Double Kill!

[Everyone, here I am again!]

[Please follow, send gifts, add this to your library, and leave paragraph comments, awa.]

[Follows, people keeping up with the story, and gifts give me the motivation to update, ovo.]

[This is today's second update.]

[There might even be more~]

Bronya's lips were colder than he remembered.

Baichen was pinned down on a soft snow fox fur blanket.

He struggled a few times, but the Tsaritsa easily restrained him and pinned his hands above his head.

"Still so disobedient." Bronya chuckled softly, her long, ice-blue hair falling across the boy's cheek. "Didn't that person teach you anything while you were in Inazuma?"

Baichen turned his face away, avoiding her frosty breath. "Ei... never forces me..."

The words were like a thorn, striking straight at the Tsaritsa's pride.

Bronya's gaze abruptly turned cold. A tiny icicle formed at her fingertip, and she drew it lightly across the boy's face.

"Ah!" Baichen cried out at the sudden sting.

"Shh..." Bronya leaned down and licked away the tiny bead of blood that welled up. "That's what you call forcing you."

Baichen closed his eyes, trembling, and clutched the blanket tightly.

"Look at me," Bronya commanded, gripping his chin with her other hand. "I want you to remember clearly who's touching you now."

Baichen was forced to open his eyes and meet those ice-blue eyes.

The thoughts in them were fiercer than a Snezhnayan blizzard, making him shudder.

[Bronya's affection +3%, currently 70%]

[Warning! Danger level increased]

She gave a cold snort and pressed her lips to his cheek. Cryo quickly formed on the surface of his skin.

"Mmh... so cold..." Baichen flinched, but there was nowhere to escape.

"You'll warm up soon enough," Bronya said meaningfully.

It was a sleepless night, filled only with heated words.

[Bronya's affection +5%, currently 75%]

When Baichen woke again, everything outside the window was blanketed in white.

The snow in Snezhnaya never stopped, drifting down onto the crystalline window frame.

He struggled to prop himself up, his whole body aching as though a mammoth had trampled him.

System... what time is it?

[9:17 a.m. the next day]

[Reminder: You have slept for 11 hours and 23 minutes]

[New feature unlocked: Daily Check-in System]

Baichen looked around in a daze and found that he had been cleaned up and changed into a new silk nightrobe.

He instinctively reached for his chest, only to discover in alarm that the Electro-Patterned Magatama Ei had given him was gone.

Where's the magatama?!

[Bronya took it]

Baichen's heart sank.

Without the magatama, he couldn't contact Ei or summon her in a crisis.

He forced himself out of bed, but his legs gave way, and he fell to his knees on the thick blanket.

"In such a hurry to pay your respects to me?"

Bronya's voice came from the doorway. The Tsaritsa had changed into casual clothes today, her long, ice-blue hair loosely pinned up and a silver tray in her hands.

Seeing Baichen's disheveled state, she raised an eyebrow:

"Looks like you overdid it last night." She set the tray on the bedside table. "Eat something and get your strength back."

On the tray was a Snezhnayan breakfast of rye bread, honey cheese, and a cup of steaming red liquid.

Baichen eyed the unidentified liquid warily and didn't touch it.

"Don't worry, it isn't a sedative." Bronya seemed amused by his reaction. "It's just ordinary cherry juice."

Baichen sipped the juice and suddenly remembered the system's check-in feature.

He silently said, Check in, and a line of virtual text immediately appeared before his eyes:

[Check-in successful!]

[Obtained: Inazuman specialty strawberry cake ×1 (stored in system inventory)]

...Why cake?

[Random rewards depend on luck~]

[Maybe you'll draw something else tomorrow]

Bronya watched the boy stare into space and reached out to stroke his cheek. "What are you thinking about?"

Baichen abruptly came to his senses and nearly spilled the juice. "N-nothing..."

The Tsaritsa didn't press him. Instead, she sat down beside him, running her fingers through his hair now and then. "Have you thought it over?"

"Thought... what over?"

"Staying in Snezhnaya." Bronya's voice suddenly softened. "Be my very own little kitty."

Baichen's hand shook, and the bread fell onto the blanket.

Bronya seemed to have expected this reaction and added unhurriedly:

"You can keep your Inazuman citizenship and even go back for visits regularly." Her fingertip traced the outline of the boy's lips. "You'd only need to stay by my side on important occasions... and satisfy my... needs."

The offer was so tempting that it was almost impossible to refuse.

But Ei's face immediately surfaced in Baichen's mind-the reluctance in her violet eyes, her parting instructions...

"I... can't..." he said quietly but firmly.

Bronya's gaze turned cold, and the temperature in the room plummeted. "Because of that Electro puppet?"

"Because I promised I'd go back." Baichen mustered the courage to look her in the eye. "I gave my word."

Surprisingly, the Tsaritsa didn't get angry.

She pondered for a moment, then abruptly changed tack. "Then how about another proposal-become a Fatui Harbinger?"

"W-what?"

"I can create a twelfth seat for you." Bronya toyed with a lock of the boy's hair. "You can keep everything you have now. You'd only need to serve Snezhnaya when necessary."

Seeing the bewildered look on Baichen's face, she explained patiently, "Harbingers don't have to stay in Snezhnaya all the time.

"For example, Childe often operates in Liyue, while Scaramouche's whereabouts are even more unpredictable..."

System, what does she mean?

[Exactly what she said, dummy!]

[She's giving you a way out]

[You don't have to stay in Snezhnaya, and you can give her some face]

Baichen bit his lower lip. "What if I refuse?"

Bronya's smile vanished. "Then it would prove that your loyalty to that Electro puppet far exceeds my expectations."

She stood up and looked down at the boy. "And I've never liked... variables I can't control."

The temperature in the room dropped below freezing, and Baichen's breath condensed into white mist.

Just as the tension reached its peak, Bronya suddenly turned and walked toward the door:

"Think it over." She didn't look back. "Give me your answer tomorrow."

The moment the door closed, Baichen let out a long breath and collapsed onto the bed.

He took the strawberry cake out of the system inventory and ate it in small bites. The cloying sweetness eased his frayed nerves a little.

System, what would happen if I became a Harbinger?

[Benefits: Obtain official Snezhnayan status + increased affection from Bronya]

[Drawbacks: Ei might get jealous + wariness from other nations]

[Careful, Ei might chop you to death with one slash]

The snow outside fell harder and harder. Baichen gazed out at the white world, his thoughts drifting back to Inazuma.

What was Ei doing now? Was she looking at the same snowy scene? Did she... miss me?

His fingers unconsciously brushed his bare chest, where Ei's Electro-Patterned Magatama should have been.

Bronya had taken it away, as if staking her claim.

Please click that button the color of poop, everyone, boohoo. Please send the free little gifts too, thank you all, qwq. Big gifts would be even better!

If the author wakes up one morning and sees the numbers are a complete mess, I might burst into tears and be too heartbroken to update, qwq.