Late at night, when Clara and Flora got up, everyone quickly dispersed and returned to their respective places, pretending nothing had happened. They closed their eyes and quickly fell asleep.
More than ten minutes later, the two returned to the area covered by the Tree of Life Sapling's canopy. After glancing at everyone and exchanging a look, neither said anything. They both understood that their conversation had been overheard.
But so what if it had been overheard? It was not some unspeakable secret anyway.
Afterward, they parted ways, returned to their respective areas, lay down on the ground, and peacefully fell asleep.
At dawn, several griffin cries rang out, echoing across the sky.
A few seconds later, Velin opened his eyes. Seeing the arm draped over him, he gently moved it aside and sat up. Looking at the still-sleeping Xuemiyya, a mischievous smile appeared on his face, and he could not help reaching out.
Just as his right hand touched her cheek, Xuemiyya suddenly opened her eyes and stared fixedly at Velin.
"You're awake."
Velin remained calm as he casually tucked several strands of silver hair that had fallen across Xuemiyya's face behind her ear.
Xuemiyya sat up, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Dear Velin, I woke up half an hour ago."
A flicker of surprise crossed Velin's eyes. He then reached out and pinched Xuemiyya's cheek, striking first to gain the upper hand.
"What a lazybones. You woke up but still wouldn't get up."
Xuemiyya showed no surprise at all at Velin's shameless behavior.
After Velin pinched her cheek for several minutes, Xuemiyya slapped his hand away, rolled her eyes at him, said nothing, and stood up to walk toward Flora.
Watching Xuemiyya's retreating back, Velin acted as if nothing had happened. He lay back down, intending