Vol 4. Chapter 18: Settling the Score

“I really did deceive you, Sister Yumo, and that was my fault. But Sister Yumo, you’ve deceived me plenty of times too, haven’t you? And you were the one who started it.”

As she spoke,

Mengxi moved even closer.

Since Miss Yumo had already retreated again and again until her back was pressed against the sofa, she now had nowhere left to go. The silver-haired girl forcefully closed the remaining distance between them, while Yumo’s slender, scallion-like hand resting against the sofa was firmly clasped in Mengxi’s.

Mengxi’s breathtakingly beautiful face was now only inches away, and her jasmine-like fragrance rushed straight into Miss Yumo’s nose.

In fact,

because they were pressed so closely together, the silver-haired girl’s two magnificent buns were even tightly squashed against the two little cuties on Miss Yumo’s chest, instantly turning Yumo red all the way to the tips of her ears.

Actually, in the past, Yumo wouldn’t have reacted nearly this strongly to Mengxi touching her so intimately. But after that erotic dream, along with the experience of Mengxi forcibly kissing her while drunk, strange thoughts had begun popping into Miss Yumo’s mind from time to time.

Even though Miss Yumo was currently in an ‘absolutely furious’ state, once Mengxi pressed herself against her, she still instinctively showed some ‘bashful’ reactions.

The little hand that had intended to push Mengxi away froze in place as well.

Miss Yumo already possessed beauty in no way inferior to Mengxi’s, and now that an alluring blush had spread across her face, she looked even more tender and enticing, enough to make one want to swallow her whole in a single bite.

Looking at Sister Yumo like this, Mengxi’s interest was thoroughly piqued.

Nevertheless, the silver-haired girl maintained a serious and apologetic expression, albeit one tinged with slight displeasure.

“When we first met outside the Great Winter Forest, didn’t Sister Yumo start deceiving me by pretending to be a slave girl? Back at the little wooden house, you also lied and told me you were my older sister. Later, in Wind Facing City, Sister Yumo started interacting with me under the identity of ‘Xia’er.’ And besides, right up until just now, weren’t you still interacting with me as the young lady of the Black Rose Family?”

“Th-That...”

“Sister Yumo, you’ve deceived me plenty of times too. Haven’t you?”

“...”

“So, only Sister is allowed to lose her temper? Isn’t that a little unfair? I’m also a little ‘unhappy,’ you know. I want to throw a tantrum too~ That should be perfectly reasonable, right?”

Mengxi tilted her head and silently stared at the black-haired girl’s face with a gaze filled with ‘accusation.’

The silver-haired girl’s assertive expression, together with the contents of her words, instantly extinguished the fire of Miss Yumo, who had originally intended to continue angrily complaining.

She froze in place at a loss, her eyes even beginning to wander as she no longer dared to continue meeting Mengxi’s gaze.

After all,

‘What this girl said seems... seems to actually be right...’

Miss Yumo couldn’t help thinking this in her heart.

Enmm,

at the very beginning, it really had been her who deceived Mengxi first...

Back then, because she had wanted an appropriate identity that would allow her to stay beside Mengxi, she had fabricated several false identities. She had even repeatedly gotten Abyss Demons or members of the Black Rose Family to cooperate with her acting in an attempt to fool Mengxi.

And whenever she successfully fooled Mengxi, she had even smugly congratulated herself quite a few times...

Strictly speaking,

it seemed that she could also be considered a liar, while Mengxi was also a victim...

Yumo had deceived Mengxi so that she could safely remain beside her and nurture this Child of Destiny.

Meanwhile, Mengxi had deceived Yumo, perhaps initially simply because she wanted to survive...

Putting herself in Mengxi’s shoes for a moment, if she had suddenly been brought by a stranger into the terrifying Great Winter Forest, where Abyss Demons lurked everywhere, she probably would have put on an act as well, doing everything possible to make the surrounding ‘enemies’ lower their guard.

A terrifying Abyss Demon had suddenly taken human form and slipped into her life.

Without knowing whether the other party was friend or foe, much less what their intentions were, exposing them obviously wouldn’t have been a wise decision.

Who knew whether they might become desperate after being exposed and tear her to pieces in one go...

From that perspective, Mengxi hadn’t done anything wrong.

Under these circumstances,

if Yumo alone kept throwing a tantrum over it, that seemed... seemed a little inappropriate...

If Mengxi wanted to lose her temper too, that would also be perfectly understandable.

Thinking this, the anger that had involuntarily emerged within Miss Yumo gradually dissipated. In its place, traces of guilt even began surging upward and occupying the high ground of her rational mind.

