I, the spiritual mentor of beautiful girls from all over the world

She simply followed her instincts, moving her stiff body closer.

Then, she reached out her trembling arms and gently embraced the cold, fragile girl.

Qiong's body stiffened abruptly the moment she came into contact with her body temperature.

But she didn't struggle or push him away.

Yui could clearly feel that the girl in her arms was so thin and cold, as if she had no warmth at all.

She hugged her tighter, trying in vain to warm this eternally frozen block of ice with her own body heat.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Xiaoqiong..."

Her tears dampened Qiong's soft, faintly fragrant silver hair.

In the fragile warmth of that embrace, Qiong's voice rang out once more.

The sound seemed to come from a very, very far place, carrying a thick, impenetrable fog and a chill that could freeze anyone's soul.

"At their funeral..."

For the first time, Qiong's voice trembled violently, an undeniable tremor.

"...not a single relative was willing to take me in."

"In the end... it was him..."

Yui Yuigahama's arm, which was wrapped around her, suddenly froze.

She finally understood why the girl's body was so cold.

Because in her world, a blizzard, one that would never stop and was powerful enough to freeze everything, had already fallen.

And just now, I was actually feeling a little fortunate that "at least I still have my mother".

How cruel.

How...despicable.

She slowly released her grip and squatted down in front of Qiong.

This gesture is not for confrontation, but rather a kind of repentance, a complete show of weakness.

She lifted her face, already soaked with tears and disheveled, and looked directly at the face shrouded in shadow with an unprecedented and incredibly vulnerable demeanor.

Her voice, trembling and choked with uncontrollable sobs, sounded as if she were confessing her most heinous crimes.

“I like…Ms. Lynn…”

She slowly and deliberately revealed her secret, which now seemed incredibly sinful.

"I like it so much...so much that...I feel like I'm about to break!"

She closed her eyes in anguish, and the tears flowed even more fiercely.

“I know perfectly well… Xiao Qiong, you rely on your teacher so much… but I still… can’t control myself…”

"I...I'm just such a... terrible person..."

She simply presented her despicable and uncontrollable love as "evidence" to the girl she had hurt, awaiting final judgment.

"Friends" and "likes".

These two words, like two red-hot, poison-laden daggers, simultaneously and viciously pierced Qiong's heart.

My friend... Yui is... my friend.

But... she likes her older brother.

She wants to steal my brother away from me.

No… Absolutely not…!

If I push her away, I will lose my only friend in this life.

If I don't push her away, I might... lose my whole world.

Finally, slowly, she raised her head.

For the first time, a look of "shattered" appeared on that doll-like, exquisitely beautiful face.

His eyes were frighteningly red, and his gray pupils were filled with tears, yet he stubbornly refused to let them fall.

She looked at Yui Yuigahama, at the girl who had just hugged her, yet wanted to take away her entire world.

"Yui..." For the first time, she uttered this name in a trembling voice.

"We can...be friends..."

These words made Yui Yuigahama's heart leap into her throat.

But the next second, Qiong's eyes suddenly sharpened, and that vulnerability was replaced by a chilling obsession. She reached out her small hand and tightly gripped her heart, as if her whole world was hidden there.

"...But he can't."

"Only him... no good!"

“Because of me,” she cried out, each word sounding like a lament from her very soul, “I have nothing left!”

This last sentence is neither a declaration nor a threat.

That was the most humble plea a child, afraid of losing everything again, could make, and the toughest, untouchable bottom line.

Yui Yuigahama fell silent.

She looked at the girl in front of her, who laid bare all her vulnerabilities to her, yet guarded her last piece of territory with the most resolute attitude.

My heart was completely overwhelmed by an unprecedented and immense upheaval.

If... if I really did steal Ms. Lynn...

Then Xiao Qiong will really be abandoned again.

but…

If we don't rob...

What then is this burning, almost self-destructive feeling of mine?

……

ten minutes later--

"Click."

The door to the entryway was opened again.

Lynn walked in with Mrs. Yuihama, carrying shopping bags.

The relaxed smile on his face froze completely the moment he stepped into the living room.

His emotional perception doesn't even need to be consciously activated.

The air in the living room was like a battlefield relic, soaked, twisted, and torn by two extremes of sorrow, and then forcibly stitched back together.

The air was so heavy, cold, and sharp.

It felt as if every breath was being pierced by invisible shards of glass, formed from tears and obsession.

