“Shouldn’t it be me, the Blood Moon Witch, who ought to apologize?”
Ye Xinglan’s hands clenched tightly around her skirt. She didn’t ask why Xiaoxi was afraid of her.
After all, even if Xiaoxi really was afraid of her—this terrifying, notorious Blood Moon Witch—it couldn’t be Xiaoxi’s fault. It was her own actions that had led to this outcome.
“No, no, Xinglan, listen to me,” Xiaoxi said anxiously, “What I mean is, I know you care a lot about your identity, so I wasn’t deliberately hiding it from you. I just didn’t tell you because I was worried it would put psychological pressure on you. I’m sorry…”
“But isn’t forcing yourself to interact with me while suppressing your fear also a kind of psychological pressure?” Ye Xinglan interrupted Xiaoxi, “It’s always like this—every time, you’re the one being tolerant, always thinking about my feelings, always apologizing to me, even though it’s not your fault at all. Like this…”
Ye Xinglan bit her lower lip. “Like this, it just makes me feel like I’m… such a selfish person, Xiaoxi.”
It wasn’t until this very moment that Ye Xinglan suddenly realized she’d always been taking Xiaoxi’s tolerance and concessions for granted, never once noticing it.
Maybe she’d never been a qualified partner; Xiaoxi could sense how much she cared about the Blood Moon Witch’s identity and was tolerant about it, but she herself couldn’t even notice Xiaoxi’s feelings in return.
The empty train carriage fell silent for a few seconds. Ye Xinglan lowered her head, not daring to meet Xiaoxi’s eyes, and spoke softly.
“Sorry, Xiaoxi. Am I too willful? Is that why you’re starting to get tired of me? Have you… started to dislike me?”
“How could that be! You’re overthinking it, Xinglan, I don’t dislike—”
“But you really don’t like the Blood Moon Witch as a person, do you!”
Ye Xinglan’s voice suddenly rose several notches, her cry resounding throughout the empty train carriage.
“And you’re obviously not even curious why I like you. You don’t want to take me home because you’re ashamed of my identity. Even in bed, it’s always me who has to take the initiative…”
Ye Xinglan’s sudden outburst of emotion was unexpected, but also made sense.
All the doubts and feelings that had quietly accumulated in her heart over this time exploded at this very moment.
“I’m sorry, Xiaoxi. Clearly… clearly, it’s my fault…”
Xiaoxi was stunned. She really hadn’t expected Ye Xinglan to have been hung up on all this.
She’d always thought that with the Rich Girl’s carefree personality, she wouldn’t care about such details.
She never imagined it would come to this kind of misunderstanding.
Ye Xinglan sobbed as she apologized to Xiaoxi, and because her emotions were so turbulent, the tentacles on her body slipped out uncontrollably.
Xiaoxi gently hugged her shoulders, but for a moment was at a loss as to how to explain everything clearly.
Even if she did explain, the Rich Girl might just think she was only saying it to spare her feelings, right? If that happened…
An idea sparked in Xiaoxi’s mind. She took the initiative and wrapped Ye Xinglan’s tentacle in her arms. The slippery tentacle naturally slipped along the edge of her clothes. Ye Xinglan was dumbfounded by Xiaoxi’s sudden bold move.
“Have you calmed down now?” Xiaoxi took the chance to speak, pointing at the tentacle bulging under her own clothes, “Do you believe me now? I really don’t hate you, Xinglan. Can you let me explain now?”
This trick did indeed stabilize the Rich Girl’s emotions for the moment.
A few minutes later, after Xiaoxi gave a simple explanation of everything that had just happened, Ye Xinglan finally let out a relieved breath.
“So that’s how it is… So it was because you secretly asked the Astrologer what my answer was back then? I actually doubted whether they’d even asked you that question… geez…”
“Mm, that’s about it. Same with my mom. Don’t be fooled by how gentle she looks—if she really gets angry, it’s terrifying. And about your last question…”
Xiaoxi, exasperated, chopped her hand lightly on Ye Xinglan’s head: “Let’s leave the rest aside, but what do you mean by saying I’m not proactive? Damn it, have I ever even had the chance to take the initiative? How could you suspect I don’t like you just because of that?”
Ye Xinglan nodded silently, her tentacle twirling again inside Xiaoxi’s clothes.
“…I just wanted you to calm down this way, Xinglan. How about you take it out for now? Even though there’s no one else in this carriage, it’s still a public place.”
“Then answer me one last question and I’ll take it out!” The Rich Girl regained a bit of her usual energy. “So how did you answer back then—why do you like me?”
“This…”
Xiaoxi drew in a sharp breath. It wasn’t that she meant to hide it from Ye Xinglan, it was just that the answer she’d given back then wasn’t something she could tell her right now, and she really didn’t want to lie about something like this…
But before Xiaoxi could come up with a suitable excuse, a startled “Ah!” came from the end of the carriage, accompanied by the sound of someone falling. Both of them instantly looked over.
Seeing the small figure who’d fallen flat on the floor, Ye Xinglan’s tentacle shot out from Xiaoxi’s clothes with a “swish,” and Xiaoxi immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
So there really was someone in this carriage!
Crap, does that mean everything that just happened… was seen by this person? Thinking of this, Ye Xinglan suddenly had the urge to silence her for good.
At this moment, Silver Bell, who had just face-planted onto the floor, was utterly mortified, wishing she could crawl into a hole right then and there… This is just too embarrassing!
Getting off work and taking the subway home for some gaming, only to accidentally catch your new colleagues in the middle of an argument—no matter how you thought about it, it was humiliating!
Silver Bell hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. She’d been squatting in the corner by the seat, listening to music ever since she got on.
The reason she hadn’t sat down somewhere was because crouching in the corner felt safer.
It wasn’t until Ye Xinglan’s tearful outburst exploded in her ears that Silver Bell realized there were other people in this carriage.
And because she was so small, Xiaoxi hadn’t even noticed anyone squatting by the seat.
Silver Bell had originally planned to sneak away quietly—for everyone’s sake—but who knew that when she got up, her leg went numb from nerves and she fell over!
Right now, Silver Bell felt like dying. She slowly stood up and turned around, and then that feeling shifted entirely onto Xiaoxi.
Xiaoxi’s expression twisted into a mask of agony. If it had been a stranger, she could have accepted it, but why did it have to be you, damn it!
“Ahem, um… hello?”
The moment she spoke, Silver Bell suddenly realized she didn’t really need to say hello at all.
She wasn’t in transformed mode, so these two new colleagues didn’t even know she was the Silverflame Dragon Princess…
With that in mind, things felt a lot easier. Maybe she didn’t have to be so nervous after all?