A Little Brains, But Not Much

After school.

Behind the school building, evening had already fallen.

The sun slowly sank behind the school building, and the ground before them gradually disappeared into shadow.

Only the alley a short distance ahead,

where the ground glowed as red as a branding iron under the setting sun.

Prince Ganlongdao glanced around. He saw no surveillance cameras, so this place was probably a blind spot on campus.

Clearly,

whoever had left him the love letter had done their research.

At the thought,

Prince Ganlongdao looked toward the alley again.

Under the sunlight, several shadows stretched out from it.

Was it really safe to hide in there?

A little brains, but not much...

She was going to confess to him, yet she'd made him wait here first.

Oh well.

Prince Ganlongdao could understand.

She was probably just too proud to risk losing face. It would be so embarrassing if he didn't show up.

Elsewhere.

In an alley beside the school building,

four girls huddled together nervously.

They hadn't noticed that the shadows at their feet had already given them away.

"He's here, he's here! He's here, Saki... Everyone, what do we do? I'm so nervous..."

Shiho Manabe clenched her little hands, her long, slender legs shifting restlessly.

As the one confessing,

making Prince Ganlongdao wait there first was indeed rather rude, and she felt bad about it.

But

when it came to standing there and waiting for Prince Ganlongdao to arrive,

Shiho Manabe realized she simply didn't have the courage.

What if he saw that she'd written the love letter and turned around and walked away?

Shiho Manabe felt she might not be able to take that kind of blow.

That was why she'd decided to hide first and make her move when the time was right.

As for being rude... well, she'd just have to be rude.

"It's okay, Shiho. You can do this. Don't worry."

"Yeah, you're so pretty, Shiho. It'll be fine."

Saki Yamashita and Nanami Yabu encouraged her, while Rika Morofuji rolled her eyes.

Honestly,

she was surprised to learn that this was Shiho Manabe's first time confessing to someone.

Still,

guys like Prince Ganlongdao and Ryuen Kakeru were delinquents who were surely experienced,

the kind of playboys who changed women as often as they changed clothes.

How could they possibly turn down a beauty like Shiho Manabe? She was bound to succeed. Rika Morofuji couldn't understand why there was anything to worry about.

In the eyes of a well-behaved girl like Rika Morofuji,

people like Prince Ganlongdao and Shiho Manabe were delinquents and flashy girls who lived debauched lives, casually sleeping with anyone who was good-looking.

They were fine as superficial friends.

But if she were to truly become part of their crowd, Rika Morofuji couldn't help looking down on them. She was simply introverted, and had no choice but to rely on Shiho Manabe and the others to avoid being bullied.

Of course,

after spending time with her,

Rika Morofuji had discovered that, aside from being rather forceful, Shiho Manabe was actually pretty nice.

Rika Morofuji was willing to help her.

It was just that

she didn't think much of their chances as a couple.

She was sure Shiho Manabe's looks would be enough to win him over, but once Prince Ganlongdao got tired of her, he'd probably dump her.

"Thank you, everyone. I'm okay now. I can definitely do this."

Encouraged by the others, Shiho Manabe seemed to fill with strength. She patted her cheeks and walked out of the alley.

Feeling Prince Ganlongdao's gaze on her,

Shiho Manabe blushed and walked over to him with her head lowered.

A stretch of silence was all that greeted her.

Shiho Manabe twirled a lock of her hair around her slender fingers, her face flushed as she stared at the wall beside her, unable to get a word out.

Seeing this,

Prince Ganlongdao took out the love letter and steered the conversation.

"Shiho, you're the one who left this letter in my shoe locker, right?"

"Mm..."

At that,

Shiho Manabe finally let out a breath and gave a quiet reply, her head still lowered.

Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her throat.

She'd already worked herself up, but now that the moment had come, she was still nervous.

"I see."

Prince Ganlongdao gently coaxed her along:

"Then, is there something you want to tell me?"

Huh?

At his words,

Shiho Manabe was slightly taken aback.

This was practically the same as saying yes, wasn't it?

Otherwise, Prince Ganlongdao wouldn't need to hear her answer. He was putting her at ease indirectly.

At the thought,

tears glimmered in Shiho Manabe's beautiful eyes.

She became even more certain that she'd truly fallen for Prince Ganlongdao, and even more convinced that she'd made the right choice—that she hadn't misjudged him.

In that instant,

Shiho Manabe found boundless courage.

"Mm, Prince Brother, I like you. Would you go out with me?"

Shiho Manabe squeezed her eyes shut and bowed deeply at the waist, her voice full of respect.

When they truly fell for someone,

girls were far more proactive than boys.

In front of the person she truly liked, even a flashy girl as flippant as Shiho Manabe couldn't hide her shyness.

Of course,

that was mainly because Shiho Manabe lacked experience and still held all sorts of beautiful dreams about romance.

When no reply came for a long while,

Shiho Manabe's heart tightened. She looked up anxiously, only to find that Prince Ganlongdao had somehow come to stand right in front of her.

"So,"

Prince Ganlongdao gently lifted her smooth chin, his dark eyes full of possessive intensity fixed on the girl before him.

"Shiho, you want to be my woman, is that right?"

"Mm."

"Being my woman won't be easy."

Prince Ganlongdao pulled her into his arms, his gaze tender. "The truth is, I'm an especially selfish person. When I start dating someone, I want to make her mine and mine alone, for the rest of her life."

"Are you sure you want to be my woman?"

"I'm sure~"

Shiho Manabe's beautiful eyes grew hazy.

That wasn't selfishness at all. It was dominance, it was security—she loved it.

However,

her little head couldn't make sense of it.

What had happened to Prince Ganlongdao's previous girlfriends, then?

In fact,

Prince Ganlongdao hadn't been lying.

He simply wouldn't allow any woman he'd touched to be touched by another man. The women he'd dated before were all being kept under his protection.

Once you reached a certain level,

having multiple women was perfectly normal.

"Good!"

A glint flashed in Prince Ganlongdao's eyes.

In social psychology, there was a concept called

commitment and consistency.

Someone overseas once conducted an experiment.

In one family,

a husband had abused his wife for years.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, the wife chose to divorce him and leave. Only after her husband got down on his knees to apologize did she struggle for a long time before deciding to forgive him.

However,

after they remarried,

the husband's violence didn't change at all.

It was even worse than before.

Strangely enough,

the wife felt that their family was happier and more loving than ever.

That was the power of commitment and consistency.

Once a person made a decision, their mind would push them to keep their later actions consistent with it.

That was precisely why

Prince Ganlongdao had told her how selfish and domineering he was.

And why he'd made Shiho Manabe answer him.

He was taking advantage of the power of commitment and consistency.

Put simply,

he was making Shiho Manabe promise

that she would belong to him for the rest of her life, and that she would belong to him alone.

This method didn't necessarily work on everyone,

but it had a good chance of working on a shallow girl like Shiho Manabe!

At the thought,

ignoring Shiho Manabe's wishes entirely,

Prince Ganlongdao held her chin and pressed his lips against hers.

"Mmph..."

Shiho Manabe's eyes flew open,

but under Prince Ganlongdao's guidance, they soon grew hazy.