Two Perfectly Innocent People

Angers finished describing the Japan Branch's exchange student invitation, then left the cafeteria with his tray.

Xia Mi was still red-faced as she tried to explain the rumors about "dating" and a "marital home." She was so worked up that her Golden Eyes had ignited without her noticing.

Li Lin bought a sugar-free Diet Coke packed with ice and handed it to Xia Mi, intending to cool her down.

But the girl no longer looked shy and timid as before. Her Golden Eyes had gone out, and she sprawled lazily across the table like a pet cat waiting to be served.

"Hey, Little Li, you actually know how to take care of girls now?"

Holding her Coke, Xia Mi gestured for Li Lin to sit down.

Li Lin came to his senses as well. "You seem really afraid of the principal."

He had not used the word "awe," because Xia Mi deliberately acted like a harmless, adorable teenage girl in front of Angers, rather than an Executive Department recruit with extraordinary talent and superior bloodline.

Even Angers himself could only assume that Xia Mi's behavior came from her respect for dragon-slaying and her awe toward him, a renowned centenarian.

Only Li Lin, who had spent ten years with Xia Mi day and night, had sensed that something was off.

Xia Mi knew Li Lin could understand these things, because even she herself often could not tell whether the one laughing and fooling around beside Li Lin was "Xia Mi" or "Jormungandr."

She should not have let this boy see through her so clearly, yet she could not suppress the urge to reveal certain things to him.

Her world was far too lonely. Though the rulers of the Dragon Race took loneliness as their throne and endless years as their territory, she was a girl spoiled by her brother since childhood. Sitting upon that empty throne, she could never stop herself from wanting someone to confide in.

Before, she could chat with Fenrir, complain about some palace maid stealing someone's hairpin behind her back, or laugh at some minister who had wet himself in court after being frightened by dragon might.

But now that her brother had become an idiot, Li Lin was the only person Xia Mi could try to open her heart to.

She felt a longing and trust toward Li Lin that even she could not understand. Outcasts separated from the world were always drawn to one another. This feeling ran deeper than Sorrow of Blood, surpassing the boundaries of bloodlines, like two gears cast aside by fate that could never fit into the world.

Xia Mi bit down on her plastic straw, making a slurping sound, then stared into Li Lin's eyes and spoke.

"Because the principal is someone consumed by hatred. People bent on revenge are the scariest. They hate their younger selves for not having enough strength, so they keep becoming stronger, tempering their blades again and again so they can kill their enemies with their own hands, yet they can never recover anything they have lost."

"Revenge is hollow. Everyone who pursues that hollowness will eventually become an empty shell. The moment their hatred and rage burn out will be the moment they die."

Li Lin picked up a French fry from his tray and dipped it in ketchup. "The way you put it, it's like you're carrying some blood-soaked vendetta too."

"Yeah, yeah, I hate you to death." Xia Mi poked her index finger into the ketchup, then pressed it against Li Lin's face and began drawing on it. "It's all your fault for insisting on dumping your paper assignment on me to revise in class today. The professor called on me because of it."

"Then after you get your revenge, will you become an empty shell with nothing left too?" Li Lin used a French fry to wipe the ketchup off his face, then shoved it into his mouth.

Xia Mi thought for a moment, then answered firmly, "No."

"Why not?"

Xia Mi did not answer. She stared into Li Lin's eyes for a long, long time. She did not say a word, yet it seemed as though she had said everything.

By the time they finished their late-night snack, it was already eleven at night.

The cafeteria had left only one lamp on above their table. Everything around them was pitch-black. Xia Mi naturally wrapped herself around Li Lin's arm, putting on a pitiful expression as she begged him to walk her back to the dormitory.

At night, Cassel College echoed with the wailing of some upperclassman riding a motorcycle through Odin Square, but he was quickly caught red-handed by Professor Manstein, who was wearing pajamas.

The professor in charge of the Disciplinary Committee raised a Thompson submachine gun loaded with Frigg Bullets and pulled the trigger fiercely, spraying both rider and motorcycle.

The upperclassman soon fell into peaceful sleep.

Manstein adjusted the nightcap on his head and waved at Li Lin and Xia Mi as they passed by on a nearby path.

"Good evening, Professor."

"Good evening, students. The college does not object to you living together in Norton Hall, but remember to take proper safety precautions."

The professor's refined smile made Li Lin realize once again just how terrifying rumors could be. He hurriedly pulled Xia Mi away, intending to get her back to the dormitory as quickly as possible.

"These rumors are getting more and more outrageous. It's all Fingel and those paparazzi under him."

Li Lin could no longer hold back his urge to condemn Fingel.

Xia Mi did not particularly care. A girl as ridiculously beautiful as her had long grown used to rumors and gossip about her flying all over the college.

Life at Cassel College actually made her feel far more at ease. After all, the streets were full of handsome men and beautiful women, and the entire school worshipped elitism. It was not like an ordinary school, where countless peers would gossip about her behind her back.

Both boys and girls liked to use the scraps of nonsense they had read in cheap novels or seen in melodramatic idol dramas to point fingers at Xia Mi's private life.

Li Lin was not much better off. Because of the Dragon-Slaying Binding System, as Xia Mi gradually blossomed, his already decent looks had soared as well. Yet he spent every day with Xia Mi, so meddlesome girls often slandered him for flirting around off campus.

Of course, in the end, Li Lin and Xia Mi beat every last one of them into shutting up.

They divided the work clearly enough that, even through the tiled wall separating the men's and women's restrooms, cries for mercy and screams could be heard from the other side.

It was useless for the victims to go home and complain to their parents. Li Lin and Xia Mi took first and second place in the entire school every time, separated from third place by a chasm of over a hundred points. Compared with them, students who could not even break into the top ten of their grade were practically another species... The school endlessly smoothed things over, clearly determined to protect these two symbols of its academic success.

Though looking back now, they really did seem to be different species.

"Let them spread whatever they want. We're perfectly innocent, so we don't care. Just ignore them."

Xia Mi waved generously, signaling that Li Lin did not need to worry about it either.

Compared to the clear-eyed, foolish malice of ordinary middle school students, the Mixed-Bloods at Cassel College were really just gossiping. If they actually announced their relationship, congratulatory comments would probably flood the front page of the Night Watchers Forum.

Li Lin thought about it for a while, then agreed with Xia Mi.

"That's right. There's nothing improper between us, so there's no need to care about these rumors."

Smiling sweetly, Xia Mi held his arm as they strolled through the summer night amid the chorus of cicadas.