Seeing that the man seemed caught off guard by someone entering, he let out an impatient “Tch,” hurriedly buttoning his clothes as if to find a candle and come over to question them.
The adventurer who kicked the door open immediately lowered their head slightly:
“Sorry, no offense intended. Two young girls stole something our captain wanted, and they disappeared somewhere nearby. May I ask…”
“Do I look like someone who knows about this?”
The adventurer fell silent, but their companion tugged at their sleeve, eyes signaling that the man didn’t seem involved.
After all, in the heat of the night, when their own comrades were caught up in their gold-digging fervor, they barely noticed their own names being called.
The man waved a dismissive hand, his expression sour.
He paused, brow furrowing as if straining to recall something, then pointed uncertainly toward a nearby suspension bridge.
“Aside from the rain, I thought I heard something splash into the water over there.”
The two girls exchanged a glance.
‘Did they jump into the river?’
“Thank you,” one said curtly.
“Such a mood-killer,” the man muttered under his breath.
“What a mood killer.”
“Miss shall we continue. First, answer me—between Lin Nuo Noble Young Master and me, who’s stronger?”
“Hmm, my husband, of course it’s…”
Seeing Lin Nuo close the door in response, Amidina also caught sight of the two shadows turning away and walking off in the corner of her eye.
As the footsteps faded, she loosened her tightly curled hands in front of her and responded teasingly to Lin Nuo’s words, only to be suddenly pressed down again by a familiar, burning warmth from behind…
“Hmm! What are you…”
“Don’t talk nonsense, keep calling… call me, call me, my little ancestor!”
Lin Nuo was helpless.
“Smack!!”
“Don’t lift my skirt… Where are you going! Ah~ you pervert!”
“Creak, creak, creak, creak—”
Without caring whether Amidina noticed, Lin Nuo continued his mischief while muttering crude words he had once read in a risqué book, words that even made him blush:
“There were only two people who came, why are you even more nervous?”
“Who was the one who got mad at me for bringing too many maids… so you like a crowd, huh?”
“You say you don’t want it, but your body’s telling the truth… my little sweetheart…”
Almost twenty long minutes later.
Familiar but barely audible voices were once again heard just outside the door:
“L-Little sweetheart?”
“He’s still plowing the field… When we kicked open the door carrying magic staffs, his first reaction was like daring to scold me for questioning him. And he was having an affair with Lin Nuo Noble Young Master’s woman from the Clemence Family… definitely a powerful figure in the Guard Squad. Best not to provoke him.”
“So you’re saying he’s really not in this room, but I thought I saw two women lying on that bed, and the one underneath looked like she fainted…”
“You really haven’t seen a pig run, huh? That man’s nose is so high and sharp, no way he’s a small fry. Could the one underneath have already…”
“Oh, that makes sense. Who’d expect us to do a counterattack? If someone was hiding inside, they would’ve been revealed when we pretended to leave earlier.”
As the voices grew distant and faint, then completely disappeared in the misty rain.
Lin Nuo slowed the rocking of the bed and listened carefully to the fading sound of footsteps in the rain.
After about ten minutes of holding the now utterly limp figure beneath him, he finally pulled away from Amidina’s irresistibly curvy and tender body, dizzy and disoriented as if he had just endured an indescribable ordeal.
“Phew~”
“Slightly sweaty…”
Lin Nuo wiped the sweat from his temple, still processing the near-death experience when suddenly a chill ran up from below.
Looking down, he saw an intricately patterned Miniature Magic Array shimmering with flowing light.
A slender Water Dragon formed, baring its sharp teeth as it lunged straight at his little Lin Nuo.
“Holy crap!”
At that moment, the two girls walking back to the team heard the noise and glanced back:
“What was that sound? They didn’t break the bed, did they… so fierce! That blond guy was really handsome and powerful, it got me all excited.”
“But… are you sure those two women on the bed weren’t suspicious?”
“Who cares? Even if they stole that thing, we wouldn’t get any of the benefits. The bounty is just a few dozen copper coins a month. What are we risking our lives for?”
