The high-noon sun was warm and dazzling, spilling nearly vertically onto the room’s floor through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The air was filled with the faint scent of paper and ink, along with the lingering fragrance of gardenias from Su Wanli after her bath.
An extremely gentle, slightly cool, yet unmistakably clear touch lingered on Su Wanli’s forehead.
No, perhaps it didn’t stay; it was only for a fleeting moment. However, that soft, ticklish feeling accompanied by a light breath remained etched in her mind.
‘Meng Wange… what pose did she choose?’
Su Wanli’s vision was firmly blocked by the buttons on Meng Wange’s chest, making it impossible to judge which part of her body was currently pressed against her forehead. But one thing was certain: it was definitely human skin.
Since she could feel a faint breath, it should be… Meng Wange’s nose? Was this some way of measuring temperature?
‘But this horizontal touch, no matter how I think about it, it should be…’
Su Wanli swallowed hard and used her peripheral vision to look at the luxurious vanity mirror beside them.
Meng Wange’s eyes were closed, and her slender eyelashes drooped slightly, brushing against the black hair on top of Su Wanli’s head. Her brown hair was tucked gently behind her ears, allowing Su Wanli to clearly see the scene in front of her forehead.
The moment Su Wanli’s brain processed this information, her pupils involuntarily dilated, and her heart skipped a beat before suddenly accelerating.
After telling her to lift her head, Meng Wange had leaned over slightly, wrapped her arms around her from behind, and gently kissed her forehead.
It was… Meng Wange’s lips.
The tall, beautiful brunette, the Halo Heroine of this world, and the very person she had to stand against, had just kissed her forehead.
As if struck by a bolt of lightning, Su Wanli’s entire body stiffened in that instant. The whole world seemed to lose all sound, leaving only the drum-like thumping of her heart in her chest, echoing against her eardrums over and over.
‘…Why? What happened?’
How could Meng Wange possibly do something like this to her?
She didn’t know if the System had crashed or simply vanished, but at this moment, it didn’t pop up with any alarms or tasks. It only left behind a steady Female Villain Value and a violently fluctuating Awake Value belonging to Meng Wange.
‘Right, that’s it! The Awake Value!?’
‘Meng Wange probably just got sleepy while standing behind me, right? After all, she’s had a high fever since early this morning and has been tossed around by me like this. She hasn’t had any proper rest all morning, so it’s understandable if she accidentally fell asleep while standing!’
‘Okay, okay, Su Wanli, since it’s an accident, stop dazing off. Hurry up and help her to the bed… No, wake her up first!?’
However, just like a butterfly lightly flapping its wings off a petal, or a dewdrop sliding off the tip of a lotus leaf—
Before Su Wanli could take any action, Meng Wange had already used Su Wanli’s shoulder to gently prop herself up.
…She wasn’t asleep at all? Or did she just wake up?
Regardless, now was not the time to stand there in a daze. Go scold her! Go insult her! Go maintain your Villainess Persona!
Su Wanli subconsciously turned around to meet Meng Wange’s eyes.
In those eyes that were usually calm and indifferent, a rare trace of panic and avoidance flashed through them, but it lasted only for an instant before quickly returning to normal.
She readjusted her state and pressed her lips together toward Su Wanli in a reserved and restrained manner.
“Miss Su, I’ve completely memorized this scene just now.”
She didn’t pull away immediately. Instead, at such a close distance, she spoke softly to Su Wanli.
“Observing our appearance in the mirror, engraving this image into my mind… I’m sorry, I originally only intended to create an offset angle. I didn’t control the distance well. I hope that didn’t startle you.”
What Meng Wange meant was that she hadn’t controlled the distance properly, so she had accidentally touched her with her lips.
In other words, she had originally intended to strike a similar pose — having Su Wanli sit in the chair while she leaned in close from behind… even going as far as a forehead kiss.
Su Wanli opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
“You… you…”
But her mind was a mess, like a tangled ball of twine. She couldn’t utter a single word.
“If I am to depict this scene in full detail, I will probably need about thirty minutes.”
“Besides this pose, do you have any other ideas you’d like me to try?”
Meng Wange’s voice remained soft and steady, as if everything that had just happened was a trivial matter.
…Scold her? It didn’t seem necessary. She was just following her request and striking a pose she deemed appropriate.
But was she supposed to pretend like nothing happened, just like her?
It was only a forehead, but this was the first time someone had ever taken the initiative to kiss her. How could she let it be brushed aside with just a few words?
But she had indeed said earlier—
‘As long as it’s within my range of tolerance, I can accept it.’
…But things like kissing definitely shouldn’t be within her range of tolerance, right?!
She had originally thought that Meng Wange would, at most, take the opportunity to get a bit closer, like she had done before — leaning in to catch a scent and things of that nature…
How did she dare to go this far?!
…Wait, rather than ‘how did she dare’, the more important question was—
Why did she do it?
If her understanding was correct, this pose didn’t just carry intimacy and ambiguity; it also held a faint hint of something sacred…
Was she doing this… for art?
Meng Wange didn’t seem to intend to delve deeper into the topic. She simply looked at Su Wanli calmly and then reached out, gently placing her hand on Su Wanli’s forehead.
“Miss Su, your face seems very red. Is it because your hair isn’t dry yet, and you’ve caught a cold?”
“…Your face.”
Hearing this, Su Wanli subconsciously slapped her hand away and turned to look at herself in the mirror.
A flush was spreading at a visible rate, traveling from her neck all the way to her cheeks and earlobes. Even the collarbones visible at the neckline of her Yukata were tinged with a faint pink.
‘How pathetic, Su Wanli!?’
‘To have such a massive reaction just from being touched on the forehead!?’
‘The Female Villain Value is probably going to drop off a cliff!’
Run! Even if this was already the umpteenth time she had fled the room today, she had to escape right now!
Su Wanli tried her best to keep her voice calm as she slowly stood up. She held her forehead with one hand and grasped the doorknob with the other.
…No, wait. It would be too embarrassing to just leave without a reaction after being suppressed by the heroine like that. At the very least, she had to “punish” her a little before running away.
For example—
‘Meng Wange, you’ve got some nerve! Just wait until I finish drying my hair and come back. I’ll show you who the Master of this house is!’
Su Wanli gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, turning around to speak.
“Meng Wange, you—”
“Yes, I’m here.”
Looking into Meng Wange’s eyes, which were as calm as a mirror without a single ripple, all the harsh words Su Wanli had prepared got stuck in her throat.
…Could it be that she was overreacting?
For girls, was this kind of contact actually just a trivial matter, something that didn’t even count as an intimate act?
Her mind in utter chaos, Su Wanli bit her lip hard and finally threw out a sentence before slamming the door open.
“You… you just stay in this room and draw properly! I’m going to the bathroom to dry my hair again… I’ll be back to check on you later!”
“Of course, Miss Su.”
With a heavy thud of the door, the two of them were separated once again by the wooden panel.
In the hallway, the petite black-haired girl leaned against the handrail, while inside the room, the brown-haired girl silently sat back in the chair.
Almost at the same time, the two of them instinctively raised their hands to cover their cheeks and let out a long, heavy breath.
…How could something like this happen?