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

The footsteps approached from afar and stopped at the door of Gu Yan's cabin.

Then came a very, very soft knock on the door.

"Yu Ran?"

Are you in there?

It was Xu Huan's voice.

He was aloof, restrained, and carried a hint of anxiety that only he knew.

He chased after her from the conference room, but couldn't find Pei Yuran anywhere.

I asked a few passing servicemen, and some said they saw Miss Pei heading towards the east side of the island superstructure.

He then asked where Yuzuru's assistant lived.

A soldier wiping the railing pointed to Gu Yan's cabin.

His heart sank.

"Yu Ran, I know you're in there."

"I have something to tell you."

Xu was still standing outside the door, his fingers gripping the sword sheath, his knuckles turning white.

He tried to make his voice sound as steady as usual, but he could tell that the steadyness was faked.

"We, the fellow students, haven't seen each other for three years."

There are some things I want to explain to you face to face.

Inside the cabin, Gu Yan looked at Pei Yuran.

She remained nestled in his arms, without even lifting her head.

"Are you going out?"

"No."

Her voice was muffled, with a very subtle hint of impatience.

"I don't want to see him."

Xu waited outside the door for quite a while, but no one responded.

His fist clenched tighter and tighter, his knuckles making a soft cracking sound.

The orderly next to him lowered his head and hurried away, pretending not to have seen anything.

Xu took a deep breath and pressed his forehead against the cold metal door.

"Yu Ran, I know you hate me."

"But at least give me a chance to explain."

"I've really regretted all these years."

"Every time I see you on the news, standing so high up, I think that if I hadn't made that wrong step back then, I would be the one standing next to you now."

His voice came through the metal door, deep and hoarse, as if it came from the bottom of a very deep well.

The cabin was quiet for a few seconds.

Then Pei Yuran spoke, her voice not loud, but every word pierced through the door panel clearly, like an icicle nailed into Xu Huan's chest.

"The person standing beside me back then wasn't you."

"It wasn't like that before, it's not like that now, and it never will be."

"You can leave now."

"I don't want him to hear your voice."

The moment the last half of the sentence landed, the breathing outside the door suddenly stopped.

Immediately following was a series of extremely light footsteps.

Xu has left.

His steps were heavier than when he came, each step feeling like he was stepping on broken glass.

Gu Yan lowered her head and looked at Pei Yuran in her arms.

She remained in the same position, her forehead resting against his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist.

She seemed completely unaffected by the conversation outside the door, her breathing as steady as a frozen lake.

But he noticed that her fingers tightened very, very slightly on his lower back, as if to confirm that he was still there.

"You just said my name directly."

"Um."

She didn't even lift her eyelids.

"It's good for him to know."

"So that he won't bother me again."

"Aren't you afraid he'll go around talking nonsense?"

"He wouldn't dare."

Her tone remained extremely cold and indifferent.

"If he tells anyone, I'll kill him."

"This time I won't give him any face."

"He knows it himself."

Gu Yan remained silent for a moment.

He wanted to say something, but in the end he just raised his hand and gently stroked her long hair that was scattered on her chest.

Her hair was cool, like snow, and smooth, like the first meltwater flowing down from the deepest part of the Arctic ice field.

"I haven't figured out how to tell your mother about us yet."

"What's there to think about?"

Pei Yuran's voice was muffled, carrying a hint of awkwardness that only she knew.

"You like her, and she likes you too."

"I saw it coming a long time ago."

"The way she looks at you is always more tender than when she looks at me."

"I didn't understand it before, but I gradually came to understand it."

"She has had a very difficult three years."

"She was happier than anyone else to see you back."

You don't need to feel sorry for me.

"I'm not a child."

Gu Yan was stunned for a moment.

He didn't expect her to bring it up herself.

"You...aren't angry?"

"angry."

She lifted her face from his shoulder, her icy blue pupils looking directly into his eyes.

"So, as punishment, you'll have to accompany me to the deck for some fresh air every day from now on."

"every day."

"Not even one day less."

Gu Yan looked at her cold and beautiful face, and watched her say the most unlike herself in the coldest tone.

He suddenly realized that this iceberg of a simpleton had learned quite a lot in the past three years.

I've learned to be submissive in front of the person I like, to awkwardly wrap up my sharp emotions, and to protect my softest heart with the hardest shell.

He reached out and pulled her back into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"it is good."

"I'll be with you every day."

Xu was still walking in the steel corridor inside the aircraft carrier.

Instead of returning to his cabin, he walked through the most secluded equipment passageway in the middle of the island superstructure, stopping at a corner at the end where no lights were installed.

The cold light from the lamp was blocked by the thick pipes, with only a few pale beams of light leaking in through the gaps, tearing his plain white robe into pieces of light and shadow.

He stood there, his back against the cold metal bulkhead, his right hand still gripping the scabbard.

The bloodstains on his knuckles had dried, turning a dark brown in the pale light.

He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and the anger that had been building up in his chest for so long finally burst forth.

Why?

"Gu Yan died three years ago."

"Why would my junior sister rather stay in the room with a deputy of unknown origin than open the door for me even once?"

"I apologized, I explained, I put aside all my pride and begged her."

She wouldn't even look at me.

His voice echoed in the empty equipment corridor, deep and hoarse.

No one answered him; only the low rumble of the ship's engines and the muffled sound of seawater lapping against the sides could be heard in the distance.

His fingers gripped the scabbard tighter and tighter, his knuckles making a creaking sound.

Suddenly, a very soft voice came from deep within the passage.

The sound seemed to seep from the cracks in a metal pipe, or as if it were growing directly from inside the wall, carrying a sticky sensation that sent chills down your spine.

"How pitiful."

Xu suddenly opened his eyes.

The longsword was drawn three inches from its sheath, the tip aimed at the direction from which the sound came.

There were no lights there; it was as dark as a deep well.

But in the very center of that darkness, a shadow was slowly taking shape.

It has a human-like appearance, but is a head taller than a human.

Its skin is dark gray, covered with fine scales, and a pale green mucus seeps out between the scales.

It was naked, and its body outline resembled a corpse that had been soaking for too long.

Its face could barely be described as having distinct features, with deep-set eyes and vertical pupils that looked like two golden needles stuck in the darkness.

It opened its mouth, revealing two rows of fine, sharp teeth.

"My senior brother set aside his pride and begged her."

"But she's lying in someone else's arms, not even leaving you a crack in the door."

"You chased me all the way from the Middle East to the Eastern Theater Command, only to be told 'You can leave' in return."

I feel so sorry for you.