I really don't have money for the ship girls.

Shinano gripped the sheets tightly, her breath ragged, her legs stiff. In her heart, she cried out, "If this is fate, please be kind to me."

Chapter 47 An elegant royal lady cannot swear.

"Actually, I didn't see it."

After teasing Shinano for a while, Yingtian didn't forget to help her change into her pajamas, poured her a glass of water and placed it on the bedside table. Looking at her beautiful face, which was flushed red, he gently kissed her forehead before saying goodbye.

As soon as he reached the door, he saw Joan of Arc standing there with a slightly flushed face. She stood there gracefully, her golden hair, which she usually covered up, was now loose behind her head. When she saw Ying Tian looking at her, she quickly waved her hand to indicate that she was not peeping.

Ying Tian thought to himself, "If you didn't see it, why are you blushing?" So he said, "I remember that the Holy Maiden can't lie, right?"

“It is wrong to lie, and peeping is a crime that should be prohibited by reason…” Joan of Arc pursed her thin lips and said, “I’m sorry, Commander, I didn’t mean to look. The door was open, and I just wanted to see if someone had forgotten to close it. As a result, I saw you on Shinano, Commander… and then I immediately looked away. I didn’t see anything else.”

"I didn't see anything else, peeping is peeping."

“I… okay, I did break the taboo against voyeurism.”

"What should I do? You've caught me in the act."

"I promise I will never tell anyone. Keeping my word is also a principle of the Holy Maiden!"

“Verbal promises are useless. If I want you to keep the secret, I have no choice but to drag you into it as well.” Ying Tian deliberately stared fiercely at Joan of Arc, then stretched out Anlu’s claws to her chest.

"Huh? That, that's—!"

Seeing Joan of Arc's alarmed expression, Ying Tian withdrew his hand and laughed twice: "Just kidding, so what if people see? I'm not afraid of being seen."

“But…” Joan of Arc regretted her earlier outburst. She tapped her right foot lightly on the ground and said, “But Shinano isn’t a wedding ship, is it?”

"No, but the Prince of Wales wasn't on a wedding ship before either."

Joan of Arc blinked and said, "So, the Prince of Wales was also bullied by the Commander before he became a wedding ship?"

Ying Tian was speechless. What kind of logic is this? You clearly meant to say that it's not a wedding ship now, but that doesn't mean it won't be in the future.

"How about I bully you a little?"

"Commander, I'll kick you."

"If it's just getting kicked, it doesn't seem like a loss at all?"

Joan of Arc raised her leg as if to kick, but then burst out laughing. She said, "Commander, are you having some trouble? Well, although I don't know what to do, I can be someone you confide in."

Ying Tian asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why would you think that?"

"Because I feel like the commander is deliberately trying to get beaten up."

"..." Ying Tian said with a wry smile, "I didn't encounter any major difficulties, I just figured out some things."

"What have you figured out?"

“I’ve figured it out…” Ying Tian suddenly didn’t want to say it out loud, he couldn’t expose the fact that he was actually a pervert, so he changed the subject, “I’ve figured out some things, and there are some things I don’t understand. For example, I really didn’t expect that you, Joan of Arc, would have a tattoo.”

"what?"

Joan of Arc followed Ying Tian's gaze and saw her long, slender legs beneath her nightgown, with a faint cross-shaped mark on them.

"It's not a tattoo, it's a stigmata."

"Oh, a tattoo in the style of a stigmata."

"It's not a tattoo, it's a holy mark. If you touch it, it will suddenly glow."

"Really? I don't believe it unless I can touch it."

"...Commander, if you keep bullying me, I'm really going to kick you."

"Hahaha, Joan of Arc is so cute."

"Commander, honestly, I'm ignoring you!"

Therefore, the ship girls each have different personalities. Even when they are bullied, some will accept it passively, while others will fight back. However, whether they are all equally happy inside is unknown.

After the live broadcast commemorating Mercury, the online public opinion environment improved. Ultimately, what many people dislike is someone who is completely different from themselves. Ying Tian previously used public opinion, and because of Ms. Shi's incident, he seemed to be somewhat different from ordinary people. In fact, it was a kind of backlash from public opinion. Now many people have discovered that Ying Tian is indeed an orphan, and he has various hobbies, even more abstract than ordinary people. In the eyes of those who enjoy entertainment, he seems cute.

Then, as Ying Tian's online accounts continued to be exposed, some strange identities were revealed.

[I never knew Ying wrote novels, especially for female readers.]