Miss Yumo wanted to apologize.

But when she remembered how she had just been throwing such a huge tantrum, suddenly apologizing now would make her lose face, so the girl hesitated again.

Although things like her dignity and authority seemed to have vanished long ago in front of Mengxi, Miss Yumo apparently still didn’t want to accept that tragic reality.

And so, Miss Yumo forcibly swallowed her apology and sulkily turned her head aside, putting on an expression that plainly said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’

But no matter what,

after realizing that she herself was also partly in the wrong, the icy, unapproachable aura Miss Yumo had initially displayed was already nowhere to be found.

Looking at her stubborn Sister Yumo, who refused to admit defeat and continued sulking, Mengxi smiled faintly. She suddenly withdrew her accusatory aura and returned to her usual gentle and innocent demeanor.

“Sister Yumo, since we’ve both deceived each other before, that means we’re even now, right? Could you stop sulking like this?”

Raising her hand and poking Miss Yumo’s soft, fair cheek, Mengxi continued coaxing the black-haired girl before her.

“Sister Yumo, don’t be angry anymore, okay?”

“...”

“If you keep getting angry, you’ll get wrinkles~”

“...”

“Sister, stop making a fuss. Can’t we just get along nicely?”

“...”

“Sister Yumo, if you keep ignoring me, I’m going to cry.”

...

...

Under Miss Mengxi’s repeated soft and gentle coaxing, Yumo’s little temper gradually began to fade.

Besides, Yumo had always been weak against people acting cute and spoiled, while Mengxi’s watery eyes possessed an almost soul-stealing magic of their own...

It had to be said that Yumo was normally the one coaxing her children.

Now that Mengxi was suddenly coaxing her instead, Miss Yumo found the feeling rather peculiar.

It was even...

a little pleasant...

...

Eventually, under Mengxi’s relentless offensive, Yumo reluctantly turned her head and looked at the silver-haired girl wearing a ‘pitiful’ expression before her.

“Fine. I’ll stop making a fuss.”

“You really won’t make a fuss anymore?”

“I won’t.”

If she kept making a fuss despite being partly at fault herself, how would she be any different from a child?

Yumo couldn’t help muttering this inwardly.

“That’s really wonderful~”

Looking at Miss Yumo, who was gradually returning to normal, Mengxi sighed sincerely and gave a rather satisfied smile. Inwardly, she also let out a long breath of relief.

However,

before Mengxi could relax for long, Yumo’s next words made the young Miss Mengxi tremble slightly.

“I may have stopped making a fuss, but I’m still angry!”

“Hm? Aren’t we even now? Why is Sister Yumo still angry?”

Mengxi tilted her head and asked in confusion.

Under Mengxi’s puzzled gaze, Miss Yumo once again put on her ‘furious glare.’

“It’s not because we deceived each other.”

“Hm? Then what are you angry about?”

“This... Enmmm...”

Looking at the innocent silver-haired girl before her, Miss Yumo became depressed all over again.

Indeed, strictly speaking, both she and Mengxi had deceived each other, so they were more or less equally guilty. There really wasn’t much to argue about there.

And the fact that Mengxi had seen through her could, strictly speaking, only be blamed on Yumo’s own lack of skill.

But,

when she thought about it carefully, this girl hadn’t merely deceived her for so long, had she?

While deceiving her, she had also been constantly taking advantage of her?!

When Yumo had been ‘Xia’er,’ this rotten girl had practically used her as a body pillow every single night. When Yumo had been ‘Miss Yu,’ this girl had even used her drunkenness as an excuse to steal Yumo’s first kiss. And even earlier in the Great Winter Forest, this girl had taken advantage of her ‘childlike state’ to ** her...

The moment she thought of this, Miss Yumo’s fair and tender face instantly turned as red as a ripe apple.

In the past, Yumo had assumed these were merely unconscious actions from a child, or that a pure and innocent Saintess doing such things didn’t carry any deeper meaning.

But now that she knew Mengxi had been putting on an act, the meaning behind all those actions instantly changed.

Not only had Yumo been fooled for so long,

but during all this time, it seemed she had almost been completely devoured as well?

Thinking of this, Yumo once again felt that things were unfair.

Her anger flared right back up.

Staring at the girl before her, who radiated a sacred aura despite the faint illusion of devil horns practically sprouting from her head, Yumo puffed out her cheeks and demanded:

“Then how are we going to settle the score for all those times you kept feeling me up and taking advantage of me?!”