Starting Now——

§461

The sun is shining harshly. Murong Jihua’s heart is in chaos. He Jünle is all wet.

——Well, his hand is.

Murong Jihua and He Jünle are holding each other’s hands as they progress through the crystalline corridor, the lotus pond, the garden of amber and the palace of ice. The moment they push open the entrance to the main building, they are met by a scream of a familiar voice, “AAAA——!!!”

Murong Jihua and He Jünle quickly glance at each other –

Su Xiaomo!

§462

Murong Jihua reacts quickly enough, but He Jünle is even quicker; after a brief glance at Murong Jihua about as short as lightning, he has immediately rushed for the direction of the voice.

Without letting the hand go.

Murong Jihua is honoured to once again experience the speed and passion of the man-powered sports car.

・

On the helical stairs up, about a floor above them, Her Highness Elizabeth is standing right in the middle of the stairs, locking on the dazed and frightened Su Xiaomo, wrapping around her like a snake. The young Su Xiaomo can only sob in response.

Yes, she is wrapping around her.

This is the scene met by Murong Jihua and He Jünle.

Her Highness Elizabeth, in a large, elegant dress that is sweeping the ground, is stuck right onto the back of Su Xiaomo, with one hand pulling on Su Xiaomo’s arm and the other grabbing at Su Xiaomo’s cheeks after locking over her neck.

The dress has become dirtied in their earlier scuffle, with all the pearls on them scattered all about, yet Her Highness Elizabeth seemed blissfully unaware, still locking onto Su Xiaomo’s side profile with her unfocused yet piercing pupils.

——Su Xiaomo, in a little red dress herself, looks almost like a butterfly stuck within white cobwebs.

He Jünle’s expression turns grim. He is going to stand forth when Murong Jihua stops him firmly.

“Calm down first,” Murong Jihua reminds him, “let’s first listen to what she is muttering.”

§463

Her Highness Elizabeth does not seem to be aware of Murong Jihua’s presence – she is absorbed in her own world now, a world wholly occupied by Su Xiaomo.

Unrelated to oranges (TL: Not sure what this reference is at all, so I merely translated it literally) at all.

§464

“——Una niña peasant? Quién are usted? I suggest you me respondes obediently, por qué estás in la casa of Mu-dage?”

Before Su Xiaomo can reply, Her Highness Elizabeth suddenly goes ‘ah,’ showing a sparkling smile, murmuring, or perhaps, somehow communicating through to Murong Jihua,

“Ahh——Perhaps, usted are Mu-dage amado and that little Le-guy’s——madre surrogate?”

“No no no no no no this would never do, your existence is an obstruction to our vision——A womb produced from genes that are mundane will risk interfering with our most valued miracle, you see?”

Murong Jihua, who’s already scouring his mind for a new round of bullshitting, almost bites his tongue hearing that.

§465

This, this damned Princess’ brain really is wired wrong, isn’t she?!

No matter how hard he has worked to avoid confrontation, the trope of the evil female side character’s fiendish scheming against the little white lotus is inevitable now, is it?!

§466

He Jünle discreetly glances over at Murong Jihua, but does not say anything for now.

Her Highness Elizabeth is pouting her lips, furrowing her brows into one; though her right hand has given up on Su Xiaomo’s face, and, for some inexplicable reason, she has unbuttoned one of the straps on Su Xiaomo’s dress——

・

Ni Haofan and the other royal procession following behind Her Highness appear flustered and do not know what to do anymore.

・

“Who told you this shaoye sought this girl out to be a surrogate mother?!”

——Until Murong Jihua yells out to grab the attention of all present.

And successfully stopping He Jünle, who was all ready to fight himself when he saw Su Xiaomo’s dress strap being undone.

Murong Jihua lightly brushes He Jünle’s palm with his fingernail, indicating for him to stay still for now.

§467

Murong Jihua displays a very mocking smile, asking, “do you not realise the difference between this girl and other women?”

