Small Talk

Lu Yan leaned back against the soft sofa, lowered his eyes, and looked at Little Aemeath was resting her head on his lap.

Having just finished a thorough cleaning, he assumed Little Aemeath was already asleep from exhaustion.

Little Aemeath's pink twin tails fell smoothly over his legs, and his small chest rose and fell steadily with his breathing.

Just as Lu Yan was about to adjust his sitting position to make her more comfortable, her tightly closed golden eyes suddenly opened.

"Aren't you going to sleep? Weren't you just saying you were tired without moving?" Lu Yan looked at her amusedly, but his fingers didn't stop moving. They slid down from the top of her hair and gently stroked her slightly chubby, delicate cheeks.

I don't want to sleep...

Little Aemeath rubbed against Lu Yan's lap like a kitten, shifting to a more comfortable position.

She wrapped her two soft little hands tightly around Lu Yan's arm, her voice soft yet incredibly firm:

" With A-Yan by my side, I can't bear to sleep. I'm afraid that if I close my eyes and wake up again, you'll suddenly disappear again, just like before."

He hooked his finger and gently flicked her pert little nose. "Silly girl, I'm right here, I'm not going to run away anytime soon."

"That's hard to say." Little Aemeath wrinkled her little nose, stretched out her two little hands, and hugged Lu Yan's arm tightly like a kitten guarding its food, as if afraid that he would turn into golden light and disappear in the next second.

She pressed her cheek against Lu Yan's palm, her voice becoming light and full of longing. "A-Yan, I haven't been idle while you were gone!"

"Oh? So what earth-shattering things has our Icefield Overlord done besides chasing Snowy Fluff Leopard all over the place?" Lu Yan's eyes crinkled, his tone full of anticipation.

"Hey, stop bringing up Snowy Fluff Leopard!"

Little Aemeath blushed with embarrassment, then puffed out her little chest with a touch of pride, "Sister Rover taught me to read!"

As she said this, she seemed to suddenly remember something, and abruptly sat up from Lu Yan's lap. She ran to the workbench and laboriously pulled out a notebook from under a pile of thick books.

She ran back to the sofa like she was showing off a treasure, lay down on Lu Yan's lap again, and opened the notebook in front of him.

"A-Yan, look! I wrote all of this!"

Lu Yan lowered his head and looked down at her delicate, white finger.

The notebook pages were densely covered with writing.

Although the handwriting still showed some of the naivety and crookedness unique to children, and some strokes almost tore the paper because of excessive force, every word was written with utmost care and neatness.

Although he couldn't understand it at all, it was probably Roy's runes.

"Sister Rover is very strict."

As Little Aemeath flipped through her notebook, she couldn't help but mutter to herself, even mimicking the Rover's aloof demeanor by deliberately putting on a stern face and lowering her voice to imitate him:

"Little Aemeath, your pen grip is wrong. Stand up straight. Your handwriting reflects your character. If you can't even write basic characters well, how will you understand more profound theories later? Rewrite it."

Seeing Little Aemeath's imitation, Lu Yan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

He could perfectly imagine that scene.

The aloof and proud savior sat at the desk like a strict teacher, while the little girl with pink pigtails lay miserably on the desk, biting her pen and writing furiously.

"However, I know that Sister Rover is doing this for my own good." After imitating, Little Aemeath returned to her obedient demeanor.

She looked up at Lu Yan, her eyes filled with longing for the future.

"Sister Rover said that with my current literacy level and learning progress, I'm almost ready to start school. She plans to find a way to send me to school soon."

"Go to school?" Lu Yan was slightly taken aback.

"Yes!" Little Aemeath nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with determination. "I want to go to school, I want to learn lots and lots of amazing knowledge!"

"Sister Rover said that true strength isn't just about wielding a sword, but also about becoming stronger here too." She pointed to her little head.

"Once I become smart enough and strong enough, I'll be able to help Sister Rover. I'll also be able to... protect A-Yan!!!"

Hearing the familiar phrase "protect A-Yan," Lu Yan felt as if a soft hand had gently kneaded his heart, sending a bittersweet warmth through him.

Looking at Little Aemeath, who was working so hard, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"This time... two months have actually passed."

Lu Yan's voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he was feeling helpless about the unreasonable flow of time.

"Starting school... Our Little Aemeath is definitely of school age."

Lu Yan sighed softly, but he couldn't hide the pity in his eyes.

He lowered his head and sighed with a touch of melancholy, "This time... two months have already passed without me even realizing it."

Hearing Lu Yan's murmur, Little Aemeath tightened her grip on his arm.

She pouted slightly, a touch of coquettishness and a hint of grievance appearing on her delicate little face:

"Hmm! You disappeared for two whole months!"

She tilted her head slightly, counting on her delicate white fingers, and began to recount to Lu Yan, point by point, the loneliness she had endured over the past two months:

"Sometimes Rover goes to Rinascita on business, and she's gone for several days at a time."

"When I'm alone in the house, I sit on the sofa in front of the TV and count the snowflakes drifting past the window."

"One, two, three... By the time we finished counting, it was already dark."

At this point, Little Aemeath deliberately dragged out the last syllable.

Her once clear, starry eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at Lu Yan as if scrutinizing a criminal.

She extended a slender, white index finger and gently poked Lu Yan, her tone carrying a hint of mischievous teasing:

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if A-Yan has met a more obedient and adorable girl outside, so he's grown tired of Little Aemeath and completely forgotten about me.

At the end, she deliberately wrinkled her little nose and "humphed," her cheeks puffing out slightly, perfectly portraying her jealousy.

"What kind of nonsense is going on in that little head of yours all day long?" Lu Yan laughed helplessly.

To punish Little Aemeath for her overthinking, he hooked his index finger and gently stroked the tip of her pert little nose.

