"LittleSnow, I’m back!"

Her voice chimed like a wind bell as she pushed the door, but the bed, soft as a cloud in memory, held no LittleSnow.

Seeing that, her heart lurched like a skiff in a sudden squall. Then she glanced down, and relief rolled back like the tide.

LittleSnow wasn’t outside; she’d fallen with the sheet and pillow, all piled on the floor like a tumbled snowdrift.

"Li—LittleSnow?"

"Ah, Little Moon!" Joy fluttered up like a lark at dawn.

"How did LittleSnow end up... on the floor?"

"Mm... You were so late, Little Moon." "I wanted to go look for you, but my body’s still broken." "It wouldn’t carry me," she whimpered, like rain on thin glass.

The silver-haired girl stared at herself, sorrow pooling like dusk. Bones were cracked like fine porcelain, mana thin as smoke; only her left arm had thawed back to life.

"I told you, let me take care of you." Yue Liuyi hurried over, lifting her as gently as cupping a fragile sparrow. She settled her back on the bed like a petal.

"But... I couldn’t rest easy." "I kept seeing my Little Moon meeting some creepy uncle, danger lurking like a shadow." "My feet just itched to go."

"It’s okay. I was born and raised on Dreamwood Star; danger’s map is etched in my palm. I promised you I wouldn’t step where it bites."

"That’s good... huh? Wait—"

Her gaze snagged on the gaping tear behind Little Moon, a puncture in the clothes like a withered leaf rip. The hole and dried blood, left by a Mechanical Mantis, stained like rust.

"Little Moon, you’re hurt!?"

"Mm, just a little... scratch," she muttered, shame pricking like nettles.

"Even little wounds can rot like apples," LittleSnow snapped, worry clapping down like cold rain.

"You promised your big sister you wouldn’t go near danger. If... if anything happened to you..."

Her eyes trembled like a drawn bow; if not for pain, her arms would have wrapped around her like vines.

"Sorry! I didn’t go anywhere dangerous. I just... ran into an accident," Yue Liuyi blurted, guilt fluttering like trapped moths.

"An accident...?"

"So... here’s what happened." She sketched her trip to Linluo University like chalk on a blackboard. She lingered on the wrong turn into an underground tunnel, and the vast mechanical tree rooted in the dark.

"This time really was chance and misstep. LittleSnow, I’ll be careful next time. I won’t go near places like that again."

She explained in a rush, like a stream over stones. Yet LittleSnow didn’t relax; instead, she fixed her with a look like a quizzical moon.

"Li—LittleSnow? What’s wrong? Why that face?"

"The huge mechanical tree buried under the earth is hard to foresee, like a whale beneath calm water. That’s not on you," she said. "But on the other hand, Little Moon, you’re predictably lewd."

"Eh!?"

"Day one on Dreamwood Star, you rekindle with Sis Kiki like embers flaring, and you snare a stranger girl’s heart like a net." "From any angle, you’re very lewd."

"No, it’s not like that!" "I only see Miss Bernadette as a good friend." "Sis Kiki is like a real sister," Yue Liuyi protested, hands fluttering like frightened swallows.

"Also predictable," LittleSnow sighed, a teasing breeze through bells. "But, Little Moon... do you know how girls think?"

"Girls’... thoughts?"

"Yes. Because you think this way, girls flock to you like moths to a warm lantern."

"Huh?"

"Isn’t it classic in anime? The gentle, reliable lead, and every girl falls." "And now you’re a cute girl yourself, bright as spring. Making girls like you is easy."

"Ugh!"

"So remember this. I’m not even a little mad, not even a little jealous," she declared, smile tight as a ribbon. "But if you keep being lewd, other girls will get jealous, like storms brewing." "If a world war erupts over fighting for you, I won’t be able to help."

"What kind of world war is that!"

"I’ll just lock Little Moon in a room, like a bird in a cage, so she can’t keep being lewd."

She said she wasn’t mad or jealous, yet Yue Liuyi could taste a faint sour note, like citrus on the air; a small spark of jealousy had lit.

But Yue Liuyi understood her heart, the way roots understand the soil. Possessiveness is a strange instinct, coiled like a vine in life.

We say it’s fine on the surface, yet inside it stings like a thorn. If I were Xinrui’s stand‑in, and watched LittleSnow laugh with Xinrui like sunshine on water, I’d ache too.

We savor love’s sweetness like honey, and we want it to be singular, a star that’s ours alone, not a fire to share.

Maybe that possessiveness is the seed of wars, a spark in dry grass since history began. In the raw‑meat days, mates fought like rutting stags. Later, lords raised banners over a single beauty, and drums rolled.

Thinking of that, Yue Liuyi suddenly envied Breeze and Ailuna. Maybe those two are the true World Tree Maidens, hearts clear as spring water, no clinging vines, giving even to foes.

But me—no matter the angle—I’m not up to it, like a knotted branch refusing to straighten.

Ugh... Seems my World Tree Maiden title still doesn’t fit, like a robe too big. So, how do I comfort LittleSnow next?

Staring at the slightly jealous LittleSnow, Yue Liuyi sank into thought, ripples widening across a quiet pond.