I'm in another world, and I start out transformed into Lancelot.

"What's so good about tea? Try this!"

She dramatically pulled the tab on the can of fluorescent orange drink, accompanied by a loud "hiss" and a spray of tiny bubbles.

A few ominous drops of orange liquid, like fragments from a small explosion, splashed precisely towards—

"Oh no! That's terrible!"

CC let out a completely insincere exclamation.

Those few drops of sticky orange syrup landed precisely on the front of Meilushin's pure white linen top.

Just below her heart, a small, glaring, sweet, and embarrassing stain quickly spread out, its location so subtle it was almost unbelievable.

“…I’m sorry~” CC dragged out the words, but there was no remorse on her face.

Instead, as if he had discovered a new toy, he pinched the corner of the cheese pizza, which was now stained with even more orange liquid, between his fingertips, and pretended to "wipe" the stain:

"I'll wipe it off for you! I've used this stuff a lot, I'm very experienced at dealing with these sticky stains! The more oil, the more it dissolves—hmm?"

Her hand was about to touch the white fabric, now stained with orange.

The target even points to the soft, undulating contours of a non-human body that might exist beneath the fabric—

Melousin's movements were lightning fast! There was no blocking, no shouting. The hand that had been steadily holding the cup had somehow come together in a palm.

Like brushing aside an insignificant willow catkin, it carries an undeniable, absolutely cold and hard "isolation" force—"snap."

In an instant, it precisely sliced ​​across the inside of CC's protruding wrist.

The touch was brief and gentle, yet it carried a strange vibration, like an invisible blade slicing through an air barrier.

CC's entire arm went numb as if she'd been electrocuted! The sinful slice of cheese pizza flew out of her hand and landed with a thud on the edge of the rush mat.

“…No need.” Melusin’s voice was like an underground river flowing beneath the ice, cold yet steady.

Her gaze didn't even look at CC; it remained fixed on the stain on her front, as if she were looking at a crack in an antique porcelain piece that had nothing to do with her.

At the same time, she subtly shifted her body backward by a few inches, widening the delicate distance between them back to a sufficiently "safe" level.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Only the overturned can of orange soda continued to bubble futilely on the mat.

CC's expression went blank for a second. Then—those bewitching, molten gold vertical pupils suddenly lit up!

It was like discovering a new continent, filled with pure, childlike excitement and a strong desire to explore!

"Wow... that was quick..." She pulled back her slightly numb wrist and rubbed the spot where she had been "cut".

Her gaze, however, became even more intense, fixed on the "contaminated" area of ​​Melusin's body and the soft area of ​​her chest hidden by her jade-like arms in her sleeves!

"I'm telling you..." she whispered, her voice low and seductive, like a devil's whisper, as she leaned forward slightly.

"...You wouldn't...be made of some special material, would you? Are you that bothered by touching it?"

She tilted her head, her gaze seemingly able to penetrate the thin layer of white linen, reaching the core of the non-human structure that might be hidden beneath.

"Would you like to... borrow my bathroom to carefully study how to clean yourself? And while you're at it... let me also study... you?"

She licked her lips, which were glistening with cheese, and grinned like a bear that had just discovered a crack in a honey jar. "...Lancelot?~"

This time, the name "Lancelot" was no longer a confirmation, but a fishing hook coated in syrup.

Meilushin finally raised her eyes.

His vertical pupils, like the focused sun, coldly locked onto the witch's face before him, a face brimming with amusement and inquiry.

His gaze was sharp enough to pierce the soul, yet it carried a divine indifference, as if looking down upon the foolish farce of mortals.

She did not answer any questions.

However, under the piercing gaze of those demonic golden eyes, his body faded and became transparent at a visible speed, releasing countless cold blue light particles.

In the instant before she completely vanished in her spiritual form—CC seemed to catch a very slight, extremely cold opening and closing of those thin lips.

No sound was made. But CC, with her lip-reading ability as a millennium-old witch, clearly "heard" the word that had been muted in the spiritual storm:

"...I'm sorry."

