2/18
What kind of nonsense story did that stupid deer tell…
While the treegirl gazed at him with admiring eyes, Yino appeared touched on the surface but couldn’t help feeling exasperated at Wangxue’s storytelling abilities. With such imagination, it would be a waste if she didn’t write novels – she could even collaborate with Sera, one writing stories while the other drew illustrations.
“N-no…?”
Seeing Yino not responding for a while, the treegirl’s lips began to quiver, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
In contrast, as her mood fell, the previously contained Abyss mist began spreading again.
Noticing the situation turning dangerous, Yino hurriedly agreed:
“Of course it’s I will! Besides, I came to the Azure Forest specifically to save you”
“Really! Can Brother Yino be Lily’s hero too?”
“Of course.”
“Then… can hero brother kiss my feet like Little Deer said…”
“Of course!”
The treegirl asked with hopeful eyes, and Yino, afraid she might fall into darkness again, instinctively agreed.
But soon after, Yino realized something odd about this conversation.
“Wait, kiss what?”
“My feet, silly brother~.”
The treegirl said with a sunny expression, somehow making it seem completely natural.
Yino raised an eyebrow: “?”
“Little Deer said… that’s how the hero showed respect back then… and that brother Yino loves giving her foot massages… She said Brother Yino is a weird human who gets happy just from touching women’s feet…”
“WHAT!?”
Yino’s expression froze, and his lip twitched.
Meanwhile, in his consciousness sea, he grabbed Wangxue’s collar as she hung in mid-air with a guilty pout.
[This was a white lie, besides Master really does like playing with girl’s feet!]
Wangxue probably didn’t expect the little sapling would take her random bragging seriously.
Now that she’d already told such tall tales, there was nothing Yino could do about it no matter how angry he got.
Yino felt a headache coming on.
He stopped arguing with Wangxue and turned his attention back to the treegirl in his arms.
“I… actually…”
Yino was still very hesitant.
With so many people around, he couldn’t just suddenly kneel down and kiss Lily’s feet.
“Brother Yino… Lily’s feet aren’t dirty…”
“That’s not the issue…”
“I see… Brother Yino was just humoring Lily… you don’t really like Lily after all…”
As Yino continued to hesitate, the treegirl’s face fell again.
Not only that, but the Abyss mist around her began spreading once more.
Yino felt thoroughly manipulated by her, silently vowing to properly discipline Wangxue later to vent his frustration.
“No, how could I look down on a young lady’s request?”
Seeing the little girl’s eyes starting to darken and lose their light, Yino immediately agreed.
He had no choice – he was holding a small nuclear bomb in his arms. If Lily became upset, everyone present would die with her.
It’s just kissing, what’s wrong with that? Come, I’ll do it now…
Thinking this, Yino could only sigh and silently bear it all.
But just as he was about to set the treegirl down and actually kneel to lift her small jade feet with their embroidered green patterns, she suddenly crouched down and hugged Yino.
“?”
“Brother is so gentle, Lily was just joking!”
In an instant embrace, the previously tearful and dejected treegirl suddenly changed her expression. She hugged Yino and sweetly laughed next to his ear.
Though her tone was cute and sweet, the situation gave Yino a sense of déjà vu about someone being devious.
“Joking?”
“Lily isn’t that mean!”
She was still laughing sweetly, holding Yino’s neck and whispering so quietly others couldn’t hear.
Yino felt like he’d been played.
But Lily’s smile was so gentle, looking both innocent and benevolent like a grandmotherly little angel. Even after being teased by her, Yino couldn’t feel any desire for revenge.
This was fundamentally different from Jinyue’s shameless attitude.
“Brother Yino is so good to Lily, not only saving me with sister but also willing to be friends with Lily…”
“How could Lily be so cruel as to actually make such a gentle brother kneel and kiss her feet?”
At this point, Lily suddenly looked up, once again showing Yino her sweet smile.
Yino thought this smile was truly beautiful.
Whenever Lily smiled, it was like she had built-in lighting and filters, making Yino feel like a fairy tale princess had descended before him.
Come to think of it… when Jinyue used illusions before, I also thought her smile made peach blossoms appear around her.
However. Compared to his own deer who always talked back to her master, Yino was truly touched by Lily’s praise from the bottom of his heart.
[Wait a minute!]
[Why do I feel like this little sapling did this on purpose!]
On the platform not far away, the ahoge on Wangxue’s head stood straight up as she finally realized something, eyes widening. Watching the treegirl hugging and embracing Yino, she had a strange feeling of having her territory invaded.
She had kindly befriended the little sapling, told her stories, even shared her bad master’s embarrassing history…
Wangxue actually felt sorry for her and just casually bragged without thinking too much about it.
But now, Wangxue felt this little sapling wasn’t stupid at all. She felt the sapling did it on purpose – she knew Wangxue was lying but still pretended to be naive and deliberately told Yino about Wangxue’s tall tales, then mysteriously added that she was grateful and felt bad for brother, so she couldn’t bear to make Yino kneel and kiss her feet…
What did that mean?
Didn’t that make it seem like Wangxue was ungrateful, badmouthing Yino behind his back after being saved?
The key point was, Yino really was shameless normally, and Wangxue only occasionally got revenge!
This is bad, my territory’s been invaded!
Masterr, turns out she’s a manipulative b*tch! don’t believe her nonsense!
At some point, the deergirl in the back couldn’t take it anymore.
She rushed forward wanting to confront the little sapling, but Yunjin quickly held her back, looking helpless.
“Please, don’t cause trouble, Great Divine Deer…”
“But, but she’s clearly betraying me to curry favor with master!”
The little deer pouted, sad that the rare friendship she opened up to was capsized so quickly.
Meanwhile, Ruoning beside Yunjin felt sympathetic.
However, unlike Wangxue’s embarrassed anger at having her territory invaded, Ruoning was already used to seeing this. She felt more enlightened, surprised that even a seemingly innocent and silly girl knew how to act coy.
“Brother Yino…”
And just as the little deer was bristling with anger on the platform, the treegirl below shuddered and quickly pressed closer to Yino.
“S-sorry… it’s all Lily’s fault for not knowing how to speak properly…”
“If I’d known Little Deer was making things up… Lily wouldn’t have told Brother Yino…”
She looked wronged, sad about being disliked by a friend, but even more afraid of the little deer’s angry appearance.
To be honest, Yino also felt she was a bit manipulative.
But reasonably speaking, Yino couldn’t find fault with Lily – after all, she just described the story Wangxue told, how would she know Wangxue made it up?
And he had to admit, this little sapling acting coy in his arms was truly clingy, like an affectionate little daughter. Yino was already quite attached.
“It’s fine, my little deer barks fiercely but never bite. If she’s angry, just comfort her later and it’ll be fine.”
Yino consoled while picking up the little girl in his arms again.
Lily blinked, carefully looking toward the deergirl in the distance who still looked angry enough to eat someone.
“Really… but she looks so fierce… Brother Yino is much gentler…”