[This bastard is writing 15,000 words a day for female-oriented novels! He's going to kill all his competitors! No wonder he got into Binjiang University in the college entrance exam; he's the king of exams in a small town.]

[I didn't finish reading it; I only saw the synopsis: it's a love story spanning fifteen lifetimes, five times the length of "Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms," right? That's fucking outrageous.]

[They're orphans, isn't it normal for them to lack love a little?]

[I finished reading it, and it was surprisingly well-written, with a very delicate style... Um, don't you guys think that Ying, who's tall and thin, is actually quite handsome?]

[I heard he used to work three jobs at once, look at those muscles on his arms!]

[Gay men, stop fantasizing.]

It's fair to say that the comments are heading in one strange direction and then another.

At this moment, Ying Tian was reading the novel written by Hu De. The writing was indeed very delicate, and the use of various images and metaphors was just right. The extensive literary knowledge allowed the novel to often make references to classical masterpieces in its plot. Of course, if Belfast had not pointed it out, Ying Tian would not have noticed.

However, this is just too much of a romance novel.

Yingtian endured until the second life, where the royal girl who had died and was resurrected saw her lover kill the blonde cat woman and then jump off a cliff to die for love. Using the power of the God of Red Tea, she created a world where her lover was reincarnated. She was just short of shouting, "Resurrect, my love!" There are thirteen more lives to come. The novel is now 600,000 words long and has reached the fourth life.

It's too painful to have to experience a love affair spanning fifteen lifetimes, and what's even more painful is that I have to keep watching. So Yingtian decides to get rid of this pain.

Alright, I appreciate your sentiments, Hu De. The great man was right: a thousand years is too long, seize the day.

Hood, who was actively preparing for the secretary ship election at the naval base, received a message from St. Louis—

"The Commander has seen the novel you wrote."

Hu De smiled gently and walked to the window. The white magnolias outside had already borne delicate flowers. The trees were graceful and the flowers were pleasing to the eye, as if they were the emotions in people's hearts, born at the tip of autumn, yet blooming in the most intense summer.

【I wanted to compare you to a captivating summer day, but you are even more lovely and tender. As long as I breathe, you and this poem will forever reside in my heart… So, Commander, can you feel the intensity of my feelings? Don't you feel an irresistible urge to reciprocate?】

Just then, Reputation entered Hood's room.

"Hood, did you see that? The commander has announced another new wedding ship."

"Huh? Commander, you're really too impatient, hehehe..."

Hood opened his phone and saw the messages in the group chat—

Ying Tian: "@Group members, I have something to announce: Belfast has accepted my marriage proposal and is now my marriage ship. Also, the deadline for secretary ship registration is in three days, so those who want to register should hurry up."

"Wow, she's amazing. No wonder she's the head maid. No one guessed it would be her."

"Yes, Belfast is amazing..."

Hu De gripped her pen tightly. No, no, an elegant royal lady shouldn't swear, so she'd just curse in her mind.

[Commander, you're a villain!]

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Target of Public Criticism

To Yingtian's surprise, the impact of announcing Belfast as the wedding ship seemed to be even greater than that of the Prince of Wales.

Nelson: "It's starting, it's starting! This is what a commander should be like: self-centered, profit-driven, and doing whatever he wants. Judging by the looks of it, none of the sisters over there will escape."

Nelson: "No, Belfast probably rebelled, which is why she has a ring. The others probably didn't even have rings and were bullied by the Commander to the point that they didn't dare to speak up."

Königsberg: "I think you're just jealous."

Nelson: "Jealousy? Belfast is my royal sister. I just feel sorry for her. She'll have to suffer like Glorious from now on."

Glorious: "No, I'm very happy. Congratulations Belfast."

Nelson: "Glory, you're just too kind."

Suzuya: "Indeed, I saw Yixian in the cafeteria kitchen before. She was crying alone there. It was so pitiful."

Changchun: "Really? You made Yixian sad, Commander, you big bad guy!"

Yi-hsien: "Please don't talk nonsense. I was just cutting onions."

Kumano: "@Suzutani, no matter what, she's only a nominally married ship. You should pity yourself instead."

Suzuya: "I admire the Commander very much... Anyway, I will follow the Commander's orders."

Salt Lake City: "Just following orders is useless. Otherwise, why would it be Belfast, not Shoukaku, St. Louis, or Ron and the others? They directly cut in line, which is completely contrary to the pattern we summarized before."

California: "Does the Commander really like Royal Navy ship girls that much?"

