Pfft... What was this called? Lifting a rock only to drop it on her own foot? Why on earth had Cornus suddenly decided she wanted to mate with her?! This was not something you could just decide to do on a whim!
"Wait, wait. You said you want to mate with me? Why?" Chu Lian could not bring herself to voice all the retorts in her heart while facing the innocent-looking Flower Youkai, so she could only turn them into a question instead.
"Because I like Master the most! This way, everyone will know that I like Master. I like Master the most. I really, really like Master!" As Cornus spoke, she opened her arms as though intending to embrace Chu Lian.
"You woman, stay away from Chu Lian!" Just as she was about to hug Chu Lian, a girl's voice suddenly rang out from above. A gust of wind swept past, and Chu Lian vanished from Cornus' sight.
Cornus stared ahead in astonishment. Where had Master gone? "Who was it? Who stole Master away?" She was getting angry. Someone had actually snatched away the Master she wanted to mate with right in front of her. Was that not a blatant provocation?
"Hmph. You idiot whose entire brain is made of fa—breast tissue, don't touch Chu Lian. Chu Lian belongs to Yaya!" Wearing nothing but a three-piece bikini, the girl stood barefoot to one side with Chu Lian in her arms, glaring at Cornus with an indignant huff.
"Master is mine, not yours, you underdeveloped little girl." Cornus' gentleness and grace were probably reserved exclusively for Chu Lian. Rather than calling this a mere retort, it would be more accurate to say she had switched directly into venomous-tongue mode.
Thud. Yaya stomped down hard with her left foot, blasting a crater into the ground. Gritting her teeth, she glared at Cornus. "Who are you calling an underdeveloped little girl, you brainless cow?!"
"You, of course. Look at how tall you already are, yet they're still only that small. How pitiful." Cornus plucked a leaf from a nearby vine and used it as a fan. With one hand on her hip, she swept her gaze over the petite Yaya, her expression full of pride.
Indeed, her figure surpassed that of every other woman in the house. At nearly one meter ninety tall, with what could practically be called a G-cup bust, a wasp-like waist, shapely rounded hips, and long, slender legs, she naturally stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
Compared to her, Yaya, who was only a little over one meter forty tall, had a B-cup bust, and looked like an elementary school student, simply could not compete. So Cornus' pride was understandable.
But had either of them considered whether their words were already deeply wounding someone else?
I want to die. Chu Lian's heart was practically collapsing. While Cornus was attacking Yaya, Chu Lian had been caught squarely within the blast radius as well. Not only had she been hit by friendly fire, she was actually the one taking the heaviest damage. Of course she was heartbroken.
Unfortunately, Chu Lian was currently suffering not only from half a month of weakness, but also from the continuous bleeding debuff that had plagued her for the past few days. Trapped in Yaya's arms, there was basically no chance she could break free.
Of course, she did not particularly want to break free either. At a time like this, pretending to be dead was probably the safest choice. Otherwise, once these two came back to their senses, it would no longer be a battle between two sides. Her entire harem might end up erupting into war.
So despite being devastated beyond words, Chu Lian remained completely silent. Fight, fight, fight, fight. No matter what happened, she would pretend she had not seen a thing. Ideally, they would get so caught up in fighting that they forgot about her entirely. Then she could escape and stop being hurt by them like this.
"Yaya is a doll! As long as Chu Lian wants it, Yaya can be modified to become taller, prettier, and have bigger breasts! Yaya definitely won't lose to you! And you could never possibly grow more than Yaya can!" Faced with Cornus' attack, Yaya immediately found the perfect angle for a counterattack without even needing to think.
"Ohohoho... Are you joking? You do realize I'm a plant, don't you? As long as a plant has enough nutrients and time, it can keep growing indefinitely. Don't let my current height fool you. If I wanted to, hmph, all I'd need to do is absorb enough nutrients from the surroundings and enough sunlight, and I could grow even taller!"
Cornus laughed lightly. Trying to compete with a plant in growth potential? This girl really was foolish.
"That's cheating!" Yaya was infuriated. How could someone possibly have such a shameless ability?
"If we're talking about cheating, aren't you the one who's cheating, little girl? My growth comes from my own nature. What about you? Your growth depends on someone else modifying you. You're relying on external help. Isn't that cheating?" Cornus looked at her with some confusion. Although she was merely refuting Yaya, every word struck directly at Yaya's weak point.
"I... I..." What could she possibly say? In terms of figure, Cornus utterly crushed her. In terms of looks, they belonged to completely different types, so there was no meaningful comparison. Strength? Cornus had only just been summoned and had not even reached the limits of her growth, unlike Yaya, who had already reached hers. Comparing that would just be bullying.
Then aside from those things, what else could they compare? Yaya did not know either.
"So, little girl, since you lost, hurry up and give Master back to me. I want to mate with her. I want her to know that I like her the most." Cornus lowered the leaf and extended one hand. Several vines immediately stretched outward along her snow-white arm, as though preparing to pull Chu Lian into her embrace.
"Ma... ma... mate?" Cornus' words instantly caught Yaya's full attention. How could she possibly not know what mating meant? She had not even gotten to do anything H with Chu Lian yet, and this woman already wanted to get there before her? Absolutely not!
