“Ed, what do you plan to do?”
Ailia realized that, without noticing when, she had once again fallen into Zhe Zilin’s rhythm.
Yet each time it seemed she did so willingly.
Adventuring together, trusting each other—Ailia gradually felt that this was not so bad after all.
The thought she had once held of imprisoning Zhe Zilin inside the castle had loosened without her realizing it.
Ailia’s consciousness was a little hazy.
Zhe Zilin’s hand passed over her shoulder and gently stroked her hair.
She froze in place, her body stretched rigidly straight, not daring to make the slightest movement.
Her face flushed to an unimaginable degree, burning as though she had been left under the scorching sun.
Zhe Zilin spoke thoughtfully.
“Since the Ice Demon wants the King of the North’s corpse, we will deliberately leave an opening and let him walk straight into the trap.”
“As for the fake Leon, I need her to go and tip off the Ice Demon. Let her believe her scheme has succeeded and draw the Ice Demon out.”
Ailia had dealt with the Ice Demon before.
She knew how cunning and treacherous the other party was, and she feared Zhe Zilin would suffer a loss. She reminded him, “As long as I remain in North City, the Ice Demon will not appear easily. He is very cautious.”
Zhe Zilin’s voice was very soft, yet to Ailia it sounded especially reassuring.
“Don’t worry. I have a way.”
“There is only one day left before the King of the North is buried. When the time comes the tomb will be heavily guarded. If the Ice Demon still wants to snatch the corpse then, it will only become more difficult. So he will certainly lose his patience before the burial and show himself.”
Ailia nodded in agreement, yet still had doubts.
“Then what about the fake Leon? He will definitely try every means to obtain the corpse and deal with me.”
“He already knows Snow is dead. If he sends people to search the room and finds the corpse, we will be forced into a passive position.”
Zhe Zilin smiled and shook his head.
A flash of killing intent passed through his eyes.
“He will not get the chance to do that.”
If he could persuade Tana to switch sides, the chances of luring out the Ice Demon would rise a few more points.
If the other party stubbornly insisted on working for the Ice Demon, Zhe Zilin would show no mercy.
The more Ailia listened, the stranger she felt.
She always had the impression that Zhe Zilin seemed to know everything, even though only last night his eyes had still held panic and urgency when killing.
“Ed… are you hiding something from me?”
The girl paused.
“From last night until now, it feels as though you have experienced a great deal.”
Zhe Zilin could only sigh at Ailia’s sharp perception.
As expected of a suspicious yandere.
Had she already noticed something was off in such a short time?
He patted his own head. “Have I? Maybe I’ve just gotten smarter lately.”
“What a clumsy excuse…”
“Maybe when I ran into the Ice Demon last night, he mistook me for Leon. I improvised on the spot and escaped by the skin of my teeth. That cleverness is still lingering.”
“If you don’t believe me, look at my eyes. See how sincere they are!”
Zhe Zilin widened his eyes and leaned closer to Ailia’s face.
He knew perfectly well that no matter what excuse he offered, Ailia would not care too much.
Her suspicion only ever existed around the question of whether he would leave her.
What she needed was an attitude that cared for her and would not abandon her.
Aside from that, nothing else mattered—even if he left many openings exposed.
Zhe Zilin had already learned how to handle Ailia.
He only wanted to fine-tune her a little further, shaping her into the form he desired.
Ailia was indeed aware that Zhe Zilin might have experienced these things, that he had used some method to learn a great deal.
Only the method was not quite what she had imagined.
The only thing she cared about was that after experiencing and seeing through the future, Zhe Zilin still had not chosen to leave her.
That was enough. She did not need to know his secrets.
Rather than digging to the bottom of everything, she preferred to sink into the sweetness of being firmly chosen.
“What do you need me to do?”
Ailia asked softly. “Kill the fake Leon?”
Zhe Zilin nodded. “Once she learns that Osha has gone after the half-orcs, she will definitely take action and try to lure me out of the city. After I leave the castle, follow me from a distance.”
Ailia: “…”
She gave up thinking. She did not understand why Zhe Zilin was so certain, yet she still nodded.
Zhe Zilin glanced at Ailia’s complicated, suspicious expression and felt that although she had no intention of digging deeper, his own performance had been a little too transparent—almost like a staged act.
So he widened his eyes at Ailia once more.
“Look at my sincere eyes. Don’t they contain great wisdom?”
Zhe Zilin knew his behavior was somewhat aggressive.
The things he said were not something magic could have predicted.
Many of the details he spoke of were especially clear, and if one thought carefully, there was simply no source for them.
It was as though he had fabricated and compiled them out of thin air.
He did not know whether Ailia would suspect that he had revived once more, but looking at her expression, she did not seem to care about that question.
Unlike Osha’s overbearing forcefulness, he clearly understood that although Ailia was a yandere, her actual personality was rather soft.
As long as the matter did not touch her bottom line, she would try her best to satisfy whatever requests he made of her.
Whether it was refusing the medicine in the castle or riding into the forest, Ailia would hesitate, yet in the end she would always yield.
In other words, as long as Zhe Zilin did not think of leaving, Ailia could tolerate everything else about him.
She was a rather emotional, reserved person who had buried too many secrets in her heart and therefore had no choice but to be suspicious.
Zhe Zilin felt a little unfair.
Ailia had done so much for him, yet all he needed to do was remain by her side and she would continue giving for him.
It would be even better if she could abandon the ideas of feeding him medicine and imprisoning him.
Zhe Zilin denied himself in his heart.
Always demanding too much of others would make one forget the other’s sacrifices.
This was fine.
This was simply Ailia.
He gazed at Ailia in a daze and suddenly noticed that in only a few days, the rise and fall of Ailia’s chest had already become quite noticeable again.
“The waves… are surging!”
Ailia followed Zhe Zilin’s rather improper gaze and lowered her head.
She suddenly turned around, lightly biting her scarlet lips.
“Ed!”
She bashfully tried to look down at her toes, only to discover that her line of sight could not reach the ground at all.
In an instant she understood the meaning of Zhe Zilin’s “surging waves” and felt a little embarrassed and annoyed.
Yet the words of complaint she wanted to say came out in broken fragments, finally forming only one sentence.
“You… bad…”
Zhe Zilin was stunned for a long moment.
Ailia, your accusation sounds more like flirting.