"—Miss Raiden, are you here to arrest me?"
A faint smile still hung on his face, and his voice retained its innate nobility and clarity. Yet, a trace of vulnerability showed in those ink-gold eyes.
That innocent look alone was enough to awaken the maternal instincts of many people.
But Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei looked at him, still as impervious to charm as ever.
"Yes."
"That's quite unexpected." A bleak, faint smile touched Beichen Heng's lips.
Only then did the children gathered around Beichen Heng suddenly look warily at the big sister who had arrived here unannounced.
Originally, they had thought the big sister who gave them candy was a good person.
"Then, please."
Beichen Heng tilted his head slightly, his gaze calm as he extended his bandage-wrapped hands in a gesture of surrender.
Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei found herself unable to understand him.
"You're willing to come with me?"
"No."
"Then... why?"
Beichen Heng paused slightly. His eyes, deep with affection even when looking at a dog, fixed on her. Just as the children thought there might be some twist—that Big Brother Beichen and this big sister named Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei actually shared a moving and profound past—
Beichen Heng merely shrugged and frankly said:
"With my current condition, I can't win a fight, and I can't run away. So I can only hope you'll go soft on me. Naturally, I have to make myself look as innocent and helpless as possible."
Fine, having that kind of fantasy about Big Brother Beichen was our own problem, the children thought.
"You really haven't changed at all."
Just like before, Mei's emotions had been stirred, and even her usually calm, unruffled tone gradually became more animated.
She looked at Beichen Heng and said:
"...But now that you've said it out