Glory: "Don't try to shift the blame. They are in love and have mutual affection. What does it have to do with power? I think you are just jealous."

Suzuya: "Who's jealous?"

Dunkirk: "It was just a discussion, how did it turn into jealousy?"

Tallinn: "Who would be jealous?"

Glory: "If you're not jealous, swear to the heavens that you will never marry a ship, and that you will refuse even if the Commander's ring is offered to you. If you break this oath, you will never see the Commander again."

The group fell silent for a moment, and then...

Dunkirk: "I made dessert, macarons, anyone want some?"

Suzuya: "I want to eat, at a dessert shop?"

Tallinn: "@Jeanbars, let's go for a ride on a motorboat to relax."

Bremerton: "Count me in, the weather's really nice today."

While it was expected that the Prince of Wales would become the wedding ship, Belfast's becoming the wedding ship was quite unexpected. This meant that the "order of recognition" theory summarized by many "wedding ship scholars" in the naval base was directly bankrupt, but it also rekindled hope for many people.

Previously, everyone thought that the commander would marry ship girls according to the order in which they met again, which meant that if you met the commander later, you were destined to fall behind others and never have a chance to turn the tables. But now it seems that this is not the case.

These were just the reactions of the naval base's ship girls, which Ying Tian could pretend not to see for the time being. However, he couldn't pretend not to know about the reactions of the ship girls around him.

At the dining table, Shoukaku kept putting food on his younger sister Zuikaku's plate.

"Okay, sister, don't put so much on my plate. You can eat it yourself too."

"It's okay, eat more."

Shoukaku sat in her seat, gently resting her cheek on her hand and stroking her sister's smooth brown hair, saying, "My sister is the best. No matter how much delicious food I make for you, you will eat it with happiness and even care about your older sister in return. After all, she is my own sister."

As he spoke, Xianghe paused, his watery eyes giving a resentful glare to a certain man at the table: "Unlike some people, who can be melted even by touching a stone, his heart is harder than a stone."

Ying Tian lowered his head and ate his rice, not daring to look up.

Zuikaku clearly didn't catch Shoukaku's unspoken message. She said, "I'll eat it, sister, don't say anything more. I'll definitely eat all of these."

"That's wonderful," St. Louis exclaimed. "What a beautiful scene of sisterly love and harmony. I'm quite envious."

Shoukaku, now sharing the same hatred as St. Louis, said, "By the way, it's been a long time since you've seen your sister ship, hasn't it?"

“Yes.” St. Louis glanced at someone and said, counting on her slender white fingers, “The first person I miss is my sister Helena, the second is my insecure older sister Honolulu, and the third is… well, what third? There is no third. We already have the first and the second, so there’s no need for a third.”

Ying Tian was eating, his head buried even lower.

"Commander, is there a difference between liking and liking?" Ron's eyes were hazy, as if veiled in mist. "So, the liking you're talking about isn't real liking?"

Ying Tian raised his head, because this was already a matter of doubt rather than yin and yang.

"Don't talk nonsense. I'm a man of my word. What I say always stands."

Shoukaku laughed: "Is that so?"

St. Louis laughed too: "Really?"

Ron gave a half-smile: "So it's just liking it?"

Ying Tian didn't even know how he finished his dinner. Under the interrogating gazes of everyone, it was pure torture. After dinner, he and Belfast returned to their room.

The head maid was still wearing a maid outfit, but not the traditional maid outfit worn in public; it was the kind worn exclusively by the commander, revealing a large expanse of her round, white skin and beautiful collarbones. She said, "Actually, it's the same whether Master announces it a little later; it doesn't matter."

"No, this is my problem, not yours." Ying Tian hugged his head maid, who was also his newlywed wife, from behind and said, "It will happen sooner or later, whether it's sooner or later."

"At least the owner will have time to buy a few more rings."

"The ring isn't the key point."

Ying Tian knew that if it were just about buying rings, the naval base could afford to buy one for each person. However, as the Prince of Wales, Glorious, Belfast, and many others had said, the key was the vow, not the ring. It was impossible to be affectionate with one person one moment and then give another ring the next. Just thinking about it would be disheartening. So, they could only do it one by one.

"Master, don't worry too much. Whatever you do, I will support you."

"Hmm." Ying Tian nodded and said, "But that's something I should be concerned about. What you should be concerned about today is how to be a good bride."

Belfast smiled: "Then what should I do? I don't know."

"Is there anything my head maid doesn't understand?"