Extremely standard aristocratic honorifics. Yet, they are as cold and hard as iron.

The next instant! "Whoosh—" Like blue sand scattered by the wind, the pure white figure completely disappeared into the sunlight and tea aroma.

All that remained were the still glaring orange stains on the table, the overturned soda can, and the greasy remains of a cheese pizza that had rolled to the ground.

CC remained alone in the tea room, staring at the empty space where Melosin had disappeared for a long time.

Suddenly, she let out a low, enigmatic laugh, stretched, and her silk robe slipped down more of her shoulder skin.

She picked up the overturned can of fluorescent orange soda, which was still bubbling in vain, and took a big gulp.

"Tsk..." She licked the orange syrup off her lips with satisfaction, her molten gold pupils narrowing into slits of pleasure.

"...Why are you running away? You're wearing civilian clothes...your body...should be easier to examine~"

Chapter 41 The Witch Has Hit a Bullet

The night was as dark as ink, staining the temporary governor's mansion in Kyoto.

The clamor of the daytime celebrations has long since subsided, leaving only the low chirping of summer insects deep in the courtyard.

Only through the crack in the door of a lakeside room on the top floor, a faint, cold light from a solitary lamp peeked out.

The room was silent, and moonlight filtered through the thin curtains of the French windows, casting hazy patches of light on the floor.

Melusin did not go to bed. She sat sideways on a low ukulele by the window, wearing her pure white casual nightgown.

Her silver hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, and her molten gold vertical pupils gazed at the tranquil lake outside the window, as if drawing upon the subtle energy of the moonlight.

But this didn't stop her from multitasking, wiping the collar of the linen coat that had been stained with orange syrup during the day with a handkerchief.

His posture was as focused as if he were brushing dust off an ancient sacred object.

"Click."

A barely perceptible click—the door lock was quietly pried open by an invisible force.

The wooden door slid open silently, leaving a crack.

It is CC

She changed into a darker silk slip dress, which was still not her size. The straps slipped down to her elbows, revealing half of her snow-white shoulder and neck.

Her long, emerald-green hair was disheveled like seaweed, carrying a deliberately decadent beauty. Stepping in barefoot, she was like a languid, alluring shadow formed by the night itself.

On the lacquered wooden tray he held, a cup of black tea was steaming, releasing a rich aroma that wafted like mist under the moonlight.

His face wore a half-smile, a mixture of weariness accumulated over a thousand years and a hint of childish defiance.

"Tsk~ Still fussing over that little stain?" The voice flowed through the silence like honey-soaked sand.

"...I'm so sorry to have soiled Miss Knight's casual clothes~" Her tone was completely unrepentant, more like she was singing a lazy joke.

"So, I'm bringing you the finest Darjeeling!" CC gently placed the tray on the low table.

Her gaze, however, clung like glue to the solidified orange stain on the white dress in Meilushin's hand, and the faint outline beneath the fabric.

Deep within those bewitching golden vertical pupils leaps a pure curiosity that cannot be extinguished by the torrents of time.

Like a cat peering into a time-old sealed Moonlight Box, wondering if echoes from that era still linger inside.

This curiosity is not a cold desire to dissect, but rather an exploration coated in sugar, an instinctive and tempting exploration of something different by a soul that has lived too long.

Melusin's wiping motion froze, like an ice sculpture.

Her molten gold vertical pupils were still fixed on the view outside the window, but the deep blue lake seemed to have sunk into the depths of her eyes.

The air suddenly froze, the window curtains moved without wind, and the temperature plummeted as if sinking into a deep abyss.

CC appreciated this silent vigilance, a slight smile playing on her lips. Like a night cat patrolling its territory, she approached Melusin with a nonchalant, cat-like gait.

"...Don't be so distant..." she whispered.

He picked up the teacup as if offering a dangerous gift, leaning forward to get close to the low-hanging silver hair and focused profile.

The wrist holding the teacup trembled slightly, almost absentmindedly.

