Two weeks later.
In New Eridu, Janus District, Lumina Square, inside the hotpot restaurant "Boiled Cauldron"—
"Mmm! Delicious, delicious! Bro, go grab another plate!" Rin urged, staring at the bubbling yin-yang pot while she dipped a strip of tripe into the pale, mild side with her chopsticks.
"You're ordering me around again," Wise said with a sigh. "Chiya's going to come kill you later."
"What?!" Rin snapped upright. "Brother, you traitor!"
"How am I a 'traitor'? How exactly was I supposed to hide it?" Wise looked amused as he watched her freeze up—then, unhurriedly, he lifted his chopsticks, smacked hers aside in one clean motion, and precisely seized her tripe.
"Brother! That was my tripe!"
"If you keep spacing out, the tripe's going to overcook and ruin the texture. The 'golden window,' little sister." Wise spoke like a teacher. "Whether it's tripe, or coming up with an excuse to make Chiya calm down—you have to finish within the golden window."
"Ugh… If I'd known, I would've let you swap in instead of Chiya…" Rin started counting on her fingers, listing her recent "suffering" with righteous indignation. "Then I wouldn't have been put under strict supervision, forced to eat those bland nutrition meals every day, and told to keep 'light' exercise…"
Watching her lively rant, Wise felt the last trace of worry fade. For the first time in a while, he laughed—genuinely relaxed.
"And whose fault is that?" he said. "You were the one shouting stuff like, 'I'm your Proxy, so I have to take responsibility to the end!' Then you swapped places with Chiya, yelled, 'Follow me—charge!' and frantically signaled me to drag Chiya out."
"Hehe… I just thought—last time, when we were negotiating the commission with Nicole, Chiya got dragged away by Anby, right? So I figured we shouldn't pull him in too much."
"And that's your justification for telling Chiya to open permissions, then 'occupying the magpie's nest'?"
"'Occupying the magpie's nest' my butt!" Rin puffed up. "Usually Chiya controls Huxeya, and we control Eous, right? This is at most—at most—returning things to their rightful owner!"
"And you still didn't accomplish anything. Chiya found out anyway."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut uuuup!"
Rin argued loudly—then, noticing Wise hadn't checked his phone even once and had been focused only on bickering with her, suspicion seeped into her eyes.
"Brother… you're not lying to me, are you?"
"Ah. Oh. You caught me."
"BROTHER!"
"Then hurry up and go get the beef over there!" Rin immediately pivoted, throwing her chin up like royalty. "The fridge section! Fresh-sliced! Bring it to your Empress one plate at a time!"
"Yes, yes," Wise replied with a grin. "Your servant is on it, Your Majesty."
"Hmph. Better."
With her guard down—busy dunking food—Wise naturally pulled out his phone with his back to her. He opened Knock-Knock, logged into the new alt he'd made earlier, and sent a message to the account named [One Thousand and One Nights]:
"Chiya—after Rin fainted last time, you made her a strict diet plan, but she isn't listening. Right now she's at Lumina Square's Boiled Cauldron Hotpot stuffing her face. It's outrageous, Chiya! We must sanction her!"
Wise stacked one plate of beef onto another, patiently waiting.
A moment later, the phone buzzed.
He looked at the reply: two stickers—[Fighterboo, Angry!] and [Knightboo, Sortie!]
A smile of tragic compassion—or rather, pure schadenfreude—spread across Wise's face.
"Brother! Why are you so slow? We're about to run out of food!" Rin shouted from the table. "What are you, a piglet?"
"You're the piglet. I'm coming, I'm coming—stop rushing."
Sorry, Rin, Wise thought as he slid the phone back into his pocket. The last shred of mercy I had left… you just crushed it yourself.
Meanwhile, in New Eridu, Ballet Tower, at the Victoria Housekeeping residence—
"Chiya-sama… how is it?" Lycaon asked.
"Very good," Chiya said, satisfied as he withdrew his hand from Lycaon's tail area after the checkup. "You're the one who puts me most at ease. Every time I remind everyone at Victoria Housekeeping to take care of their health, you're always the best at the next inspection."
Lycaon rose smoothly from where he'd been resting, turned, and bowed with impeccable elegance.
"'The master's wish is our mission.' That is the line Victoria Housekeeping always replies with after a client requests our service, Chiya-sama."
