Chapter 10

At sunset, Shi Yu calmly opened his eyes in the camp.

The kettle was right next to her, but Shi Yu hesitated for a moment and didn't take it. She cleared her throat and was surprised to find that the nagging thirst that had been bothering her during the day seemed to have eased a lot since she was with Simon, and it was even less uncomfortable after sleeping for a while.

"If you feel uncomfortable, keep drinking water."

Perhaps the sound of clearing her throat made Wayne think that her throat was still uncomfortable, and suddenly Wayne's cold and hoarse voice came from the side.

It was Wayne's imperative concern! But Shigure, feeling much better, decided not to dwell on it and, by the way, decided to forget about the minor friction that morning.

She happily whispered to Wayne, who was taking a nap with his eyes closed, "My throat doesn't seem to hurt anymore!"

"Maybe it's because I caught a cold last night." The sudden fainting seemed to be a sign. She was not paying enough attention.

Shi Yu mentally reprimanded himself, scratched the hair on his cheek apologetically, and continued, "Then I felt unwell this morning, and then—"

"My attitude wasn't very good this morning either. I'm sorry, Wayne."

“…”

Shigure mustered up the courage to apologize, then nervously waited for Wayne's reaction.

"look up."

The moment the voice came, Shi Yu felt his chin being pinched by someone's fingers and then forcefully lifted up.

...Huh?

Shi Yu opened her eyes wide in surprise and saw Wayne's gloomy green eyes drooping slightly, staring at her neck. After a light click of his tongue, he frowned and wanted to use his other free hand to lift her hair.

"Um, Wayne!" Shi Yu called him softly.

Although she didn't understand why he was obsessed with her neck, Shi Yu sighed and pushed Wayne's hand that was clamped around her chin... Unable to push it away, she could only step back and said weakly, "If you want to see it, I can show you myself."

After all, I am a girl. Do boys have no awareness of this?

But when he thought about running in Xiao's arms last night, and about how he had taken the initiative to ask to hold Simon, Shi Yu's face turned red and he quickly put the thought aside.

"Can you please let go first?"

Shi Yu tentatively touched Wayne's wrist again and squeezed it twice soothingly, and this time he finally took Wayne's hand away.

Then she sighed, and despite Wayne's extremely aggressive gaze above her head, she silently sat forward a little, gathered her hair to her left shoulder, and exposed the back of her neck to Wayne.

"Nothing, right? Nothing to see..."

Shi Yu's voice became smaller and smaller, and she couldn't help but glance back secretly. Wayne seemed to be still looking at the back of her neck very intently.

"Stay away from Simon from now on."

After a moment, the red-haired boy leaned back against the iron wall, and Shigure heard him humming and laughing leisurely, as if he was in a good mood, like a lion that was being flattered.

...Forget it, she couldn't guess Wayne's thoughts anyway, and Simon was obviously a nice person.

Shigure agreed on the surface and rested for a while with Wayne. On the increasingly bustling plain, Xiao's figure finally appeared in Shigure's sight.

"Hello~ Shigure!"

Xiao raised his arm, the one with the missing sleeve. He seemed to be wandering around looking for Wayne and her. When he saw them from a distance, he waved to her lightly and greeted her with a smile, "How are you today? Are you feeling unwell?"

The relaxed mood instantly infected Shi Yu. Seeing Xiao, she couldn't help but feel happy and waved to Xiao: "Yeah, but it's okay now!"

"That's great."

Xiao smiled again, and walked over with a slightly arched back and a leisurely expression. Then, without any courtesy, he sat down on the other side of Shigure, stretched out his long legs, and patted the dust off his combat uniform.

Shi Yu said "Huh", Xiao lowered her head slightly, looking at her with a smile on her lips: "What's wrong?"

The red string tied at the end of the Eastern boy's slightly long hair was wrapped around his wrist, and his messy, slightly long black hair fell loosely on his shoulders. With a smile on his face, Xiao's uniquely elegant and graceful temperament was even more apparent in his Oriental appearance.

Shi Yu pointed to the red string on Xiao's wrist and asked quietly, "Rope, why isn't it tied to your hair?"

"Oh, this." Xiao said in a long voice, laughed dully, and then said nonchalantly: "I was not paying attention and the puppy bit it off."

"A dog?" Shi Yu was surprised. She had never seen anyone bring a pet.

Xiao hummed, "Yeah, the fur is very beautiful."

The young man untied the rope around his wrist without much concern and handed it to Shi Yu. He winked at her with his eyes, which were slightly flirtatious due to the upturned corners of his eyes, and asked with a chuckle, "Shi Yu, can you help me tie it?"

Shi Yu hesitated: "I only know how to tie a bow..."

"Then it's a bow. Thank you for your hard work."

Xiao approached Shigure with a relaxed look on his face.

So Shigure could only clumsily tie a bow on it, which seemed a bit incongruous... When Shigure was staring at the end of Xiao's hair and thinking so, the boy with black hair and red rope suddenly stood up and casually pointed back at the plain that seemed extremely lively and noisy because of the gradual return of military cadets at night.

"Let's go. I'll take you for a walk and accompany you if you want to do anything." Xiao invited cheerfully.

"Ah?" Shi Yu was stunned: "But..."

Shi Yu was very moved, but she thought that Wayne might not allow it, and she didn't want to make Wayne worry, so she wanted to refuse with some regret.

"It's okay at this time, after all..." The young man from the East Country narrowed his eyes, his tone slightly cunning, and then he looked at Wayne meaningfully.

