After saying those words, even Meng Huange herself was stunned for a moment, let alone the Villainous Eldest Young Lady, Su Wanli, who was facing the full brunt of that statement.
“You, what did you just say? You wanted to admire… what?”
Su Wanli’s brain stalled for a moment before she finally reacted. Her fingertips trembled as she pointed them toward Meng Huange’s eyes.
“I… I never allowed you to do such a thing! Don’t think you can get away with this just because you have a fever. Tell the truth! Do you watch me every morning while I’m sleeping?”
“…No, it’s not like that, Miss Su. I have only done so for the past three days. Before that, I would only tidy up the room slightly and then leave immediately…”
After quickly offering a pile of explanations for her behavior, Meng Huange subconsciously pressed her hand against her forehead.
‘Wait, my words seemed a bit poorly considered. Saying something like that in this situation… even if Su Wanli hadn’t cared much before, she’ll only distance herself further from me after hearing that explanation…’
As expected, upon hearing those words, Su Wanli covered her cheeks. Without saying a word, she turned around and hurried out the door.
Listening to the sound of receding footsteps outside the room, Meng Huange rubbed her temples and let out a silent, self-deprecating laugh.
‘How did this happen? It was just a few glasses of champagne spilling on a shirt. For the old me, that would have been a trivial matter I could ignore. Even if there were a ten percent chance of getting sick, it would have only been a minor cold.’
Yet this time, not only did she catch a cold, but the symptoms were exceptionally severe. Even her mind had become a bit muddled, leading her to say such thoughtless things in front of Su Wanli.
‘Now look at this. The plan was specifically designed to make Su Wanli get used to my presence and further rely on me. But by the second day of the plan, not only have I failed to make Su Wanli trust me, I’ve actually driven her out of her own room.’
‘Calm down for a moment, Meng Huange. Try to think of a way to remedy this. At the very least, use your brain more before speaking to Su Wanli.’
“Ah, my throat…”
Feeling a dry, stinging pain in her throat, Meng Huange frowned slightly and then picked up the bowl of soup medicine beside her.
The medicine was still warm. There were even some undissolved lumps of rock sugar at the bottom of the bowl. Despite this, the surface of the liquid still gave off a bitter scent that made one involuntarily frown.
Gazing at her own reflection on the surface of the liquid, Meng Huange relaxed her brow and sighed softly.
‘However, it’s not all bad.’
Her younger self certainly wouldn’t have imagined that more than ten years later, she would actually be touching foreheads with a gentle young lady because of a fever.
Even if it was only for a brief moment.
***
Meanwhile, in the first-floor hall of the Su Residence.
The petite black-haired girl was silently hanging her head as she rushed into the first-floor bathroom. She scooped up a handful of cold water from the faucet and splashed it onto her face.
Wait, could everything just now have been an act? Was it all my hallucination?
Could it be that the one with the fever wasn’t Meng Huange, but me?
[Host, your current body temperature is 36.8 degrees. Your vital signs are good. Aside from a slightly irregular heartbeat, everything is healthy.]
…So it really wasn’t a hallucination!
“Then isn’t that a total disaster? System, did you hear that? Meng Huange actually said… she said she was admiring my beautiful face!!”
[Yes, that is correct. The heroine did indeed say those words, and the System has recorded them faithfully. Is there something about this that deserves your attention?]
“Hey, do you even understand the meaning of those words? We humans don’t stare at someone we’re extremely disgusted with for several minutes. Since she said she was admiring my face, it means Meng Huange might not actually hate me that much! There must be a bug in your data!”
[Oh? Is that so?]
“Of course! Didn’t you see how high Meng Huange’s fever was? The words she’s saying now definitely aren’t passing through her brain much. Which means, these are entirely Meng Huange’s true feelings!”
[…I see. Your inference is indeed reasonable. According to the System’s detection, it seems the heroine truly didn’t put much thought into her words just now.]
“See! Which means—”
[However, this does not mean the words Meng Huange just spoke are her true feelings. Those were merely the heroine’s subconscious reactions.]
Hearing this, Su Wanli blinked her eyes in confusion.
“…Subconscious reactions? What’s the difference between that and true feelings?”
[Of course there is a difference. Just as you have played the villainess for so many days that you can now subconsciously say sharp Villainess Quotes to Meng Huange without thinking, Meng Huange is in a similar situation. Having grown accustomed to saying contrary words of flattery to you, even while in a state of high fever, she can still immediately deduce the words you want to hear and speak them aloud.]
Su Wanli silently fished that lucky Twelve-sided Die out of her pocket, tossed it into the air, and caught it in her palm.
Eleven.
[Hmm? What is it, Host? What question are you using it to judge?]
‘I was thinking, if the maximum score is twelve, just how much do you actually despise me?’
[…Ah, the accuracy rate of that die is only forty percent, making it a piece of junk with essentially no effect. You already know this. As your most loyal helper, the System would naturally not despise the Host. It would be more accurate to say I don’t even have such a function. However, since your heart feels so conflicted, the System will attempt to analyze the current situation for you —]
Casually dismissing the Villainess Item she had spent a high price to acquire, the System continued to speak into Su Wanli’s ear —
[Just as the System said, our task today is to ensure Meng Huange remains at home and does not come into contact with anyone other than yourself. Yet today, due to a series of coincidences, Meng Huange suddenly developed a high fever.]
[I believe the brilliant Host will see just how critical the situation is with even a slight analysis.]
“…Critical how? Is there some necessary connection between those two things you just mentioned?”
[Of course. The starting points for these two events are unrelated, but the results they lead to are the same. If you proceed with your usual method and forcefully keep Meng Huange in her room without explanation, then…]
[ — Will you be doing it for a malicious purpose, forbidding the heroine from stepping out the door, or will you be thoughtfully considering Meng Huange’s physical condition and deciding to let her stay home to rest?]
Though Su Wanli’s brain was working overtime trying to untangle the logic, the damage caused by Meng Huange earlier still lingered. At this moment, Su Wanli could only blankly receive the conclusion from the System’s mouth.
[In summary, Host, due to some irresistible forces, even though this is just an ordinary task, we have inevitably fallen into a vortex of contradiction.]
The System’s usual indifferent electronic voice sounded much more solemn at this moment —
[In the System’s view, this event might just be the greatest crisis of your career as a villainess!]
haha this system’s attitude is frying me… dismissing that die it go so easily to distract our MC, then making stuff up about the mission being contradictory when usually there would be no problems to distract her even further. and this fever is quite suspicious that it occurred, seems like there really is some hidden forces at play here.