Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

"Waaah... What have you been protecting... Don't protect places like that..."

Chang Rong, who was talking in her sleep, turned her body to the side, and her hair just happened to touch the twisted arm of the guard with the hairband.

"—"

This time, the guard did not remove his arm, but instead, with extreme care, gently rubbed the white-haired boy's hair in a motion as if stroking a balloon.

Although the headband = the guard [as always, there was no expression on his face, but if Liu Changrong saw the guard's 'mask' at this moment, he would definitely feel some kind of emotion - a kind of sadness and self-blame.

"Hmm... umm... hmm?"

Chang Errong was in a daze, crying. He opened his eyes (but the white-haired boy saw nothing). He saw nothing but the curtains by the balcony swaying without wind. Soon he fell back into a dreamland filled with fairytale-like beautiful scenery.

Meanwhile, in the warehouse, Kurobe Nanoka was having trouble falling asleep.

On the one hand, her appalling behavior during today's hospital visit led to her being removed from the list of people to visit her.

On the other hand, 'Sister' has run off somewhere again today with the quilt she painstakingly stole.

As for the last aspect...

Hei Qunbu Nina Kaori repeatedly relived the scenes she had hallucinated back then, although she instinctively believed that what was being shown was a romantic comedy scene from her future with Chang Rong.

But what if... that's not the 'future,' but a fragment of the 'past'...?

Volume 1: Thanks to Doubi686 for the golden treasure chest, today's update may be delayed.

Thank you so much to [doubi686] for the donation! I'm truly grateful!

Although the bounty period has passed, and I don't know if I can repay it all... anyway, I'll continue with an extra 15 chapters this time.

Also, I think I had gastroenteritis when I woke up this morning; my stomach hurt, I had diarrhea, and my whole body ached. The downsides of not having any drafts are on full display.

I'm going downstairs to buy some medicine to try. If I feel better, I'll try to update tonight. If not, I'll have to take a day off. I'm very sorry.

Volume 1: 101. Tachibana Sherry: Now the balance of power has shifted!

"EL...PSY KONGR...OO?"

Inside the library, where cherry blossoms bloom eternally, creating a romantic, mysterious atmosphere with a hint of mildew, Chang Rong, a white-haired boy with his left arm wrapped in a bandage and hanging across his chest, stares at an old-fashioned book in his hands. He frowns and struggles to read the scribbles on the pages, words that seem to exist nowhere in the real world.

"You are a...a...what are you? What is this...what is this!?"

After stammering out his second nonsensical sentence, Chang Rong was filled with rage. He fiercely raised the book in his hand, then gently put it down as if he were holding an ancestor, afraid of tearing the already yellowed and tattered old book apart.

Today it was Chang Rong's turn to translate 'The Witch's Book'. Of course, rather than saying it was 'his turn', it would be more accurate to say that everything he wanted to do was vetoed, and in the end, he could only end up in jail at the library.

The deciphering of this old book with the witch's encyclopedia is still incredibly slow. So far, the only parts that Chang Rong can understand are the parts translated by Baosheng Mag at the beginning, the authenticity of which is unknown, and the advice written in scarlet 'pigment' by the veterans.

It wasn't advice like "There's a strong enemy ahead, rolling is important," or "It's a mushroom..." or "I really want to leave..." or "You don't deserve it..." but rather words that were more like curses.

"No one can escape from prison." "Everyone's ultimate fate is death." "No, no, no, I've had enough! I want to leave!" "If we kill everyone else, can we escape? That must be it!" "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

These words, composed of despair and malice, chilled Chang Dan'er to the bone, while simultaneously increasing his admiration for the con artist, Bao Shengma.

How did this older woman manage to translate witch stories from scratch and make significant progress while simultaneously working in the clinic and recuperating, all while dealing with these incredibly nonsensical words? Only she knows for sure.

Unfortunately, Baosheng Mag's magic skill 'Simulate Voice' is only good for humor. If he had been given a more powerful magic skill, this year's witch trial would probably have ended long ago.

"Hmm... never mind, even if I keep staring at it, the words on it won't come to life and tell me the answer."

After pretending to look at the scribbles on the old book for a long time, Chang Rong put the book aside and turned to admire the cherry blossoms behind her.

It's obvious that the existence of this cherry blossom tree is also closely related to magic; otherwise, Chang Rong would find it hard to imagine how a tree could take root and sprout in a room with a wooden and stone structure.

Although the cherry blossom tree was beautiful, Chang Rong always felt something was off. Beneath its elegant and beautiful exterior, Chang Rong sensed that something eerie lurked within it, a feeling of unease and disgust that lingered in her mind.

"Well……!"

