The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 6 (Light Novel)

you hate me so much?” he asked, his face now less like a wild dog and more like a puppy. Love, hate—some people wanted the world to be so black and white. Why wouldn’t he give her the choice of a gray area?

“I suppose I don’t hate you as such,” she said. She might even think of him favorably. Certainly, she regarded this noble more positively than she had back when they’d first met.

Jinshi pursed his lips, not very pleased with this evasive answer. Maybe he was hoping she would come right out and say she loved him, but quite frankly, Maomao wasn’t at a point where she could bring those words to her lips. The best she could manage was that she wasn’t without a certain affection for him.

He didn’t want to relinquish the sensation that still lingered on his lips.

Jinshi first heard this story when he was more than ten years old, after Gaoshun had seen him teasing Basen for trying to keep his distance from the ladies-in-waiting.

“Women are such fragile creatures,” Basen said. “I think it’s too soon for me.”

What could Jinshi say to that? There was nothing. Instead, he held out his cup, silently asking for more juice.

Just when she was expecting to feel a rush of wind against her body, she felt a pressure against her belly instead.

I’m not certain I can control my strength—but may I hit you?”

Maomao didn’t put it on her head, but used a simple tie to hold back her hair. She did, though, place the hair stick in the folds of her clothes to make sure she wouldn’t lose it. She always carried a small package containing medicine, bandages, and the like, so she simply added it to that.

. It’s simply that there’s someone I would very much like to triumph over,”

It was more than just the customary furrow in his brow; Basen’s lips were twisted into a frown. Some memory seemed to flit into his mind, and each time, he would blink, then shake his head suddenly as if to get rid of it. It was very suspicious.

Her alluring lips arched. “My, my. Done already?” she seemed to ask, although she said nothing. Her smile made clear how much she still had left in her.
It meant he had lost.

And then the regret.
His partner was well within her comfort zone. She never blushed, nor looked away in embarrassment. Only stared calmly, coldly down at the man beneath her, then licked her lips, sucking in the thread of saliva. She wasn’t savoring the afterglow, but simply eliminating all traces, as if it had never happened. Her small body bestrode Jinshi’s, easily twice her size, her hand placed over his heart. She could feel his heartbeat, but he couldn’t feel hers.