Then, somewhat defiantly, she retorted in a low voice, trying to regain some ground. "I was just saying it casually! It's okay if you don't say anything! I don't necessarily need to hear it..."
As she spoke, she became somewhat embarrassed and angry, wanting to bury her burning face back into the crook of his neck to escape.
Draco, however, reacted quickly, grabbing her chin and giving her no chance to escape.
Hermione struggled to get away, but Draco held her firmly, forcing her to avoid his sight.
"Sweet nothings? I'll have to think about that..."
"After all, when that little kitten hears sweet words, she often gets shy and snuggles into my arms..."
Hermione tilted her head, trying again to break free from his grip, and gave a deliberately petulant snort:
"No way! You're talking nonsense! I... I wouldn't! Fine, don't tell me then! I'm going to sleep!"
"Then I'll tell you." Draco gave her the time she needed.
"Um."
Hermione responded quietly without turning her face.
But Draco reached out and turned Hermione's face, forcing her to look him in the eye, and then said affectionately:
"All the tenderness and plans I have in this life are reserved for Hermione Granger alone."
There are no fancy words, no elaborate metaphors, just the simplest and most direct statements.
But it was precisely this simplicity and directness that, like the most precise key, unlocked Hermione's softest defenses.
Hermione felt as if the air around her had been sucked away, and her cheeks instantly burned with an alarmingly high temperature.
She dared not look into Draco's burning gaze, which seemed to devour her, and instinctively wanted to look away.
Draco couldn't help but laugh as he watched her instantly transform from "feigning sulking" to "uncontrollably embarrassed."
He gently stroked her cheek with his free hand. "See, I told you so! You said you weren't shy!"
Hermione could no longer bear his burning gaze and scalding words. With a soft moan, she buried her face in his chest again.
"No, you can't stop... Who told you to say it... You have to finish saying it..." Hermione said stubbornly in his arms.
Hermione's shy yet playful demeanor delighted Draco, and he no longer simply held her gently.
Instead, he reached out and firmly gripped her slender lower back with one hand, applying slight pressure to pull her even closer to him, leaving almost no gap between them.
" Hermione," Draco whispered in Hermione's ear, calling her name with endless longing, finally concluding, "I want to be your only support."
Upon hearing these words, Hermione completely collapsed into his arms, as if all her strength had been drained away.
All that remained in my body was a burning sensation and a rapid heartbeat.
She felt a tingling, electric sensation running through her fingers, and all her ability to speak seemed to have left her.
She couldn't say a word, only burying her burning cheeks deeper into the crook of his neck, as if only in this way could she alleviate the overwhelming shyness and sweetness.
Draco felt the slight trembling and silence of the person in his arms, and knew that she was extremely shy.
He sighed deliberately, "See, here we go again. It's so bad, yet I love listening to it, and I can't stand it anymore."
Hermione sullenly rubbed against his chest, saying with a hint of petulance, "I don't care... I just want to listen."
Draco's heart fluttered at her appearance, filled with boundless affection, and he repeatedly replied, "Yes, yes, yes."
Draco, completely charmed by her soft, clingy manner, said with a mischievous, mysterious smile, "I'll tell you a foolproof way to win over my parents, do you want to hear it?"
Hermione's ears perked up instantly, as if electrified, and all the blush-inducing embarrassment she had just felt vanished in a flash.
She sat up from his embrace, her usually rational and calm eyes now sparkling.
"Yes! Of course I want it! Tell me quickly, what's the method?" She looked incredibly eager.
Draco's warm lips pressed against her sensitive earlobe, and then he said in an extremely ambiguous tone:
"That means—let's work together to give them eight or ten grandchildren as soon as possible."
Hermione's expression froze instantly.
The crimson blush spread rapidly before the naked eye, covering her entire face in the blink of an eye.
She felt as if she had been thrown into boiling water, and instantly felt like she was on fire from head to toe.
Seeing Hermione's face instantly turn bright red, Draco continued his analysis in that serious yet utterly absurd tone:
"Our Malfoy family is small, and my parents were 'not good enough' back then, only having me as their only son."
"All their hopes will be pinned on me. They'll treat you like a treasure, and they won't stop you from doing whatever you want, let alone a small foundation."
"They've definitely pinned all their hopes on me; you can give them eight or ten grandchildren."
"At that point, don't even mention if you want to set up a small foundation; even if you want to buy Hogwarts and turn it into a library, they'll all applaud."
Hermione's face was so hot it could fry an egg; she abruptly raised her hands and covered her burning cheeks tightly.
A muffled, collapsing voice escaped from between his fingers. " Draco Malfoy! You, you scoundrel! Who, who wants to be a sow! Giving birth to... giving birth to so many! You want to work me to death!"
But in reality, an image uncontrollably surfaced in her mind: what if that day really came...
Together they formed a warm little home, with several little ones like him with beautiful platinum blonde hair, or like her with brown curly hair and bright eyes...
It doesn't seem... scary at all.
It even instills a strange sense of anticipation and longing in people.
But being spoken so bluntly by him, with that private and beautiful feeling laid bare in the sunlight, made her so shy that she could only use stubbornness to cover up her inner turmoil.
Hermione felt that if she stayed in his arms any longer, listening to his incredibly embarrassing words, she was afraid she would really become too mushy.
She steeled herself, turned around abruptly, turned her back to him, pulled the blanket up to wrap herself tightly, leaving him with only a puffed-up back of her head and a small section of her reddened neck.
"I'm not talking to you anymore! I'm going to sleep! Goodnight!"
Hermione hurriedly blurted out a sentence, trying to end this topic that made her feel utterly ashamed.
Seeing her adorable way of fleeing in panic, Draco laughed out loud. Instead of "letting her go" as she wished, he took advantage of her situation.
He stretched out his leg and easily stepped across the gap between them, wrapping it around her slender calf.
Immediately afterwards, he pressed his entire body against hers from behind, his broad chest pressed against her slender back.
His arms, like vines, tightly encircled her slender waist, pulling her back and embedding her even deeper into his embrace.
Warm breaths sprayed continuously onto Minmin ears and neck, sending a shiver down her spine.
Draco continued saying things that made her heart race:
"Why run away... Everything I said was true. I thought about every single word carefully."
Hermione felt her sanity crumbling.
She squirmed slightly in his arms, trying to break free from this suffocatingly sweet embrace.
The voice carried a hint of despair and pleading.
"Ahhh, please stop... please, Draco, if you keep talking I'll really get overripe..."