**[… 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!]**
**[Time is up. Congratulations, Host. Your Villainess Value has risen to 90 points.]**
Su Wanli wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath.
‘Finally, I’ve managed to claw back a bit of a safety margin. Next, as long as my Virtuous Girl Value stays above 92 points and I keep performing villainous acts, the Villainess Value Compensation Mechanism the System mentioned before will grant me a significant amount of extra points. When that happens, I won’t have to spend every moment in such a state of anxiety while playing this role.’
But before that…
Su Wanli silently lowered her head, locking eyes with the pair of clear yet stubborn, light-colored pupils beneath her.
Su Wanli felt like she should offer some explanation for the current situation, but she couldn’t come up with an excuse for the life of her.
Early in the morning, when Meng Huange was preparing to bring breakfast to the desk, Su Wanli had suddenly lunged. First, she pushed the dining cart aside, and then she pinned the weak, sickly girl onto the bed. Aside from a “beastly outburst,” Su Wanli really couldn’t think of any other reason to justify her actions.
But what other choice did she have!?
Option A was practically a suicide mission, and Option B… well… it would have knocked over the soup Meng Huange had worked so hard to prepare. As a person who loved food, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it! Furthermore, slapping someone with a high fever? That was simply not something a human being would do!
As for Option C—which was the current situation between Su Wanli and Meng Huange…
‘Su Wanli, calm down and use your head. Didn’t the System only mute me for 10 seconds? Those 10 seconds should be long over by now! Since the Villainess Value has been recovered, I just need to find a way to make this scene look reasonable…’
Gazing at Meng Huange’s long, beautiful eyelashes fluttering at a distance of less than 30 or 40 centimeters, Su Wanli swallowed hard. She felt like her fingertips, still pressed against Meng Huange’s shoulders, were on the verge of trembling uncontrollably.
‘Of course! It doesn’t even have to be reasonable! I just need to escape this predicament! Right now, I’m the one pinning Meng Huange to the bed, so why does it feel the same as when she pinned me down in the movie theater!?’
Before Su Wanli could think of a usable excuse, Meng Huange let out a sigh and allowed her head to fall back against Su Wanli’s soft pillow.
“…As expected, I still couldn’t hide it from you.”
Hearing Meng Huange’s words, Su Wanli instinctively furrowed her brows. She maintained her posture, looking down at Meng Huange’s face and signaling for her to continue speaking.
“Apologies, Miss Su. I thought if I acted healthy enough, I could dispel your suspicions.”
As Meng Huange spoke, she moved her left hand—the one that wasn’t pinned down—to her ear. She let out a small cough and deliberately untied the loose hair tie behind her head.
“…But as you can see, in my current state, it would indeed be forced of me to accompany you to school.”
Following her movements, Meng Huange’s silky brown hair immediately spread across Su Wanli’s bedsheets. Her originally energetic appearance instantly wilted, making her look like a proper patient.
Catching sight of the faint flush tracing the collarbones Meng Huange had inadvertently exposed, Su Wanli’s cheeks reddened, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.
“Hmph, how could I not see through something like this? Do you take me for a fool? Since you’re this sick, don’t worry about whether we’ll be late. Even if you weren’t sick today, I didn’t plan on going to school anyway.”
While feeling secretly grateful to Meng Huange for providing her with an excuse, Su Wanli climbed off her and pulled the dining cart she had pushed aside back toward the desk.
“In short, don’t think too much of yourself. I’m skipping school because today is my rest day.”
After arranging several plates from the cart onto the desk, Su Wanli turned her chair toward Meng Huange and put on a pretentious, malicious expression.
“…Furthermore, it’s also the day I planned to punish a certain arrogant little maid.”
The System prompts only triggered at certain random points, and the options provided were often very strange. If she wanted to stabilize her Villainess Value, she still needed to take the initiative herself.
Since the System had stated that the increase or decrease of the Villainess Value was mostly based on Meng Huange’s psychological reactions, then as long as she took the lead and made her intentions clear, there wouldn’t be any room for Meng Huange to misunderstand, right?
Sure enough, even without a prompt, Su Wanli’s Virtuous Girl Value faintly rose a bit.
Hearing Su Wanli’s words, Meng Huange tilted her head slightly and propped herself up on the bed, looking directly into Su Wanli’s eyes.
“Punishment?”
“That’s right. Do I need to tell you where you went wrong?”
Su Wanli placed a finger in front of her lips and raised her eyebrows at Meng Huange with bravado.
Technically, after Meng Huange arrived at the Su Family, Su Wanli had successfully attended the Academy Banquet and made that man named Mr. Bai look like a fool. However, if she really wanted to nitpick, she could still find faults.
“…Meng Huange, when yesterday’s Evening Banquet began, you actually left me alone in the banquet hall for so long. Even if you were unfamiliar with the place, couldn’t you have asked someone from the Bai Family for directions? That was your first mistake! Rudeness!”
“Additionally, when I, as your master, wanted to personally teach that self-righteous guy a lesson, you actually took it upon yourself to steal my spotlight and hit him for me. You completely ruined my fun. That was your second mistake! Incompetence!”
Meng Huange lightly rubbed her chin and curled her lips at Su Wanli.
“And also, failing to let you enjoy my performance at the banquet—that was my third mistake. Incompetence.”
“Exactly! Everyone in the hall last night should have heard it, right? To think I’m the only one who didn’t see you perform… it’s simply outrageous… Wait, you—”
“Finally, interrupting you while you were trying to reprimand me… that was my fourth mistake. Rudeness.”
Meng Huange narrowed her eyes slightly and stretched her body lazily on Su Wanli’s bed.
“Apologies, Miss Su. I have deeply realized my mistakes. So…”
“Today, Master… please punish me however you wish.”