As I was admiring the flowers, I heard a cute little noise from behind me. Following the sound, I turned around and, sure enough, it was the pink and white little dog, which was half-huddled at the library entrance, looking at me with a pitiful expression.

"—You don't always have to do this, Emma. I'm almost fully recovered. If you want to pounce on me, just do it."

Chang Rong was already used to Sakura Emma's little tricks. Recently, Emma had been worried that her [Stamina Absorption] magic would affect Chang Rong's recovery, so she would just watch Chang Rong from a distance.

But her various seductive little gestures, coupled with her soft and sweet personality that makes her seem like she'll drop tiny pearls if you ignore her for even a moment, meant that Chang Rong could only let this little dog pounce on her and cuddle to her heart's content in the end.

"Hehehe... Chang Rongjun!"

Like some kind of 'strange master-servant relationship', as Chang Rong had granted permission, Sakura Emma immediately laughed and pounced on him, using just the right amount of force—not hurtful, but enough to feel like she'd been pounced on by a dog—as she snuggled into Chang Rong's arms.

Normally, what follows would be a very formulaic sequence: Chang Rong scratches Emma's chin, Chang Rong rubs Emma's hair, Chang Rong is rubbed and twisted by Emma in his arms, Chang Rong is in control, Chang Rong steadily advances, Chang Rong is confident of victory, Chang Rong is licked clean, Chang Rong's face is ashen, Sakura Emma's face is shiny with oil, Sakura Emma gives her acceptance speech.

But today's process is slightly different—

"Um, Chang Rong-jun... are you hungry?" While ruffling the pink puppy's hair, she suddenly looked up, her light pink eyes meeting Chang Rong's, and asked in a concerned and worried tone.

"I'm not hungry. I forced myself to eat a lot for breakfast. What's wrong?" The white-haired boy tilted his head and asked.

"No, it's nothing... By the way! Chang Rong-jun, do you need your shoulders massaged? You haven't really moved your shoulders much these past few days, and it wouldn't be good if they got stiff! Don't look at me like this, I actually know a little bit about how to massage shoulders!"

Sakura Emma immediately brought up a new topic, looking at Chang Rong with great enthusiasm and eagerness.

"No need, no need. My right hand is almost fully recovered, and I can move it normally now. My left hand should be getting better soon too. Anyway, let's continue—"

"Well, then! Chang Rongjun, your eyes must be tired after reading for so long. Let me rub them for you! By the way, I heard that licking your eyes can improve your eyesight—"

"How could my eyesight be good! It's not like I'm eating fish eyes. Besides, Emma, ​​you don't need to worry about me so much. Everything's fine here!"

"Kiang!? I...I know, Chang Rong-jun... Waaah..."

Chang Rong was getting a bit overwhelmed by Sakura Emma's barrage of questions, so he quickly said that he was fine. However, perhaps because his tone was a little harsh, Emma was startled and shrank back, looking pitiful.

"I...I wasn't scolding you, Emma! Anyway...pat pat! Yo-shi yo-shi yo-shi—"

Chang Rong, completely captivated by the pink-haired puppy, quickly hugged Emma and rubbed her head to comfort her. So busy showing the puppy that he meant no harm, he didn't even see the smile on Emma's lips.

In short, after being petted, hugged, and kissed by the puppy that stole her food, and after spending some time calculating the speed at which cherry blossoms fell against the cherry tree to be five centimeters per second, and researching what dishes could be made from cherry blossom petals, Chang Rong left the library with sunken eyes and mouth, full of energy.

—Sakura Emma has definitely been acting strange these past few days. No, it should be said that not only Sakura Emma, ​​but everyone has been acting 'strangely' lately...!

Previously, when I gave Emma my routine massage, she wouldn't suddenly start rubbing me back or asking if I had eaten while I was being rubbed halfway through. Instead, she would just squint her eyes and enjoy it wholeheartedly.

However, ever since he was injured and hospitalized in the infirmary, Emma's interactions with him have subtly changed. Not only Emma, ​​but everyone else has also changed somewhat.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Chang Rong went to the infirmary to change the bandage on her left shoulder.

"Hmph! Not only did you not run away, but you actually offered yourself up in my arms, Watson!"

“^q^ Oh dear…”

As soon as Chang Rong pushed open the door to the infirmary, he came face to face with the blue-haired, high-IQ, sickly, and beautiful girl. It was as despairing as if he had just gotten out of his bedroom, ready for an epic adventure, only to find the final boss sitting in front of the cashier in a weapon shop.

"Hey Watson, how are you? Are you feeling better?"

Shirley Tachibana put down the medicine bottle in her hand, happily approached Chang Rong, and asked the white-haired boy with a smile.