"Mm. Then I'm relieved."
Chiya nodded. After failing countless times to persuade Lycaon to stop being so formal, he'd let it go—understanding this was Lycaon's choice.
Not all politeness is distance. Not all warmth is sincerity. A courteous gentleman might offer you respectful tea; a warm doorman might stab you with a silver knife.
There was no need to force others to change.
But just as Chiya drifted into thought—
"You naive idiot! Take a Dusura Elbow Strike!"
"And take… an Anastasia Elbow Strike."
Two pure-white Bangboo, bizarrely decorated, came screaming down from above. The moment they spotted their target, their eyes lit up—and they dove like crashing helicopters, aiming to elbow-drop Chiya.
Chiya didn't even flinch.
In the next instant, two powerful hands caught both Bangboo by the neck mid-air—like gripping fate by the throat. Lycaon stared at the struggling pair, brows knitting.
"Rina. Don't make jokes like this. Chiya-sama deserves respect."
"My apologies, Master Lycaon," Rina replied smoothly. "It's only that my children have missed Lord Chiya for far too long. Their hearts were ignited by the flames of longing… and they acted on impulse."
"Rina…" Lycaon's gaze sharpened.
But before he could begin his lecture, Chiya waved it off with a smile.
"It's fine. Your handling is impeccable, Lycaon—but I don't dislike Rina's way of getting along either."
"And you should relax a little. Staying tense all day and chasing restraint is exhausting. That's why I keep running into you at Old Man Duy's place."
"Chiya-sama…" Lycaon exhaled, and a small smile surfaced.
Rina immediately seized the moment—drifting in soundlessly, trying to wrap Chiya into her arms.
The last time I held Lord Chiya… how long has it been?
But in the very next beat, a high-tech prosthetic arm appeared in her path, forcing her to stumble mid-float, nearly falling out of the air.
The owner of that arm didn't need guessing.
Chiya, head lowered, was reading a message. In an instant, his brows drew tight, his face flushing bright red—like a little tomato.
Rina asked, genuinely worried, "Lord Chiya… what could possibly make you this angry?"
"A patient isn't listening to me," Chiya snapped, teeth clenched. "Still in the observation period, and she went to eat hotpot without permission!"
"I see…" Rina murmured thoughtfully.
Lycaon's ears pricked up.
"Then (if that's the case), perhaps—"
"I'm awake," a voice cut in lazily. "Let me help you teach that patient a lesson."
"Elaine?!" Lycaon and Rina both stared in shock at Ellen, who had been sprawled on the sofa in a deep "sleep" ever since Chiya finished massaging her earlier.
Now her tail swished impatiently, and the lollipop in her mouth rolled with irritation.
She didn't bother explaining.
She simply "teleported" in front of Chiya, locked eyes with him, and spoke flatly.
"…So what are you going to do?"
"If you step in," Chiya said quickly, shaking his head, "my patient might go straight from observation to the ICU. Let's not."
"Tch. Fine. Then what?"
"Then I'm going over there to discipline her!"
"In that case, I'll take you." Ellen crouched down without expression—careful to hide her face. "Get on my back. Don't just stand there. Cruise is fast."
Seriously… I took leave to come here, Ellen thought. And after getting a massage I slept forever. Didn't even get to do any 'shark bite-bite.' If I don't collect some interest, Round Shark Shark's belly is going to cave in…
A moment later, she felt the small, cautious weight climb onto her back.
Ellen's lips curled before she could stop them.
"Alright. Let's go."
"Wait! Ellen—the destination is—"
BANG!!
Ellen rocketed out the door.
Lycaon watched the "explosive" exit and sighed.
Then a timid voice rose from the sofa.
"Um… Master Lycaon," Corin asked weakly, blinking awake at last, "did a bomb just go off?"
Lycaon blinked back at her.
"…No. Ellen just rushed out."
"And she brought Lord Chiya along, too~" Rina added lightly.
"…Huh?"
"Huh?! Chiya-doctor left already?!"
Well, someone might say, in a sense… shy girls are doomed to lose far too much.
If you want, paste Chapter 8 next and I'll translate it in the same style/format (clean, fluent, no platform junk, consistent names).
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 50)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 50)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 50)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 54)
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