In this way, both the handsome cultivator and the beautiful fairy remained in the natural clearing, alone with each other as they conversed and enjoyed their time together.
It wasn't much different from how things had always been when they were beside one another, the only change being that now there was a subtle intimacy between them, a quiet proof that a line had been crossed, though nothing indecent occurred beyond the warmth of small kisses and tender hugs.
The reason?
For Yulan it never even crossed her mind, while for Mikael—who was lying on his back in the grass with Yulan stretched out just beside him—it was something he had already considered.
He cast a sidelong glance at the airhead beauty before inwardly shaking his head. 'She is far too innocent for that,' he thought, taking in the wide, guileless eyes that shone with unrestrained wonder as she gazed at her surroundings.
'At least nothing of the sort should happen for a couple of months, and even if it does, it should be Yulan who brings it up…'
Rustle.
Yulan shifted slightly, bringing her body closer to Mikael as she snuggled into him.
Mikael mindlessly caressed her silky black hair tied in twintails as his thoughts swirled. '…Normally it wouldn't be like that and I wouldn't need to take a "passive approach," but with Yulan it's different…'
His emerald gaze lingered on the beauty. 'Considering her airheaded and innocent personality, it's better if she's the one who makes the move, at least at the beginning—both for the confession and the sexual aspect—in order to create a healthy relationship, which is why… I can only be passive and wait!'
As he had these thoughts, Mikael couldn't help but feel a flicker of irritation, for he deeply disliked being passive in anything; he far preferred to take his fate into his own hands and to be the 'active one'.
But with Yulan, and to a lesser degree Lifen, it wasn't an option, and so he could only remain 'passive'. It was annoying, yet as his gaze fell on Yulan lying beside him, radiating joy, his irritation melted like snow before the sun.
'As annoying as it is… it's worth it,' he thought as a gentle smile appeared on his handsome features.
***
"Mikael, open your mouth." Yulan's enthusiastic voice resounded as she extended a spirit melon seed toward Mikael.
He obeyed and began to eat the spirit melon seeds that Yulan fed him with enthusiastic care, her every movement carrying a tender aura…
"Hmph!"
A cold snort echoed, causing Yulan to curiously tilt her head toward the source of the sound. "What is it, Lifen?" she asked curiously.
Lifen, who had just snorted coldly at seeing Mikael and Yulan being all lovey-dovey, froze under Yulan's innocent stare before stammering, "N-nothing, it was just the… the cold!"
"Oohh! In this case be careful to cover yourself when you go out so you don't catch a cold!" warned Yulan, not wondering for a moment about the impossibility of a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator catching one…
Crunch.
On that note, Yulan returned to dutifully feeding Mikael like a loyal wife, all under Lifen's irritated glare, her sharp eyes locking on Mikael.
'T-this… b-bastard charmed her!'
Her gaze shifted back to Yulan. 'And Yulan, stop acting like a tamed wife, weren't you supposed to be a "Femme Fatale"!?'
Tap, tap, tap.
Instinctively, without the tsundere beauty realizing, her finger began to rhythmically tap against her thigh as she watched the newly formed Taoist Couple.
'I don't know… I really don't know what Yulan sees in Mikael. Except for being insufferably charming, a flirt, handsome, strong… he has nothing going for him. He's just an insufferable bastard!'
She nearly let out another snort at the thought but held it back, not wanting to draw Yulan's attention.
Lifen was full of negative thoughts toward the new Taoist Couple formed by Mikael and Yulan, but what she herself didn't realize was that the source of her emotions wasn't worry for her sister but jealousy…
After another 'gentle' inward comment toward Mikael, Lifen's gaze inadvertently drifted to his handsome visage and then to his toned body that was partially visible.
Gulp.
'Okayyy, maybe he is a little handsome, but it changes nothing, he is still as insufferable and I am not interested in him in any way!'
She violently shook her head, sending her twintails flapping around, which caught Mikael's gaze; he allowed the smallest hint of a smile to appear but otherwise didn't comment, refocusing his attention on Yulan~.
Lifen threw another glance at the duo of Yulan and Mikael before one of her fingers began to trace circles on her thigh.
'And even if by some miracle I was interested in him—which isn't the case at all—I couldn't go after him, he is after all already in a Taoist Couple with Yulan, and while he is a womanizer with multiple women…'
She took a deep breath to calm herself. 'Yulan and I being sisters makes it impossible for us to share the same man…It's not like at the Savagefang Mountain Range, where things were more casual where we and maybe…maybe even I flirted a little bit with him, now that he's Yulan man going after him would be unacceptable!"'
As she had these thoughts, Lifen's expression unconsciously darkened as she began to nibble on her pink lips while lowering her gaze to the ground with a somewhat lost expression…
***
On that note, time, like the unstoppable river it was, continued to flow as a couple of days rapidly passed.
During these days Lifen's mood visibly worsened, her aura gradually shifting toward a somewhat gloomy one, and this was especially the case whenever she saw Yulan and Mikael flirting—at those moments it was as if she was caught in the middle of internal dilemmas.
Lifen didn't act in a depressed way or anything; she even tried to hide her gloominess and keep it to herself, but… she wasn't the best of actors!
To the point that even Yulan remarked on it!
'What is happening with Lifen these days?' Yulan wondered to herself, tilting her head.
Currently both sisters were just outside the lodging where they were staying during their time in the Wandering Sword Sect, more precisely with Yulan sitting on the grass just before the 'house'.
