My wife is a witch princess.

"Then kiss me." Xia Li straightened her body a little.

“…Hmm.” Song Che responded, but still did not move.

His reason and impulse were locked in a fierce tug-of-war.

Kissing her on the lips...won't she get angry?

But... I really want to kiss him.

Just once, gently...

Xia Li pursed her lips and didn't urge her any further.

She simply looked at him, at the hesitation, longing, and a familiar awkwardness swirling in his dark eyes.

She suddenly realized that perhaps... he was even more nervous than she was.

This discovery strangely eased Xia Li's tense nerves a little.

Song Che finally took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind. He slowly raised one hand, his fingertips trembling slightly, and touched Xia Li's cheek.

Xia Li's body stiffened for a moment, but she did not dodge.

His fingertips were warm, and the touch was distinct.

Then, he leaned down slightly and moved closer.

Xia Li held her breath, her eyes still wide open, watching his face grow larger and larger in her field of vision.

His target didn't seem to be the cheek...

Just a second before his lips were about to touch that pale cherry blossom color, Song Che's movements suddenly stopped.

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly. One second, two seconds... more than ten seconds passed.

He remained frozen there, so close, his warm breath brushing against her skin, yet never touching her.

Xia Li looked at his face, which was so close to hers, filled with struggle. His eyes, which always held a mischievous or smiling look, were now tightly closed, and his eyelashes trembled nervously.

Since he couldn't make up his mind, then she could fulfill this "promise".

So, while Song Che was torn between his inner turmoil and was almost suffocating from excessive tension.

Without much hesitation, Xia Li tiptoed slightly and gently pressed her soft lips to the corner of his mouth.

A very light, very fast touch, with a noticeable deviation and hesitation.

It didn't even feel like a real kiss; it was more like an accidental brush of a feather.

Instantly separate.

Song Che straightened up abruptly as if he had been electrocuted, instantly creating distance between them, his ears turning bright red at a visible speed.

He turned his face away, completely avoiding Xia Li's eyes, his voice so muffled it was almost inaudible: "Okay, okay..."

Xia Li stood there, stunned. She didn't know if she wanted to fulfill her promise or what, but her body subconsciously made the gesture of "kissing Song Che".

She raised her hand and touched the corner of her lips with her fingertips, where a trace of unfamiliar warmth and touch seemed to linger.

She looked at Song Che, whose eyes were darting around and who seemed at a loss.

The inexplicable anxiety and anticipation in my heart seemed to suddenly deflate.

Instead, a stranger feeling arose.

Looking at Song Che, who seemed even more uncomfortable than herself and almost evaporated on the spot, she suddenly felt...

It doesn't seem so scary after all.

Even, a little... clumsy.

Song Che is a bit slow.

Xia Li, broom in hand, walked to the wall, pulled out a small stool, and pushed it next to Song Che's feet: "Sit down for a while. Are you about to faint?"

"I...I'm fine." Song Che's voice was weak; he hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

Xia Li actually turned the tables on me!

My mind went blank for a moment, and I couldn't react at all.

Xia Li's actions... how are they any different from flirting?

...Bad woman!

“I’m not a bad woman,” Xia Li immediately corrected, her tone calm but tinged with dissatisfaction. “You’re always cursing me in your heart. I… am unhappy.”

She seemed much more at ease speaking. Normally, she wouldn't directly tell Song Che "I'm unhappy"; she would usually just flick him on the forehead.

Song Che sat down on the low stool as instructed, his head still feeling a little dizzy.

He never imagined he would actually have this kind of contact with "Your Highness," let alone that she would be the one to take the initiative.

He now has so much inner monologue he could write a whole TV series.

After Xia Li finished kissing him, she seemed much more at ease, as if she had completed a task that had been pending.

Song Che's clever tricks will only work on her once. Next time... she definitely won't fall for his tricks again.

Although a kiss wouldn't hurt her, Song Che kept having long monologues in his mind that she couldn't understand, which gave her a headache, yet she couldn't help but keep thinking about them.

Xia Li pursed her lips, licked the corner of her mouth with her tongue, and then frowned slightly: "Liar, your words aren't sweet at all."

She looked up at Song Che, who was still lost in thought, "And stop dwelling on the 'taste of the mouth,' it's weird. It clearly doesn't taste like anything, it's just... a bit soft."

Song Che couldn't explain it to her: "It's just a metaphor! It's just a metaphor!"