“Eh?”

“Are you still unable to notice, Your Highness? How much unnecessary trouble will we have to resolve thanks to your carelessness before we could achieve our dreams, I wonder,”

Murong Jihua shakes his head in ‘disappointment,’ while his brain churns hard to produce this sentence next,

“Do you not see the face of this girl——Her great enormous eyes are occupying a half of her entire face! They are also so brightly coloured, so vivid and so lively, do you still think she is but a mere unremarkable girl?”

(Please refer to Chapter 5 for more details on Su Xiaomo’s appearance)

He Jünle, who already realise Murong Jihua is about to start bullshitting again after hearing that exaggerated, dramatic tone, “…”

Her Highness Elizabeth seems slightly taken aback as she quickly turns Su Xiaomo’s head around to view in person.

“…”

Then she turns to look back at the group of royal physicians she brought along behind her.

Everyone else begins murmuring, “… yes, this certainly goes against all we know of the biological growth of humans…”

§468

Great, you really are all NPCs, aren’t you?

It takes you someone pointing out specifically to notice such a defining feature?!

Though thankfully, this affords space for him to perform.

§469

Seeing the opportunity, Murong Jihua (forces) a devious smile on himself to say,

“This woman’s eyes that are so vivid and vibrant like a rainbow, is naturally a brilliant accomplishment after infusing the genes from my bone and blood!
——She! Su Xiaomo, is a child out of wedlock of mine!”

“…”
“…”
“…”

Su Xiaomo, who finally understands what’s going on, gives Her Highness Elizabeth a brave look to say,

“Y-, yes! All of my fellow students know, that, while on the surface, I call Mr CEO a ‘gege,’ but everyone is aware that I see him as my father inside!”

Murong Jihua calmly adds, “that’s right.”

“I, I see!” Her Highness Elizabeth’s sky-blue eyes are shining prominently, accepting the man’s words without question just like the countless times she has been led astray by Murong Jihua, saying,

“No wonder this niña bonita es muy muy muy muy muuuuy sweet! Her inhumanly gorgeous eyes is certainly evidence for your most perfect genes having been fused within her!”

Her Highness Elizabeth lets Su Xiaomo go, then makes prayer hands by her lips to say longingly, “Oh it is so fantastic that when it is merely the genes of CEO Murong alone it can reach such a degree which is making me expect the perfect sapling of love that shall be produced by the two perfect humans of Mu-dage and Mr He which I believe will definitely be an even more amazing existence hahaha humans son perfectos blablabla…”

§470

Murong Jihua is too preoccupied now to listen to the clingy Princess’ meaningless rambles.

——As his eyes can only see Su Xiaomo right now, who, unsteady after the Princess suddenly let her go, has stumbled after slipping on a pearl and is now falling down the stairs.
——His body reacts even more quickly than his brain, flying up the steps to receive Su Xiaomo, to fall down onto the floor using his chest to protect her.
——Though none of this is why Murong Jihua is now sweating profusely and feeling lost in his intense pain.
——The real reason is that,

The moment Su Xiaomo fell onto his embrace to fall down with him, the logo in the upper left corner of Murong Jihua’s vision, suddenly flashed up with a warning colour of red.

——It means, a severe OoC.

§471

‘What?
Since when has something as romantic and swooning as protecting a girl with my own body become a high-risk action that went against my own character archetype?
——Even though I’ve practically gone through way more extreme and suggestive things with He Jünle…’

Murong Jihua shudders, reflexively looking at He Jünle with some wariness and confusion.

He recalls now!

Once, he even got an OoC warning just for riding on the same motorcycle as He Jünle!

Now it is somehow fine when they were kissing and hugging, but helping the female protagonist is now a big no-no?!

§472

Oh jeez, oh man.

Murong Jihua, his head throbbing, can feel his vision dimming, while his mind is in chaos –

Since when has this virtual life taken a turn for the strange?

How is he even supposed to keep going like this?