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“Um…”

Being treated like this by a man she’d only just met, little princess Lia—whose experience with romance was basically zero—flushed bright red on the spot.

What is he trying to do? Why is he suddenly holding my face?

Lia usually spent time around Shaya, who was close to her age, but he was her brother. So she’d never really thought much of it.

This could be called the first time a man outside her family had ever touched her.

It was surprising, and at the same time, just a little exciting…

“Th-this… sir, what exactly are you trying to…”

“Don’t move.”

“O-Okay.”

Those three simple, overbearing words came out of Cang Xiaoxi’s mouth, and Lia answered before she even had time to think.

Before she could come back to her senses, the hand cupping her face began sliding down along her neck.

Gently, back and forth, from top to bottom, he kept brushing over the girl’s neck and cheeks.

“Th-th-th-that…”

The little princess was already completely incoherent.

—What is he even trying to do? Touching a girl he just met like this is way too rude, isn’t it? Eh?! Wait, didn’t I hug him first earlier? If I directly hugged a boy I’d just met, doesn’t that make me even ruder?

Lia’s mind spun wildly. By the time Cang Xiaoxi finished checking the collar on her neck, her thoughts had already run off to who knew where.

Just as the little princess, overwhelmed by sudden shyness, tensed her legs tightly together, Cang Xiaoxi instead showed a smug smile.

“Bear with it for a second. It might hurt a little.”

“Hurt… hu-hurt… HURTS!!!”

Lia’s whole body went stiff, all four limbs instantly stretched straight.

After all that clumsy groping, now it was going to hurt too? Did he have to be this violent? And what kind of pain was he talking about? Was he talking about treating her wound?

But hadn’t the wound already been taken care of? Then what was supposed to hurt?

As she thought about it, little Lia suddenly realized something.

The boy rubbed his hands together, looking completely like he was psyching himself up, like I can do this. So this “hurt” really was that kind of hurt. The kind where he was going to make her his.

“N-no… please don’t… I-I’m scared of pain…”

Tears in her eyes, Lia barely managed to pull back her stiff limbs and pleaded with the boy who might be about to turn her into a real woman.

“Hey, seriously, you little girl…” Cang Xiaoxi frowned. “Same as before. A little pain and you’re this scared? Can’t you have some backbone?”

Thinking back to how she’d been willing to kill herself rather than be captured again, he’d actually admired Lia’s courage in the face of violation. But how had she turned back into a sniffling little girl after only a short while?

“B-but…”

On the other side, Lia had no idea what Cang Xiaoxi was thinking. Her whole mind was just screaming, That kind of pain is not the same at all! If it is, then you try it!

“What ‘but’? One sentence. Do you want it or not? If not, I’m leaving.”

Not wanting to keep dragging this nonsense out, Cang Xiaoxi threw down the ultimatum.

“D-don’t go… I… I’ll endure it… okay…”

Lia had cried so much she was out of tears.

After all, without the boy protecting her afterward, wandering around the forest in her current state was basically suicide.

Hmph, then let it hurt! Worst case, I’ll just shut my eyes, right?!

The little princess was ruthless too. Since she knew this was the only way to trade for safety, then she could endure it. She was someone who could even take her own life for the greater good. If she couldn’t bear even this little bit of pain, then what kind of princess was she?

Fortunately, the guy was kind of handsome. And for some reason, he looked a lot like the brother she loved dearly. If it came down to it, she could just imagine he was her brother.

So Lia squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her body slightly closer.

After a brief little sting, she still didn’t get “done”…

“Eh… this is…”

Lia opened her eyes again and touched her now-empty neck. She stared blankly at the boy in front of her, who was examining the collar.

“Though I figured something that seals magic might exist, I didn’t expect it really would… The material seems pretty good too…”

His curiosity toward unknown things surged up at once. Cang Xiaoxi focused only on studying the collar, with no intention of paying the little princess any more attention.

By the time he noticed she was staring at him, Lia’s face was already burning red from realizing just how far her imagination had run. She’d even forgotten to deal with the injury on her hand…

“What a pain.”

A complaint was a complaint.

But after putting the collar into his Spatial Ring, Cang Xiaoxi still decided to be a good person to the end. He stepped forward and helped the shy little princess treat the remaining wounds on her hand.

Meanwhile, over-imaginative Lia quietly watched the boy who kept grumbling, yet still carefully bandaged her.

He had looks similar to her late brother, but his personality was completely different. Gradually, the girl’s face, red from all that embarrassing nonsense, faded to only a faint blush.

“Oh, right. May I ask… what’s your name?” Remembering that she still didn’t know her benefactor’s name after all this time, Lia asked eagerly.

“Before asking my name, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

Cang Xiaoxi didn’t look at her. He just kept working on her wound and asked casually.

