“I’m currently with the Inran army;
the hot springs along the border feel insanely good;
signed—your dearest friend, Flora.”
After writing those three lines, Flora raised her voice, calling over a female knight who was soaking in the next pool, and gloriously promoted her into the letter’s courier.
As she handed the letter over, Flora added a special note: it had to be delivered into the hands of someone called “Wang Xiaole.”
The man’s traits: black hair, and a slightly frivolous look.
Receiving her delivery orders, the female knight in full shamate style felt a bit regretful for losing her hot-spring time, but only for a moment. Then she switched straight into work mode.
Once the courier left, Flora watched her retreating back and felt that this should be enough.
Within those short three lines, Flora had built an illusion. She wanted Wang Xiaole, after reading the letter, to get the impression that she’d been kidnapped by the Inran army.
It was deliberate misdirection, but if Flora didn’t write it that way, she’d have no way to lure Wang Xiaole here.
If he didn’t come, the plan to let him meet Ye Chuxue would collapse before it even started.
A future where the two never meet was something she absolutely had to avoid.
For that kindness in her heart, that urge to think for a friend’s sake, Flora didn’t mind doing one or two things a “normal friend” would never pull, while quietly apologizing to him in her heart.
After apologizing, Flora slid back into the water, letting the hot spring warm up her body again, which had started to chill the moment it hit the air.
Right then, Ye Chuxue, who’d been idly playing with her nails the whole time, parted her thin lips again.
“Little Fu really cares about that friend of yours, huh? You’re even willing to throw him right in front of me.”
That sudden line made Flora break out in a cold sweat in an instant, even though she was immersed in hot water.
Her mental fortitude was decent, though. She didn’t freeze up or short-circuit. She denied it at once.
“Friend? Xiaoxue, what are you talking about? I don’t recall us discussing anything like that a few seconds ago.”
She pretended to be clueless while knowing perfectly well, giving off the vibe of someone whose memory randomly glitches out.
But she couldn’t fool her own friend. Ye Chuxue wasn’t confused, and she had no intention of playing dumb forever.
“The way Little Fu talked to me today, you were basically possessed by a matchmaker. I don’t believe you were just asking casually. You seriously want to introduce someone to me, don’t you?”
“How could that be?”
Flora waved her hand, trying to cover it up. Ye Chuxue ignored the gesture completely and calmly kept breaking things down.
“First, Little Fu asked what kind of guys I like. Then when you brought up the ‘what if you liked girls instead’ hypothesis, your face showed a bit of worry…”
Reading people was easy for Ye Chuxue. Her instincts made her remember every little movement, even from those close to her.
“Judging from those unconscious little tells, I can safely say: the person Little Fu wants to introduce to me is a man.”
“…”
“And the letter you sent is for the same reason, right? No way you suddenly remembered your foreign friend right after I turned you down.
So here’s how I see it: this friend living in Dibiles, and the guy you want to introduce to me—they’re actually the same person.”
Flora was, at heart, an honest ghost. She’d already been feeling seriously guilty for hiding things from her friend.
Now that her little scheme had been called out, she simply steeled herself and decided to tell the truth.
She spent a short while laying everything on the table—how she’d met Wang Xiaole, and what she was thinking.
During her “confession,” Ye Chuxue nodded from time to time just to show she was actually listening.
Once Flora finished, an evil smile bloomed across Ye Chuxue’s face, like a flower of pure malice. With a hint of mischief, she countered:
“So Little Fu wants me that badly to meet this friend of yours?”
“Yes. I really hope you can meet him. As long as you two interact even once, I’m sure you’ll like each other.”
“With you playing ‘matchmaker’ like this and sending me to meet some guy, doesn’t that make it look like a blind date?”
“Generally speaking, a hot-spring resort isn’t exactly a go-to blind date venue, right?”
As Flora gave that perfectly reasonable retort, Ye Chuxue’s lips curled even higher, and she pushed further.
“Who is that man? What’s his name?”
“He’s called Wang Xiaole. From his appearance, he seems to be from the Eastern Continent.”
Ye Chuxue repeated that name in her mind once, and then it hit her.
Wait. Wasn’t there a report from the scouts a while back saying that Isabella had gotten married? And her husband’s name… wasn’t it that?
Same name?
No way. How?
Dibiles wasn’t exactly full of long-term foreign residents. How many people from the Eastern Continent could there be, with the exact same name on top of that? That was impossible.
If it wasn’t just a duplicate name, then this “Wang Xiaole” Flora mentioned and the man married to Isabella might very well be the same person…
If so, things were about to get very interesting.
