I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan could smell the lingering fragrance of shampoo in her hair, the magnolia scent emanating from the warmth of her body on her neck, and the unique aroma of the fabric when the collar of her cheongsam was pressed into wrinkles.

All these smells mingled together in the darkness, making his head spin.

As she kissed him, she suddenly chuckled very softly.

Laughter lingered on the corner of his mouth, and his breath slid over his skin.

"Your heart is beating so fast."

"Even the strong get nervous."

Before he could respond, she kissed him back.

This time it was much heavier, no longer just a superficial attempt like before.

Her lips gently brushed against his, her tongue lightly grazing his lower lip, as if she were savoring a dessert that had been waiting for far too long.

His hand rose almost instinctively and pressed against her back.

This time, she neither used her knee to stop him nor ordered him to stay still.

The moment his palm touched her back, she trembled slightly, then relaxed completely, as if after drifting for far too long, she had finally found a place where she could safely dock.

The cheongsam was made of very thin fabric, and through the moon-white silk, he could clearly see the lines of her back.

Soft, full, and smooth, her waist wasn't particularly slender, but it looked surprisingly harmonious on her voluptuous figure.

She let him hold her, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder.

The lip gloss still had a faint sweetness, mixed with the salty smell brought in by the sea breeze, a unique scent of an aircraft carrier deck, but now it tasted like a secret condiment that belonged only to the two of them.

She could feel her breath trembling slightly in the folds of her cheongsam collar, and the hand covering his eyes lingered, unwilling to let go.

She habitually closes her eyes when kissing, and she doesn't want him to see her with her eyes closed.

That was the last bit of girlish sentiment she had carefully guarded for so many years.

After the kiss, Pei Youyi did not immediately pull away from his embrace.

She still buried her face in Gu Yan's shoulder, her breathing not yet fully calm, and a few strands of her loose hair were stuck to the collar of his shirt with a thin layer of sweat.

Her hand finally moved away from his eyes, sliding down his cheek and finally stopping at his chest, her palm resting on the spot where his heart was beating.

"Xiao Yan's heart is still beating very fast."

Her voice was muffled, with a very faint hint of a smile.

"When I blindfolded you earlier, it was jumping even faster than it is now."

"Is it because of me?"

Gu Yan's hand was still on her back, and he could feel the heat of her body through the moon-white silk.

He looked down at her; her eyelashes were still damp with a little bit of water, whether from the kiss or something else, he couldn't tell.

"Yes."

Pei Youyi chuckled softly.

She lifted her face from his shoulder and tilted her head to look at him.

The very fine line at the corner of her eye was gently squeezed out by a smile, and her eyes shimmered faintly in the moonlight.

Then she asked a question that made Gu Yan's brain freeze on the spot.

"How does that compare to Yu Ran?"

"Does Xiao Yan like me more, or does she like her more?"

Gu Yan was completely stunned.

What a deadly question!

Pei Youyi is Pei Yuran's mother. He just hugged and kissed her, and blindfolded her. Her daughter doesn't know any of these things.

Now she lay on his chest and asked him if he liked her more or his daughter more.

No matter how you answer this question, it's hellishly difficult.

"...I like them all."

I like them both.

Pei Youyi repeated the word, as if she were tasting a fruit candy whose flavor was not quite what she expected.

"This answer is cunning, but also honest."

I accept.

She sat up from his lap and smoothed the wrinkled collar of her cheongsam with her fingers.

One of the buttons on the top of the dress had come undone at some point, revealing a small patch of fair collarbone.

She looked down at her neckline, and a very faint blush rose to her cheeks.

"When did you open the neckline?"

"……I have no idea."

Gu Yan quickly shifted her gaze to the outside of the porthole.

The deep blue sea lay quietly under the moonlight, completely unaware of what had just happened in the cabin.

Pei Youyi fastened the buttons again and used her fingers to comb her long hair that fell over her shoulders.

She maintained that same composed elegance as when she made these movements, a stark contrast to when she blindfolded him earlier.

Then she put the pillow back on the bedside table, stood up and walked to the porthole, her back to him, her voice regaining its usual gentleness and restraint.

"Alright, you can go back now."

"If I stay any longer, I'm afraid I won't be able to resist again."

"And the support fleets from each war zone will arrive tomorrow, so you need to get some rest."

Gu Yan glanced back at her as she reached the door.

She stood by the porthole, the moonlight casting a soft silver glow on her profile.

The hem of her moon-white cheongsam swayed gently, and the succulent plant on the windowsill quietly stretched out its plump leaves beside her.

"Sister Youyi."

"Good night."

"Good night."

The door closed gently behind him.

Pei Youyi stood motionless in front of the porthole.

She heard his footsteps gradually fade away in the corridor until they disappeared completely into the deep roar of the aircraft carrier's engines.

Then she raised her hand and placed her palm on her chest.

My heart is still beating very fast.

She moved faster than a woman who has been a mother for many years, faster than a teenage girl who blindfolds someone she falls for for the first time.

She slowly sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up the red string from the bedside table, placing it in her palm.

The bell rang twice, producing a very faint, crisp sound.

She thought of Yu Ran.

The plane should be arriving soon; her daughter is here to visit her.

No, they came to see him.

Yu Ran probably doesn't know that her mother was found even earlier than she was.

She stared silently at the red string in her palm for a long time.

Then he held the bell tightly in his hand.

She still didn't know how to start the conversation when she saw Yu Ran tomorrow, but she knew at least one thing.

She had no regrets tonight.

The next morning, the Akagi aircraft carrier's broadcast system simultaneously rang throughout the entire ship.

All senior generals and officers of the Eastern Theater Command were instructed to proceed to the flagship conference room to line up and greet the delegations of commanders from the various theater support fleets.

Gu Yan was awakened by the military-grade encrypted mobile phone on her bedside table.

He rubbed his eyes; the notification on the screen was brief.

"All senior generals and officers of the Eastern Theater Command lined up in the flagship conference room at 7:00 a.m. local time to welcome the delegation of commanders of the North American, South American, Northern European and Central African Theater Commands."

"Wear formal attire."

"No one may be absent."

He put down his phone and sat up in bed.

I put on my formal attire, buttoned it up, and was about to leave.

As soon as the door opened, two people were standing in the doorway.

Chiyomiya Hanyu was wearing the dark red formal attire of the chief priestess, with a pheasant sword hanging at her waist, and her long, jet-black hair tied into a high ponytail with a silver ribbon.

Lin Jinyu was dressed in a dark blue Nordic Commander's uniform, her long golden hair casually draped over her shoulders, and her coat, which she had forgotten to take back from the deck the night before, was still hanging on her arm.

The two people stood side by side at his door, their expressions remarkably identical.

They all exuded an air of certainty, as if saying, "We've already discussed this beforehand."