Yue Liuyi slipped into a blissful dream, floating on a king-size bed like a cloud caught by dawn.
The mattress and sheets felt high-end, warm as a hearth, soft like lamb’s wool.
They were plush, pillowy.
Velvety, yielding.
So, so comfortable.
Mm… it really feels perfect…
“Mmh… LittleMoon is so naughty…”
“Huh?”
A familiar voice brushed her ear like spring wind, pulling Yue Liuyi out of the haze.
Startled, her heart fluttered first; then her fingers tightened.
What filled her palm was the same soft, springy feeling from the dream.
“Eh? LittleSnow!?”
She blinked awake. A silver-haired girl’s flushed face entered like moonlight on snow.
Unlike the usual impish Dixue, the silver girl simply watched LittleMoon softly and in silence. Her lake-green eyes held ripples, distant and aching.
Her pale throat rose and fell, a hush of breath between them. Even the air carried the scent of young blossoms.
And Yue Liuyi finally realized what her hands were doing—she had taken LittleSnow’s body for a mattress.
Her right hand was still right there.
“Ah! LittleSnow, I’m sorry…!”
“It’s fine… fulfilling LittleMoon’s longing is something I must do, as your guardian.”
Against all expectation, Dixue didn’t tease.
She lowered her gaze, refusing the blue of Yue Liuyi’s eyes.
“Something I must do…”
“Mm. LittleMoon only needs to bare her true thoughts.”
Her cool fingers lifted, resting over Yue Liuyi’s hand like a leaf on water.
She guided Yue Liuyi’s fingertips, picking up the ribbon at her chest.
“W—wow! LittleSnow!”
Yue Liuyi squeaked. Her mind stumbled. This had to be a dream. Like that earlier nightmare, except now it was made of honey.
Otherwise, how could LittleSnow, the mischief-maker, turn out like this?
Outside, no battle-clamor, no footsteps. The others weren’t here.
Sunset poured gold like melted amber, painting white walls with brilliance. In that dusk-steeped room, there were only two girls—blue and silver.
But even in a dream, Yue Liuyi had standards.
She was a proper person, truly, a straight-laced girl. She wouldn’t take advantage of LittleSnow just because it wasn’t real. Honestly, she didn’t have the nerve.
“Th-that! LittleSnow, that’s not what I meant!”
“LittleMoon, don’t worry about me. This is my mission…”
The silver-haired girl’s fingers held Yue Liuyi’s hand and untied the ribbon completely, like a petal drifting free.
“Wait—LittleSnow’s mission!? What does that even mean?”
“Now’s not the time to fret over that. LittleMoon only needs to know… you can do as you wish. Don’t mind my feelings.”
“How could I not? You’re the LittleSnow I love. I can’t just ignore what you feel.”
“Eh?”
Dixue froze. Her eyes went wide. She blinked once, slow as a snowflake.
“Even if this is a dream, I want to say it… I like you, LittleSnow, and I respect you. I can’t chase happiness alone.”
“Uu—LittleMoon thinks… this is a dream!?”
“Of course. Otherwise, how would you be so different from your usual self?”
“Uu…!”
Dixue dove beneath the blanket like a startled carp.
“LittleSnow!?”
“Something to knock LittleMoon out… found it! The sakura cookie tin!”
“Uh?”
“Uu… but I can’t bring myself to use it…”
Her clothes were a little mussed. She gripped the tin tight.
Then she looked at the soft-eyed Yue Liuyi and just couldn’t swing.
…
…
…
After a whole lot of fluster, Yue Liuyi finally understood—this wasn’t a dream.
And Dixue was truly Dixue.
“Uu… I’ve embarrassed myself so badly! I can’t act like your big sister now…”
She kneeled on the bed with hands on her thighs, her face red as a ripe apple, juice practically beading at the skin.
“LittleSnow, what happened…? We were fighting Crimson Paradise, and suddenly…”
Yue Liuyi kneeled opposite her. A faint chill lingered in the room like winter’s last breath, but it wasn’t biting anymore.
“The battle ended long ago. We’re already on the move again.”
Her tone regained its lightness, but Dixue still couldn’t meet Yue Liuyi’s gaze. Every motion felt different now, shy and girlish.
“It’s already over?”
“Mm!”
“So fast?”
“Crimson Paradise didn’t press. It felt like a warning, a show of force.”
“Oh…”
“Then… what did you mean by your mission?”
At that, the silver-haired girl trembled, as if a shard of memory touched a nerve.
“Uu! LittleMoon… can you forget what just happened?”
“Forget? I’ll try…”
She shut her eyes, trying to erase the scene. But the softness on her palm, the plaintive lake of those eyes, that low breath—everything only grew sharper.
I can’t forget it. That tender, perfect feeling…
“Ah!”
“So you couldn’t… That’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing! I was the one who got carried away!”
“No, LittleMoon doesn’t know… My mission is to offer myself to the World Tree Maiden.”
“Offer… yourself!?”
“Mm. LittleMoon… My true name is Yue Dier. I’m of the Night Clan, guardians of the World Tree. My homeworld has no World Tree anymore… so my mission is to abduct a World Tree Maiden, bring her home, and then bear—”
By then her face was a deep rose, and her voice thinned to a thread, barely there.
“Abduct!?”
“The elders said so. But I… couldn’t accept it. So I ran away.”
“Ran away!?”
Yue Liuyi jolted, and the world widened.
Because running away from home… didn’t fit LittleSnow at all.
Except—
That splendid Skyship.
Going alone to the Imperial Academy.
A silver-haired girl who knew the World Tree like a map.
A guardian of the World Tree…
LittleSnow… was she—
A runaway noble lady?
“LittleSnow… are you a young lady from a great house?”
“I’m shy to admit it… but I had to tell LittleMoon sooner or later.”
She worried her hair, lost and adorable, a breath from hiding under the blanket again.
“LittleSnow…”
“Mm… mm. Since we went to the core of the World Tree, LittleMoon must have so many questions. I’ll explain everything now.”
Under the silver-haired girl’s careful words,
Yue Liuyi learned many things she’d never known.
And the door to a new world swung open.