Ye Chuxue’s interest was piqued. But it had nothing to do with the man himself. It was purely because he was deeply tied to Isabella.
Flora had no idea her dear friend had married the Empress, just like she had no idea the girl in front of her and the Empress of Dibiles were actually rivals.
Back then, Ye Chuxue had lived in Dibiles for quite a while. She and Isabella could be called “childhood acquaintances.”
The two girls who’d shared a childhood never became besties. Instead, they turned into each other’s natural enemies.
Even as kids, they’d constantly been competing, 24/7.
Whenever Isabella learned a new skill, Ye Chuxue would definitely learn it too, and she’d do her best to master it faster—even if it was just one minute faster.
Whenever Ye Chuxue achieved something, Isabella would go into the same field and earn an even more dazzling achievement.
Their childhood rivalry ended in a draw. But once they hit their early teens, Ye Chuxue became her own country’s princess knight.
At the same age, Isabella became an empress.
Fell behind?
Well, there was no helping that. Succeeding to the throne wasn’t something you could fight for.
It’s not like this delinquent girl could suddenly snap one day and go all out to overthrow her own big sister, right?
So that round was one to zero.
Ever since then, Ye Chuxue had been itching to make a comeback, even in her dreams, but never found the right chance.
Now, that chance had finally arrived.
The childhood partner she’d grown up with got married before her. That news had put her in a funk for quite some time.
But now, her mood had flipped.
Two to zero?
Wrong. Turning points always lurk when you’re on the back foot. This time, Ye Chuxue came up with a new idea:
If she could make the man Isabella liked switch sides, make him trail behind her own skirt, and use her charm to “sleep-siege” the empress’s husband…
“Heeheeheehee, then that’d be my win, you damn flat-chest!”
Ye Chuxue curled her fingers and pressed them under her chin. It would take a good ten seconds before she stopped laughing that way.
If you don’t want your rival to have something—or someone—you just find a way to take it away. That kind of mindset is what makes a true delinquent.
Right now, watching her good friend turn into what looked like a villain, Flora couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy.
The next moment, Ye Chuxue cut off her laughter and her expression went back to normal. She reached for the wooden basin floating on the water’s surface.
From it, she picked up a cup filled with juice, a stand-in for liquor—a drinking style unique to the Eastern Continent.
Which only made it clearer:
Ye Chuxue was at least going through the motions of “minors can’t drink alcohol,” even if that habit didn’t quite match her delinquent-girl persona.
“It’s decided. Just to do Little Fu a favor, I don’t mind meeting that man once.”
With that, Ye Chuxue tipped her head back and downed the drink in one go. Then she flicked her right arm up, rudely tossing the cup over her head.
“Really? You’re not planning to go back on your word, Xiaoxue?”
“I’m someone with a reputation to keep. Even if I occasionally do things only thugs would do, my credit score is flawless.”
As she spoke, Ye Chuxue raised her left hand and caught the falling cup. Then she started juggling it between both palms like a street performer.
“That’s enough for me. Xiaoxue, you’re such a good person, agreeing to my unreasonable request and taking the time to meet him.”
“Taking time? Nope. I just decided to rest here for three days to prep for the coming war. I absolutely didn’t extend my vacation for that guy.”
“Eh? But if that’s the case, and he happens to be busy and can’t make it within those three days…”
“Then that’s that. Letting him keep me waiting for three days is already me bending the rules. What kind of blind-date setup has the guy endlessly showing up late?”
Not only was she making his three-day arrival a requirement, Ye Chuxue even set up an extra hurdle. For that, she wrote a letter and had it sent to the Southern Marshal.
“To be honest with you, Little Fu: I’ve already ordered the Empire’s main forces to form a defensive line fifty li in front of the hot springs.
That’s the only road leading here. If that man wants to stand before me, there’s no way he’ll get past the Empire’s one hundred thousand vanguard troops without a fight.”
“Eh—eh—eh?! Xiaoxue, are you making things hard for him on purpose?”
“Exactly. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If he doesn’t have what it takes to get to me, he’s not worth stealing. It would just mean that flat-chest’s standards have dropped.”
The cup fell again for who knows what number of times.
This time, Ye Chuxue switched it up. She caught it with her head, balancing it with delicate control so it wouldn’t fall into the pool.
“Leave everything to me. Little Fu, you don’t need to worry about a thing.”
Ye Chuxue raised her thumb, pointing it up, then lightly tapped her chin with the sharp nail, brimming with confidence as she reassured the girl across from her.
