The kiss had happened.The silence afterward was absolute. Even the corridor lanterns seemed to hold their breath.
Adrián swallowed and made a quick decision.
"This… has been an unforeseen fluctuation in fluid exchange," he said, using the most administrative voice he could muster. "Please submit any complaints to the Pavilion's Public Relations Department. I will now withdraw to audit my inventories."
Without waiting for a response, he stepped back… and then another. His body moved with the grace of a desperate bureaucrat—awkward but determined. The system did not react immediately. The DINGs seemed to have vanished, leaving behind an unsettling void.
Ye Chen watched him stiffly, his eyes sparking with fury and confusion. His world, built on scripts and heroic poses, was collapsing before this unexpected scene. His lips moistened again unconsciously as his mind tried to reorganize the narrative: the villain had not been punished, the Saint had accepted the kiss, and his beloved Su Meilan stood mere centimeters away from that… Adrián.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he roared, finally losing the composure required of his heroic role. "This cannot end like this! I demand a duel to the death, here and now!"
There were no cheers, no murmurs from spectators. Only the echo of his words and the electric tension cutting through the corridor.
Adrián sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Time to switch to logistical defense mode, he thought.
"I can't, Ye Chen. I truly can't," he said, stepping back again. "First, I must… review the herb warehouse billing and reconcile quarterly balances. Urgent. Vital. Absolute priority."
The hero howled. But before he could launch an attack, a presence appeared beside Adrián.
Lin Yue did not run. She did not shout. She did not raise her hands. She simply stepped between Adrián and Ye Chen. Her aura was calm, yet it contained an edge sharp enough to cut down anyone who dared challenge it.
"Enough," she said clearly. "No one will touch this man."
Ye Chen hesitated. Every fiber of his body screamed heroic duel, but something in Lin Yue's gaze prevented him from moving. It was a mixture of authority and curiosity, a silent threat that required no physical force to devastate.
Adrián, meanwhile, took advantage of the moment to retreat and escape.
The Next Day
The sound of blows echoed through the Training Field with brutal cadence.
THUD! THUD!
Adrián was on the ground again. Sweat blinded his eyes, and the pain in his ribs had become a constant note threatening to turn into fracture. His body was at its limit; if her father continued like this, Adrián wouldn't reach the arena, the mission would fail, and "Extinction" would be his only reward.
A few meters away, Su Meilan watched in silence, arms crossed. Her face was a marble mask.
Why do I feel this? she wondered, ignoring the greetings of her subordinates. It wasn't the burning anger of a scorned woman. It was something colder, deeper, and far more irritating.
It was dissonance.
She remembered Adrián from the moment they met: a brilliant boy in business, a man with low cultivation but a mind capable of bending markets. They had shared secrets, research, created new things together… they were not a couple, but those days when they sat talking, planning, and dreaming felt like they shared something unique. She had never felt anything like that with anyone else.
When Adrián collapsed onto the ground, she nearly stepped forward. The concern was real: seeing him bleed beneath her father's fists twisted her chest.
But alongside that concern came something worse.
An uncomfortable cold, almost piercing, stabbed through her heart as she remembered what he had done. Kissing another woman in front of her.
Was it because of the veil?Because I never showed him my face?
Then the memory of the kiss returned vividly… and the anger returned, stronger than before.
"Slow, boy. You're thinking about the Saint instead of my fist," her father roared, throwing a punch Adrián barely blocked with his forearms.
Su Meilan clenched her fists beneath her long sleeves. What disturbed her wasn't the act itself, but the irrationality. Why would Adrián—the man of efficiency, the man who calculated every step—commit the political suicide of kissing Lin Yue in front of everyone? It made no sense.
Because he did it. Does he really like her that much… more than me?
It shouldn't matter, she thought, feeling that sting again as Adrián rolled across the ground after a kick. He is just a member of the Chamber. A partner. But yesterday, when I saw him approach her… for a second, I wished that woman were me.
"Enough, Father!" Su Meilan cut in. Her voice held authority, not concern."If you break him now, we still have much work to do. Besides, he must continue in that tournament."
The old man stopped reluctantly and looked at his daughter. Then he glanced at Adrián, who was trying to stand while spitting blood.
"I am still not satisfied," the old man said with a strange smile. "Meilan, you must not be soft."
Su Meilan walked toward Adrián. She did not kneel or offer him a handkerchief. She simply stood there, casting her shadow over him.
"Take this," she said, tossing him a small crystal vial filled with silver liquid. "It is a rapid recovery tonic. It costs ten thousand spirit stones. I will deduct it from your dividends next quarter."
Adrián drank the liquid, feeling his muscles tighten back into readiness. He looked up at her, searching for the familiar conspiratorial gaze… but found only a glass wall.
"Are you angry?" he asked hoarsely.
Su Meilan tilted her head, as if analyzing a question in a foreign language.
"Angry? Why would I be, Adrián? I am… it is nothing."
She leaned slightly closer, and for an instant, the "Fairy" revealed a spark of human fire in her eyes.
"I simply wonder whether the man with whom I designed an aircraft is the same idiot who lets himself be carried away by impulse."
She turned away before he could respond.
"Wipe the blood off. Let's continue working."