"not understand."

"If you don't understand, then forget it." Song Che was indeed a little disappointed.

He liked Xia Li, so even though he didn't kiss her on the lips just now, he was still happy and felt that moment was "sweet." But Xia Li didn't understand what "liking" meant.

This silly witch, when she's unhappy she hits people on the head, or she sulks, and even when she's happy she has this same expression... Thinking about it, she really is a "bad woman" that you can't do anything with.

“I can learn to ‘like’,” Xia Li suddenly said, her voice very soft.

“You can’t learn to like something.” Song Che shook his head, his tone softening. “Forced liking isn’t true liking.”

He knew that the witch's emotions were a fatal flaw.

Xia Li seems to lack this module from birth; she lacks emotions. How could she learn it? If she could learn it, she would have already. After all, she can "read minds," so how could she not sense his affection?

I think I sensed it, but it didn't help.

It's like describing the warmth of a flame to a block of ice; it might "know" it, but it can't truly "experience" it.

Song Che hasn't come up with a solution yet.

However, this is for the best.

Although Song Che secretly wished that Xia Li would like him too, and wanted to see her smile when she saw him, then give him a big kiss, and hug him affectionately... of course, he knew that none of this was possible.

It might actually be a good thing that Xia Li doesn't understand these things.

After all, he was a mortal who would die.

Xia Li, that "old woman," has an alarmingly long lifespan.

Song Che was sometimes so envious.

If Xia Li suddenly falls in love with him, and then he dies, pitifully asking her before he dies, "Xia Li, is it really impossible to cultivate immortality without spiritual roots?"... He wasn't sure if Xia Li would have a mental breakdown or do something extreme.

I think so.

Xia Li is too naive, or rather, too stubborn. If she truly understood "liking," she'd probably go crazy researching resurrection potions and forbidden magic. That won't do. In this human society, those are all heretical and taboo; they could easily lead to serious problems.

Song Che had a whole bunch of thoughts on his mind, which made Xia Li's head ache slightly.

"Why do you sometimes curse me in your heart and other times... praise me?" Xia Li asked in confusion.

"You...mind your own business." Song Che was a little embarrassed and angry, and didn't want to explain.

...I'm not praising you because you're good-looking!

Xia Li felt that his reaction was too much, after just one kiss. Was this really so complicated, that she needed to think about it so much?

She didn't want Song Che to die. But after her previous experience of "death," Xia Li felt that death wasn't so scary after all. At worst, she could wait a hundred years and travel to the next world, where Song Che might be waiting for her in some small house again.

Of course, she didn't voice this thought. If Song Che knew what she was thinking, he'd probably call her an idiot a hundred times over, or make her watch "Peppa Pig" a hundred times. Xia Li's thoughts were sometimes just that... simple and direct.

"Song Che," she changed the subject, "do you want to continue cleaning?"

"No, there's nothing to clean."

"Well... I'd like to learn another dish. Can you teach me tonight?" Xia Li was becoming more and more proactive in her speech.

She remembered everything Song Che had said—a girl who can cook can get extra points with her parents.

If she could… she actually didn’t really want to leave this place and become self-reliant.

She felt... that she had really become weak.

This doesn't seem like a good sign... but vaguely, it doesn't seem too bad either.

"What type of cooking do you want to learn? Hot soup, or stir-fry?"

"I don't understand. What kinds are there? I want to learn... the kind Auntie likes to eat."

"My mom?" Song Che looked at her in surprise.

Isn't her level of dedication to "pretending to be a girlfriend" a bit too much?

They've even started researching dishes to please their future "mother-in-law."

"Hmm. What does Auntie like to eat?"

“My mom loves to eat…” Song Che suddenly stammered. He knew what his dad liked to eat, and he also knew what Aunt Lan liked to eat, but ironically, he seemed to have never seriously thought about what his mom actually liked to eat.

My mom never seems to have explicitly said what she likes to eat. Whenever there's something delicious, she always says, "Mom doesn't like this, you eat it." or "Mom doesn't like this, you eat more of it."

So... we can probably deduce what Mom likes to eat by working backwards.

Song Che didn't understand when he was a child, but he understands now.

The things Mom loves to eat... must be hidden inside the things he loves to eat.

For example, pork rib soup? Every time she makes soup, she only drinks a small bowl herself, but keeps serving him more and more.