"Home...?"
At those words, Loughshinny's eyes widened, and for a moment she seemed to drift into a daze.
Home...?
Did she still have one?
Her father and mother were gone. The little house that had once been familiar was now farther and farther away. And yet...
He had said to her:
Welcome home.
For a moment, countless emotions surged through the girl's heart. Her chest swelled with feelings so tangled and overwhelming that they seemed ready to spill out through her throat, only to catch behind her lips when she saw Zuojian's gentle, kindly expression—the warm look on his face, like a spring breeze.
She did not know what words could possibly carry everything she was feeling.
In the end, she could only fall silent.
At that moment, she suddenly wished she had spent more time reading the poems and books she loved—memorizing the words authors used to hold their feelings—so that in a moment like this, she would not feel so helpless and clumsy.
After a brief silence, the girl finally made her choice.
Compared to words, she felt that right now, actions would suit her feelings better.
Loughshinny gently lifted Zuojian's hands in her own small palms and closed her eyes, as if gathering some special power.
Zuojian noticed, but before he could ask what she was doing, he saw a warm amber flame flicker to life over her chest. It traveled down her slender arms and into his injured hands.
Good grief... so the younger sister could transform too?
Watching the fire wrap softly around his hands, Zuojian quickly realized it felt completely different from Eblana's violet flames. Her sister's fire had been cold and eerie, yet capable of burning flesh directly. Loughshinny's orange fire, on the other hand, gave him an entirely different sensation.
It was hotter—or perhaps a better word would be warmer—but it did not burn. Instead, it felt soothing. The burned areas on his hands began to itch faintly, and the stabbing pain that had slowly been returning as the painkillers wore off began to fade.
It was not enough to heal him, but it did suppress the discomfort from the burns.
When the flames faded and the small patch of exposed skin under the bandages showed no visible sign of recovery, Loughshinny lowered her head in disappointment and explained apologetically,
"I'm sorry... this... this is all I can do."
But Zuojian looked delighted. He shook his head and pinched her cheek lightly.
"No, this helped a lot. It doesn't matter if it didn't fully heal me. Just suppressing the discomfort is already amazing. Now I won't have to worry about making mistakes while kneading the dough."
With that, Zuojian put on a pair of rubber gloves and turned to start working on the noodles.
Only for the girl to stop him at once.
"No!"
Loughshinny hurried forward, grabbed his arm in both hands, and held it firmly in place so he could not lift it again.
"Even if the pain is being suppressed, the wounds are still there!"
"If you keep doing this... they'll only get worse!"
The timid Loughshinny showed a level of determination he had never seen before. Her expression alone told Zuojian that he was not going to win by trying to argue with her.
Then, right in the middle of the stalemate, both of their stomachs growled at the same time.
Though Loughshinny's face immediately flushed red, her grip on his arm did not loosen in the slightest.
"No means no!" she said again, doubling down when she saw him trying to explain.
Faced with total deadlock, Zuojian finally sighed.
"All right. Fine. If that's how it is, then we'll have to do it this way."
"What way?"
Seeing that he seemed to have thought of a solution, Loughshinny looked up in confusion. Zuojian pulled over a small stool, then, while she was still clinging to his arm, lifted her up and set her on it.
"If that's the case, then you knead the dough, and I'll guide you."
His voice came from just behind her, his warm breath brushing past her ear. Instantly, the heart that had only just calmed down started pounding again.
Even her tail began to swish wildly behind her, brushing against Zuojian now and then.
"Don't wave your tail around."
Zuojian had already slipped fully into instructor mode, his expression completely serious.
Startled, Loughshinny quickly stilled her tail. But then she realized that even staying like this might still get in his way, and after a moment's hesitation, she did the only thing she could think of—awkwardly curling the tip of her tail around his calf so it would stay put.
She was terribly embarrassed, but after secretly glancing back and seeing that Zuojian seemed not to care at all, she quietly let out a breath of relief.
"Loughshinny, focus."
Unfortunately, that tiny moment of relaxation was enough for Zuojian to decide she was losing concentration. He stepped in closer, almost pressing against her back.
Then he covered her small hands with his own and began guiding her through the motions step by step, showing her what to do.
As for Loughshinny?
At this distance, with his hands over hers, his voice close to her ear, and his heartbeat just behind her, she felt as though her mind were spinning.
Her face grew even redder, and her eyes turned dazed, as if they might swirl into spirals at any moment.
"The pressure's wrong. Push down. Feel the elasticity of the dough with your fingertips."
Zuojian, meanwhile, had become entirely absorbed, his gaze fixed solely on the rough lump of dough in front of them.
He guided her hands down, pressing her fingers into the dough.
The sticky texture clung to her skin, and the warm scent of wheat drifted up from it, quietly filling every corner of the kitchen.
But Loughshinny noticed almost none of it.
Her mind was filled instead with the warmth in his voice, the warmth of his chest against her back, and the warmth of his large hands covering hers.