“After telling the captain, let’s go buy eggplants. Whatever we hear tonight, keep it to ourselves…”
…
Looking at the wall where the Water Dragon had bitten two finger-width holes,
Lin Nuo blinked and looked at the still disheveled culprit on the bed: “What are you—hey…”
Although he knew Amidina controlled her strength, if she had shifted even slightly, he would have painfully experienced the sorrow of his manhood.
“You… what did you just do to me?!”
Lin Nuo: “?”
Love?
“How can you treat an unmarried woman so roughly and rudely… it’s disrespectful!”
Amidina’s face flushed with shame and anger as she covered the torn shoulder of her dress, barely able to cover herself now.
Her body heaved slightly left and right, squeezed and deformed by her own arms.
“How did I disrespect you?”
“You… you just hit me so hard…”
Amidina wanted to question him further but, recalling how Lin Nuo had pinned her down and where he struck, she fell silent, seemingly unsure how to speak.
Seeing Lin Nuo’s thoughtful expression after being reminded, he pinched his hand and glanced at the space behind her.
Amidina grew even more embarrassed, her ears reddening.
She didn’t know whether to thank him for calmly resolving the crisis or to confront the fact that earlier she had to lie on Xiafuya with two of them and still be treated that way!
Wrapping the quilt around her shoulders to hide her torn dress, she steadied her now recovered body and coldly stepped onto the floor, walking toward Lin Nuo.
“Tap, tap, tap—”
Suddenly, footsteps splashing water sounded at the door again, leaving both Amidina and Lin Nuo stunned.
‘No way, again?!’
This is never-ending, huh?
Before Lin Nuo could react, Amidina acted first, grabbing his arm and pulling him back onto the bed.
Looking both ashamed and helpless, Amidina sat again on the humiliating bed’s edge.
Her gaze flickered briefly before seemingly summoning great determination.
She lifted her two slender, fair hands and placed them directly around Lin Nuo’s neck.
Her face still wore that “forced humiliation” expression—full of heartache, suffering countless grievances, yet helplessly enduring the abuse with tragic beauty.
Seeing Lin Nuo didn’t move, she bit her lower lip and pressed her smooth, delicate forehead against his shoulder.
Getting into the rhythm, she looked pitiful.
Her intent was clear—hurry up and come at me again.
“Click—”
Just then, the door was pushed open again, but this time there was silence behind it.
The silence was unusual, like an innocent child accidentally witnessing something indecent between adults and frozen in disbelief.
Lin Nuo slightly turned his head and caught sight of a girl leaning on the doorframe, peeking in with half her head inside.
She was probably eating something while looking around for someone.
From her surprised, slightly parted mouth—still chewing on a piece of preserved fruit—her almond-shaped eyes widened as she spotted Amidina clutching Lin Nuo’s neck.
“Heavens!”
“Sis…? Sister! What are you…”
“…”
The familiar coquettish exclamation made Amidina immediately withdraw her hands, but the innocent little sister had clearly discovered a new world:
“Geez, I’ve worried about you for so long, and you’re about to marry someone, yet on the very first day you’re here doing this with this guy… huh—”
“Even if the boyfriend looks so handsome… but I’m talking to you! If that troublemaker Noble Young Master found out his fiancée, not yet even betrothed, was secretly doing naughty things with you, a kid too young for this stuff!”
The little sister’s words were full of righteous indignation, her tiny fists clenched and mock-waving at Lin Nuo as if furious they weren’t following the pure love code—a genuinely morally upright, born-pure-love little girl.
But when she saw her sister sitting upright, clutching her skirt and ignoring her,
The little sister’s eyes rolled sharply, as if her pure-love warrior mask fell away.
With a sly smile, she gave Lin Nuo a wicked look that clearly said, “You don’t want the troublemaker Noble Young Master to find out you’re bullying my sister, right?”
She boldly spread her small hands: “You owe me preserved fruit, or I can’t guarantee I’ll keep your secret!”
“…”
Just as he thought.
“Eh?! Why is there another woman lying beside you two? Hmm… looking for nightingales and a boyfriend again!”
The little sister jumped up onto the bed beside Amidina, patted the butt of someone still asleep, and crossed her arms proudly:
“If you want me to keep quiet, it’s not just one jar of preserved fruit that’ll buy me off!”
“Y-You’ll… need to pay more!”