"Ah--!" Little Aemeath exclaimed softly, sticking out her tongue somewhat shyly, but then buried her entire face in Lu Yan's palm, as if searching for some kind of support she could completely rely on.

Listen carefully, Aemeath.

Lu Yan suppressed his smile and said in an extremely serious tone:

Even if I forget everyone in the world, even myself, I will never, ever forget my Aemeath.

"Did you remember?"

"Hehe, I'll remember--!" Little Aemeath received the assurance she most wanted to hear, and her sadness vanished instantly.

She lifted her face, her eyes crinkling with a smile, her beautiful starry eyes filled with trust.

She reached out her soft hands and gently cupped Lu Yan's hand, which was resting on her cheek, and rubbed against it like a kitten clinging to its owner.

"For the past sixty days, I've thought about it every day: when will A-Yan come back?"

"Every time I hear the door open, I run to see what's going on. Even though it's always Sister Rover who opens the door... I know you'll come back. Because you promised me."

Lu Yan listened quietly, feeling as if his throat was stuffed with cotton, unable to utter a single word.

He could only respond to her waiting with actions.

His broad, warm palms traced her pink hair, gently stroking from the top of her head down her back, then he placed his thumb on her soft cheek, stroking it lightly.

"Yes, I will come back." Lu Yan promised softly, the delicate touch from his fingertips making him feel incredibly real.

As Lu Yan gently stroked her, Little Aemeath squinted her eyes comfortably, making a very faint sound from her throat, like a kitten purring.

"Sister Rover is actually quite strict..."

As Little Aemeath enjoyed Lu Yan's gentle caresses, she whispered her little secrets from the past two months:

"When she was teaching me to recognize those strange symbols, if I made a mistake in the calculation of a symbol, she would stare at me intently until I said it wrong."

"Ugh~ It was so scary! The temperature in the room felt like it dropped a few degrees."

"Why do I need to go through the process when I can get the answer directly?"

"But one time, while she was asleep, I secretly drew a Snowy Fluff Leopard on the first page of her notebook."

At this point, Little Aemeath stuck out her tongue guiltily, secretly glancing at Lu Yan's reaction out of the corner of her eye:

"I thought that Sister Rover would punish me severely after she woke up."

"After she saw it, she just stared at the painting for a long, long time, and then, for the first time ever, Sister Rover patted my head."

"Yeah?"

Lu Yan chuckled in response, patting her head soothingly with his finger, "That means Rover actually likes and cares about you a lot."

"She's just not very good at expressing her feelings for some reason."

"Yes, I know. Sister Rover is a good person, and she's very kind to me."

Little Aemeath's voice gradually faded. The continuous emotional ups and downs and the intense housework finally took their toll on the eleven or twelve-year-old's body.

But she still tried to open her eyes wide, greedily sketching every contour of Lu Yan:

"But... Rover is too quiet. When she sits there studying something, she's like a beautiful ice sculpture; there's not a sound in the room. It only gets this warm when A-Yan comes."

"A-Yan will play along with my antics, fight off those seals with me, clean up with me, and even... keep touching my face like this."

"If I could, I wish time could stand still forever..."

Lu Yan's heart felt as if it had been struck hard by something soft yet heavy.

Looking at the Little Aemeath on his lap, who showed such extreme dependence on him, he couldn't help but think of the Aemeath in reality who had schemed step by step to completely possess him.

It turns out that the obsession with making him the only one in her life didn't form overnight.

Rather, it took root and sprouted in the deepest part of my soul during those long and lonely childhood years, in the repeated encounters with his departure and the waiting, and could never be eradicated.

"Sleep well, little hero."

Lu Yan lowered his head and gently placed a tender kiss on Little Aemeath's smooth forehead.

"No matter what happens, I'll stay here until you wake up."

"Mmm~ A-Yan, you're so kind..."

Little Aemeath murmured her last words in her sleep, found the most comfortable angle on Lu Yan's lap, and closed her eyes completely.

This time, a sweet smile graced her lips, and even in her sleep, her two little hands clung tightly to Lu Yan's, impossible for anyone to pull away.

The scent of pine wood in the room grew stronger.

Lu Yan remained in that somewhat stiff sitting posture, stroking the girl's soft hair again and again without getting tired, quietly keeping her company through this rare peaceful twilight in her dream.

In the evening, a crisp electronic notification sound suddenly came from the main gate.

Then, with a soft "hiss," the technological door to the Glimmering Lakeside Lodge slowly opened.

A biting gust of wind, carrying snow and ice, instantly rushed into the room, causing the previously warm air to drop several degrees.

Lu Yan subconsciously pulled his arms closer, shielding Little Aemeath on his lap, and looked up at the door.

A tall, aloof figure in black stepped into the house amidst the swirling snow.

They are Rover.

Her black Star Torch Academy uniform jacket was covered with a thick layer of snow, and even her long, jet-black hair was covered with a thin layer of frost.

She pressed the close button, shutting out the blizzard once again, and then casually brushed the snowflakes off her shoulders.

As she turned around, her deep eyes swept across the scene inside the room, and she suddenly froze.

The Rover's gaze did not immediately fall on this heartwarming scene, but rather, like radar, it keenly swept over the wooden floor that had been polished to the point of reflecting light, and the sofa cover that had been rearranged without a single wrinkle.

As the owner of this house, she knew all too well what it looked like when she left that morning.

Although Little Aemeath is usually well-behaved, she could never clean the house as if it had just been renovated.

"You..."

The Rover frowned slightly, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes.

As she took off her coat and hung it on the hanger, she strode towards the sofa with her long legs, her tone carrying a hint of scrutiny:

"Why is this house unusually clean? Did Little Aemeath get into some trouble again while I was away?"