Magic power surged from Yaya's entire body. Her eyes seemed to burn as she glared at Cornus. "Chu Lian is mine! I absolutely won't give her to you!"
"Little girl, are you trying to fight me? You haven't forgotten what Big Sister Li Mingxue said, have you? Unless we're dealing with an enemy invasion, no one is allowed to use power above the Earth Rank when fighting around the house. Otherwise, you can wait to be punished."
Cornus knew she could not defeat Yaya at full strength, but she was not afraid because that house rule existed. Even if Yaya truly wanted to fight, she would still have to suppress her strength to the peak of the Spirit Rank.
Yaya was also holding Chu Lian in her arms, while Cornus specialized in defense and was fighting on her home ground, where she could absorb energy from beneath the earth. As long as she did not expend too much energy all at once, Cornus was certain to win a prolonged battle. Naturally, she had no fear of Yaya's challenge.
"Yaya will fight you to the death!" Since she was holding Chu Lian, she could not use her fists. In that case, she would use her legs.
Yaya's body shot forward at high speed. Just as she was about to clash with Cornus, a voice suddenly rang out. "My, my, how interesting. What are you two doing?"
Those words distracted Yaya for just a moment, and then... her legs were bound by Cornus' vines. She was hoisted upside down into the air and left swinging there, unable to break free.
Thump. Yaya, suddenly flipped upside down, failed to pay attention for a moment, and Chu Lian slipped straight out of her arms and fell to the ground.
It was only grass, and the fall was only from about a meter high, but for Chu Lian in her current condition, it was still quite a painful impact.
Why am I always the one who gets hurt... Gritting her teeth, Chu Lian silently crawled up from the ground. Taking advantage of the two girls' struggle, she began crawling away.
She had made up her mind. She was absolutely not getting involved in this. Otherwise, she would definitely suffer horribly. Whenever these girls got reckless, they often paid absolutely no attention to what might be around them.
But she had only crawled a short distance before she found a pair of beautiful legs clad in black stockings and red high heels directly in front of her.
Her gaze traveled upward, and a pair of hollowed-out black panties concealed beneath a red cheongsam reflected in her eyes, impossibly alluring.
Only then did she realize that the stockings were actually thigh-highs connected to garters at the waist. The absolute territory between those snow-white thighs and the red cheongsam was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Have you seen enough?" Kurumi Tokisaki crouched down, lifted Chu Lian's chin, and looked into her eyes with an amused smile.
"Ahem. I've seen enough." How could Chu Lian possibly admit that she had not? She still had not spent much time with this girl, so it would not be appropriate for them to act too intimately.
Chu Lian had originally promised to revive the other Spirits, but because she had fallen unconscious and was still in a weakened state, that matter had been delayed. Now she felt somewhat embarrassed even seeing Kurumi.
"You know, you really can't keep going like this." Kurumi reached out and pulled Chu Lian to her feet. With her natural height of 157 centimeters plus seven-centimeter heels, she could now look down at Chu Lian from above.
"It's not like I can stop them from fighting over me." Chu Lian knew Kurumi was talking about how she had attracted too many girls, but most of the time, none of this had been her intention. They had come to her for one reason or another. She really had no way to prevent it.
"True." Kurumi thought about it for a moment. Even she herself had only come here because she had accepted a mission to assassinate Chu Lian. If the other girls had arrived for all sorts of reasons as well, then it really could not entirely be blamed on Chu Lian.
While the two of them talked, Yaya and Cornus finished arguing for a while and quickly noticed what was happening.
"Ah! You again! This is all your fault! If you hadn't called out to Yaya just now, Yaya wouldn't have gotten distracted, and Yaya wouldn't have been caught, and Yaya wouldn't have lost Chu Lian!" The moment Yaya turned and saw Kurumi Tokisaki, she immediately began swinging around like an enraged cat.
She truly could not understand this woman. She was obviously nothing more than a prisoner right now, so why was her life even more carefree than Yaya's? She got along so well with everyone in the house that even Lady Li Mingxue was practically treating her like a daughter.
Yet no matter how hard Yaya tried to earn favor, she could never get the same treatment. It was unfair!
"Master is mine, so don't take her away." The moment Cornus saw Chu Lian beside Kurumi Tokisaki, she immediately lost interest in Yaya. With a casual wave of her hand, she tossed the little girl aside.
Crash. Yaya slammed directly into a corner where miscellaneous items had been piled up, scattering everything across the ground. Clutching her little head, she sprang up furiously, ready to go settle the score with Cornus. But the instant she turned her head, she saw Li Mingxue standing off to the side with a faint smile, and all her anger immediately vanished.
This clearly wasn't Yaya's fault, so why does Yaya have to clean all this up?!
She complained inwardly, but there was nothing she could do. Even if she had not deliberately caused the mess, the fact remained that everything had been scattered. If she did not want to be punished, then she would obviously have to clean it up herself.
"These children really are... sigh, they're far more chaotic than I ever was when I was young. Little Lian'er, I hope you can manage everyone's relationships properly on your own. Otherwise, things are going to become troublesome..."