(Three more chapters today, I'll finish them before sleeping, to end this chaotic plot, grant Lynn the authority to have a harem of three, and promote another one. Then I'll get something lighter. The book reviews are almost entirely negative, about 70% of them. I can see from the backend that there aren't many paying readers, just over 100. I'll consider changing the writing style based on the subscription rate of these 100 readers. But that's not something that can be done overnight.)

Chapter 66: I'm sorry, Xiao Qiong! If I have to go to hell, one of me is enough.

Yui Yuigahama and Kasugano Sora, these two girls who were just having a soul-clash with tears and determination, now seem to have had a reset button pressed.

One was fiddling with the hem of their clothes, while the other, clutching a rabbit plush toy, stared quietly at the television screen, as if the storm that had just torn their souls apart had never happened.

But the stagnant, cold air honestly recorded everything.

...

in the kitchen.

Mrs. Yuihama said apologetically as she tied on her apron.

Her gentle eyes glanced subtly towards the living room. Her maternal instincts told her that something must have happened in the house while she and Ms. Lynn were out.

Something was off between the two children.

Something is very wrong.

However, this keen intuition as a mother was quickly overshadowed by another, stronger, and more unsettling emotion.

Her heartbeat had not yet completely calmed down.

The feeling of those strong, powerful arms encircling my waist, the warm, masculine breath so close, and those deep, penetrating eyes that seemed to see right through me…

The scene that flashed by in the market was still playing in her mind, replaying slowly over and over again.

She tried hard to appear calm and composed, but her slightly flushed cheeks and somewhat unfocused eyes betrayed her inner turmoil.

"Um...Ms. Lynn, thank you so much for today. I'm so sorry to have troubled you so much..."

She didn't dare look Lynn in the eye, so she lowered her head and spoke in a much softer voice than usual.

"It's okay, I'm free anyway."

Lynn rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, revealing her smooth forearms, her tone as languid as ever, as if the hero who had just saved her from the out-of-control shopping cart had nothing to do with her.

This stark contrast made Mrs. Yuihama's heart skip a beat.

The kitchen is small, but it's filled with a warm and homey atmosphere.

When two people are working inside at the same time, the space feels a bit crowded.

Mrs. Yuihama took vegetables out of the refrigerator and turned to hand them to Lynn.

At that very moment, her fingertips inadvertently brushed against his warm wrist.

As if struck by a weak electric current, Mrs. Yuihama's body trembled violently, and she almost dropped the vegetables in her hands.

Like a startled deer, she quickly withdrew her hand, her cheeks flushing bright red.

"Then... I'll have to trouble you to handle these things, teacher."

She shoved the vegetables into Lynn's hands, almost incoherently, then immediately turned away, pretending to be engrossed in studying the sink, not daring to look at him again.

Lynn took the vegetables, walked over to her, and turned on the tap.

The splashing water did nothing to ease the tension; instead, it made Mrs. Yuihama even more flustered by his sudden approach.

She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, picked up the kitchen knife, and prepared to process the bass that had "become famous" at the market.

However, while she was still wondering where to begin, the cleaver was taken by a clean and strong hand, along with her sense of helplessness.

"Let me do it, it's inconvenient for you to handle this."

Lynn's voice came from beside him, gentle yet leaving no room for refusal.

The next second, Mrs. Yuihama witnessed a scene that made her gasp for breath.

Without any flashy, afterimage-like movements, Lynn's movements could even be described as "slow".

He simply held the knife calmly, lowered it, and then raised it again.

Each cut follows a constant, cold rhythm, as if it were not cutting vegetables, but performing surgery.

Shredded potatoes, cucumber slices... every ingredient he creates is remarkably uniform in thickness and length, as if copied from a perfect line.

This extreme precision brings a sense of oppressive power that far surpasses "exquisite knife skills."

Mrs. Yui covered her mouth, feeling as if she was witnessing not culinary skills, but a terrifying ability called "absolute control," which was being applied in a reduced form to the small kitchen.

This man... he could not only pull me into his arms in times of crisis;

It can also provide such a reassuring sense of home comfort in an ordinary kitchen.

Strong, gentle, reliable, handsome... and also a great cook.

This...this is simply...

A thought, carrying a sense of crisis that she herself was unaware of, uncontrollably surfaced.

She gazed at Lynn's focused profile; under the light, his long, thick eyelashes cast a small shadow, making her somewhat lost in thought.

“Teacher Lynn…” she asked the question that made her heart race, in an almost dreamlike, joking tone.