Great, we're doomed now!

Her tone was very calm, as if she were stating a trivial fact, but Mengye covered her mouth and couldn't help but show a sympathetic expression, clearly having misunderstood something.

Chika tried some lipstick tea to relieve her stress. The subtle sweetness made her feel much more relaxed. She hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Carmilla's face with her beautiful blue eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Since we've brought up family matters... Miss Carmilla, there's a question I've always wanted to ask you."

"explain."

Chika mustered her courage: "What are your feelings for Koshou? Have you ever thought about developing a relationship with him that's closer than just friends?"

"!"

The cookie in Mengye's hand stopped in mid-air, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she scanned back and forth between the two of them, a look of watching a show slowly appearing on her face.

Carmilla didn't answer immediately; a gentle breeze blew through the garden, ruffling her short silver hair.

She paused, then said, "He is a mountain."

"Mountain?" Chika tilted her head, feeling puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"A mountain that looks very tall, blocking out the sky when it stands in front of you, makes you want to trample it under your feet." Her tone was as calm as stating a fact, without the shyness one would feel when mentioning a sweetheart, nor the wariness one might have towards a rival—she probably didn't consider Qianhua a rival.

Or rather, the only person who would make her clearly show wariness was a maid, for some reason.

"Trampled underfoot..."

"I'll conquer him sooner or later!" she said. "From a human perspective, I want to be the one he serves—his queen!"

Mengye stuffed the cookie into her mouth and exclaimed indistinctly, "Wow, how daring... I want to too~"

"You!"

Qianhua rolled her eyes at Mengye, then leaned forward slightly and asked eagerly, "What does the Queen mean? Like a monarch and his subject, or like a husband and wife?"

"I don't know what a couple is, or rather, I know the definition of a couple, but I don't know what exactly needs to be done to be considered a couple... Is practicing fusion skills enough?"

Mengye reached for a cookie: "I know, husband and wife are supposed to sleep in the same bed and put XX inside—"

That's enough!

Chika quickly covered Moeha's mouth: "That's not how it is! Marriage is a deeper connection, it's about responsibility and trust, it's about love and acceptance..."

"what!"

Caparumila chuckled dismissively and waved her hand. "No need to hide it. I know very well what animal mating looks like—primates are no different."

Although my views differ from those of ordinary people, it doesn't mean I don't understand biology.

"Oh, I see~"

Chika's face flushed red to her ears, and she slowly removed her hand from Moeha's mouth.

“However,” Carmilla leaned back in her chair, her tone tinged with disdain, “I am different from you. I am already beyond the ordinary and have no need to study that kind of knowledge. I have no interest in such things.”

"Not interested?"

"That's how primitive people reproduced. I won't be bound by so-called ecological laws."

"oh oh!"

Chika paused for a moment, then slowly exhaled, her smile becoming much more natural.

"That's good... Well, to be honest, that kind of thing is really not very interesting... Hmm, Carmilla, you must keep this right mindset and never fall to the level of mortals."

"elder sister……"

Moe nudged Chika's waist with her elbow, her voice neither too loud nor too soft: "You're showing off again... What you did with Ye Shou-nii-san—it was actually quite comfortable, wasn't it?"

"What nonsense is this unmarried girl spouting!"

Chika precisely covered her mouth again: "I'm not that kind of promiscuous person, and don't steer the conversation in that direction!"

"Tsk!"

Mengye pried her hands away, and while tidying her messy hair, said, "Then sister, don't get married! Let me go!"

"No, how can I let Mengye suffer? Xiaoshou is obviously a workaholic, Mengye, you definitely won't—"

"Liar," Mengye interrupted her with a grin. "Sister, have you forgotten that I also grew up with my older brother? Actually, when the elders made this decision, you were so excited that you covered your head with the blanket and shouted, right?"

"!"

Chika seemed flustered after being exposed by Moe-ye's words. She quickly picked up her teacup and took a big gulp, only to be burned so badly that she stuck out her tongue. Her previous air of a princess from an oil painting was completely shattered.

"That's not how it is! Mengye, don't talk nonsense. My relationship with Xiaoshou is very pure—"

"A purely political marriage?" Mengye tilted her head and blinked her big eyes, which were just like Qianhua's.

"Yes! It's a political marriage!" Chika slammed her teacup down on the table as if grasping at a straw. "I had no choice but to accept this relationship! The Fujiwara and Hisase families needed a closer bond, and I just happened to be chosen. Actually, I don't care at all—"

"Then I'll go in my sister's place," Mengye said with a grin, raising her hand eagerly.

Chika's smile froze on her face: "No."

"Why not? Anyway, you don't like political marriages. Marrying someone you don't like is so painful. Let me make that sacrifice. I love making sacrifices!"