The scalding hot black tea liquid suddenly surged with turbulent waves!

The scalding tea, like a released prisoner, roared and pounced on Meluxin's smooth cheeks and flowing silver hair.

Her other hand, concealed by the shadow of her swaying skirt, resembled a serpent that had been dozing for a long time, suddenly striking.

Silently, swiftly, and cunningly, it probed the soft area at the waist of Melusin's robe, covered by loose fabric, a symbol of the "ordinary body."

The heatwave hits my face! It's so intense it's practically touching my fingertips!

Fragments of time seemed to be frozen in that instant.

Melusin's originally still sitting posture instantly merged like the reflection of the moon in a mirror.

A blurry, superimposed image flickered in the same spot—she was no longer where she had been.

Instead of sitting, a movement as swift as a flame was made; one hand was not used to block the splashing liquid, but transformed into a cold, decisive clamp.

"Crack!" A soft sound, like jade stones striking each other!

The clamp precisely locked onto CC's wrist, which was reaching towards his waist and ribs, and the bone-chilling cold and hard pressure instantly tightened around him.

The other hand moved like a breeze brushing against a willow branch—"snap!"—so fast that only a blur could be seen.

The tap landed three inches below CC's elbow, where he was holding the teacup, with a precision as sharp as turning a nut on a runaway gear!

"hiss!"

CC felt a sudden weakness and soreness in her right forearm and fingertips! Her fingers relaxed uncontrollably!

"Crash—clang!" The scalding hot tea and the delicate bone china cup were thrown from her hand and smashed hard against the white wall behind Melissa.

The deep red liquid spread like spilled ink in the moonlight, and the fragments fell like stars to the ground.

CC herself was completely out of balance due to the gripping effect of her wrists like chains on an icy lake and the numbness in her arms.

That languid body, like a beautiful doll that had lost its support, with a hint of astonishment that had not been shown for a thousand years, leaned forward irrevocably.

Melusin's movements were as fluid as an undercurrent, and the wrist that was restraining the witch's wrist suddenly pressed down and turned outward.

Her body spun around like a spinning blade—her clothes brushed against the cold air!

CC, who had lost her balance, was pulled along by the force and trajectory she was moving, and fell heavily onto the cold rush mat beneath her!

Thump!

The dull thud was amplified in the silence.

CC lay on her back on the straw mat, her dark blue silk dress spread out beneath her like an ominous sea.

Her green hair spread out like dark seaweed, and the brief stuffiness made her eyelashes tremble slightly, yet deep within those molten gold demonic eyes...

What flickered within was a more intense, mixed sense of astonishment and a new kind of excitement.

And Melousin... her posture changes like the recombination of a reflection in a lake.

At this moment, she lightly touched one knee to the side, resting on the edge of the soft couch beside CC's waist, her figure as steady as a mountain.

The hand that had locked the witch's wrist didn't loosen its grip at all; instead, it pressed her forcefully onto the straw mat beside CC's head, forming an elegant diagonal line that resembled the imprisonment of a sacrifice.

His other hand was suspended at his side, with his fingertips hanging naturally, though it did not touch his throat.

But that invisible direction and the chilling aura were the clearest harbingers of death.

The moonlight tinged the standoff with a frosty hue.

Meilushin lowered her head slightly, her long silver hair falling like a curtain, concealing part of her expression.

Only the vertical pupils, not completely obscured by his hair, reflected a sharp golden light in the shadows, like that of quenched lake ice.

It exudes an inhuman indifference, as if time has been frozen. It is a natural scrutiny of the "those who overstep their bounds".

The silk white robe slipped slightly off her shoulders with the movement, revealing a small section of her cold, jade-like collarbone.

The orange stain near his heart appeared even more glaring in the moonlight, like a mark that had been repeatedly branded.

Silence descended. Only CC's slightly unsteady breathing and the distant "drip-drop" sound of red tea dripping could be heard.

Melusin's voice rang out, deep and clear, without a trace of emotion: