Chapter 161: Forced Kiss

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Forced Kiss

"Nia?"

Lance was a bit stunned by the sudden, forceful action.

He looked at Nia in surprise, only to be met by a pair of eyes brimming with hurt.

Nia tilted her head up slightly, staring hard at him, her eyes red-rimmed.

Right then, she looked just like a small animal that had suffered some terrible injustice out in the world with no one to turn to.

"I ran all the way here first thing this morning without even bothering to change..."

The girl’s voice was laced with a heart-wrenching bitterness.

Her choked-up tone finally made the dense Lance realize the gravity of the situation.

"My mind was completely filled with whether or not you were hurt. I was terrified the entire way here."

Nia’s fingers clenched the front of his shirt.

"But what about you?"

"I’m standing right here in front of you, alive and well, and all you can think about is what birthday present to buy for another girl and how you’re going to visit her!"

This accusation left Lance completely frozen on the spot.

He opened his mouth slightly but found he couldn’t offer even a single, halfway-reasonable explanation.

Because he really had just ignored the feelings of the girl who had run all this way for him.

"Lance Lot, you’re an absolute, hopeless idiot!"

Nia’s fingers tightened their grip on the front of his shirt.

An unprecedented, intense panic throbbed wildly in her chest.

Her feminine Intuition was screaming alarms at her. She felt that if she didn’t do something concrete right at this moment...

...the heart of the young man before her would soon belong completely to that Half-Elf girl.

In that instant, impulse, like a bursting flood, completely overwhelmed all her reason and restraint.

Nia suddenly stood forcefully on her tiptoes.

Under Lance’s astonished gaze, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her tear-streaked face forward.

SMACK.

A warm, soft sensation was suddenly, unexpectedly pressed against the corner of Lance’s mouth.

Time seemed to stop in that moment.

Lance was now completely dumbfounded.

His brain was instantly wiped blank by the kiss.

His hands were as stiff as two wooden sticks, and he had no idea where to put them.

The innocent kiss was as fleeting as a dragonfly skimming the water’s surface, over in an instant.

Nia jerked back half a step, letting go of his shirt as if she’d been electrocuted.

Right then, the girl’s slender neck and the roots of her ears, hidden by her hair, were as red as a cooked shrimp.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but...

Lance felt he could even see steam rising from the top of her head from sheer embarrassment.

Nia’s chest heaved violently, her usual breathing rhythm a complete mess.

But this time, she didn’t shyly avert her gaze.

Even though she was so embarrassed she felt like she might faint on the spot, she still stubbornly lifted her smooth chin.

Her beautiful, misty eyes were fixed on the dazed young man before her.

"Now..."

Though the girl’s voice trembled, it carried a stubborn edge.

"Now can you get all that other nonsense out of your head and take a good look at me?"

Faced with the girl’s question, so direct it could almost set the very air in the living room on fire...

Lance felt as if his heart had been struck by a heavy hammer.

He felt that this girl, having mustered so much courage, was seeking some kind of definitive answer from him.

Lance took a deep breath, just about to say something to break the charged silence.

"AHHHHHHHH! Don’t look at me!"

Nia’s hard-won courage, after holding out for less than three seconds, completely crumbled.

The girl suddenly let out a wail of pure mortification.

She threw her hands up to cover her burning cheeks, spun around like a startled rabbit, and bolted out the main door without a backward glance.

A loud SLAM rang out.

The heavy wooden door was pulled shut by the fleeing girl.

Lance stood alone, dazed, in the empty living room.

He numbly raised a finger and gently touched the corner of his mouth.

The soft warmth of the girl’s lips seemed to truly linger there.

’Did I transmigrate into an Otherworld that’s actually some kind of lighthearted rom-com anime about teenage love?’

Lance stood rooted to the spot, an absurdly late realization dawning on him.

After knowing her for seven or eight months, it was only at this moment that he was sure Nia actually liked him...

Nia’s usual carefree and boisterous personality had given him too many wrong impressions.

So many wrong impressions, in fact, that he had started to wonder if this Otherworld girl’s values were different from the girls he knew back on Earth in his past life.

But back then, Lance hadn’t even figured out his own future in this world, let alone considered such things.

Those originally very obvious signs of affection had gradually come to be seen by him as natural acts of friendship.

For a long time, he hadn’t even suspected that she might like him.

But now, feeling the lingering warmth on the corner of his mouth...

’This wasn’t some crazy thing that ordinary good friends would do.’

’She was clearly after my body all along, wasn’t she?’

Lance rubbed his chin. He really had no idea when she had started to like him.

His mind began to replay scenes of things he’d experienced with Nia, like a movie flashing before his eyes.

Only now did he suddenly realize...

...just how much time he and Nia had unknowingly spent together in this border town.

From when they first met in that cold winter.

Having snowball fights in the square, building a snowman in the yard, and huddling by the fireplace for warmth.

Then later, attending the lively Ash Festival together, welcoming the spring at the Snowmelt Festival, and that splendid Lantern Parade.

All the way to the recent Spring Festival barbecue gathering.

It turned out their little group really had witnessed so many sights together.

Lance touched his chest. It seemed that in their time together, he too had unknowingly developed a sense of reliance on and affection for Nia.

Now the situation had become extremely tricky.

In his mind, on the left stood the Half-Elf Maiden, Cecilia, and on the right, the town girl, Nia.

Illusory images of the two girls seemed to circle in his mind, as if forcing him to make an immediate, all-or-nothing choice.

But this annoying moral dilemma only lasted for less than two seconds.

The next second...

...both of these headache-inducing options vanished from his mind like smoke.

Because a brilliant thought suddenly popped into his head.

’This Otherworld has nobles, royalty...’

’There don’t seem to be any limits on how many wives a man can have, right...?’

’Since I’m a Transmigrator, I have to respect the local customs and do as the locals do!’