ you've fallen for me?"
Faced with Sparkle's blunt words, Pei Guang's response was even blunter: "That's right! I've fallen for you."
Pei Guang grabbed Sparkle's ankle, looking at her with eyes full of pure sincerity: "These legs of yours are simply perfect. I could play with them for a whole year. And these jade feet~ please, let me lick them, alright?"
The moment those words came out, Firefly's pupils shook. Even though she knew from experience that Pei Guang was teasing Sparkle, a strange thought still rose up within her.
She first glanced down at her own lower half, then turned to Stelle: "He… likes that?"
Stelle nodded seriously: "That's right! From what I know of Ah Guang, he's lecherous. A true pervert. He likes everything that looks good. Whether clothed or unclothed, he likes them all. But…"
Stelle noticed Sparkle wasn't paying attention to her words, so she lowered her voice: "But Ah Guang still prefers clothed. According to him, once naked everyone looks the same. Only when dressed well, and maybe scantily, is it truly beautiful."
Firefly: "I see…"
When it came to his own preferences, Pei Guang never bothered hiding them from others. And as a player, he could easily throw away his sense of shame and do whatever he pleased.
Sparkle, being a jester, was usually happy to join any script and set off a dazzling firework show on stage. But when Pei Guang asked her so bluntly, she froze for an instant.
Soon enough, though, a bright smile spread across her face. Her shoes slid off her feet, and her expression turned alluring.
"Is that so~ then let you have a taste~"
Sparkle generously stretched her foot toward Pei Guang. Seeing the jade-like foot before him, Pei Guang smiled with satisfaction.
But instead of immediately licking like a normal person, he pulled out various spices. He sprinkled cumin onto the foot, and the Savory Truefire suddenly flared beneath it.
As he sprinkled cumin, Pei Guang hummed a tune: "Such a delicious little foot, let me season it with some cumin, let the flavor soak in. Hey~ don't pull back now, weren't you letting me have a taste?"
In fact, the moment Pei Guang brought out the cumin and flames, Sparkle had already pulled her foot back. If it had just been a matter of licking, she wouldn't mind letting Pei Guang take a few bites.
The famous Pei Guang licking someone's foot? That gag could spread until the end of the world.
But if it turned into her foot being cooked with cumin and other condiments… that wouldn't be Pei Guang's gag, it'd be her own. She was a jester, not Tom Cat.
If she were Tom Cat, she might have happily tried what roasted-herself would taste like.
As a Fool, she was perfectly capable of acting, but in front of Pei Guang, she didn't want to.
His thoughts, logic, and actions all had traces to follow. And precisely because there were traces, she could be sure of one thing.
Though she pulled her foot back, her mouth didn't stop: "Hmm~ so impatient? You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, you know~"
Pei Guang looked at her with all sincerity: "I can eat it. I have high-temperature resistance. I can eat hot tofu. You were going to say a twisted melon isn't sweet? Even if not sweet, it quenches thirst. And I'm not picky."
Sparkle took a deep breath, eyes fixed on him, then finally raised her hands in surrender: "I give up~ I give up~"
In the first real clash between Pei Guang and Sparkle, Sparkle lost! She had no choice but to yield.
She thought Pei Guang wanted to bare his heart to her, but it turned out he literally wanted to bare it.
Sparkle straightened her body, leaning closer to Pei Guang: "Darling~ I was only playing along with you. If you really ate these little feet of mine, I'd never be able to walk normally again~ could you really bear to see such a cute girl like me unable to walk?"
Pei Guang nodded: "Yes, I could, because I'm a pervert~"
Sparkle: "No you wouldn't~ you couldn't bear to hurt me, because from start to finish I've never hurt you. I only wanted to share joy with you~"
As a Fool, of course she could play with many people in Penacony, and there were certainly others who might have fun with Sparkle casually.
But facing someone like Pei Guang, who had the power to flip the table and beat her up, even Sparkle felt a bit helpless.
Normally, she wouldn't even interact with someone like that. But Pei Guang's surroundings were far too interesting.
They hadn't been playing together for long, and already she'd encountered so many fun things: the Trash Can Family appearing in Penacony, meeting a Genius Society member locked away by the Family, direct conflict with the Family itself…
That's why Sparkle decided to stop pretending. She'd originally disguised herself to see what fun she could get out of Pei Guang, but she found the fun was better when she didn't hide it.
Naive girls can be attractive, but they miss out on a lot of pleasures. If dropping the act makes life more fun, why keep pretending?
Sparkle put her shoes back on, hopped down, bent slightly forward, and looked at Pei Guang with curiosity. "So~ what fun are we doing next?"