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

"You've been around them for so long."

"Eating with them, fighting alongside them, watching the sea together."

"But I know nothing about it."

"Chiyomiya Hanyu even told me that you were her 'most honored guest'."

"You are her most honored guest, so who am I to you?"

Gu Yan's Adam's apple bobbed.

"You are... my favorite goofball."

Pei Yuran suddenly raised her head.

A faint layer of moisture still lingered in her icy blue pupils, but her expression had turned cold.

She stared into his eyes and spoke, word by word.

Say it again.

"My favorite silly goose."

She bit her lower lip and turned her head away.

A very faint pink blush rose to the base of her ears, standing out vividly in the dim yellow light of the room.

She rolled off him, sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him, and placed her hands on her knees.

The hem of her plain white dress spread out along the edge of the bed, like a snowflake that had just settled and was unwilling to drift away again.

I don't believe it.

"You must have said much more cheesy things to them over the past three years."

Gu Yan sat up in bed and looked at her back.

Her shoulders were very thin and bony, like a sword that had been repeatedly polished to an extremely thin point, which would cut you if you held it.

He reached out and gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Her body stiffened for a moment in his arms, then slowly relaxed.

"I haven't told anyone."

"Only with you."

Pei Yuran did not turn around.

But Gu Yan felt her fingers covering the back of his hand that was wrapped around her waist.

Her fingertips were cold, like the first snowflake to fall on the back of your hand in the depths of winter.

But her touch was very light, as if she were afraid of breaking something she had lost and then regained.

"You're not allowed to leave this time."

"I'm not leaving."

"No one else is allowed to die."

"As much as possible."

She pinched the back of his hand very, very lightly.

It didn't hurt; it was just like confirming that there was warmth and life beneath his skin.

"Hanyu's makeup skills are just so-so."

"I can smell your scent even through the door."

Gu Yan paused for a moment, then looked down and sniffed her collar.

It didn't have any particularly special flavor.

But Pei Yuran did not explain further.

She simply turned his hand over and looked at the new calluses on his palm.

That was left by him with a knife at the Nagoya pass.

"I'll protect you from now on."

"You don't need to use the knife anymore."

"You won't need to use a knife anymore."

Pei Yuran didn't turn around when she said that.

Her chin rested gently on Gu Yan's shoulder, her long, dark hair cascading down his chest like a piece of silk soaked in the night.

Her voice was soft, but every word was like a sword tip carving into ice.

"I have a sword."

I will always be by your side.

"Wherever you go, I will go."

"Wherever you retreat, I will stay and guard."

Gu Yan sat behind her, her arms still wrapped around her waist.

He could feel that her back was very thin, and through a plain white dress, he could feel the outline of her shoulder blades.

This ice-type swordsman, who ranked high on the combat power list, this iceberg goose who cleaved through a Titan-class armor with a single sword outside the Nagoya Pass, was now leaning against him, breathing so lightly as if afraid of waking something.

"Yu Ran".

Gu Yan rested her chin on her shoulder, her voice very low.

I know you want to protect me.

"But I can't run away."

"As long as I have the ability, I must do something."

"I am the bulwark of the empire, and the whole world is watching me."

"The Black Tide has now reached the fifth line of defense. If they retreat any further, they will be heading towards the Great Xia homeland."

"I can't hide in the cabin and let you fight yourselves to the death."

Pei Yuran did not speak immediately.

She remained silent for a long time, so long that Gu Yan thought she didn't want to continue the topic.

Then her voice came from the front, so soft it was almost drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing against the East China Sea outside the window.

"You said the same thing three years ago."

"You said you have the ability and you must do something."

"And then you died."

Gu Yan felt her body trembling slightly.

That wasn't fear, but the lingering unease of finally finding an outlet after being suppressed for three years.

He tightened his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

Her back was pressed against his chest, and he lowered his head, gently rubbing his chin against the top of her head.

"Not this time."

"Someone's watching me this time."

"You're looking at me, and they're looking at me too."

"I won't act recklessly on my own anymore."

Pei Yuran did not answer.

She simply placed her hands on the back of his hands that were wrapped around her waist, and slowly interlocked her fingers with his.

Her fingers were cold, as if they had just been pulled out of ice water, but they were gripping tightly, so tightly that Gu Yan could feel the thin calluses on her knuckles.

Those were left over from practicing swordsmanship, one layer on top of another.

"If you dare to rush out alone again..."

"I'll freeze your legs and lock you in my room."

"You are not allowed to go anywhere."

Gu Yan chuckled softly.

"A dignified sword immortal from the Pei family uses such methods to deal with a sickly, unarmed person."

"It wouldn't sound good if word got out."

I don't care if it sounds good or not.

Her voice was still so cold, but the last syllable floated up slightly, like an ice flower falling on the water.

I don't care what others think of me.

"As long as you're alive, everything is negotiable."

Gu Yan didn't say anything more.

He held her in his arms, listening quietly to her breathing and the sound of waves crashing against the side of the aircraft carrier outside the window.

The cabin was so quiet that he could hear the faintest sound of her eyelashes fluttering, and the very softest swallow she made.

It was as if he had swallowed back half of all the words he had accumulated over the past three years.

After a while, she turned around in his arms and looked at him face to face.

That aloof and stunningly beautiful face was less than a palm's width away from him, and her icy blue pupils were astonishingly clear under the dim light.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line, as if she were making a very important decision.

"You just said that you are the jewel of the empire, and that the whole world is watching you."

She paused, raised her hand, and very lightly touched his brow with her cool fingertips, then slowly slid her fingers down his nose to his lips.

"But I am not the whole world."

"I am Pei Yuran."

"I've never looked at you because you're some kind of imperial treasure."

"I look at you because you are Gu Yan."

"Ever since you stood in front of me in the secret realm and blocked that wind blade for me, I have never looked at you with any other eyes."

"So could you, just this once, listen to me?"

Gu Yan looked into her eyes.

Those icy blue pupils held no tears, no hesitation, only a softness more resolute than the edge of a sword.

He nodded.

"it is good."

"I'll listen to you."

She exhaled very softly, as if she had finally loosened a crack in the block of ice that had been pressing on her chest for three years.

Then she lowered her head again and rested her forehead against his shoulder.

Her hair fell over him like a silent snowfall.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the corridor.

More than one person.