But at the same time, I was filled with lingering fear.
This young wife, when she gets angry, she really dares to hit someone!
She herself clearly has quite a lot of desires...
Perhaps he himself had been frightened by this girl and had been corrupted by her, Draco thought to himself, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips.
The bathroom door closed, and the sound of running water filled the air.
Once Draco was inside, Hermione's cold, stern expression vanished, replaced by a smug, mischievous grin.
Hmph, let's see if you still dare to threaten me every day. I've finally caught you red-handed. Let's see if you dare to mess around again.
As she walked to the full-length mirror in the corner of the room, she looked at herself from left to right. Looking at herself in the mirror, Hermione couldn't help but smile. No wonder she had this guy so infatuated; she was even starting to fall in love with herself!
Pooh!
Granger, when did you become so shameless!
It must have been that damned Malfoy who infected him...
Damn Malfoy!
A moment later, the bathroom door opened, and Draco swaggered out, wrapped in a towel, his hair still dripping wet, his muscles on full display.
"What's with showing off a few muscles?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Hehe, honey, hurry up and take a shower." Draco pounced on the bed and said, "I want to sleep, I can't sleep without holding you."
"You're such a nuisance," Hermione muttered, picking up a change of clothes and reminding her, "Dry your hair, or you'll have a headache again tomorrow."
"Knew!"
After a long while, Hermione came out of the shower, looked at Draco's dry hair without saying anything, Draco used magic to dry her hair as well.
After her hair dried, Hermione lifted a corner of the blanket and lay down. As soon as she lay down, an arm wrapped around her from behind.
While I was lying down, Draco caused trouble again!
"Keep your hands to yourself," Hermione warned.
"Honey, do you like the necklace? I have good taste, don't I?"
"The gems are pretty, but that's no excuse for you to touch them like that?" Hermione's back was to him, her body tensing as he touched her.
"Aren't you going to reward me?" Draco's hand paused for a moment, then pressed against mine again, muttering defiantly.
"Don't even think about it. Rewarding yourself every day will only make you weak later. I'm doing this for your health!"
"Oh~" Draco drawled, as if suddenly realizing something, "So you were worried I'd be weak then. What you said is a good point; the Five Fingers are indeed very dangerous..."
Then Draco leaned closer to her ear and said, "How about... we try a less harmful approach? Like..."
"No!" Hermione's cheeks flushed, but she said firmly, "Are we still going to kiss? Can't you think of anything else besides dirty thoughts?!"
"No, not at all," Draco said.
"It's just that one's passions run high at night, after all, don't people always do bad things when it's dark? Plus, a lone man and woman, friction generates heat... It's perfectly scientific, Miss Granger."
"Then we'll have to sleep in separate beds," Hermione said, dropping her trump card.
"No!" Draco tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, his tone softening. "I'll restrain myself, okay? What happened just now was... it was an accident."
"Is this what you call restraint?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It's annoying enough that it keeps moving around..."
"Hehe, self-control takes time."
"I'll help you with physical countermeasures." Hermione made a move to strike.
"No need, no need!" Draco quickly pressed her down, assuring her, "I won't move, I'll calm down, really!"
"Hmph!" Hermione stopped what she was doing and said, "Don't you know Occlumency? Shut down those bad thoughts of yours."
"Wife, you don't understand," Draco explained to her. "If you habitually restrain yourself, you're doomed. It's like stirring Potions; once you stop, the effect dissipates—it's the same principle..."
"You're full of twisted logic." Hermione was too lazy to argue with him anymore. Sleepiness was creeping in, and she said, "Go to sleep, don't move around."
"Okay!" Draco replied, placing his arm properly around her waist, and indeed did not move around again.
The two gradually fell asleep.
At the same time,
The woman who had been taken advantage of by Draco was standing at the casino entrance, trying to extract the information she wanted from the security guard.
"That man's name is Collard!" The security guard scratched his head. "He's in room 326, first class. What, miss, do you need to see him?"
"Yes!" The woman noted down the room number, forcing a charming smile. "Thank you for his generosity earlier. Thank you for your trouble."
"It's alright." The security guard was completely captivated, but he had principles and didn't want to lose his high-paying job.
After getting Draco's information, the woman rushed to the door of room 326. The door was tightly closed; not wanting to alert Draco, she could only wait for a guest to return.
Waiting is fraught with uncertainty, but this is the only way to get a result as quickly as possible. And after a long wait, she finally got her result.
A man returned and entered. Warm light shone through the crack in the door, and the sounds of talking and television could be faintly heard inside. The woman pressed herself against the wall near the door and quickly peeked through the crack.
All the beds were occupied: a middle-aged couple and two men. Collard, the dark-haired man, wasn't in the room.
"Strange..." the woman frowned.
Was the security guard lying to me?
Thinking of this, she immediately turned back and found the security guard. "Uncle, is no one named Collard in room 326?"
"No?" The security guard pulled out a register and pointed to a line of data. "Look, it's written very clearly!"
Upon closer inspection, the woman confirmed that the name and room number were indeed there, and muttered to herself, "This is strange..."
But she refused to give up, and relying on her superb skills and familiarity with the cruise ship's structure, she silently sneaked into the security room.
Taking advantage of a break between shifts, she used the simple tools she carried to pry open the cabinet where the surveillance videotapes were stored.
He found the tape from the casino area that night, took it back to his secret cubicle, and played it frame by frame using a portable player.
In the image, Collard's figure is clearly visible.
The woman extracted the clearest frames and used the ship's equipment to develop a few recognizable photographs.
Then, holding the photos, he began to subtly inquire with the ship's cleaning staff and meal delivery personnel...
Have you seen this person before?
"Sorry, miss, I don't recall."
"I don't know him, I've never seen him before."
The answers were all exactly the same.
That is: I don't know them, I've never seen them before.
A guest who caused a huge sensation at the casino has vanished from everyone's memory like thin air?
A chill ran down the woman's spine to the back of her neck.
Am I... seeing a ghost?
However, when she was taken advantage of just now, she was certain that the other person was human, and the thought of it made her grit her teeth in hatred.
After calming down, she realized that this was completely illogical.
Suddenly, his intuition, honed by that of a top-tier thief, pierced the fog like lightning: disguise, that person must be in disguise.
Besides appearance, there's also voice, tone of voice, and even hair—all of these could potentially be faked.
The identity of Collard, along with his face and voice, is a perfect disguise used to deceive and mislead.
The woman's eyes were sharp as she looked at Collard in the photo.
No matter who you are, no matter how flawlessly you disguise yourself... once I've set my sights on you, don't think you can get away so easily.