Chapter 4: Let’s talk about grown-ups.

Thinking this, Floria felt a secret thrill in her heart, then shifted her wheelchair and followed them into the living room.

Gazing at the girl who, even sitting on the sofa, still stood a head taller than herself, Floria couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental.

Several years had passed since they last met, and the little girl who used to cling to her, crying with a runny nose, had truly blossomed into a graceful young lady…

They say girls change a lot by eighteen; indeed, the wisdom of the ancients holds some truth.

Just as Floria was about to lean in and join their conversation, she suddenly saw Sylvie rise and walk straight toward her.

“Huh, Sylvie, where are you going—?”

Sylvie hesitated for a moment when asked, then answered honestly:

“Miss Knight said she wants to discuss some adult matters with you, so I have to step away for a while…”

“What?”

Floria was slightly stunned, then saw Sylvie bypass her wheelchair and walk out of the room on her own.

“Hey, wait—”

Floria wanted to roll her wheelchair after Sylvie, but a pair of fair, slender wrists suddenly clasped her shoulders from behind.

As those strong yet delicate arms crossed behind her neck and invaded her space, resting folded in front of her chest, Floria felt as if struck by electricity, her whole body jolting.

A warm, fragrant breath brushed past her earlobe from behind; cherry lips parted slightly, exhaling a soft, sweet voice that lightly teased her sensitive ear like a cat’s gentle scratch:

“Senior Liya, after you ‘died,’ you really gave me a hard time~”

Buzz—!

Floria instantly felt her mind ring with noise; all her carefully planned words were thrown into chaos by that single sentence, and her thoughts plunged into a blank void.

…Liya was the alias she used when she served as Grand Paladin.

W-wait… what’s going on…

Did she just… call me “Senior Liya”?

Floria swallowed nervously, hardly daring to believe her ears.

Her neck now felt numb and stiff, turning mechanically in slow segments with a “click, click” sound as she slowly turned her head.

She found that Sophia had somehow pressed her right cheek close beside Floria’s face, a sweet smile playing on her exquisite, pale features—so sweet it made Floria’s heart tremble.

Her already quiet heartbeat suddenly raced wildly again.

How could this be? Could she really recognize her?!

Startled, Floria’s hair stood on end, and she reflexively tried to drive her wheelchair away from Sophia.

But alas, both her shoulders were firmly held by Sophia’s slender fingers, unable to move.

Under the delicate fingertips’ firm pressure, the skin on the witch’s soft pink shoulder even showed faint, sunken red marks.

“Hss…”

Floria instinctively drew a cool breath, then heard a voice tinged with slight sorrow and confusion beside her ear:

“Senior, where do you think you’re trying to run off to?

“Why, don’t you want to recognize me at all?”

“…”

Floria squinted slightly, forcing herself to calm down and reorganize her thoughts.

She gently grasped Sophia’s wrist resting on her shoulder, attempting to ease the grip of those strong fingers.

“…Please let go, Miss Sophia. You’re hurting me.

“Also, I don’t know what you mean by this ‘senior’ thing. This is our first meeting, right? As a guest, don’t you think this is rather rude treatment toward your host?”

Two consecutive rhetorical questions, her calm tone carrying a hint of restrained indignation; Floria gave the perfect reproach suited to this awkward situation.

Beneath the seemingly indifferent and calm expression of the witch, a storm of chaotic, terrified thoughts raged.

What on earth was happening?!

Did she really recognize her?

Or was she just guessing, trying to test her with words?

That damn unreliable system… It clearly promised, “You won’t be recognized after the disguise” —!

Floria tried to remove Sophia’s hands from her shoulders, but helplessly found that even if she used both hands to grasp Sophia’s fingers, she couldn’t move them an inch.

“Miss Sophia, even if you are a Paladin, you have no right to bully a commoner like this. If you continue being so rude… I might have to consider asking you to leave—!

“No matter if you have mistaken me for someone else or whatever your reason is, I can tell you clearly: I don’t know anything about the ‘senior’ you’re talking about! I have never met you before!”

Floria gritted her teeth, determined to hold her ground and never admit anything.

Seeing Sophia’s current demeanor only strengthened her resolve to keep her identity hidden.

In just a few years apart, this girl’s temperament had completely changed.

She had become craftier, bolder, more unrestrained — no longer the shy little girl she could bully at will.

Just by the fact that after sending Sylvie away, she immediately pressed her hands onto Floria’s shoulders so restlessly, Floria was certain this was not the Sophia she remembered.

“Is that so, Senior…”

Sophia only smiled slightly, not responding further.

But her delicate, beautiful eyes now fixated like a magnet on Floria’s frail figure in the wheelchair, scrutinizing every inch of the witch.

That greedy gaze, laced with resentment and burning with a strange passion, sent chills down Floria’s spine and made cold sweat bead on her forehead.

Seeing Floria’s guilty expression, Sophia chuckled softly, withdrew her gaze, looked around the room, and whispered with a sigh:

“During the days away from the Capital, did you really live in a place this terrible, Senior?”

“I told you, I don’t know who this ‘senior’ you’re talking about is—”

Floria’s words suddenly halted.

Because at some point, Sophia was already holding the half-broken Holy Sword in her palm.

That was a treasure only a Kingdom Paladin Commander could wield, and the radiance from it proved everything.

Because of this, Floria completely fell silent, as if struck by a Silence Spell.

…If only I hadn’t impulsively taken the sword out to cut vegetables back then—

“Sorry, it’s been a long time. If I treated you roughly like this, Senior, maybe I really was a bit rude.”

After a silent standoff, Sophia let out a teasing laugh, loosened the broken sword in her hand, and tossed it onto the table, then once again ghostlike, leaned close behind the silent Floria.

“Or should I still call you Elder Sister, as you ordered back then?”

Her voice was full of mockery and teasing, coupled with an inscrutable, faint smile that left Floria utterly at a loss.

She felt like a little insect trapped in a spider’s web, being toyed with and teased by its predator.

“Speaking of which, I really want to see what tricks the current Elder Sister still has up her sleeve to chase me away.”

Sophia giggled, still standing behind Floria’s wheelchair.

But one of her hands had already changed course, crossing over Floria’s delicate, youthful shoulder, going deeper.

Her feather-light fingers gently teased and brushed the sensitive skin around Floria’s neck and collarbone, then lightly hooked the witch’s chin, pulling her face closer from the side.

The close breath naturally created an intimate atmosphere.

From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like two close girlfriends linking arms and whispering secrets.

But to Floria, the horror was unbearable. Her eyes widened in shock, mouth slightly open, breath quickening.

This Sophia… actually… used the very tactic she herself had often employed in the past… to tease her?

So many years apart… how far had she really come… and what kind of purpose did she have coming here?!

Floria could no longer imagine what would come next.