Hua held the Document Bag as she walked beside Jingliu toward her ship.
Whatever happened, she couldn't let Jingliu say anything outrageous! Especially not address her with honorifics!
Hua was falling apart inside, but none of it showed. She maintained an impeccable smile, keeping a firm grip on the subject and pace of their conversation.
Her voice was gentle yet firm as she brought up Jingliu's military achievements since joining the Cloud Knights.
Hua placed particular emphasis on Jingliu's capture of the Borisin warhead, Hoolay.
For one simple reason: even the Yaoqing General of that time, an Emanator of The Hunt, had failed to capture him.
Jingliu took no pride in her praise. She merely nodded slightly, saying that it was only her duty as a Cloud Knight and hardly deserved the Marshal's commendation.
Undeterred, Hua continued praising Jingliu.
She was trying to bring them closer and dispel Jingliu's concerns, preventing her from saying anything... strange.
On paper, Jingliu's age put her just a step away from becoming mara-struck. Yet the moment her Guardian reached the legal marriage age, she had turned around and submitted a marriage application to Hua.
Was that reasonable? Not in the slightest.
It was like the heroine of a storybook abandoning Blondie and going after Blondie's ancestor instead.
Hua suddenly realized there was nothing wrong with that comparison.
Whether the heroine was the Guardian or Jingliu, it still worked.
The Guardian's body was indeed that of a twenty-year-old young man, but his soul wasn't.
That disparity in what they knew had left both sides in an extremely awkward situation.
Jingliu had no choice but to steel herself and approach a superior around her own age to seek her approval and blessing.
Hua: "..."
*The Guardian and Jingliu really were a couple who refused to follow