“Sit.”

Once the girl had actually sat down, Lin Mo took another sip of his drink, then gave her a proper look.

She wasn’t bad-looking. She lacked Diona’s charm and fiery warmth, but she had a delicate, melancholy prettiness—the sort of girl-next-door beauty you could easily call charming.

But her aura was all wrong. She had an attractive face, yet she gave off nothing but gloom. Even in the world before his transmigration, men who were no good would’ve put a girl like her through the wringer. And this was the Matriarchal Apocalypse, where violence ran rampant.

“…” Lin Mo took another sip.

He noticed that, even if the movement was slight, the girl across from him was stealing glances at his lips while quietly swallowing.

(She hasn’t even seen what I look like.)

(She’s only heard my voice and seen my eyes, and she’s already so nervous she can barely speak.)

Lin Mo set down his glass.

He rested his right arm beside the little table. The boy this girl had just tried to please was now back to having fun with his women and friends. They were happily eating and playing with the things she’d bought, and didn’t feel the least bit ashamed!

“Doesn’t that make you angry?” Lin Mo glanced coldly toward the sofa and suddenly asked.

“Uh… I-I’m fine.”

The girl lowered her head even further.

After a long while, she finally spoke in a tiny voice. “It’s because I know I’m no good at anything. I’m not pretty, I’m short, and I don’t know how to make boys like me.”

“Someone like me would have to work several times harder than other girls. Otherwise, there’s no way any boy would ever like me.”

“…” Lin Mo gave nothing away.

But inside, he was at a loss for words.

“Oh.”

Lin Mo tapped a finger lightly against the rim of his glass. “So? You’re just going to put up with it?”

“You watch the man you’re chasing fool around with other women, and even share a room with them at night. You can’t even follow along behind them?”

“What kind of simp is this?!”

Maybe he’d been a little harsh.

But the truth was, Lin Mo was genuinely furious with the man over there—and especially with this hopeless girl.

“I-I’m not…”

“I…”

The girl hesitated for a long time, too timid to argue back. Or maybe she wanted to, but simply couldn’t find the words.

In the end, she could only lower her head even more. “Even if I am a simp, I can’t help it.”

“I’m not like the other girls. They’re clever and capable, and they make people feel safe.”

“I’m just useless, anyway.”

“If that’s how you feel, why are you even talking to me? You hate people like me, don’t you? You’d be better off leaving me alone over here. It’s not like you can take my place and live as a woman.”

“Heh.” Lin Mo curled his lip in disdain.

He’d been about to take another sip, but he was too angry to hold it in. “You’re right. I really do hate you!”

He tried to slam the table and spring to his feet, but just like the girl had said, he had no connection to her. Somehow, doing that didn’t feel right.

“You know it’s pointless, but you’re still wasting your time on something this stupid. Hey, I’m talking to you! Do you have nothing better to do than follow that piece of trash around and eat his scraps? Besides, if you could just change that gloomy attitude a little, with your looks, how could you not find a boyfriend?”

“Easy for you to say!” The chestnut-haired girl blushed.

Lin Mo had no idea why she’d blushed. But it was the first time anyone had complimented her looks without sounding like they were joking.

“Besides, Little Honey isn’t some piece of trash. He’s so handsome, and he has lots of friends. He’s really… amazing.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?!” Lin Mo snapped.

After all, what the girl thought of that guy’s looks had nothing to do with him. The problem was, one of her standards for deciding whether a man was trash was how many friends he had. Wasn’t that basically saying Lin Mo, who had no friends at all, was trash too?!

He slammed the table and sprang to his feet.

There was no way he could keep talking about this here without causing a scene. So he grabbed the girl and started pulling her toward the stairs.

“Ah! W-what are you…” The girl instantly flushed from the base of her neck to her forehead.

She was sure Lin Mo was going to make some woman beat her up. By all rights, she should’ve turned and run—but a boy taking her hand of his own accord was something that had never happened in Su Qia’s life.

Even the last time, when she’d spent a fortune just to get to hold Little Honey’s hand, he’d looked at her with disgust and annoyance. It had almost become a trauma for her.

“Quit whining. Come with me!”

Nobody in the noisy tavern’s second-floor hall noticed what was happening.

Lin Mo managed to lead the girl to the top of the stairs without any trouble. The couple who’d been kissing earlier had already disappeared.

He turned and swung her around, shoving the poor girl up against the purple-painted wooden wall.

Thud!

Lin Mo slammed his right hand against the wall with a furious thump, giving the girl a full-on kabedon.

“All right. Now let’s talk this through properly.”

Through gritted teeth, he slowly leaned toward Su Qia, his voice heavy with pressure.

At that moment, the girl’s heart raced so fast it felt ready to burst right out of her chest, taking her already pathetic bust with it.

She trembled uncontrollably, but not from fear. She was nervous and excited.

For the first time in her life, Su Qia felt like she was falling in love.

She wouldn’t have cared even if the face hidden beneath that mask was shockingly ugly. After all, for a poor girl like her, a boy making the first move on a timid girl who’d never accomplished anything was a first in her miserable life.

(W-wah… I want to be with him so badly…) ”

(I don’t care how ugly he is. If he keeps his face covered, he’ll still be usable.)

Su Qia pressed her legs tightly together.

She breathed heavily, her lovely eyes hazy as she gazed at Lin Mo’s mask. Of course she knew that all her hopes right now were just wishful thinking. But even so, this poor girl wanted her moment of happiness to last a little longer. She didn’t care how badly she might get beaten afterward…

“The way you were just about ready to get on your knees and beg him, and he still treated you like a joke, like a dog—it pissed me off!”

“Even if you absolutely have to be a simp—fine, I can’t understand how you people can simp for someone with no self-respect. But if you have to simp for someone, can’t you at least do it with some dignity? Pick someone who treats you like a person, someone you might actually have a chance with in the end! Can you do that?!”

Lin Mo was genuinely worked up.

He might’ve been an assassin, but at heart he was an innocent, romantic sort. That was exactly why he found things this brutally pragmatic so upsetting and irritating.

“Th-then I…”

Su Qia kept trembling. In a soft, quavering voice, as if she were about to ascend to heaven, she said:

“Then… can I simp for you?”