Time seemed to freeze. Su Yaoyao’s eyes widened, her mind a complete blank as their warm breaths mingled.

Mingye was also stunned. A flicker of surprise flashed in his deep eyes, but he didn’t immediately push her away.

A moment later, Su Yaoyao snapped back to reality and recoiled as if she’d been zapped by electricity. A fiery blush instantly spread across her face as she stammered, "S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to."

"Don’t get distracted. Continue," Mingye said, averting his gaze. His voice was as deep as ever, but the slight blush on the tips of his ears betrayed his inner turmoil.

He took hold of Su Yaoyao’s hand again, only this time, both of their hearts were beating a little faster than before.

For the rest of the practice session, Su Yaoyao’s mind was anywhere but on her shooting.

Every time Mingye’s hand touched hers, she would flinch reflexively, and the blush on her cheeks never faded.

"What’s wrong?" Mingye finally couldn’t help but ask, a hint of concern in his voice. "If you’re not feeling well, we can stop for now."

"N-Nothing’s wrong," Su Yaoyao said, shaking her head in a flurry. "Maybe I’m just a little tired." She didn’t dare tell him the real reason, so she just made up an excuse.

But the accidental kiss kept replaying in her mind, causing most of her subsequent shots to miss the bullseye.

Mingye noticed Su Yaoyao’s distraction but didn’t say anything to reprimand her.

His own feelings were also complicated. He couldn’t help but wonder, ’Have my feelings for Su Yaoyao changed without me even realizing it?’

Another round of shooting ended, and Su Yaoyao’s results were still less than ideal.

She put down her gun, dejected, and said softly, "I’m really off my game today. How about we just stop here?"

Mingye was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. We’ll stop here for today."

They silently packed away the guns and took the elevator back to the upper floors of the castle.

Inside the elevator, the confined space made the atmosphere even more awkward.

They both deliberately kept their distance, as if an invisible wall stood between them.

Su Yaoyao pressed herself into a corner of the elevator, her eyes glued to the floor, not daring to move an inch.

Mingye stood on the other side, his arms crossed over his chest and his profile tense, trying to appear calm and composed.

The only sounds in the elevator were their faint breaths and the low hum of its operation. Time seemed to stretch on for an eternity. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Just as the elevator doors opened, they saw Noah, a bright smile on his face and a purple apron with a little octopus pattern tied around him.

His cheerful demeanor was a stark contrast to the oppressive atmosphere inside the elevator.

"Yaoyao, you must be hungry after training all day! I’ll take you to get something good to eat," Noah’s voice was clear and bright, full of enthusiasm.

Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Su Yaoyao’s hand and dashed toward the dining area, completely oblivious to the subtle tension between her and Mingye.

"I followed the recipes in the *Ancient Earth Knowledge* book and made scrambled eggs with tomato, braised pork belly, sweet and sour pork ribs, and a bunch of other stuff! Yaoyao, come and try it!"

Noah chattered excitedly as he pulled Su Yaoyao to the long table.

’So that’s what Noah was up to—researching recipes.’ But this food...

Su Yaoyao stared at the long table, which was covered plate after plate with jet-black food. It was a ghastly sight; she couldn’t even tell what the original ingredients were.

Some of it looked like burnt charcoal, while other dishes were just mushy lumps, all emitting a strange smell that made one want to keep their distance.

Mingye didn’t hold back. "Are you trying to poison her?" he asked, his voice icy, making no effort to hide his disgust.

Noah immediately retorted, "But I spent so long making it!"

His face was etched with grievance. He had spent hours toiling in the kitchen to make these dishes, fully expecting praise, only to be met with such a comment.

’Whatever, whatever,’ he thought. ’Mingye’s opinion doesn’t matter anyway.’

"Yaoyao, you have to try some," Noah said, turning his head to look at Su Yaoyao with an expectant expression.

Su Yaoyao couldn’t help but frown. It was truly hard to bring herself to take a bite. "Noah, this..."

She tried to express her thoughts tactfully but didn’t know where to begin.

Mingye sighed, shook his head helplessly, and took out a nutrient liquid he had prepared for himself. He placed it on the dining table, then turned and went back to his room.

His retreating figure looked somewhat lonely, perhaps due to the earlier awkwardness, or perhaps out of despair at Noah’s cooking skills.

Su Yaoyao, on the other hand, felt as if she’d seen her savior. She grabbed the nutrient liquid and headed for her room.

"Noah, thank you for the thought. But I’m too tired today and want to rest early. I’m going back to my room now."

"Yaoyao..." Noah’s face fell. He watched Su Yaoyao’s retreating back, feeling an inexplicable sense of disappointment.

Then he looked back at the table full of food. ’This is the result of several hours of hard work,’ he thought. ’I’m sure it’s delicious!’

Refusing to believe otherwise, he took a bite of the scrambled eggs with tomato. The moment it entered his mouth, he spat it right back out.

His expression instantly twisted. The taste was even worse than nutrient liquid—bitter and astringent, with a strange, burnt flavor.

"How is this completely different from what the book said!" Noah grumbled, his face a mask of defeat. "This Ancient Earth cooking knowledge is really hard to learn."

Making delicious food was far more difficult than he had ever imagined.

Back in her room, Su Yaoyao threw herself heavily onto the bed, as if trying to shed all her exhaustion and inner turmoil.

She casually raised her hand, holding the bottle of blue nutrient liquid that glowed faintly.

The past few days of high-intensity training had rid her of any lingering obsession with hot food.

The bland, strange taste of the nutrient liquid, which she initially disliked, had now become familiar. She had even come to rely on it for energy.

But at this moment, Mingye’s image surfaced in her mind without warning.

And that accidental kiss... The thought made Su Yaoyao’s cheeks burn, and she was filled with regret.

"Sigh, today was a total mess," Su Yaoyao muttered to herself. "How could I have just kissed him? It’s so embarrassing."

’If only there were time machines,’ she thought. ’I’d go back a few hours and make sure that embarrassing scene never happened.’

But fantasies were just fantasies. She could only sigh helplessly. ’I won’t think about it anymore. I’ll just go to sleep. When I wake up, I’ll pretend it never happened.’

Muttering to herself, Su Yaoyao sat up, twisted open the cap of the nutrient liquid, and chugged it down in a few gulps before falling back onto the bed and going to sleep.

Meanwhile, in another room, Mingye found it difficult to sleep.

He sat by the window, gazing out at the endless night, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

In his hand was the pistol he had taught Su Yaoyao to use, and he fiddled with it subconsciously.

His fingers gently caressed the body of the gun, each touch feeling like a touch upon a memory of his time with Su Yaoyao.

"She only has her Beast Husband in her heart. What exactly am I hoping for?" Mingye murmured in self-mockery.

"But that kiss... how can I just pretend it never happened..." His voice was very low, gently masked by the sound of the wind outside in the quiet night.