It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Now, the extinguished flames have been reignited by the princess's crude question.

If they still had their senses, everything would be fine, but unfortunately, they were both completely drunk.

......

at the same time.

Outside the study.

The loyal Holly is protecting her supreme princess, preventing any unauthorized intruders from entering.

But the guard duty was rather boring, so Holly curiously focused her attention on her ears, trying to hear what was happening in the study—but apart from the occasional footsteps in the corridor, she couldn't hear anything.

"Uh-huh."

Even though she couldn't hear anything, Holly nodded in satisfaction and muttered to herself, "The soundproofing is really good; I can't hear a single sound."

Holly had asked Smith's butler which room had the best soundproofing, but His Highness's conversation needed to be kept secret.

The butler then said, "The study is the most suitable. It has been specially modified to meet the master's needs. It is the room with the best soundproofing in the entire villa. The heavy wooden doors are enough to block out all sound. Staying inside will ensure that you cannot hear any noise outside."

The study was originally intended for quiet reading, but it was also very suitable for confidential conversations, so we decided to choose the study.

"Good soundproofing is great. It's not just other people who can hear me, it's good that I can't hear anything either..." Holly thought to herself.

She didn't want to hear those confidential messages; hearing too much would only cause her trouble. She just wanted to be a good little maid serving His Highness.

Thinking about all this, Holly gave a satisfied smile.

Opening the blind box for the 195th time

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts...

It felt as if thousands of silver needles were gently pricking the back of my head, and my throat felt like it was on fire.

Li Cheng's expression twisted in pain for a moment, then he struggled to lift his heavy eyelids. The first object that appeared in his mind through the complex reflections and refractions of light through his retina was a ceiling that he had no recollection of.

"...?"

Gazing at the striped brown ceiling, Li Cheng slowly fell into deep thought... Who am I? Where am I?

The fact that two of the three great philosophical questions about life, which have stumped countless philosophers, were simultaneously on Li Cheng's mind at this moment was enough to prove his current confusion.

He only remembered that Holly later called him away from the banquet hall to meet Veronica, and they seemed to chat and laugh about some trivial things that he couldn't remember clearly.

What happened next?

Why have I lost my memory?

Li Cheng, who couldn't remember clearly, wanted to turn his head to observe the room first, but his gaze was immediately drawn to the raised blanket beside him.

The slight rise and fall of what appears to be breathing, the volume that perfectly accommodates a person, the gracefully undulating lines... without a doubt, a human woman must be hidden inside.

#￥%%……&&**?

Li Cheng seemed to suddenly understand many things, and a guess slowly surfaced... "My master might have been drugged!"

Although there were no similar convenient drugs available at this time, he had completely forgotten about that.

After all, in Li Cheng's remaining memory, he only drank a few insignificant low-alcohol beverages, and the possibility of him getting drunk simply didn't exist. Since he wasn't drunk, the only remaining possibility was that he had been drugged.

Li Cheng's expression suddenly turned serious. He pulled one hand out from under the warm blanket and gently grasped the top of the blanket, then remained still—he wanted to see who had done it and judge the severity of the incident by their appearance, but he was also a little hesitant to lift the blanket.

At this moment, Li Cheng felt as if he were facing an unopened blind box.

Blind boxes are something you never know what's inside until you open them.

It's like countless people racking their brains trying to figure out whether the cat in Schrödinger's blind box is dead or alive, but they can never come to a conclusion. They can only come up with a superposition of dead and alive states, where the cat is both dead and alive.

Li Cheng fell into deep thought.

From a scientific perspective, before he lifted the blanket, there could have been anyone in the world inside—Freya, Holly, Joanna… anyone he knew or didn’t know.

It might even be... Yui Aragaki.

And it has to be the one before marriage; the one after marriage... some people might think that would be even better, but Li Cheng is not included in that category.

This might seem far-fetched, but since time travel has already happened, what's wrong with wearing Yui Aragaki's clothes as well? In quantum physics, there's even a probability that a person can pass through a wooden door directly in the form of a quantum cloud without any external means.

It's just a matter of probability.

At this moment, a wise light gleamed in Li Cheng's eyes.

However, from another perspective, since there's a possibility of eating a peach, there's also a very bad possibility of getting something strange. Just like in Gintama, if a trembling hand opens a peach and it turns out to be a shy-looking old woman named Otose, that would definitely leave a lifelong trauma.

But whether or not it's done, it's impossible to be certain; sooner or later, there will be this kind of incision.

So, gritting his teeth, Li Cheng steeled himself and lifted his hand upwards.

The blanket was slowly pulled back, revealing a familiar, serene sleeping face with a wheat-colored hue. Long eyelashes trembled slightly with each breath, steady and even, showing that the owner of this face was sleeping soundly.

Hey, isn't that Annie?

Li Cheng quickly recognized the girl and breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "At least it's not Granny Otose... Yeah, right!!! Why did I wake up in the same bed as Annie?"

I remember this guy left before the banquet was over, right?

What exactly happened in between?

Li Cheng stared at Annie in shock, trying to deduce something from her sleeping face. However, he found nothing. Aside from the completely useless information that the sudden intrusion of cold air seemed to have no effect on Annie, who remained asleep like a hibernating brown bear…

He suddenly felt that the metaphor was quite apt. Annie's exposed arms, calves, and face were all wheat-colored, but her belly and other protected areas were still pure white like milk, resembling a bear with brown fur and a white belly.