“Ah, ah, right… um, my name is Lia… If you want, you can just call me Lily…”

Lia froze slightly. She wanted to complain that he had no gentlemanly manners at all, making a girl introduce herself first. But then she thought about how he didn’t seem interested in her to begin with, and though she still felt a little resentful, she shyly said it anyway.

“Mhm. Nice to meet you, Miss Lia. My name is Cang Xiaoxi.”

“…Oh. Oh… nice to meet you too…”

That’s it? Just that? That answer was way too concise!

Lia stared blankly.

—What do you mean, Miss Lia? In all my life, no one has ever called me that.

Usually, even with her status as a princess, people who knew her would warmly call her Princess Lily, because she was approachable and sweet-looking. Being addressed so formally like this was a first.

It wasn’t really a big deal, but somehow it felt strangely uncomfortable.

“Alright, that should do. It’s a little rough, though.”

At last, the wounds were treated. During that time, the soot-smudged face of little princess Lia had also been washed clean with water, and she finally more or less looked like a proper princess again.

Aside from the pile of ill-timed bandages, plus her little feet wrapped in cloth, which hurt her image a bit, overall she still looked fine.

“Do you have somewhere you want to go? I’ll take you,” Cang Xiaoxi asked.

Now that the little princess’s wounds were taken care of, the next issue was naturally where she was headed.

Cang Xiaoxi couldn’t bring her back to the inn where Jikuhir and Xiao Fen were staying, and he also couldn’t just leave her here alone at this point.

A hassle was still a hassle, but he had to send her back.

“Um… if possible, could you take me to the capital of the Mosiri Kingdom? It’s not far from here.” Watching Cang Xiaoxi’s expression, Lia spoke carefully. “Ah, the trip might be a little long, but I’ll definitely pay you when we get there. I won’t let you escort me for nothing…”

“Got it. Let’s go.”

Without another word of nonsense, Cang Xiaoxi directly motioned for Lia to lead the way.

He didn’t ask why she wanted to go there, nor did he ask how much he’d be paid. Cang Xiaoxi’s style was as unreadable as ever.

Lia followed closely behind him, and along the way, she didn’t forget to glance at the cultists the boy had dealt with.

Their ends were miserable. Every one of them had a huge hole blasted through their body.

Lia swallowed nervously. Forcing down the nausea in her stomach, she hurried after Cang Xiaoxi.

On the way, Cang Xiaoxi was basically silent the whole time. Even when Lia tried to start a conversation, he’d end it with a few simple words.

It gave the feeling that he was deliberately keeping his distance from her.

She was such a cute and charming little princess. Any normal person who saw her would want to come over and chat a little. But when it came to Cang Xiaoxi—

it was like he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.

That made Lia secretly annoyed.

—Seriously. He looks so much like Brother Shaya, but he doesn’t understand how to treat a girl at all. If it were Brother Shaya, seeing Lily hurt like this, he definitely would’ve carried me on his back. He’d never make me walk by myself.

Annoying, annoying, so annoying.

But when Lia thought of her ill-fated brother again, sorrow made her bite down hard on her teeth in unwillingness.

She glanced sideways at Cang Xiaoxi, whose face resembled Shaya’s so much. How she wished everything before her was just a dream, and that the boy in front of her really was her brother… but… sigh.

“Too slow.”

Cang Xiaoxi stopped and muttered with a frown.

“What?”

Lia blinked in confusion. She had no idea what he meant by “too slow.” She had just opened her mouth to ask when, in the next second, both her feet left the ground and she rose into the air.

“Eh? Um… this… eh…”

Without a word, Cang Xiaoxi scooped her up in a princess carry. Before she even had the chance to struggle, the girl’s entire view changed in an instant.

“Flying… am I flying in the sky?”

Reflected in her pupils was a horizon dyed red by dusk. A cool, gentle breeze brushed past her cheeks and ears, rustling softly, ticklish and pleasant.

It was a feeling she had never experienced before. Her mood at that moment couldn’t be described with a few shallow words. It even made her forget, for a while, the embarrassment of being so close to the boy.

“Brother Xiaoxi, are you a high-rank mage?” Lia asked excitedly, instinctively calling him brother.

“…No, I’m not.”

Hearing that title, Cang Xiaoxi frowned. He had wanted to correct her, but since it actually didn’t feel too bad, he chose to answer her question first.

“No?” Lia tilted her little head in confusion. “But only high-level wind mages can make themselves float into the air.”

“That’s true, but that’s not the method I’m using.”

I’m just using pure magic reinforcement, plus jet boots. But she probably wouldn’t understand that anyway, right?

So Cang Xiaoxi only gave a mysterious smile and said nothing.