The man guided the girl's fingers through the dough again and again.
Moonlight streamed in through the cracks of the window, casting their overlapping shadows across the floor—and into a pair of cold, watchful eyes at the doorway.
"Disgusting."
Eblana stood there, one hand holding her IV stand, the other pushing the door open just enough to take in the scene in the kitchen.
After watching for several minutes, she narrowed her eyes and repeated, with even greater disgust,
"Disgusting."
Watching her foolish little sister get completely spun around by him, Eblana became more certain than ever: without her, Loughshinny would probably get sold by this man and still help him count the money afterward.
And Zuojian—hah. She had underestimated him.
Who would have thought that after waking up from such a severe injury, the very first thing he would do was pour all his energy into winning over her sister?
And judging by the flush on Loughshinny's face, he had already thoroughly taken her in.
Damn it. She had known that beneath that kindly, harmless facade, he had to be up to something.
How despicable.
With that thought, Eblana's face went cold. Unable to watch any longer, she turned away from the kitchen, bracing herself on the IV pole as she slowly made her way back to the room whose door was now gone.
For some reason, the farther she walked, the more the irritation in her chest swelled.
By the time she reached the room and saw the empty doorframe and the broken remains of the door still scattered on the floor, her annoyance had reached its absolute peak.
She snapped her fingers.
A more blazing violet flame than before sprang up across the floor, instantly reducing the broken wood to ash.
Even so, it did nothing to ease the feeling inside her.
Stepping over the ashes, she went back into the room and lay down on the bed.
Feeling the weakness in her body, looking up at the unfamiliar ceiling with its old chandelier, she could feel that nameless fire in her heart burning hotter and hotter.
She had to make him show his true face.
She would tell Loughshinny—show her with the facts—that everything this man had done was a performance, all a scheme to turn them into obedient puppets.
And as for why he had risked his life to save her...
That had to be because his ambition was so great it surpassed even his own life. That had to be it.
Yes. That was it.
Eblana lay on her side on the bed, her face dark and gloomy, her mind filled with increasingly bitter thoughts.
After some unknown amount of time, she heard footsteps approaching from outside.
Turning her head, she saw Zuojian standing in the doorway with a steaming bowl of noodles in his hands.
When he noticed she was awake, his face brightened a little as he carried the bowl inside.
"You're awake, Eblana. When did you wake up? Do you still feel uncomfortable anywhere? Are you hungry? We made ramen in the kitchen just now—I hope it suits your taste. Loughshinny seemed to like it, so I figured you probably wouldn't hate it either... Eblana? Why aren't you saying anything?"
After talking cheerfully for quite a while, Zuojian finally noticed that the girl on the bed, though clearly awake, had said absolutely nothing. Worried, he set the bowl on the bedside table and reached out to feel her forehead.
Only then did Eblana finally sit up slowly and fix him with an icy stare.
"My throat hurts. Don't feel like talking."
"I see. That's fine. The noodles are easy to swallow, and I made the broth fairly mild—"
"Don't want it."
Her answer was short, cold, and full of rejection.
"At least eat a little. Going hungry won't help you recover. Besides, Loughshinny made this herself."
At the mention of Loughshinny, a faint vein seemed to twitch on Eblana's forehead.
This man!
Was he secretly flaunting the fact that he had already won over her foolish sister?
"I said I don't want it. I'm not hungry—"
She got no farther than that before her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.
For a moment, even Eblana froze in embarrassment.
Just as Zuojian was about to say something, she let out a long breath, snatched up the bowl, and without another word devoured the noodles in a few quick bites, not even leaving the broth behind.
When she finished, she shoved the empty bowl and chopsticks back at him.
"I've eaten. Happy now? You can leave. I'm going to sleep."
With that, she lay back down.
But to her surprise, Zuojian showed no sign whatsoever of leaving.
He set the bowl aside, then pulled out a book from behind his back—a book that looked newly bought—and smiled at her.
"Ah, right. When we went out earlier, I bought Loughshinny quite a few new books. But I still don't know what kinds of things you like, so I picked one for you too—based on my own tastes."
Then he opened the book, sat down at the head of her bed, and asked eagerly,
"Want me to read it to you? Think of it as a bedtime story!"
Seeing the expression on his face, Eblana felt the irritation in her chest flare up all over again.
This man was so unbelievably annoying.
Hadn't she told him to leave?
She turned her head, ready to snap at him—
Then her eyes caught sight of the hands holding the book.
Wrapped in layer after layer of bandages.
And on them, faint but unmistakable...
Her own violet fire.
Looking at Zuojian, who had paused because she turned toward him, Eblana fell silent for a moment. In the end, she swallowed back the words that would have driven him away and only muttered, lightly and without force,
"Do whatever you want."
And so Zuojian spread open the book and began to read.
"Long, long, long ago, there was a lonely skylark..."
"Until one day, it happened to find an egg of unknown origin. Hearing the life within the shell calling out before it had even hatched, the great skylark decided to hatch it..."
....
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