Drip. Drip.

Water slid off Mu Yue Ran’s nose, traced a long wet line, then pattered on the floor.

Yuchuge glanced back at her, spaced out for a moment, then turned to the TV. Her gaze flicked between them, as if confirming something.

Mu Yue Ran was still caught in the aftertaste of a nightmare. Seeing Yuchuge sitting safe and sound in front of her, the storm in her chest eased a little.

Her effort hadn’t been for nothing. Yuchuge could sit here and even watch—wait.

Hold up… porn?

Mu Yue Ran snapped her eyes to the TV, rubbed them hard, and confirmed it. Two unclothed women were tangled on the screen.

Why was there porn on her TV?!

She rushed over and yanked the plug. Planting herself in front of the screen, she scolded, firm and sharp: “Kids can’t watch this!”

A hint of confusion flickered in Yuchuge’s eyes. Her gaze dropped, taking in Mu Yue Ran with a towel wrapped around her, water-slick and flushed.

Mu Yue Ran followed her gaze, looked down at herself, and her face went crimson. She forgot about drying her hair, hurried into her room, and changed into pajamas.

She curled up in a corner, reflected hard for a while, then steadied herself and stepped back out.

“Um… that was an accident. I’m actually very conservative.”

She scratched her head, awkward, not sure why she was explaining. Yuchuge didn’t seem like someone who’d feel shy about that. Maybe she didn’t even have the concept.

Mu Yue Ran sat on the sofa too. Together they stared at the wall. Silence spread through the room.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

Mu Yue Ran was baffled. She’d literally dragged Yuchuge out of her home. Good intentions or not, to someone who couldn’t see the future, that was basically a crime.

She stole another glance at Yuchuge, doll-like and petite. Guilt piled higher. This was criminal.

Her words seemed to click something. Yuchuge neatly folded her hands, held them out to Mu Yue Ran, and dipped her head a little. Her face barely moved, yet a strange, obedient aura rose off her, the kind that made people want to push.

“Aren’t you going to tie me up, Miss Kidnapper?”

A boom went off in Mu Yue Ran’s skull, almost blasting her reason to pieces. It felt like facing a fallen young lady with tearful eyes, hesitating yet yielding. The contrast was too much.

Especially because she knew what Yuchuge was like. That made it worse.

That contrast hits way too hard.

No. Calm down. Calm down.

She wasn’t into little-girl aesthetics, and she wasn’t actually a kidnapper. Reject it.

While Mu Yue Ran’s brain was short-circuiting, Yuchuge somehow found a rope and started tying herself the way the book said. She’d been taught since childhood to spare adults worry. If she could do it herself, she wouldn’t trouble them.

So the very sensible Yuchuge tied herself into a complicated posture that looked humiliating. When Mu Yue Ran finally calmed down enough to look over with a smile, she saw Yuchuge holding that position, a thin cord clenched between her lips as she tried to thread it behind her neck, small sounds slipping out with the effort.

The image branded itself into Mu Yue Ran’s mind and began to loop.

Ah… something felt like it was about to leave her.

[Heh. Figures she’s a doll. Her knack for packaging herself is unreal.]

“Shut up!”

Mu Yue Ran roared inside her head, hurled that sinful book into the trash, then fumbled to untie Yuchuge.

“How on earth did you tie this knot?!”

She couldn’t undo it no matter what. In the end she had no choice. She fished the book back out, reversed the steps from the diagram, and solved it.

Once it came loose, she tossed the rope and the book into the bin, bolted out the door, sprinted downstairs, dumped them in the building’s trash, and ran back—under a minute flat.

She locked her gaze on Yuchuge, panting, eyes a little wild.

Come on. Keep going. Let’s see what else you’ve got.

But Yuchuge didn’t get it. She just thought this pretty “kidnapper lady” was awfully unprofessional. She wouldn’t even tie up her captive, and she kept offering food and drinks.

Speaking of which… should she at least pretend to resist? In movies, kidnapped people always try to run.

Yuchuge reviewed, carefully, how those heroines slipped free of their captors.

When she stayed still for too long, Mu Yue Ran, collapsed on the sofa with her eyes closed to rest, felt something soft settle on her lap.

She told herself it wouldn’t be Yuchuge. She opened her eyes. It was Yuchuge.

Yuchuge sat astride her. Mu Yue Ran’s thigh twitched in surprise, and Yuchuge bounced slightly, up and down.

“I’m exhausted. Can you not mess around…?”

Mu Yue Ran spoke weakly. She was done. Tonight had wrung her out, body and mind.

Because of the motion, Yuchuge braced a hand on Mu Yue Ran’s shoulder, face warming, a little dazed. A strange kind of comfort rose from below—something she’d never felt. For the first time she learned her body wasn’t just pain.

Even when Mu Yue Ran stopped, Yuchuge still seemed faintly unsatisfied. She wanted more of that feeling.

The doll who had just learned what feelings are wriggled restlessly, breath hot, voice thin and airy.

Mu Yue Ran froze. She’d only meant to give a tiny punishment so Yuchuge would behave. Why did Yuchuge look… pleased?

Finally, Mu Yue Ran snapped. Her simmering impulse flared like wildfire and burned her reason to ash. The vein on her forehead jumped. She scooped Yuchuge up over her shoulder and rushed for her bedroom.