You'll Be in for It

"Let go of me! I'm telling you, I'm the principal of St. Freya High School. Everyone at the school has to listen to me."

Theresa followed behind Han Jiang, loudly threatening, "Just wait until we get back to school. You'll be in for it!"

Theresa, who had been constantly tugging at Han Jiang's clothes, suddenly stopped when she saw the malicious smile on his face.

"Y-You... what are you going to do?"

"Heh heh!"

Han Jiang sneered, abruptly yanked his clothes free from Theresa's grasp, and ran toward the room without looking back.

"What are you doing?!" Theresa shouted as she chased after him.

The moment Han Jiang entered the room, he slammed the door shut and said, "If you dare make me pay for this, I'll leave you outside by yourself. Night falls very quickly here."

Bang!

Theresa pressed herself against the door, tears nearly squeezing from her eyes. She pounded on it while repeatedly looking over her shoulder.

"No, Han Jiang! Han Jiang, let me in! Let me in!"

Han Jiang remained unmoved inside, his heart seemingly made of stone as he firmly blocked the door and refused to let Theresa in.

Thud!

The door suddenly opened. Han Jiang stood politely behind it, while Theresa stumbled and fell flat onto the ground.

"Han Jiang..."

The fall brought tears straight to Theresa's eyes. With a sobbing voice, she said, "I won't... I won't bully you when we get back to school."

Yae Sakura stood in the living room, watching the two fool around, a trace of envy appearing in her eyes. "Mr. Han Jiang has such a good relationship with his little sister."

Theresa wiped away her tears, her fair little face now smeared like that of a kitten.

"I'm not his little sister. He's just a brat."

Han Jiang merely spread his hands without saying anything. Yae Sakura walked over to Theresa, helped her up, and used a handkerchief to wipe the dirt from her face.

She assumed Theresa was only speaking in anger. After all, she had seen quite clearly how Han Jiang had teased her earlier.

"I have a younger sister too, but her health is very poor. She's often bedridden." Yae Sakura carefully straightened Theresa's collar.

Theresa's face was flushed red. She seemed to have forgotten all about settling the score with Han Jiang and kept avoiding Yae Sakura's gaze.

"All done." After patting the dust from Theresa's clothes, Yae Sakura stood up.

"A lot has happened in the village lately. I'll go deal with it first. We can have dinner together when I return." With that, Yae Sakura left the room.

After Yae Sakura had gone far away, Theresa still seemed dazed, her cheeks crimson as she wondered about something.

Han Jiang walked over with a mischievous grin and bent down to ask, "Principal, why do you blush whenever you see Miss Yae Sakura?"

Han Jiang knew perfectly well what he was doing. He was deliberately stirring up Theresa's embarrassment.

"She fed me medicine with her mouth." Theresa unconsciously touched her lips, unable to stop herself from thinking about what had happened while she was unconscious.

"I didn't! Who said that? Impossible!" Theresa quickly shook her head, delivering three denials in a row.

"Miss Yae Sakura is gentle and graceful. She treats people kindly and is willing to help even strangers. She..."

Before Han Jiang could finish, Theresa covered her ears with both hands and cried, "Stop talking! I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"

Theresa was acting stubborn like a child, just short of rolling around on the floor.

In the end, Theresa realized that covering her ears could not block out Han Jiang's voice, so she pounced on him with bared teeth and claws, making him stop.

The two tussled for a while before Theresa finally stopped after Han Jiang raised his hands in surrender.

She folded her arms and put on the airs of an adult, saying disdainfully, "A brat is a brat. What do you know?"

That evening, Yae Sakura returned and personally brought Han Jiang and Theresa's food to their room.

Seeing the exhausted look on Yae Sakura's face, Han Jiang accepted the meal and asked, "Did something happen this afternoon? You look really tired."

Yae Sakura nodded. "There are more and more monsters in the woods beside the village. Today, several more villagers were killed by monsters. I..."

She stopped halfway through. As a shrine maiden tasked with protecting the village, she could only watch helplessly as villagers died, hating herself for not having enough strength.

Yae Sakura sank into self-reproach. While eating, Theresa quietly tugged on Han Jiang's sleeve and pointed at Yae Sakura's back.

Black mist was spreading from Yae Sakura's body, and a faint animal-like silhouette appeared behind her.

"Miss Yae Sakura, don't blame yourself. The monsters may be powerful, but we must believe that we can defeat them. If even you think you can't do it, then what will the villagers do?" Han Jiang said quickly.

Yae Sakura abruptly raised her head, two streams of tears running from the corners of her eyes.

The black mist around her vanished, but her tears would not stop flowing.

Yae Sakura stared at her hands and murmured, "What's going on? Why can't I stop crying? Why does it feel like I've gone through something like this so many times?"

"Don't worry." Han Jiang walked over, crouched beside Yae Sakura, and gently stroked her back. "You've already done wonderfully. You weren't defeated by the monsters, but you mustn't let your own pressure crush you."

"When necessary, let the people around you share some of the burden. You helped us before. If monsters appear again tomorrow, I'll go with you." Han Jiang comforted her softly.

Theresa quickly nodded. "That's right, that's right. We aren't ordinary people, either. That day was just an accident."

"Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you." Yae Sakura knelt on the floor, repeating her thanks over and over.

Theresa walked over and stood beside Yae Sakura. "Why face danger alone? You aren't alone. We'll fight alongside you."

Hearing those familiar words, a smile appeared at the corner of Yae Sakura's eyes, and her tears finally stopped.

Yae Sakura wiped away her tears and bowed to Han Jiang and Theresa. "I'm sorry for affecting your meal. I'll go sort out my emotions."

Watching Yae Sakura leave, Han Jiang fell into thought.

Hiyori had already noticed that the two of them had entered Stigmata Space and had begun constantly pushing Yae Sakura into negative emotions.

As long as Yae Sakura's emotions completely collapsed, Hiyori would take over her body and use it to resurrect herself.

If nothing unexpected happened, the system update would be complete tomorrow.

So far, the combat power of everyone who had appeared in Stigmata Space seemed rather limited.

Perhaps Hiyori deliberately wanted to torment Yae Sakura by recreating everything that had happened five hundred years ago.

Or perhaps it was deliberately suppressing Yae Sakura's strength, making her feel powerless both in terms of her own abilities and from within.

In any case, once the system update was complete, Han Jiang planned to try absorbing Hiyori's power.

The system had automatically absorbed Kiana's Honkai Energy before and given Han Jiang several special attributes. If he directly absorbed the Honkai Energy of a Herrscher, the changes would surely be astonishing.

"I really want to help her." Theresa clenched her little fists, her expression solemn.

Han Jiang nodded. "She saved us, so of course we have to help her!"

Status update! As a newcomer signing my first contract, I'm pretty excited. Those who invested should have already received their returns! There are still thirty days of updates ahead, and the first VIP chapter is coming up, so you can keep investing. Don't miss out! Finally, thank you to big brother Lu Shenjian for the 100 reward!!!