A Stern Lesson and a Sweet Misunderstanding

‘Xiaobai… do you know what you did wrong?! Huh?!’ I pressed, my voice deliberately feigning coercion, as the strength in my hands couldn’t help but increase. I know! I know! A little softer, Leidi! It hurts! Ow! Xiaobai, fresh from her bath, was pinned firmly by me on the bed, her hands and feet secured. But this time, I hadn’t used simple grappling; instead, I’d employed a joint lock capable of inflicting intense pain. Though my heart ached for her, I knew full well that without such a lesson, she would never learn. ‘So—tell me, where exactly did you go wrong?’ I pressed her further, feigning a stern tone. However, out of her sight, I furrowed my brows and bit my lip in distress. ‘Let this end quickly,’ I thought. ‘I don’t want this either…’ ‘I shouldn’t have been alone with Princess in that private room! Please let go! My hand! My hand really hurts!’ Drip—drip— A faint warmth registered on the arm tightly securing her joint. ‘Were those her tears…?’ ‘Had I made her cry…?’ ‘You trust others too easily…’ I ground out, still clenching my teeth in frustration, as I slowly released her limbs. ‘I’m sorry,’ I thought. ‘It must have hurt terribly…’ ‘Leidi, you’re so fierce today…’ Xiaobai slumped onto the bed, too drained even to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Her face remained averted, leaving me uncertain of her current expression. ‘I hope she doesn’t hate me…’ ‘If Princess had been a bad person, can you even imagine the consequences? In the worst-case scenario, you could have died!’ I exclaimed, turning my gaze away angrily, unwilling to let her see my expression. ‘Damn it… I’m about to cry too…’ I thought. ‘I knew this was necessary…’ ‘I’m the one who was hurting… so why are you crying too…?’ ‘She noticed…?’ Enduring the lingering pain, Xiaobai painstakingly moved closer to me, offering a wry smile as she gently wiped away my tears. ‘Whose fault is this, then…?’ I sobbed softly, burying my face in her beautiful hair as I pulled her into a full embrace. ‘It’s alright to be clingy with her… isn’t it?’ ‘She’s so gentle…’ ‘There, there,’ she chuckled, patting my back like an older sister. ‘I’m fine, aren’t I? As an apology, I even got most of the dessert recipes from ‘Beethoven’! How about I make them for you next time?’ ‘Why are you always so kind…?’ I murmured. ‘We both know how truly wicked people can be, don’t we…?’ ‘And don’t we also know how truly good people can be?’ … ‘Yes…’ ‘I know it well…’ ‘That’s why you’re the only one I trust completely…’ I thought. ‘Even if it meant exchanging the entire world, I wouldn’t want any harm to befall you.’ ‘Speaking of which, you really scared me back then,’ she said. ‘You actually threw that huge, heavy bag of dumbbells directly at Princess’s face! If she hadn’t been able to transform into a swarm of bats, she might have died, you know…’ Her hand paused its movement. ‘I really wish she would keep caressing me…’ ‘And you didn’t even consider how I felt, waiting for so long, only to open the door and see your eyes so swollen and red…’ I mumbled, burying my face even deeper into her embrace. ‘Seeing you like that, how could I have remained indifferent…?’ In that moment… having lost all composure, my mind held nothing but the thought of killing that person. ‘How could anyone make my most precious person cry?’ I thought. ‘That was a capital offense… a capital offense akin to opening Pandora’s Box!’ Employing the fully activated ‘Reverse Shackle,’ I hurled the dumbbells with all my might towards that person. They tore through the swarm of bats at a terrifying speed, smashing through the private room’s wall, utterly destroying the entire space. Then, like an iron battering ram, they crashed directly through several load-bearing columns of the department store. At that moment, the entire department store shuddered as if it had endured a horrific bomb attack… Thankfully, the department store didn’t collapse. Ruka sister had also promptly deployed ‘Corridor,’ taking everyone from the entire department store inside. Otherwise… many innocent people would surely have died because of my impulsiveness… Just as she had said at the time, it was truly fortunate that no one was injured… Otherwise, she would have been heartbroken… ‘I’m sorry…’ ‘I was also at fault for losing my composure…’ ‘Is she blaming herself…?’ I thought. ‘It was clearly my fault…’ ‘Speaking of which, Princess was a great help back then too,’ Xiaobai said. ‘Next time, let’s go to ‘Beethoven’ together to thank her.’ Placing her hands on my shoulders, Xiaobai gently pushed us apart. ‘Mm—I’ll apologize to her too…’ ‘I still want to hold you…’ To prevent our affairs from being exposed, and also to apologize to us, Princess had used bats to cast hypnotic suggestions on all the customers taken into ‘Corridor,’ making them forget what they shouldn’t have seen. Honestly, if Princess were an enemy, her abilities would make her incredibly troublesome… Fortunately, she wasn’t an enemy… and she hadn’t placed any suggestions on Xiaobai. Now that I think about it, she seemed to know about the ‘Gate.’ She hadn’t appeared particularly surprised when she was taken into ‘Corridor’… ‘Hey,’ Xiaobai yawned, ‘it’s school tomorrow, shouldn’t we go to bed early?’ ‘I can’t sleep right now…’ I replied. ‘You really are… I don’t know what to say about you…’ ‘How about some milk? It helps with sleep.’ … … ‘Do you really think that’s a good suggestion…?’ ‘If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten…’ I exclaimed. ‘You were targeted by Princess precisely because she mistook you for a cow demi-human, weren’t you?!’ … I stared at her with a complex expression, and Xiaobai returned my gaze with an equally complicated look. ‘Please don’t say it…’ she pleaded. ‘It’s traumatizing…’ ‘…Oh…’ After placing the suggestions on the customers and returning them to the partially ruined department store, I finally understood the full story when Princess performed a perfectly executed dogeza to apologize to us. During a cosplay arm-wrestling competition, Princess, whom Xiaobai had coincidentally met, had become utterly convinced that Xiaobai was a human with Hostaurus bloodline. While there wasn’t a significant difference in their formidable strength, Hostaurus (cow demi-humans), a subspecies of the inherently brutal Minotaur (bull-headed humans), were known to be gentle and human-friendly bovine beastmen. Moreover… any sexually mature female individual, even without pregnancy, would enter lactation… The milk collected from them was considered a top-grade product in both quality and taste… It was said to be highly sought after among all races… a truly luxurious commodity. Ruka sister, looking conflicted, added that… female Hostaurus individuals typically had bust sizes of G-cup or larger… essentially, all females were large-breasted… Naturally… any offspring possessing their bloodline would inherit all these characteristics. And Xiaobai, who coincidentally fit the description of gentle, possessing monstrous strength, and having large breasts… was thus, by an unfortunate coincidence, targeted by Princess, a genius pastry chef… No, more accurately, it was her *chest* that Princess had set her sights on… This was truly… an utterly ridiculous and comical misunderstanding… ‘Tell me, how many times did Princess pinch you, huh?’ I asked, recalling the details, and couldn’t resist mischievously pinching Xiaobai’s plump, white mound again. She actually didn’t push my hand away, but instead covered her head and tried to escape… honestly. ‘Since we’re both women, isn’t it better not to mind this level of physical contact?’ ‘Enough! I’m going to sleep now!’ Her cheeks flushed as red as a ripe peach, Xiaobai immediately dove headfirst into the covers. ‘Heh heh, sleep well~’ ‘Perhaps tonight, I’ll just hold her as we sleep.’