Normally, when relatives and friends ask about such topics, one would try to address the issue in a positive light to alleviate their concerns and worries. However, for Chang Rong…

"Well, my left arm is still a little bit weak... haha, but overall it's not a big problem, Sherry."

Chang Rong rubbed her hair to ease the awkwardness, subtly indicating that she was still far from being 'fully healed.' After all, the way Tachibana Sherry had acted in the infirmary had been truly terrifying. If it weren't for the current delicate balance everyone was in, Chang Rong might have even suspected that she would be immediately taken advantage of by Tachibana Sherry the day she left the infirmary…

"Um, it's all my fault... I'm sorry, Watson. If I had been more careful back then, you wouldn't have..."

Upon hearing that Chang Rong's injuries had not fully recovered, Tachibana Sherry, who always wore a carefree smile, instantly wiped the smile off her face and said in a very heavy tone.

"No, there's no cure for this. It's not Sherry's fault. Nobody knows that there are still remnants of the prison on the island. And if it weren't for you, Sherry, saving me back then, I probably wouldn't have had time to do anything before I was killed."

Seeing that her boss had fallen into a low mood again, Chang Rong quickly went to Shirley and hugged her to comfort her, saying that the situation was no one's fault, but rather that Shirley's life-saving punch had saved her.

"If I had been more careful, Watson, your injuries would have healed by now, and then I could have done all sorts of things to Chang Rong..."

Alas!?

Chang Rong, who was holding Shirley with a gentle smile just a second ago, suddenly lost his temper. The humanoid computer angel in his arms, who had been innocently developing emotions, turned into T800 whose mind was full of CBB theory.

"What to do, what to do... how to do it...?"

Chang Rong quickly let go of her hands and distanced herself from Tachibana Sherry, swallowing hard as she checked the escape route behind her while asking in a low voice.

"Oh dear, don't make the girl say such shy things~ If Watson agrees, then it's just normal doing; if Watson doesn't agree, then it's doing it against his will?"

Sherry Tachibana first pretended to blush and look shy, then stuck out her tongue and said with a cute, mischievous expression.

"Gurgle...!"

When I used to watch cartoons, Chang Rong really enjoyed torturing Ash and Tai. The former was so good at turning such a cute little Charmander into Charmeleon and Charizard, it was really amazing. How come this pig-nosed guy is so bad?

Taiichi, you're such a cute, intelligent, and kind Digimon, and you managed to make Agumon evolve incorrectly. You're a real piece of trash, a real piece of trash!

As a result...

Looking at Tachibana Sherry with a V-shaped smile on her face, and seeing her wavering between two different options in her mind but ultimately converging on the same conclusion, Chang Rong was covered in sweat.

What went wrong along the way that turned Tachibana Sherry, who was originally just occasionally a little eccentric and acted strangely but was essentially innocent and kind, into this monstrous state?

I've seen plenty of stories about characters who regain their emotions, but I've never seen a female protagonist who, after regaining her humanity, immediately tries to seduce the male protagonist! Is this even possible? This must be Sherry-chan's unique joke.

"Let's talk about that later. Anyway, Sherry, you go ahead with your work. I won't bother you. I'm leaving now—goohoo!"

Chang Rong smiled and slowly backed away, turning to run away, but unsurprisingly, he was grabbed and pulled back by Tachibana Sherry.

"Hmph, Watson, you didn't come here just to wander around, did you? You're here to change your dressing, right? In that case, let me help you~"

Shirley Tachibana held up a magnifying glass and pointed it at Chang Rong's cheek, analyzing with a grin.

"Then I'll have to trouble Sherry... mainly with the wound on my left shoulder."

There was no escaping it, so Chang Rong could only obediently sit in the chair and expose her left arm to Tachibana Sherry.

Most of the small wounds on her body have almost completely healed. At first, Chang Rong was quite happy that her wounds were healing so quickly, because it meant that she would soon regain her mobility and continue to look for a way to leave the prison island.

But now, because of the existence of a mysterious blue-haired, super-strong woman, Chang Rong just wants time to slow down...

However, if the wound really doesn't heal, Sherry will most likely lose patience with her witch transformation and find a way to execute Chang Rong on the spot. At that point, she might not even have a choice, only being able to be a devoted fan.

"Hmph! Hmph! This is what they call 'thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river,' isn't it, Watson?"

As Shirley removed the bandages from Chang Rong's arm, she smiled and said something.

"You're also saying 'Don't underestimate a young man'...? I don't think anyone can bully Sherry, right?"

"Do you remember when we first truly came into contact, Watson? It was Watson treating my wounds and changing my dressings back then."