Ch 204: Straightforward
He paused for a moment, showing no panic at being discovered, instead seeming relieved: “I knew you’d find out.”
“Knowing that, why did you still try to test me?”
“I didn’t want to keep suspecting you,” releasing her hand, his fingers intertwined with hers, sensing no resistance, he pursed his lips and grasped her hand again, “It’s good it’s not you.”
Rui Bu Si automatically ignored his last sentence.
“Suspecting me of what? The person the Dark Great Emperor is looking for, or a Dark Undercover Agent?” She lifted his chin, deliberately meeting his gaze. Their closeness allowed them to observe each other’s slightest expressions and every change in their eyes.
“It seems to be the former.”
“Mm.” He responded.
“Why would you suspect me?”
“When Teacher He Yan mentioned this, the thought popped into my head shortly after school started… nothing.”
Noticing the other’s uneasy mood, he cautiously stopped talking.
Although he occasionally made mistakes, he always trusted his intuition and was used to gathering all the evidence, analyzing the causes and consequences before making his conclusions public.
This was a habit from his childhood.
But at that moment, when the suspicion that popped into his mind and was then dismissed flashed through his head, for the first time, he was somewhat afraid that his intuition was correct.
“That’s too much,” she repeated, looking very wronged, “Being suspected by my boyfriend on our first date.”
Nervously, he unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand. He opened his mouth to explain, but felt that any explanation would be pale and weak at this moment.
He did have suspicions;
And he did deliberately test her.
“I don’t want to keep suspecting you when I’m with you.”
He simply stated his true thoughts.
The other person’s emotions didn’t worsen, nor did they seem to improve.
“Is the test over now?”
“Mm.”
“Do you have an answer?”
“…Mm.” The more he answered, the more he felt guilty and remorseful.
Yet she didn’t allow him any room to escape. As soon as he tried to look away, he felt the hand he was holding trying to pull away.
Under their strange and prolonged gaze, he felt himself falling into boundless unease. That unease expanded rapidly, spreading across his entire heart. Only the hand he was still holding gave him a little security, and the longer it lasted, the more afraid he became that the only sense of security would disappear.
And the longer the time passed, the more he felt that that bit of security would disappear at any moment—even though she didn’t seem to intend to pull her hand away.
At this moment, he actually hoped she would ask something else.
She did.
“Why didn’t you use Mind Reading?”
“You don’t like it.”
“Would the Star of Wisdom of the Meng Knights care whether someone the Dark Great Emperor is looking for likes it or not?”
She emphasized “Star of Wisdom” and “Dark Great Emperor,” clearly telling him that this matter was far from over.
“I care whether you like it or not.” After answering, he understood where the real problem lay, “In the future, even if I suspect you, I won’t test you this way again.”
Coldly snorting, Rui Bu Si finally withdrew her hand from his chin: “You’re thinking about doing it again, huh?”
“I…”
“If you suspected me, why did you use such flawed words to test me?”
He looked at her, unable to disingenuously say “no.”
He was simply surprised that she was so clearly aware of his thoughts, and afraid that she would continue speaking, continue revealing…
Rui Bu Si clearly showed no intention of stopping.
“Using instruments to test Dark Undercover Agents is obviously more accurate and faster. The teachers in Meng Academy are more familiar with their classmates than I am, especially Teacher He Yan, who spent a long time in the Dark Clan and has an extremely keen understanding of the Dark Clan and a highly sensitive perception of Dark Aura.
Even if, hypothetically, you didn’t think of those, although school rules prohibit students from using Magical Attacks on each other, you’ve never followed them.”
She spoke in one long breath, then asked him: “Mi Ya Xing, when you tested me, what kind of answer were you hoping for?”
“Hoping I really wasn’t? Or that even if I was, I would notice and pretend I wasn’t, and I would deceive you, and you would deceive yourself?”
“I…”
He couldn’t answer such a question.
Thoughts he hadn’t carefully considered before were stated bluntly by another person—he had once used Mind Reading to bluntly point out the hidden thoughts of others, and he had imagined what it would be like to switch roles.
At that time, he thought it would feel terrible.
But now he found that he didn’t dislike it at all.
“What’s wrong? After testing and getting the answer you wanted, you show your unease and distress so obviously, as if you’re afraid I won’t notice, but you haven’t even thought about how you should answer my questions?”
“I don’t want to hide anything from you.”
“You don’t know how to say it, so you’re going to let me figure it out myself?”
“Mm.”
“What if I didn’t figure it out?”
“I would tell you directly.”
“Why are you answering so smoothly now?”
“…Because I felt you wouldn’t like my answer to the previous questions.”
Rui Bu Si was amused by his honesty.
“Mi Ya Xing, you’re quite something.”
She suddenly closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his neck, forcing him to lower his head without resistance.
His glasses were pushed up, and his eyes, deprived of their aid, couldn’t adjust immediately. The things he saw were suddenly shrouded in a hazy mist, and he felt the whole world suddenly shrink to just the two of them.
The sting on his lips slowly registered in his brain, so that when he realized something had happened, he heard Rui Bu Si’s threatening voice beside his ear:
“Mi Ya Xing, dare to try that again next time?”
The unease that had filled his heart completely disappeared, and he only came to his senses after she tapped his forehead.
Not completely, though.
“Come on, since we’re already here, I’ll take you to see something.”
She acted like nothing had happened.
