Glancing over with little courtesy, she set the medicine bowl in place for him, then took off her shoes and knelt by the bed.
As she took on a prayerful posture, Lin Nuo thought to himself, at least on the outside, she truly looked exceedingly pure.
“Noble Young Master, I saw you were studying Healing Magic. If you have time… could I trouble you to check if there’s anything else wrong with my body?”
“I’m at your disposal, check me however you wish.”
When Xī softly extended her warm, jade-like arm before him, letting him freely… wield his Healing Spell across her body—
Lin Nuo immediately felt invigorated.
“After resting all these days, your body is in good condition; there are no major problems. It’s just that right now…”
He continued sensing, “You seem a little nervous, at least your heartbeat is faster than usual. This kind of heart rate isn’t normal, it’s a bit like… waiting for a trap after doing something bad?”
XÄ«’s crescent-moon eyes squinted with a smile.
Hearing he could actually guess that, a trace of surprise flickered across her face.
But the look vanished in an instant, and instead she seized the initiative, saying, “Noble Young Master, you speak so strangely. What bad thing could I have possibly done that you don’t already know about?”
“Ah~, you’re not thinking I put something bad in your medicine, are you?” she said, a little aggrieved.
“I should remind you, Noble Young Master, that the medicine was inspected by a Maid before it was delivered.”
“This… Of course, I’d never suspect you.”
Lin Nuo continued to close his eyes and sense.
When he opened them again, he looked at XÄ« with a strange expression, but still spoke the results honestly: “You seem a bit cold-bodied. A lot of people have this; you should probably find a man to help adjust that.”
“Noble Young Master… Are you hinting at something?”
XÄ« watched Lin Nuo, who didn’t really suspect her, as he took the medicine—clearly thicker than usual tonight—and drank it down, raising his head to swallow every last drop.
She nodded slightly, suppressing a wild joy at her plot’s success.
XÄ« took the empty bowl, swirling the spoon inside as she spoke leisurely, “If you say so, I might just take it seriously.”
At this moment, thinking she was just teasing him after revealing her true self, Lin Nuo had no idea what kind of subtext was hidden behind XÄ«’s smile…
Not until XÄ«, carrying the empty bowl, left the room.
The stars soared high overhead.
All across Lukenai and Claremont Manor, a thousand lights gradually dimmed and silence spread.
Only places like Nightingale Hall still had guest rooms lit by candlelight.
In Sallydor, coins were round, and more valuable coins were thicker.
In a certain Nightingale Hall, a few nightingales, narrow as copper coins, spent the night with guests in the same room.
By morning, they’d effortlessly changed to the smooth, unimpeded thickness of gold coins…
However, tonight Claremont Manor was far from peaceful.
The guards at the moat gate saw a girl in a nun’s habit arrive and immediately saluted respectfully.
Naturally, that nun led in another six girls who’d been prepared for a certain someone…
“Snap!”
As Lin Nuo stripped and went to soak in the bath, just as he closed the bathroom door, XÄ« calmly opened the door from the bedroom, and behind her, the six girls she’d brought shed their large, black robes and face veils.
The six of them stood there, each dressed differently.
There was no need for words.
As if they understood XÄ«’s intentions, the six of them waited at the bathroom door.
XÄ« even thoughtfully trimmed their nails and tied up each girl’s hair into a “battle-ready” convenient style.
Only then did she remove her own dress and toss it onto Lin Nuo’s bed.
She wrapped herself in a towel and, with a wave of magic, pushed open the bathroom door, just as naturally as if she’d sealed the whole room with magic so even the little pets couldn’t get in to disturb them.
“Noble Young Master, there’s no hot water in my room. May I use your bathroom for a bath?”
As Lin Nuo filled the tub and, before he could even soak and enjoy this comfortable moment, he realized the bathroom door was suddenly being opened.
A girl’s voice already drifted through the gap.
“…Eh?!”
Before Lin Nuo could react to reply,
XÄ« swung the bathroom door wide open, positioning herself so the six girls outside wouldn’t be seen, then stepped in with her pale, pink legs.
When she saw her Noble Young Master was still wearing shorts, exposing only his upper body and not having stripped completely, her gaze instantly fell with disappointment.
Seemed she’d come in too soon…
“Noble Young Master, someone told me it’s time for me to leave this place and return to where I belong.”
Yet the girl hid her feelings perfectly: “Recently, I’ve been brewing medicine so often. Before I leave, I wanted to have one comfortable bath.”
“But as you can see, the bathroom in my room is small, just a tiny stool, not comfortable at all… You wouldn’t refuse me, would you?”
“……”
‘Dressed like this? Clearly you never intended to ask whether I’d refuse, did you?’
XÄ«’s youthful, supple body was wrapped in a thin white towel that showed off every curve, her long, fair legs and the generous curves she could barely see past—everything looked strikingly tempting.
The kind of magnificence that made it impossible not to take a second look!
While speaking, XÄ« placed her delicate, white foot into the clear bathwater, then with a soft sigh sat all the way in.
Her sweet first-love face displayed an utterly blissful expression.
“….”
‘You… really came to take over, huh! Fine, fine, then I’ll just leave…’
“Don’t move!”
“Sit with me for a while.”
For some reason, XÄ« grabbed him and pulled him down into the tub, wrapping her arms tightly around him and making Lin Nuo sit right by her side.
He thought for a moment, then accepted.
It sounded like someone wanted XÄ« to leave soon, and remembering how she’d said last night that she didn’t want to go…
Lin Nuo felt that before she left, she wanted to open up and talk a bit, so it was okay to keep her company.
As for sitting this close…
It wasn’t the first time…
Once the thought popped up— ‘At this distance, feeling each other’s warmth, there’s nothing wrong with just sitting together’—Lin Nuo felt his acceptance of XÄ« had somehow been raised a lot by her…
“Noble Young Master, you know, without a professional Apothecary and Fire Mage watching, using Fire Magic to brew medicine can easily ruin the ingredients.”
“Usually, you have to sit by the stove for a long time, it’s pretty tiring. That’s why soaking in the bath like you right now, mm~ feels so relaxing…”
“…Noble Young Master!”
The girl’s exclamation by his side finally pulled Lin Nuo’s mind back from the flush in his nose and that inexplicable heat in his whole body.
“Your heart is racing,” XÄ« said with concern, scooping up clear water with her white hand and pouring it over his shoulder, as if trying to cool him down.
After a while, her tone subtly changed, “Could it be… you’re thinking about me?”
“No lewdness allowed. I’ve held back even now when I’m about to leave, haven’t even tied you up yet. I’ve improved so much, so Noble Young Master, you can’t be the one to…”
She wagged her finger at him, looking both playful and serious.
“That’s not it,” Lin Nuo rubbed his nose and forced his eyes away from her criminally alluring figure, thinking that something was odd today: “Don’t worry, I only think of you as family—there’s absolutely no way I’d do anything improper.”
“…..”
‘Hm?!’
Seeing XÄ«’s expression suddenly change, Lin Nuo shifted to the side.
‘What’s with those squinting eyes you’re giving me?!’