Gao Ziyue could still feel a gentle warmth spread across her cheeks, a stubborn blush that refused to disappear completely, as though Kyrian's words had left an invisible mark upon her skin.
Even after several moments, those words continued echoing through her mind like small waves that refused to fade away, each repetition carrying the same impact as the first.
It had not been an elaborate compliment, nor a carefully chosen phrase meant to impress her with rhetoric or poetry. Quite the opposite.
It had been something simple, direct, and utterly natural, as though he were merely stating an obvious fact, like saying the sky is blue or that water flows toward the sea.
That was precisely why it had struck her so deeply, because there had been no pretense, no calculation, none of the masks she had grown so accustomed to seeing in others.