Well, from now on, Annie will have another nickname: Brown Bear.

From the little mare initially described as having a running posture, to the primate that imitates humans, and then to the brown bear with its brown fur and white belly, the saying that humans are the most intelligent of all beings couldn't be more fitting for her.

Congratulations, congratulations... what a load of rubbish!

Perhaps because his mind was still foggy, Li Cheng's thoughts almost drifted to the edge of the Milky Way, and he only managed to bring them back to the main topic with great difficulty.

The most urgent thing is to quickly recall how I ended up sleeping in the same bed with Annie...

I can't remember!

I have absolutely no recollection of it!

Li Cheng's mind was blank, so he could only try to find some clues from his own body.

During this inspection, he suddenly discovered bad news, and then even worse news.

The bad news is that he had nothing on him except his underwear.

The worse news is that the underwear doesn't seem to be his own either.

......

After discovering these two pieces of bad news, Li Cheng no longer wanted to rack his brains. He figured it was probably all the same anyway, and he really gave up on himself.

So he shook Annie beside him twice: "Wake up, wake up!"

If I can't remember, surely Annie can't be unaware either?

That's what Li Cheng was thinking, and to be fair, his line of reasoning wasn't wrong. But what he never expected was that Annie was sleeping as soundly as a hibernating bear; he nudged her twice but couldn't wake her...

This is so awkward...

Annie lay on her side, and perhaps due to her sleeping posture, her pajamas had slipped down, exposing her shoulder to the air. Li Cheng's hand was on her shoulder, and he hesitated, unsure whether to continue stroking her.

However, to be fair, the shoulder felt quite nice to the touch, very smooth... Thinking this, Li Cheng subconsciously touched it a couple more times.

"I rely on!"

Unexpectedly, Annie, who had been impossible to wake up, was awakened by Li Cheng's gentle touch.

When Annie opened her eyes, she was shocked to see a naked man groping her body in a lewd manner. She immediately exclaimed "Holy crap!" and instinctively kicked out with a Foshan Shadowless Kick, giving Li Cheng a solid blow.

boom--

Li Cheng was seriously injured.

After doing all this, Annie woke up from her sleep and vaguely realized that something had happened.

She immediately sat up abruptly in bed, the movement revealing large expanses of skin on her waist, abdomen, and shoulders. Instead of covering herself, Annie glared angrily at Li Cheng's earlier caresses.

"Damn it, Li Cheng, I misjudged you! I always trusted you and thought we were good buddies, but you actually tried to take advantage of me while I was asleep!"

Li Cheng covered his injured area and glared back defiantly: "I was just trying to shake you awake, but you woke up as soon as I touched you!"

There's no point in talking about chivalrous principles with this kind of idiot. He'll try to cheat you or ambush you.

"Oh, is that so?"

Annie's face froze, and her previous aggressive attitude vanished, but her instincts still told her something was off: "But I think your expression is a bit off? It seems a little lewd."

"You're just imagining things. All men are like that."

Li Cheng explained in a serious tone.

Anne thought it made sense; she remembered that Sister Therese often said the same thing, so she accepted the explanation.

But that was the end of that matter. Then she shook her head, which she had just woken up, and suddenly remembered something. She glared at Li Cheng again: "Damn, I almost forgot—Li Cheng, you went too far last night!"

!!!

Originally, Li Cheng thought that nothing terrible had happened between them last night because she could explain away her kicking attitude. But Annie's questioning made his heart, which he had finally managed to put down, jump again.

Holy crap, I didn't actually do anything to Annie, did I? No matter what, a person shouldn't or shouldn't do that!

He did have a vague suspicion that he might have done something, but he wasn't quite sure. After all, although Annie's pajamas were rather disheveled, at least she was still dressed. Besides, given her personality, if something had happened between them, how could she still be properly dressed?

Li Cheng asked somewhat uncertainly, "Did I...do something?"

"Don't you know what you've done?"

Anne immediately retorted angrily, "Then I'll explain it to you clearly."

So Annie then fiercely rebuked Li Cheng for his actions, and through her description, Li Cheng finally learned a little about the truth.

Around yesterday evening, a carriage stopped in front of her two-story detached house. Then, two servants from the Smith family helped the unconscious Li Cheng off the carriage and politely knocked on Anne's door.

Anne had just returned from the theater. When she opened the door and saw Li Cheng completely drunk, and after hearing the explanation from the two servants, she didn't refuse and let them help Li Cheng into the house onto the sofa.

After seeing the two servants off, Annie called over the only maid in the house to help clean up Li Cheng. However, during this process, Li Cheng suddenly vomited all over himself, so the two of them had to work together to strip Li Cheng naked and clean him up.

"You vomited all over my sofa and got your clothes dirty. My maid and I had to take off your clothes and give you a bath. It was exhausting and tiring."

"Later, I let you sleep in my bed and slept on the floor myself. I even kindly covered you with a blanket before you went to sleep." Annie accused Li Cheng with a face full of grief and indignation: "But when you, you drunkard, saw me coming, you actually grabbed me and wouldn't let go!"