October 20, 1453 New Calendar, Noon.
The temperature control array beneath the cauldron had mostly dimmed, leaving only a few faint golden runes slowly flowing along the walls of the pot.
A few used silver cups were piled next to the purification array, their rims stained with cooled syrup. Sophie was currently using a Cleanliness Ritual to wash the large cauldron. Since Modi had handed the top-tier ritual room over to her, Sophie was the only one who could personally clean it.
Miaoyue stood by the table, the taste of caramel and custard still lingering in her mouth.
Even though the dessert was long gone, she was still reluctant to swallow.
All of her brain capacity was currently being used to process the sentence she had just heard.
What did she mean by having the resolve to never let go for life?
Miaoyue’s cheeks gradually flushed crimson.
She stared at the hand that had been held, her fingertips curling as she immediately hid it behind her back.
No.
This was definitely wrong.
“My Saintess!”
She suddenly looked up, her voice tight, a stray strand of hair standing straight up on her head.
Having finished cleaning the cauldron, Sophie pulled the commission paper stamped with the Royal Mining Seal from under the plate, wanting to confirm if Miaoyue had indeed secured the trade permits.
Hearing the call, she looked up.
“Yes?”
—Why is this person completely unfazed? Miaoyue thought. Doesn't that make me the only one who's flustered?
“Were you just confessing?”
“Huh?”
“You were definitely confessing just now!” Miaoyue shouted with a red face. “What do you mean, never letting go for life? What resolve? How can you say such things so casually to a Goddess! I’m telling you, I already have someone I like!”
Sophie blinked.
“The Goddess has someone she likes?”
“O-Of course I do!”
Miaoyue puffed out her chest, trying her best to look imposing.
Even though there were still some caramel crumbs on the corner of her mouth, her hand was hidden behind her back, and her ears were as red as if they had just been roasted by a sugar furnace, she was still the New Moon Witch who could make children stop crying.
Miaoyue announced very seriously, “I won’t let him down!”
After speaking, as if remembering something, she immediately added.
“And you already have Kaila, so you can’t cheat!”
“I have Kaila?” Sophie looked down at herself, then around the room, then under the table, and finally into the large cauldron. “Hmm? Where is Miss Hero?”
“Don’t play dumb!” Miaoyue glared at her, puffed up with anger. “You’ve already held hands, gone on dates, and developed that far! I’m totally shipping the two of you. Even if Kaila is a bit quiet, cold-faced, doesn't know how to act cute, and is a bit oblivious to the atmosphere, she’s serious, reliable, good at protecting people, and she even takes the initiative to hold your hand at key moments.”
At this point, Miaoyue looked genuinely pained.
“How can you go on a date with Kaila while also flirting with the Goddess? If that’s not being scum, then what is! Only pure love, only pure love is supreme!”
“Is it pure love between you and that... person you like too?”
“Of course it is!” Miaoyue retorted with her hands on her hips, finding the question strange.
Well...
Sophie fell silent for a moment.
This was a bit of a problem.
For some reason, Miaoyue kept trying to interpret her relationship with Kaila as more than friends but less than lovers, even though she had explained clearly that they were just friends, not lovers.
And pure love? She better not let Little Dino hear that.
If it really counted as pure love, then Miaoyue would be the eighth person in line, and Kaila would be the ninth.
This was indeed a bit of a problem.
Sophie held the commission paper in one hand and rested her chin on the other, thinking for a brief instant.
The Galgame master brain completed its calculations in 0.01 seconds.
After all, it was normal for Miaoyue to have no concept of friendship.
Sophie slowly looked up, her gaze filled with a clear, innocent light. “Oh, Goddess.”
She blinked her red eyes, her face filled with uncontrollable sorrow.
“Do I really have no chance at all?”
【Log: Due to the massive gap and your lack of sugar, Miaoyue has seen through your acting】
“Of course not,” Miaoyue said decisively.
Tsk. Without the Power of the Nine Dragons, this level of acting couldn't fool a demigod-level Witch.
Sophie curled her lip inwardly, abandoning the act.
However, abandoning the act didn't mean the words were false.
Sophie looked up, meeting the gaze of the still-pouting Miaoyue.
“But the thoughts I have toward you, Miaoyue, are...”
She paused, as memories of the past flooded back.
Memories of many things, from the past.
The Little Yue she met at the Moon Village altar; the Little Yue who didn't gain a single point of Intelligence despite being fed countless potions, yet grew stronger in Mana; the Little Yue who issued a criminal declaration on the Star-Gazing Terrace.
And the... wicked words spoken afterward.
“I know your immortal bones know no seasons, a thousand-year reunion feels like a single day.”
“I intentionally trouble the beauty with words of parting, just to see the rain upon the pear blossom branch.”
Aiming for a yandere ending just for the title stats certainly had an element of being a stat-chaser, but at that time, Hiso also harbored a thought: “Stay one second longer, see one more ending.”
After all, Red Moon was just a game, and they were destined to say goodbye.
—He firmly believed that a true pure love warrior would even collect every NTR CG in a Galgame, because they loved everything about the heroines!
But now, things were different.
The hands that were once separated by a cold screen, dry text, a fixed ending, and an entire dimension could now truly hold each other.
With infinite time and energy, there was no longer a need to worry about the time allocation between the game and reality.
This time, she could finally express her thoughts honestly.
She no longer lacked anything.
It wasn't for a quest, nor for a title or stats.
Simply because, seeing the girl she liked standing there so vibrantly, seeing her pouting and adorable look, she instinctively wanted to hold her hand, wanted to kiss her, and wanted to make her her friend.
She really did like Little Yue.
In that case, she just needed to speak the truth. There was no need for such an impure thing as acting.
Her purity was already...
Too high.
Sophie watched the person before her quietly. Even without listening intently, she could feel a shiver of excitement, bordering on a boil, rising from the depths of her soul.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Pure Lust activated with a roar.
Sophie reached an epiphany.
【Log: Because you took joy in seeing her beauty, felt love upon hearing her voice, drew near from smelling her scent, felt greed while declaring your desires, felt longing from touching her warmth, and reflected her image in your mind with purity, you have gained the special skill [I, Without Fear of Forgetting (Special) Lv. Max]】
【I, Without Fear of Forgetting (Special) Lv. Max: When you speak while in the [Clear Conscience] state, your words will remain more clearly in the target's memory. This effect does not alter the target's judgment or force their agreement; it only makes it harder for them to forget the look in your eyes, the distance between you, and the sound of your voice, making the moment unforgettable】
“Rejection is certainly fine, but forgetting is not.”
Rate on N.U.
