As expected, Eula's rejection didn't dim Yichen's smile in the slightest.
He naturally fell into step beside her, as if walking next to her had already become an instinct carved into his bones.
At the same time, the carefully prepared lunchbox was pressed firmly into Eula's free hand—so decisively that refusing wasn't an option.
The wooden lunchbox was still faintly warm from his palm, solid and heavy.
"Here, today's lunch."
His tone was light, as if discussing the weather, but in his eyes hid an almost imperceptible anticipation.
"I revised it strictly according to the advice you gave me last time."
Eula's fingers curled slightly around the lunchbox.
It still carried the warmth of being held against his chest.
Her cheeks began to heat against her will.
To cover it, she stiffened her neck and stared far out toward Cider Lake, letting out a louder-than-usual "Hmph!" to mask the embarrassment rising in her chest.
"Hmph! How shameless!
You actually investigated the private food preferences of the Knights of Favonius' Reconnaissance Captain so thoroughly—this kind of intrusion is… simply heinous!
This grudge, I'll remember it!"
"But you told me yourself though."
Yichen blinked innocently, a teasing smile dancing on his lips—
his words effortlessly puncturing the fortress she had worked so hard to maintain.
Eula froze.
The color spreading across her cheeks could rival dawn spilling across snowy peaks.
She whipped her head to the side as if escaping, silver-blue hair drawing a stubborn arc in the air.
Her lips pressed tightly together, refusing to let even half a word slip out—determined to swallow her flustered anger whole.
Seeing her reaction, Yichen wisely retreated.
With the gate guards holding back knowing smirks behind them, he stopped and waved casually, his smile still bright.
"I'll escort you only this far today.
The sunset will be beautiful this afternoon—I'll be waiting at the usual place. Finish patrol early and come back soon, alright?"
"...Arrogant!
Who permitted you to decide the daily schedule of Mondstadt's Reconnaissance Captain?
This grudge—I'll remember it."
Eula's steps faltered—
but she didn't turn back.
Her voice was cool, but pressed low, layered with complicated emotions only she herself could understand.
The floating morning breeze carried it off, unclear whether she was speaking to him… or to herself.
"Don't think that just because you survived ninety-nine failures, you can become complacent…"
Her voice grew softer and softer.
Her gaze drifted up to Mondstadt's towering spires, as if seeking the final line of defense for her rapidly weakening resolve.
"Wait—when you run away with your tail between your legs after the hundredth confession…"
"This endless pestering… this crime of disturbing someone's heart…"
Eula tightened her hold on the warm lunchbox and dew-covered flowers, her grip turning white-knuckled.
"...I will absolutely, absolutely make you repay it double."
Before the final syllable settled, Eula moved—
as if fleeing the suffocating silence
and the weight of the gaze fixed on her back
and the fear that her carefully maintained icy mask might melt if she stayed even a second longer.
She strode quickly into the shade of Mondstadt's gates, without looking back once, leaving only the faint scent of snow pine and frost bloom lingering behind.
Yichen only caught a few scattered words from her muttered whispering.
Watching her blue silhouette nearly flee into the city gate's shadow, the smile on his lips quietly faded.
He turned smoothly, stepping into the growing morning bustle of Mondstadt—heading straight for the restaurant, Good Hunter.
Inside his mind, a mechanical voice rang out right on cue—
his companion for the past fifty days:
the Task & Lottery System.
[Ding! Target has completed designated confession No. 99.
Performance standard met. Emotional delivery sufficiently rich.]
Yichen weaved through the crowd with practiced ease, even pausing to straighten a pot of windwheel asters someone had knocked askew.
He replied silently:
"System, what if—just hypothetically—Eula's brain glitches on the hundredth confession and she actually agrees? Then what? What happens to the task progression…?"
[Pff—!]
The system let out a sound disturbingly similar to someone choking on laughter.
[Oh my god. Host, the FIRST thing you need to do right now is RUN home,
grab that trashy romance booklet under your pillow—
"When the Strict Commander Falls for Me"—
and RIP IT UP.
BURN IT.
Yeet it into Cider Lake to feed the fish!]
[Wake up, sweetheart!
Did you seriously think that clocking in for a hundred confessions—
at a level comparable to workplace harassment—
would let you conquer the last scion of the Lawrence Clan?
Naïve! Foolish! Terminal-stage love brain! Nothing can save you now!]
Each word hit like a thrown brick.
Fortunately, the system's voice was a lolita voice, which made the verbal assault marginally more tolerable.
Yichen stopped just outside Good Hunter as the aroma of grilled meat wafted toward him.
Instead of being discouraged, his face lit up with a mix of "I knew it!" and "Of course that's how it is!"
"Hah… good. Good!"
He patted his chest in exaggerated relief, as if lifting an enormous weight.
Then, with habitual self-satisfaction, he raised a hand to smooth his perfectly neat hair, examining his reflection in the window.
"Sigh… I was only worried that my ridiculous, uncontrollable charm might accidentally go full power one day and make her say yes. That would ruin her future! After all—someone as perfect as me is basically a walking hazard."
He pushed open the wooden door.
A crisp chime and a wave of delicious aroma greeted him.
Three years ago, Yichen's life had been derailed by a rogue "isekai truck," sending him crashing into Mondstadt.
The difficulty curve was hellish from the start—
a foreigner, penniless, only half-fluent in the language, and with barely any knowledge of the game's story.
But armed with his face and a functioning brain, he forced his way upward:
mornings unloading crates for Angel's Share,
afternoons waiting tables at Good Hunter,
evenings helping out at the forge.
Through sweat and clinking Mora, he managed to scrape together his first savings.
Now, life had finally climbed from "survival" to "barely decent living"—
he only needed two jobs a day instead of three!
And the Task & Lottery System awakened fifty days ago—
was his golden ticket out of wage-slave hell.
Complete tasks → draw rewards.
Simple. Beautiful.
And the current task?
"Confess to Eula Lawrence 100 times."
Tailored for him.
Low risk, high profit.
As long as he stands at the gate this afternoon and delivers the 100th
"I like you,"
a glowing lottery wheel will appear before him.
Financial freedom!
Goodbye overtime!
He could smell it already.
"Yo! Yichen! You're early today!"
Good Hunter's boss, Sara, shouted cheerfully.
"Hurry and grab an apron! Morning orders are piling up!"
"Coming!"
Yichen instantly switched to Top Employee Mode, tossing on his bright professional smile while sprinting toward the back.
The creed of all part-timers:
The world is big, but customers' orders are bigger.
Ambitions of lottery draws… can wait until this afternoon.
He tied the apron with a firm tug, muttering under his breath with fiery determination:
"Just half a day left…
and I'll never have to work again…"
His eyes shone with hope—
for the last clock-in of his life
and the dazzling, job-free future waiting beyond it.