On an evening no different from any other, their long-standing, peaceful routine took an unexpected turn.
When Cui Ciyou pushed open the library's heavy oak door, the sight before him made him pause.
Alice was already sitting on the desk, her posture-well, she certainly had presence! She seemed to have been waiting specifically for him, which was rather unusual.
A trace of confusion stirred in Cui Ciyou's mind. But why does she look so unhappy?
Although Alice had been coming to the library to find Cui Ciyou every evening lately.
Usually, however, he arrived early and read for a while before she finally showed up and began pestering him to read her stories.
Her posture now was nothing like usual-she was neither sitting in a chair and lazily sprawling over the desk nor casually slumping against the chair's padded back.
(Normally, when she waited for lessons in the study, she looked just like one of those restless, energetic elementary school kids back on Earth.)
Alice sat firmly on the desk with her legs crossed, looking every bit the "mob boss's daughter."
Her small body was ramrod straight, her arms crossed over her chest, radiating an air of "I'm very unhappy. Don't mess with me."
Her chin had originally been raised high, but Cui Ciyou's tall, lean frame, nearly six foot three, seemed to turn it into the peculiar sight of him looking down at her while she looked up at him.
Perhaps realizing that this position actually diminished her imposing air, she pressed her lips tightly together.
The tension in her body had already hardened the contours of her round, baby-fat cheeks, and now they looked sharper still.
Then she jerked her head aside and turned her gaze toward the boundless darkness outside the window.
Without a word, she proclaimed