Chapter 58: Conquered by Love

It was a lazy afternoon at St. Sakura Academy. Sunlight streamed through the library’s tall glass windows, casting warm, dappled patterns across the wooden desks.

The air was thick with the quiet scent of aged paper and a faint hint of ink.

Jin and Xia Yue sat side by side at a window seat. One wrestled with complex physics problems, while the other quietly reviewed student council documents.

Ever since the Ferris wheel kiss and the subsequent ‘tutoring entanglement,’ a subtle yet profound shift had occurred in their relationship.

Xia Yue remained the diligent and outstanding student council president. Yet, in Jin’s presence, the icy facade she once wore seemed to melt into the gentle warmth of spring water.

She would instinctively reach out to smooth Jin’s wind-tousled hair. When Jin struggled with a problem, Xia Yue would set aside her own work to patiently explain.

Her gaze no longer held scrutiny or calculation, but rather a focused intensity and an emotion that could almost be called tenderness.

Jin, too, gradually grew accustomed to this intimacy. She no longer felt the tension or apprehension that Xia Yue’s proximity once evoked.

Instead, when faced with a difficult problem, she would instinctively lean towards Xia Yue for help.

Sometimes, emboldened by Xia Yue’s indulgence, Jin would even zone out during explanations, secretly staring at the beautifully sculpted profile so close beside her.

Just then, Jin was scratching her head over a mechanics analysis diagram. Xia Yue set down her fountain pen, turned slightly, and softly asked, “What part don’t you understand?”

Her voice was close, her warm breath caressing Jin’s ear. Jin’s cheeks flushed faintly as she pointed to a specific stress point on the diagram.

Xia Yue picked up a pencil and smoothly drew auxiliary lines on a scratchpad, explaining as she went. Her logic was clear, her voice steady.

As Jin listened, her gaze inadvertently drifted to Xia Yue’s phone resting on the table beside them.

‘That phone… it once held the record of her most humiliating moment.’

As if sensing Jin’s gaze, Xia Yue’s explanation faltered for a moment. Following Jin’s eyes, she too saw her phone.

The library was silent, save for the faint rustle of turning pages and the soft scratch of a pen on paper.

Xia Yue remained silent for a few seconds. Then, she made a move that Jin hadn’t anticipated.

She picked up her phone, unlocked it, swiftly swiped her finger across the screen a few times, and then held it out to Jin.

Displayed on the screen was the very video file that had once tormented Jin, keeping her awake at night and filling her with profound humiliation—the recording of her forced declaration to “willingly cooperate with intimate requests.”

Jin’s heart lurched. She instinctively wanted to avert her gaze, her cheeks burning.

But Xia Yue offered her no escape. Her finger hovered over the delete confirmation button, her icy-blue eyes fixed earnestly on Jin.

Her voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable resolve: “This,” Xia Yue’s fingertip lightly tapped the screen, “is no longer needed.”

The instant her words faded, her finger pressed down.

[Confirm deletion of this file?]

[Yes.]

The progress bar flashed by. The file, laden with so much complexity, shame, and unease, vanished completely from Xia Yue’s phone.

Jin stared blankly at the now empty folder interface, her mind a momentary void.

‘That damning evidence, hanging over her like the Sword of Damocles… it was just gone?’

Xia Yue retrieved her phone, her lips curving into a subtle yet profoundly genuine smile as she looked at Jin, who was still reeling.

She reached out and gently took Jin’s hand, which lay on the table, slightly curled in tension.

“Before… I used the wrong approach,” Xia Yue’s voice was low and soft, like the resonant notes of a cello, delicately plucking at Jin’s heartstrings. “I thought control and a contract were what ensured you wouldn’t leave.”

Her fingertips tightened slightly, enveloping Jin’s cool hand.

“But now, I understand,” Xia Yue’s gaze was profound, as if brimming with an entire galaxy of tenderness, looking directly into Jin’s eyes with an almost reverent sincerity. “I no longer need such things to maintain our connection.”

She leaned forward slightly, drawing closer to Jin until their breaths mingled.

“I will conquer you with ‘love.'”

“Making you willingly… stay by my side.”

The word ‘love,’ uttered so clearly and solemnly by Xia Yue, struck Jin’s heart like a bolt of lightning, yet also like a comforting warmth.

BOOM—!

Jin’s cheeks rapidly turned crimson, visible to the naked eye, a blush spreading from her earlobes all the way down to her neck, making her resemble a ripe tomato.

She could feel her heart pounding a frantic drumbeat in her chest, blood rushing to her head, her brain nearly crashing from the sudden overload.

‘Con-conquer?!’

‘Love?!’

‘Willingly?!’

‘Xia Yue… how could she say something so utterly embarrassing without even batting an eye?!’

Jin opened her mouth, intending to retort or hide her embarrassment, but found her throat too dry to utter a sound.

She could only gape, staring at Xia Yue’s still-calm face (though her eyes twinkled with amusement) so close to her. Feeling the firm, warm pressure on her hand, Jin felt utterly paralyzed, like a cooked shrimp, unable to move.

The sunlight gilded Xia Yue’s figure with a soft golden rim. She watched Jin, who looked as if she were about to spontaneously combust from embarrassment, and the amusement in her eyes deepened, as if immensely pleased with the effect she had created.

“So,” Xia Yue said, using her free hand to gently brush a strand of hair from Jin’s forehead, her touch as delicate as if handling a priceless treasure, “from now on, you don’t need to be afraid anymore.”

“Just be yourself when you’re with me.”

Listening to these words and seeing the undisguised affection and possessiveness in Xia Yue’s eyes (though her way of expressing it was still rather domineering), Jin felt the heat on her face not only fail to subside but intensify even further.

‘Oh no, oh no…’

‘It seems like…’

‘She’s truly going to be utterly ‘conquered’ by this elite magical girl, who is sometimes cold, sometimes gentle, and sometimes terrifyingly direct…’

‘Conquered’ completely!’

She lowered her head, burying her scorching cheeks in her arms, revealing only her two ears, which were beet red. She mumbled a faint ‘Mm,’ her voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, yet carrying a sweetness she herself hadn’t noticed.

Xia Yue watched her reaction and chuckled softly, tightening her grip on Jin’s hand a little more.

The library remained quiet, bathed in the perfect sunlight.

Some shackles had quietly shattered.

Some seeds were quietly taking root and sprouting in their hearts.