"No means no." Qianhua's voice rose half an octave, then she cleared her throat and quickly regained her composure. "Don't you understand such a simple thing as respecting elders?"

"At times like these, the order of seniority comes first... There's an old Chinese saying, 'Kong Rong shared pears.'"

"Little Shou is not a fruit."

Chika stood up: "He's a 'dragon' who can devour a girl in one bite. Moe, you're too young to know how terrifying he is... Never mind, just know that I'm doing this for your own good."

"You speak just like Mom!"

"Because this is mature advice from an adult."

"Oh my~ Sister, when did you become an 'adult'~"

Meng Ye grinned mischievously: "Share your experience with me, please."

"Well!"

Qianhua was speechless for a moment, then made up an excuse to leave temporarily, intending to regroup and come back to fight again.

Fujiwara Moeha wins the first round!

After Qianhua's figure disappeared at the end of the bush path, the garden was quiet for a moment.

Mengye didn't look up. Her slender, pale fingers held the teaspoon and slowly stirred the tea in the cup. The porcelain clinked together, making a crisp sound. She didn't stop until the black tea had cooled down. Her own face was reflected on the surface, scattered and gathered again and again.

"...I'm actually very jealous of my sister." Her voice was a beat softer than before, with a strange sense of loneliness in it. "I'm not kidding."

Carmilla glanced at it, showing no interest in responding.

Mengye didn't mind and continued, "I've always loved my older sister since I was little, and we always share everything. I used to think that these happy days would last forever... but obviously, some things can't be shared with others."

She stopped stirring, looked up and smiled at Carmilla, a smile that was almost too bright.

So I gave up!

But it's not a real surrender, just a temporary truce... When I'm more mature and charming in the future, I'll challenge my older sister again~

To be honest, every time I hear my sister showing off in a way that makes her seem genuinely proud but pretends to be indifferent... I still feel a pang of jealousy.

It's normal for happy people to show off their happiness, and I can understand that, but for the winner to be so arrogant in front of the loser... is just too cruel.

Carmilla put the teacup back on the saucer, intrigued—gossip is probably a woman's nature, and even she couldn't escape it.

"Human emotions are too complicated. You can just say what you want to say to Ye Shou directly. Why go through all this trouble?"

“I did say that,” Mengye said, resting her chin on her hand. “I confessed my feelings to Ye Shou-nii-san—when I was in sixth grade, on his birthday.”

What was his reaction?

“He patted my head and said, ‘Mengye has grown up.’ He said she would be his bride from now on… He forgot about it the next day and went on a business trip to Kyoto for a week.”

In terms of human developmental stages... it's quite normal for him to refuse, right?

Rather, it would be strange to accept it!

“I knew back then that I couldn’t beat my sister, at least not back then… We were only two or three years apart, but the difference was so obvious.”

Carmilla looked at her, her golden eyes reflecting the girl's slender figure: "But you say you're sad, yet you're actually smiling?"

"You noticed? I realized that what you lose on one front, you gain on another."

Meng Ye smiled slightly: "Although we've lost a Prince Charming, we've gained a brother-in-law, who can still be won over."

"?"

"I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of expression my sister will make when I snatch Ye Shou away from her~ Hehe~"

—The third daughter of the Fujiwara family is actually a bit abnormal.

"I can't understand..." Carmilla was bewildered. "Are human emotional lives really this complicated?"

If Ye Shou were here, he would probably complain, "You've just encountered too many extraordinary people."

"I think it's perfectly normal. Who could resist wanting to 'ruin' such a happy expression on her face?

"..."

"Oh, right."

Mengye tilted her head, a sly glint flashing in her blue eyes, which were exactly the same as Qianhua's, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

"Is Miss Carmilla a defeated opponent of Brother Ye Shou?"

"!"

The atmosphere around the silver-haired beauty immediately turned cold: "What do you mean?"

"It's just a guess. A woman like you, since she's fallen for someone but hasn't turned him into a slave to love, must have tried but failed... Come to think of it, after all, it's Brother Ye Shou, he's really amazing~"

“…You’re right, aren’t you?” Carmilla reluctantly admitted.

"Do you always lose when you clash with Brother Ye Shou? Whether it's fighting or anything else?"

Hmm...don't you want to beat him at least once?

"win?"

Carmilla's eyes narrowed slightly: "You have a way? Go on."

“Brother Ye Shou is a mountain.” Meng Ye repeated Carmilla’s words. “I understand your desire to conquer this mountain. After all, women also have a desire to conquer. But to conquer a mountain, you don’t necessarily have to climb it. Have you heard the story of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains?”

"what?"