Xiao Yan could not help but tremble slightly when he heard Yao Wan address him so intimately.
Even without turning to look at the beauty who had carried an air of pride from beginning to end, Xiao Yan could clearly hear that something was off in her tone.
"Wan'er is different..."
There was a faint, almost imperceptible grievance in Xiao Yan's voice. If they were putting it that way, then he truly had reason to cry injustice—he had not been thinking in that direction at all.
"Hah... You expect me to believe whatever you say?"
Yet Xiao Yan's words did not completely dispel the resentment in Yao Wan's heart. Although the shame within her had melted away considerably like spring snow after receiving the answer she had expected, the willfulness deep in her heart was still not satisfied.
"Or does Wan'er think that, in my heart, her place has almost fallen to the same level as those people?"
"You dare!"
The pleasant voice behind him carried a touch of flustered urgency, as though she had overplayed her hand.
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. How could I possibly dare?"
"—By the way, is Wan'er angry?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Xiao Yan's expression stiffened. He was not so forgetful that he would immediately forget what he had just said.
Still, he could more or less guess what was going on.
"...No."
Yao Wan folded her arms across her chest. Facing Xiao Yan, who had now turned around, she instinctively shifted her gaze away.
In Xiao Yan's eyes, the light cast by the glowstones in the spacious guest room fell upon her flushed cheeks and the blush spreading all the way to her neck and earlobes. The resentment in her earlier tone vanished in an instant.
"Not even a