Since she hadn’t gone to the wrong room and had really reached her target’s quarters, there was no need to apologize—and nothing more to say.

Bai drew a pair of daggers, deciding to launch her attack the instant she settled into stance.

Right then, Wang Xiaole moved. He reflexively drew his sword, the blade flashing as he feinted and pressed the tip toward Bai’s chest.

With her own body, Bai proved a simple truth:

Real fights aren’t like some manga. Your opponent’s shameless. He’s not gonna wait for you to be ready before he comes at you.

In her second assassination attempt, Bai didn’t even get the chance to do anything before her opponent rushed in. She was cut off, flustered, and defeated just like that.

She was an assassin, used to ending battles with surprise attacks. This time she’d finally decided to go head‑on… only for her opponent to be the one to break the rules first.

“...You’re cheating!”

She’d originally planned to stay as silent as ever, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

In the end she couldn’t hold it in. Now she puffed out her cheeks, showing her intense displeasure.

Wang Xiaole didn’t think he’d crossed any line.

He was a ranger. In both life and battle, he naturally had a bit of a rogue in him. It’s not like he was some orthodox martial master—why would he aim for fairness in a duel?

But Bai didn’t care about any of that. For now, she just put her daggers away and, while Wang Xiaole was sheathing his sword, turned and began pounding both fists against his waist.

A punch. A flurry of punches. A flurry of heavy little punches.

Thump thump thump thump—the sound strung together, and the feeling in question could be summed up in two words:

So good.

If he had to stretch it to three, then it’d be:

So damn good.

A cat curling into a ball and ramming into you hit harder than the “blows” Wang Xiaole was taking right now.

Bai was already doing her best; it was just that her race made her excel at speed and agility.

When it came to brute strength, you still had to go bother lion‑ and tiger‑type beastkin.

Let this moment last forever…

Just as Wang Xiaole was indulging in that thought, tonight’s second heroine finally made her entrance.

Charley sashayed her curvy body as she came up the stairs, a wineglass balanced on the back of her hand. She swayed with each step until she reached the doorway.

Before she even stepped into the room, she saw Bai’s back.

In that moment, she saw the two inside the room—but the two of them didn’t see her.

The instant Charley laid eyes on Bai, she understood one thing: she absolutely hated this girl.

That was only natural. Charley, at her core, hated every single female who got close to Wang Xiaole.

That included the nun she’d seen back then, and that infuriating woman who’d monopolized the top spot on the rankings forever.

Since she hated her, she might as well do something.

Charley first took a careful look, confirming one thing above all: Bai was a free person.

In this day and age, the vast majority of beastkin were human slaves. They usually had chains on them, or at least a slave brand burned somewhere on their bodies.

The brand was generally somewhere obvious. Charley glanced over; at least on Bai’s back, she didn’t see anything like that.

Besides, if Bai had an owner, that owner wouldn’t just let his “private property” run off into some strange man’s room like this.

While analyzing, Charley ruled out the possibility that Bai was Wang Xiaole’s slave, for one reason only:

No one had told her about it.

From that, Charley concluded:

Bai had to be one of those rare free beastkin.

The pair of daggers hanging at Bai’s waist gleamed with a silvery sheen—clearly lethal weapons at a glance.

Such a highly recognizable weapon inevitably made Charley think of a certain someone.

When she put together “carrying a signature weapon,” “short,” and “female cat‑folk,” Charley suddenly thought:

“Could she be the top assassin from the ‘Disaster Eradication Society’—the one with the codename ‘Silver Blade’?”

After a soft mutter, Charley downed the rest of her wine in one go. Then she clenched her fist, crushing the glass into powder.

Sparkling fragments slipped down along her knee and were ground under one bare foot, pressed deep into the cracks of the floorboards.

Charley had mostly finished analyzing this enemy called Bai.

Next, it was time to act.

She backed away without a sound, went all the way down to the first floor, and bought some matatabi from the owner.

Then she headed back up to the second floor, and the moment she stepped into the room, she took out a stick of matatabi.

She let the scent slowly spread, planning to use it to draw Bai over to her in a little while.

Bai couldn’t escape the weakness that all cats shared. The moment she smelled that special scent, she stopped pounding on Wang Xiaole and started walking toward the source behind her.

Now Charley held the matatabi up in her hand, baiting Bai to hop again and again in front of her, keeping the catgirl’s desire on a leash.

