"I'm sorry."
Beside the coffee table, Liu Li knelt with her knees together and bowed until her body was parallel to the floor. Her long blade lay beside her. She looked like a swordsman of old offering her lord the most formal of apologies. "You said wine had led me astray in the dream. I scoffed at that, but I wanted to taste it for myself. I never expected to succumb to greed and take what belonged to someone who had helped me. It's a disgrace to a swordsman. I'll repay you for the wine someday."
Xu Xuanling looked at her, then at Chen Xuan, utterly baffled.
Chen Xuan felt a little awkward too.
He wasn't putting on airs. He simply couldn't stop Liu Li. He had tried several times to pull her back onto the sofa, but she hadn't budged. Their raw strength wasn't even on the same level.
The bottles of wine had cost less than two hundred yuan altogether, yet she acted as though she were about to cut her own throat in atonement.
Still, Chen Xuan could vaguely understand her. Liu Li wasn't human. She was Artifact N21's imitation of a swordsman, a concept made flesh. In a sense, she was playing a part. Whatever real swordsmen were like, her behavior certainly fit the stereotype.
Which meant he had to play along.
Chen Xuan said quietly to Xu Xuanling, "She's a rather unusual person. She likes fantasies and acting. I didn't ask her to do this..."
"Huh..." His disciple looked unconvinced.
"Watch." He cleared his throat twice and nodded to Liu Li. "As long as you repay me, I'll overlook your mistake this time. Get up."
Liu Li remained where she was. "And my punishment?"
"Mop the floor for a week?"
"A swordsman's mistakes must be