However, Baiyu was clearly unhappy with my answer. "Midnight Zero is the absolute best! Lilith is good too, but it’s waaay worse than Midnight Zero!"

She spread her arms wide, as if to show the massive gap between Lilith and Midnight Zero.

"If a novel could be scored out of a hundred points, Lilith might get ninety—but Midnight Zero deserves two hundred!"

Whoa, whoa, whoa—scoring two hundred on a hundred-point scale? Your math teacher would be furious.

Still, hearing my work praised so highly warmed my heart, especially coming from my adorable daughter.

Once Baiyu started talking about Midnight Zero, it was like opening a floodgate. Her excitement seemed ready to last three whole days and nights.

"...So, they just don’t get Elisa at all. Sensei Qian Niao definitely wanted to show us this version of her," Baiyu said, a hint of hurt in her voice as she brought up today’s livestream.

"Well..."

I hesitated, deciding I should share my thoughts. She might be upset now, but truly understanding her favorite character was what Baiyu truly wanted.

"I think you’ve misunderstood Elisa’s character a bit," I said gently. "And those viewers’ opinions aren’t entirely wrong."

"Huh? You agree with them?"

Baiyu’s eyes held disappointment, as if betrayed. She glared at me sharply. "Have you even read the original properly? Or are you just repeating rumors?"

"Well, you might think I’m bragging, but I dare say no one knows Midnight Zero better than I do!"

"Oh, really? I’ve read it three times, over and over!"

Useless, little Baiyu. Whether you’ve read it three times, ten times, or even a hundred—you’ll never know the work better than its author.

I turned serious. "In Volume 1, Chapter 2, when Lin Zheng first sees Elisa, the text clearly describes her from his perspective: ‘Her clothes were worn, sleeves frayed at the edges, yet still clean and tidy. Only the sorrow on her face seemed frozen in place.’ And in Volume 2, during her fight with the killer, it subtly notes her black gown wasn’t some flashy, impractical dress like yours—it was battle-ready, something you could wear straight into combat."

"So her outfit should be tighter, with a less puffy skirt—not some mosquito-net princess gown."

"Plus, Elisa isn’t a girl who cares about flashy looks. She values practicality. Sure, the male lead Lin Zheng jokes she’s ‘wearing weird goth dresses, like an ungraduated chuunibyou, a black dragon princess set to destroy the world’—but that’s because she modified her gown for ease of movement..."

I kept listing my points, each one making Baiyu’s expression darker. Every argument was backed by the original text, leaving no room for rebuttal.

She opened her mouth several times, trying to argue back, but only clenched her teeth in frustration.

"...In short," I paused, looking at her earnestly, "Elisa isn’t what you imagine her to be."

"She is too!"

Baiyu shouted, tears welling up and reddening her eyes. Throwing a childish tantrum, she yelled at me again and again: "She is too! She is too! She is too! Zong Jun, you’re such a big idiot—you don’t understand anything!"

"Hmph!"

She let out a heavy snort, grabbed her nearly cold beef rice bowl, and sprinted upstairs without a word to me.

"The food’s probably cold. Let me reheat it for you," I called from the stairwell. No reply. She didn’t even glance back, slamming her bedroom door shut.

I wondered if I’d gone too far. I thought I even heard her crying.

Sighing, I sat back at the table, stirred the beef rice bowl, and scooped a spoonful into my mouth.

Yeah, it was definitely cold.