Lifen, meanwhile, was not far away, training in a Water Qi Cultivation Technique they had learned in the Stillwater Palace.
Yulan's wide, innocent eyes lingered on her sister's form as the latter continued to cultivate, but it was visible that she was having difficulty executing this particular Water-attributed Cultivation Technique.
Which was strange to Yulan, considering that Lifen had already reached Great Success in this particular Cultivation Art and shouldn't have had any difficulty executing it?
'There really is something weird with my sister recently… but what?'
She tilted her head in a mix of curiosity and worry as she began to tap her pink lips with her finger, observing her sister attentively as though trying to pierce all of her secrets.
Swish, swoosh, splash.
Normally Yulan's intense stare should have caused Lifen's senses to react, but the latter was so lost in her thoughts as she executed her Cultivation Technique that she didn't notice anything.
"Why is Lifen so… sad?" murmured Yulan in a low voice as her mind began to race in search of a reason. 'Mind, problem, earth, bird, water, food, I would really eat something miam.'
Shake.
She vigorously shook her head. 'Focus Yulan!' she screamed to herself before her thoughts once again tried to find the answer behind her sister's gloomy behavior.
Time passed uneventfully like that until—
"MIKAEL!"
Stumble.
Lifen stumbled a step as her heart skipped a beat, caught off guard by her sister's sudden scream. She was about to reprimand Yulan for startling her, but then her mind registered the name her sister had spoken.
"What!? Where?" Lifen's head snapped around sharply as she scanned her surroundings for Mikael, but after a couple of seconds without finding him her confused gaze settled back on Yulan.
'Oh no, I spoke aloud!' Yulan paled, especially when her sister's sharp gaze locked onto her. 'Think, Yulan, think—you need a solution!'
Long seconds passed before Yulan forced a wry smile, rubbing the back of her head. "Ehehehe, sorry, I thought I had seen Mikael but it was nothing, ehehe…."
Lifen's already sharp gaze narrowed further as she distinctly sensed that something wasn't right with her sister, but,
'Whatever!' she thought gloomily, and without paying further attention to her airhead sibling she turned back to her solo cultivation.
Yulan held her breath for a moment, but when she saw Lifen silently return to training a small, "Phew!" escaped her lips as she wiped an invisible bead of sweat from her forehead.
'Stupid Yulan… I shouldn't have screamed! But it really surprised me… and now Lifen is gloomy because she is jealous of my Taoist Couple with Mikael…'
The twin-tailed beauty's expression dimmed as her thoughts weighed on her. 'What should I do? I don't want Lifen to be sad, but I love Mikael, and I don't want to leave him either…'
Her gaze sank to the ground, her expression growing heavier with each passing second. 'What should I do?'
Rustle… rustle…
The sound echoed as she gently tore at the blades of grass, peeling their thin skin with absent fingers, her movements slow and distracted, her eyes vacant, making it clear that she was utterly lost in her thoughts.
And so the present scene of both sisters sinking into their respective gloom, 'sitting beside' each other, remained unchanged for what felt like an eternity.
Even though Yulan did her best to use her brain to find a solution to this dilemma, she just… couldn't!
'Each solution is awful! Either I stay with Mikael and it hurts Lifen, or I leave Mikael and it hurts me and Mikael. I just…'
Her gaze fixed itself on a lone blade of grass she had been absentmindedly peeling moments ago, and in that instant she felt as if she were no different from this fragile strand, being slowly stripped away by life itself as the weight of her inner conflict tore at her.
Slowly she lifted the blade of grass to eye level before, with a sharp flick, she hurled it upward. Carried away by the wind, it drifted far under her gaze, and for a fleeting moment a hint of hope stirred within her.
'If this grass can escape being "skinned by life," maybe I can too!' she thought, her heart regaining a touch of optimism—until her eyes fell upon Lifen, who was still "training" not far from her.
Yulan's faint enthusiasm withered as reality pressed back down upon her. 'I just… can't find a solution. I don't know what to do!'
She thought while placing her head against her thighs, wrapping her arms around her head as she brooded, her aura dark and heavy.
At that instant, if Lifen had returned to reality and escaped the grip of her own thoughts, she would have instantly seen that something wasn't right with the sister she loved so much, but—
Sadly, reality wasn't made of 'if,' and she didn't.
Because of that, Yulan stayed in her position for an unknown span of time; it could have been five minutes, or it could have been an hour, but only after this long did she finally move.
"Ahhh…"
A deep sigh escaped Yulan's lips before she forced herself to raise her head, then her body, until she stood upright, her footsteps carrying her into the lush nature spread across Swordheart Peak.
"I'll be taking a walk!" she informed as she left their house's surroundings.
"Mhm."
A small sound of affirmation escaped Lifen as she carried on with her training, too lost in her thoughts to realize the weight her sadness placed on her lovely sister.
Ironically, what had begun as a joyous moment—Yulan's confession to Mikael being accepted—had now turned into something that left both sisters steeped in gloom.
And with each step Yulan took away from her sister, it was as if a rift was forming in their once-strong bond, growing wider with every step, though whether this was an illusion or the harsh reality remained to be seen…
Author Note:
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The mood do a 180 from the previous wholesome and joyous feelings to go in depressive/sadness scene.
It really ironic when you think about it Yulan confess which is a joyful event but this → to Lifen being sad → Yulan is sad, in the end what was initially a joyful event became something that made everyone sad!
Hope things will get better in the next chapter or will they?
———
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— End of Chapter —