"Right, Wayne? You must take responsibility for your previous words and actions."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hands above his head, lowered his head slightly, and begged for mercy with a smile: "I'm sorry, please forgive me if I offended you, but I will leave Shi Yu to me for a while, so that you can focus more on dealing with the next things, how about it?"

"Huh?"

Shigure uttered a confused monosyllable in a daze, then followed Akatsuki to look at Wayne who was standing beside him without saying a word.

Wayne's profile was cold and gloomy. He raised his chin slightly and glanced at Xiao opposite him with cold blue eyes.

"roll."

Words filled with suppressed violent anger rolled out indifferently from the red-haired lion's throat.

…

Shi Yu didn't react until Xiao put her arm around his shoulders and took him away.

"Xiao...!" Shi Yu felt something was wrong. She stopped and gestured to Xiao, looking a little bewildered, and asked, "What's going on? Do you know what Wayne is going to do next?"

"You just said he has to deal with some things. Is it something troublesome? Will it be dangerous?"

Xiao was slightly surprised, then smiled and said, "Oh, yes, Wayne probably won't tell you."

"Wayne himself said a few words as a representative of the freshmen at the opening ceremony." Xiao rubbed Shiyu's head very naturally, as if he felt it felt good. His fingers slid down Shiyu's hair and helped to tidy up the girl's messy long hair.

"I will crush you all under my feet. If anyone refuses to obey and wants to challenge me, just come on... Well, that's about it."

Xiao paused briefly, recalling the excitement below the podium. He murmured with amusement and helplessness, "I remember it so clearly. It's truly impressive."

Shigure: "Uh, that is, someone will really come to find Wayne... to fight?"

Hearing this, Xiao suppressed an inexplicable smile and said, "Yeah, that's right."

It’s really not easy. Seeing Shi Yu’s confused state at the moment, Xiao thought slowly in his heart.

How could such a casual persuasion possibly work on Wayne? It was good enough that he didn't get beaten. Beta didn't seem to notice at all - even though his attitude was fierce, the young master also noticed and obeyed Beta's own wishes.

But… he said, “We are a military academy.”

Xiao's fingertips quietly left the girl's soft hair, his delicate black eyelashes moved slightly, and his thoughtful gaze swept across the girl's fair and soft profile.

"After saying that, Wayne himself wouldn't be able to relax even if no one came looking for him for the time being."

The gentle and handsome young man from the East patiently explained to her, even though he was the only one who knew that he was talking nonsense.

By the way, he has no obligation to be the bond between these two people, right?

Shi Yu asked dazedly, "Will Wayne be okay?"

Is the world of military academy students always so cruel...

"He's still got all his limbs intact, so there shouldn't be any problems in the future. Don't worry." Xiao shook his head slightly, and then he smiled and asked, "Is there anything you want to do, Shigure?"

"I'll accompany you, as we agreed before."

Shi Yu was stunned, and then couldn't help but touch the long hair on the back of his head that Xiao had just smoothed down.

With fever and sweating, my hair inevitably becomes... a little oily.

Just now, Shi Yu didn't pay attention and didn't stop Xiao Shun when he was touching his hair. Now Shi Yu remembered it and a little embarrassment was revealed in the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.

"I..." Shi Yu tried to pretend nothing happened: "I want to wash up, is that okay?"

Ten minutes later, Xiao brought her to the plains near the jungle. In a quiet woodland surrounded by lush vegetation, there was actually a small lake. Because there were boys around, Shigure didn't plan to shower. During this special period, a quick wash would be enough.

but……

She was almost at the lake, but Xiao was still following her freely and casually, which made Shi Yu feel a little awkward.

"Xiao." Shi Yu couldn't help but say, "I might need to wash, well, although not take a bath..."

The young man fiddled with the red string on his shoulder and said "Hmm?" Then, as if he thought of something, Xiao's movements subtly stiffened.

"Oh, sorry." Xiao gave an apologetic smile: "Do you want me to step aside for a while? Then I'll wait for you outside."

Having lived in the military academy for too long, Xiao almost forgot that he needed to pay attention to each other's privacy when interacting with Beta.

Although most Alphas are too lazy to care about these things, Xiao has more than a dozen brothers and sisters. Because there are Betas in the family, he has always been able to understand and respect each other's wishes.

Seeing Xiao leaving, Shi Yu breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the lake.

A faint orange light shone into the woods. As the light grew darker and darker, Shi Yu, feeling that he had no time to waste, could not help but quicken his pace.

——Then, a male figure suddenly appeared in her sight, causing her to scream in surprise.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry!!”

Not expecting such a sudden situation, Shi Yu turned around quickly like a whirlwind, covered his eyes, and squatted down trembling.

“…”

Then, why doesn't that person speak...

Although I hope the other person won't pay attention to me, it's embarrassing to keep being in this stalemate. Why don't I just apologize myself?

"I didn't mean to do that. I thought no one would be here..." Shi Yu made up his mind in a few breaths and continued to explain with tears in his eyes: "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

From a distance, the lake was indeed partially obscured by the lush branches and leaves, and she and Xiao didn't notice that there was a person here for a moment.

What should I do now... Shi Yu felt that two, three, four tears had already fallen.

"Turn around, trash."

It was clearly the clear and youthful voice of a young boy, but the tone was full of sarcasm and mockery.

Shigure:?

Shi Yu was stunned. Turn, turn around...?

"Beta, huh."

The young man laughed sarcastically behind him. "Isn't it that you don't have what I have? You don't dare to look? It's because you feel, oh——"

Amid the sound of the rippling water, the young man sighed, his voice tinged with a hint of comfort.

"Don't worry, I don't want a piece of shit like you even if you send it to my bed."