Chapter 105: Atonement or Something More?

As promised yesterday, the headache vanished the moment she opened her eyes.

Menglinna blinked awake, the first sight greeting her a pink mosquito net.

Of course—she was sleeping in Nanaya’s bed.

She whipped her head around. No one on either side. Just as Nanaya had said the previous night, she had moved to the sofa.

Though it was early, Menglinna adhered to her routine and rose promptly.

The sun had yet to fully rise, but morning light already crept into the room. She sat up slowly, fumbled for the edge of the bed, and drew aside the net.

As quietly as she tried to be, she couldn’t help making some noise. On the distant sofa, Nanaya’s ears twitched slightly. She opened one eye, took a look, then went back to sleep.

‘It’s normal for a kid her age to sleep in, right?’

Thinking this, Menglinna began her morning prayers by the window.

Later, she tied on an apron and prepared breakfast in the kitchen.

Tired of eating bread and such, she decided to cook noodles today. Though Nanaya verbally doubted Menglinna’s culinary skills, once the noodles were served, she dug in without complaint.

“Ding-dong!”

The visitor didn’t wait for the host’s response before entering the church. Unsurprisingly, it was Shiya and Kaili.

“Hey, are you two actually being restrained today?” Shiya exclaimed in surprise, seeing them quietly eating noodles.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Careful, or I’ll hit you!”

Nanaya bit off a noodle and lightly raised her fist.

Catching a glimpse of Nanaya’s unintentional display of muscle, Shiya remembered that this girl could casually swing the Giant Crusher hammer.

That heavy weapon—even as a melee fighter herself, she couldn’t wield it smoothly.

At that thought, Shiya chickened out.

“Just kidding,” she said with a nervous laugh. “We came to discuss something.”

Nanaya shot her a glare. “You’d better be talking about something serious.”

By then, Menglinna had recovered from her shyness and kindly asked, “Have you two eaten breakfast? If not, we have some barley cakes.”

“We’ve already eaten.”

‘They’re playing good cop, bad cop without even trying,’ Shiya mused, marveling at their seamless teamwork. Time to get down to business.

“Speaking of which, yesterday’s commission was quite lucrative, even though we didn’t do much heavy lifting…”

“It was everyone’s effort,” Menglinna smiled at them. “After all, if we hadn’t succeeded, we’d need your alibi.”

There was no need to belabor the point. Shiya and Kaili were honest folks; they knew who contributed what. Continuing would be pointless; they’d remember it themselves.

After a moment’s thought, Shiya stated the real reason for their visit. “Well, since we pulled off such a big job, we’re planning to take a short break.”

“A break?” Menglinna tilted her head. “How long?”

“Maybe ten days, half a month,” Shiya said, a little embarrassed as she took Kaili’s hand. “We finally earned a good chunk of money after working in Yanan so long. We thought we’d travel a bit.”

“I see,” Menglinna nodded. “Then go ahead. Have fun!”

After all, it was only natural to want to relax after making money. Plus, they were both young and energetic.

They were originally just teammates who had met by chance. Menglinna was the tactical commander of the team, not a leader. There was no need for such formality.

“Thanks! We’ll bring you two souvenirs when we get back.”

“Ah, you really don’t have to…”

Before Menglinna could finish, the two had already left.

“They really seem eager to start their vacation.”

Nanaya simply picked up a strand of noodles and slowly swallowed.

“From the way they spoke, it sounds like a honeymoon trip,” Menglinna murmured, then turned her attention to the loli before her.

‘Speaking of which, didn’t Nanaya do something outrageous to me the day before yesterday?’

She had been busy with commissions these past days. Yesterday she had planned to confront her, but she forgot after accidentally taking a cold bath.

‘Today I’m going to settle this!’ she resolved.

With that thought, Menglinna’s aura surged. Her eyes sharpened. “Miss Nanaya!”

“Yes?”

Startled by the sudden address, even Nanaya—who had long left the convent—unconsciously straightened up.

For an instant, she seemed to revert to the little girl being disciplined by her sister with a ruler.

But the next second, realizing she overreacted, she cleared her throat and asked, “What’s up? Such a fuss all of a sudden?”

Seeing Nanaya clueless about her wrongdoing, Menglinna felt a surge of irritation. “Let me ask you: do you remember what you did a few days ago?”

“What I did a few days ago? Let me think…” Nanaya set down her chopsticks and pondered. “Oh, I know! You’re talking about that thing! But then again, what thing are you talking about?”

‘She really has no idea?’

A bit deflated, Menglinna still glared at her fiercely. “Exactly that thing!”

“Which thing?”

Nanaya stared back with innocent big eyes, waiting for Menglinna’s answer.

‘How can I possibly say she grabbed and squeezed my… front armor?’

“That day, that morning,” Menglinna’s voice unconsciously dropped. “The one Shiya and them saw…”

“Oh, that!” In truth, Nanaya had remembered all along; she had just been waiting for Menglinna to say it out loud. “What about it?”

“What ‘what about it’!” Having already said it, Menglinna decided to throw caution to the wind. “Aren’t you going to explain what you did that day? Suddenly grabbing my… my… Does it mean you can just grab whatever you want?”

Faced with the agitated Menglinna, Miss Nanaya showed not a trace of panic. “Do I need to explain? Like you said, I grabbed because I wanted to.”

“Ha?” Menglinna’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What kind of reason is that?”

“I told you before, this is your atonement to me.”

Nanaya couldn’t be bothered to say more. She just picked up her bowl and sipped the noodle soup.

‘Gotta admit, this trashy lady can cook pretty well.’

“Who atones like this?” Menglinna felt like the sky was falling. “Then, let me ask you: what are we to each other now?”

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