Cerqin was drowning in regret, a tide she hadn’t leashed.

She’d gotten caught with her hand in the honey jar, “borrowing” a pretty girl’s clothes.

No, not this—anything but this!!

No matter how her heart screamed, pinned to the desk after being caught, Cerqin couldn’t stop the scales from tipping toward payment.

“Lady Spring Tide… I beg you, spare me. I’ll do anything!”

The mask she’d worn like thin ice cracked and fell away.

Cerqin’s tears pattered onto the wooden desk like a light rain. Her hands were twisted behind her waist; strength fled like birds.

In that pose she couldn’t see the girl behind her, which only fed panic like dry grass to a flame.

Spring Tide, Holy Maiden of the Radiant Sanctuary, held Cerqin down. Her small face warmed with anger as she glared at the pink panties still clenched in Cerqin’s fist.

“You… shameless little thief.”

She’d never expected the pink-haired girl to be this kind. That sweet demeanor had been paint on silk.

She’d sensed something off, but the girl fit her tastes too well, and sugar had blinded her to the small tells.

Ten minutes ago she’d been plotting how to keep the pink-haired girl at her side.

Spring Tide drew a long breath, calming the storm in her chest.

Cerqin’s gentle image had shattered the moment Spring Tide walked in and saw her gripping those pink panties, drinking in their scent like a lover.

Send this one straight to the Law Enforcement Hall…

The thought tugged like a dark current.

With no answer to her pleas, Cerqin’s fear swelled like a river after rain. She had to save herself, or she’d be dragged into the Radiant Sanctuary’s Law Enforcement Hall.

Caught with the Holy Maiden’s personal clothing—if that charge stood…

Cerqin didn’t dare picture the treatment waiting inside.

Suitors for Spring Tide, Holy Maiden of the Radiant Sanctuary, could line up and circle the city several times.

If the girl who’d been close to her these past days fell from favor and was delivered by her own hand to the Law Enforcement Hall—

She’d be ruined.

Thank the stars the Holy Maiden liked her face, at least.

There was still a chance. If she apologized right, waves might smooth, and she’d be spared.

At that thought, Cerqin cried out, voice like a sparrow beating wings.

“Holy Maiden, Sister Spring Tide—please, forgive me! I won’t dare again. I’ll do anything… please spare me…”

But the jade hand on her wrists didn’t budge. It clamped like iron tongs.

Danger prickled her skin. Cerqin thrashed against the desk, ignoring the ache, tears shining like dew as she pleaded,

“Please don’t send me to the Law Enforcement Hall. Give me a chance to atone—sob, sob.”

Conflict flickered over Spring Tide’s delicate features like a passing cloud. She knew all too well the punishments that would fall if she sent the pink-haired girl there herself.

“Do you truly know your fault?”

Spring Tide pinned Cerqin with one hand. With the other she absently twirled her green hair, a vine around fingers. After minutes of stalemate, she relented a little.

“Mm-hm, mm-hm…”

Anything was bearable so long as she wasn’t sent to the Hall. In these days, the Holy Maiden had seemed gentle, like spring rain.

Feeling her relent, Cerqin let out a hidden breath. At least the worst might not come to pass.

Good thing her looks matched the Maiden’s taste… or she’d be ash.

Yet the air was far from rosy.

As Cerqin plotted her next move, Spring Tide suddenly yanked the pink panties from her clenched hand.

Cerqin let out a reflexive wail as her beloved trophy was taken, then cut it short, sensing a blade’s edge.

One less piece in her collection, but she wasn’t out of danger; she couldn’t let her desires spill like wine.

Before she could beg again—

Spring Tide flipped up her long skirt, and a cold draft slid over her skin.

“Wait… don’t—”

There was nothing beneath the skirt, a bare field under snow.

She’d meant to wear the prize out, bold as daylight; for long seasons, she’d gone without down here.

Her image would crumble even further.

Cerqin squeaked and squirmed, awkward, a fish on a cutting board. Between two broad white valleys pressed together, there was no lush growth.

You could see the signs of a mountain flood about to break.

Seeing it full on, Spring Tide was shaken, a bell struck. She hadn’t expected the pink-haired one to be so bold.

“You—”

Helplessness tightened in her chest—finally someone easy on the eyes, and she turned out a pervert.

A faint blush, hard to notice, rose like peach on her cheeks. In her eyes, old buried feelings stirred for no clear reason.

Even if that pleasing persona had been pretend,

Cerqin’s looks perfectly matched Spring Tide’s tastes, a branch fitted to a graft.

That first odd feeling twisted quickly under the scene.

Her shy, fire-fed anger and the impulse to cut this cord were tugged sideways by a darker desire long buried.

As if guided by ghosts, Spring Tide tossed the reclaimed pink panties beside Cerqin’s head on the desk.

Then she raised her free jade hand and brought it down hard on the mark.

Smack!

The crisp crack shattered the awkward air like ice breaking on a river.

The hot sting made Cerqin arch in pain, a bow taut. Before she could react, the crisp sound came again.

This time her body’s response sharpened—soft whimpers spilled from her lips, weaving with the rhythmic slaps in an unbroken stream, like rain on tiles.

The room didn’t muffle sound; if it grew too loud, it would carry like wind through pines.

Such sounds made several Nuns, just returning to the dorms, stop in their tracks.

At night, you could hear similar noises in many corners of the dorms.

But this was the Holy Maiden’s room—and broad daylight.

The Nuns outside whispered, eyes bright with surprise and gossip, forgetting their tasks like threads dropped from a loom.

“Has our Holy Maiden, who’s always been indifferent to this, finally opened up?”

“Must be that girl the Holy Maiden’s been watching these days. I heard she invited her to the backyard for tea today. Lucky thing…”

“So the Holy Maiden has this side? I always thought she’d be the one doing the yelling…”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? I think you’re implying something. I’m telling the Holy Maiden—you’re done for…”

“Oops, slipped my tongue. Spare me—tonight I’ll go easy on you…”

As their chatter rose like sparrows, a low, stern voice cut in.

“What are you crowding around for?”

“Ah! Divine Officer…”

The Nuns froze at the voice behind them, then hurriedly greeted their superior.

The beautiful woman called the Divine Officer also heard the sounds within. Shock flickered in her eyes, then smoothed away like a fan closing.

Earlier, she and the Holy Maiden had been in a side room of the front hall, listening to a messenger from the Holy City. Spring Tide’s face had suddenly changed, and she left at once.

It had made both her and the envoy awkward, words snagging like thorns. After the report, she meant to find the Holy Maiden to finish what had been left unsaid.

She hadn’t expected this…

She sternly scolded the Nuns and dispersed them like leaves. Facing Spring Tide’s door, she shook her head, didn’t knock, and quietly raised a hand. A veil of power flowed out, sealing the sounds within.

Inside, Cerqin’s tear-smeared face burned crimson, no less vivid than the two swollen crescents below.

No matter how Cerqin apologized, Spring Tide’s hand didn’t stop.

As the mountain flood ran across the desk, Cerqin realized crying was useless; her sounds shifted from sharp cries to something far more pleasant, like a song rising with the rain.