One thing was certain: Charley didn’t have even a trace of goodwill toward Bai.

But before she showed her true colors, she’d first become Bai’s good friend and make sure the girl liked her as much as possible.

Maxing out the favorability bar could only help.

Some things were just easier to do once the other person trusted you.

At this point, Wang Xiaole noticed Charley coming into the room. What shocked him most, though, was:

“This is the first time I’ve seen you be this nice to someone else, Charley!”

He was surprised for a moment by the kindness Charley showed Bai, but in the end he didn’t really doubt it.

In his mind, Charley was still a teenage girl. Liking cute things, or cute girls, wasn’t strange at all.

Maybe Bai had been teased for too long, or maybe her overheated brain was finally cooling down. Either way—

She stopped bouncing in place. Once she remembered she was an assassin, she put some distance between herself and Wang Xiaole again.

One look into her eyes was all it took for Wang Xiaole to understand:

This little girl who’d failed twice hadn’t given up.

If things played out like last night, he’d inevitably give her another chance—let her go, and welcome her to drop by for another attempt anytime.

This time, though, he did things a little differently.

He really did give Bai a third chance, but took the opportunity to suggest:

“It’s already really late. How about you don’t leave? Stay in my room tonight. That way it’s easier for you to make your next move. Sounds like a win‑win to me.”

If that proposal came true, he’d reap a huge benefit of his own: his personal safety would be much better guaranteed.

After spending more time with Charley, Wang Xiaole was increasingly aware:

Staying in the same room as Charley was way too dangerous.

If there hadn’t been someone like Bai—someone who, upon hearing something off, had barged in purely on instinct—he doubted he’d get any sleep tonight.

Yeah, even being targeted by an assassin wouldn’t keep him up all night.

But the fact that Charley was in his room tonight might just break that rule.

Considering his own safety was definitely a key factor in his proposal.

At the same time, he really couldn’t bear to watch Bai run back and forth all night like this.

He hoped Bai would accept. The answer he got, though, was:

“...(shakes head)”

Strictly speaking, Bai didn’t have much of a concept of gender. Even so, she had at least some basic caution toward others.

She knew full well that this weird big brother in front of her was the target she needed to assassinate. How could she possibly accept his kindness?

Still, that suggestion did remind her of something.

Running back and forth between two places wasn’t good for conserving stamina during the day.

If she wanted this assassination wrapped up sooner, she really did need to find somewhere nearby to stay.

In the end, you could say she half accepted Wang Xiaole’s suggestion.

The little girl wasn’t letting her guard down, but for the sake of her own movements, she chose a new place to settle.

She tossed a rope upward, then, before climbing, pointed at the third floor above—in other words, at a vacant room up there.

In fact, to prepare for tonight’s job, she’d already booked that room as a guest that afternoon.

At first, Bai had reserved the room so that, when sneaking from the third floor to the second, she wouldn’t bump into other guests.

Now, that room had a new function: serving as her temporary home.

From a distance standpoint, if she stayed there, she’d be only one floor away from her target.

When she wanted to come down, all she had to do was cut through the third‑floor room’s floor and the second‑floor room’s ceiling, then slide down the rope.

Plus, staying in a third‑floor room would save her a lot of energy. The advantages were obvious.

Just like that, assassin and target formed a brand‑new kind of relationship.

In the past, depending on their situations, assassins had ended up as friends with their targets, or even lovers.

But never had any assassin done what Bai was doing now—becoming neighbors with her target.

Bai’s mind was made up, so Wang Xiaole couldn’t push her any further. At most, before she climbed back up the rope to the third floor, he asked her for one favor.

“If, at any time tonight, you hear me shout ‘Help!’, you have to come down and help me.”

“...”

Bai gave him a look and left him to figure it out on his own. From that, he interpreted something like:

Why do I have to help you?

In other words, she wanted a reason. So Wang Xiaole offered one that was hard to refuse:

“I’m the target you’re after. How can I run into some random accident before you take care of me? Believe me—helping me is helping yourself.”

If you picked it apart, it didn’t really make sense. But simple‑minded Bai believed it.

“Okay. When that happens, I’ll come save big brother.”

Once she gave her word, she swung herself up and climbed back into her third‑floor room.

After she’d gone up, a crisp crack came from above.

“What just broke?”

When Wang Xiaole asked that, Charley had her back to him, one hand pressed over her heart, not saying a single word.