[Blinded by an eyepatch, Herta loses her sense of direction, looking lost and helpless.]
[Still, with you tugging on the rope, she can only follow, no matter how furious or ashamed she is.]
[You "accidentally" drop the staff in a bucket of water.]
[Herta, clutching your wet staff, stumbles along behind you.]
[She throws every filthy curse she knows at you under her breath, but with her sight stripped away she has to keep her voice down so no one else will hear.]
[To you, it's nothing more than a bit of seasoning—a nice touch to enhance the experience.]
[At last, you stop beneath a dormitory building. Herta, unable to see, bumps into you.]
[You cast spells, heating and freezing the staff over and over.]
[Herta's body reacts, forcing her to crouch down, lips trembling as her curses finally fall silent.]
[Suddenly, she hears a familiar set of footsteps approaching.]
[To a top-tier genius like Herta, footsteps alone reveal personality. It's child's play to identify someone by sound.]
[She recognizes that stride at once—it belongs to the girl she wants to protect most: Ruan Mei.]
[Herta is shocked—and furious—to find Ruan Mei here.]
[You can practically feel her eyes burning through the eyepatch, demanding to know what you're up to.]
[She assumes you're going to target Ruan Mei and calls you a filthy, faithless monster.]
[You shut her up and assure her you're not that shameless.]
[You insist you're keeping your word—Ruan Mei knows nothing of what you do with Herta, and you've never laid a hand on her.]
[But Ruan Mei's presence here is still your doing.]
[Because your goal is—]
[Special event triggered. Enter immersion mode?]
Jing Ye's eyes gleamed.
Was it time for the showdown?
To survive, to save himself, Herta, and Ruan Mei, he chose "Yes" without hesitation.
…
Once more, darkness.
Once more, the scent of Herta hit him first—familiar, mysterious, now tinged with something fallen and sinful.
The faint smell of the sea in the air proved just how far things had gone.
The rope in his hand jerked violently, Herta's angry voice following close behind:
"What are you planning to do to Ruan Mei?!"
"You promised not to touch her, you lying bastard—mmph?!"
"Shh."
"If you want her to notice, go ahead and yell louder. Maybe let the whole dorm know, while you're at it."
She stiffened at the word "dorm." Clearly, she hadn't expected him to bring her here.
To keep her from realizing she was in front of the girls' dorm, he'd even walked her in circles for ages.
The result was just as he'd hoped.
Herta was taut as a bowstring now, lips pressed tight so not a sound escaped.
But Ruan Mei being here was exactly his doing.
The more Herta wanted to keep her ignorant, the more he refused to oblige.
He patted Herta's head and ran his fingers through her hair, murmuring that he wouldn't go too far—he wouldn't make things unbearably embarrassing for her.
Then he waved to the girl wandering the courtyard with a sorrowful expression.
"Ruan Mei, over here."
"—?!"
"You—mmph—!"
Herta never imagined he'd actually dare call her over.
Pressed flat against the chilly wall and half hidden behind a low railing that reached her waist, she quickly understood what he meant to do.
She protested and struggled with every fiber of her being—
And he calmly smothered every last sound.
All she could do now was cling to the wall, trusting that the angle was enough to keep Ruan Mei from seeing her with him.
"You're here."
As Ruan Mei's steps drew closer and her voice sounded right beside them, Herta held her breath.
The panic radiating off her flowed straight into him.
Ruan Mei, ever observant, noticed at once that Jing Ye didn't look quite right.
"Are you okay? Your face is really red…"
"I'm fine. Just feeling a little off. Nothing serious."
That was a lie.
He felt very, very fine.
Ruan Mei didn't know that. She only felt guilty for dragging him out when he "wasn't feeling well."
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have called you when you weren't feeling well…"
Her gentle face was clouded with sorrow. In the moonlight, the corners of her eyes were faintly swollen and red, like she'd been crying or hadn't slept all night.
"It's just… my parents…"
She faltered, voice shaking as she talked about their worsening condition.
While she poured her heart out, Herta trembled with furious disbelief underneath the railing.
"How can you do this while she's so sad?" her whole body seemed to be screaming.
For a moment, he almost felt guilty.
Almost.
While Ruan Mei turned away to wipe her tears, he quietly lifted Herta back upright.
From behind, Ruan Mei's smooth, flawless back was tempting—
But right now, Herta was even more so.
With his hand tugging the leash, she got to her feet, panic radiating from every line of her body. The eyepatch meant she couldn't see a thing. Only his whispered, "She's not looking," calmed her at all.
Then he suggested she bend down.
This Herta was no longer the slight, flat-chested girl of her earliest years. Her figure was as mature as Big Herta's, and bending low enough to stay hidden behind the railing was… difficult.
But with his "encouragement," nothing was impossible.
"If you won't cooperate, I'll just let Ruan Mei see everything."
"Maybe she can finish what you never allowed me to do."
His breath in her ear was more terrifying than any thunderclap.
If she let him hurt Ruan Mei now, all her misery to this point would be meaningless.
And this degrading scene, out here in the open… she couldn't let Ruan Mei suffer it too.
"Y-You… damned villain…"
Now she understood why he'd left that last step hanging over her head like a sword of Damocles—
He'd been saving it for this moment. For Ruan Mei.
-------
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