Zhao Chen put his clothes on and looked at Charlotte, who sat cross-legged upon the bed, her eyes unsteady and unfocused, her tail not stirring at all.
His instinct told him that Charlotte had certainly done something to him last night.
Only, more's the pity, his own state of mind last night had been so poor that he could remember nothing clearly.
"Last night…" Zhao Chen had barely opened his mouth—
when Charlotte got in first. "Commander-in-Chief, did you see something in that cosmic bug-nest yesterday? Something that has left your mind in such a poor state?"
Charlotte knew Zhao Chen's physical constitution: a terrible bodily strength that could take on a combat mecha single-handed. How could a few days and nights of work leave him worn out to this degree?
Zhao Chen sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands; at this hour, merely to think of the sight he had seen then set a stabbing ache in his head.
"It's… it's nothing."
Zhao Chen had not finished before a white figure of a sudden pinned him by both shoulders, vaulted clean over in the air, and came down astride his waist, pressing Zhao Chen flat against the bed.
Before Zhao Chen could come back to himself, he felt his mouth stopped up, and a little snake come questing in besides — though its movements were most unpracticed.
Where did this girl learn any of this.
So Zhao Chen griped inwardly; but perhaps because he had only just risen, he found himself somewhat carried away as well.
So he did not resist, and even guided Charlotte's movements.
Half an hour later.
Charlotte, panting for breath, seized both Zhao Chen's hands of a sudden and pinned them above his head.
"You were touching my tail… my tail… the root of it — what were you doing!" Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen, her cheeks crimson; from the exertion just past her breathing came somewhat quick.
"Ah?" Zhao Chen was left blank. This girl drives the cart halfway and then stops?
"No — you first—"
Charlotte glared at Zhao Chen. "This is what you promised me before! You said that when I came back the second time from the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth, you… you… you would teach me how to bite mouths. You don't keep your own word — we met before and you never so much as mentioned it!"
Zhao Chen was somewhat put out. Back then, on account of the Starlight Empire's second civil war, Zhao Chen had recalled Charlotte; and when they met, this matter had come to his mind too.
But the air of the moment had been a touch awkward, and neither had raised it, and so it had been shelved.
Zhao Chen had supposed Charlotte had forgotten the thing, and had thought no more of it.
He had not looked for this girl to be lying in wait for him here.
"Then what was all that just now?" Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte in bewilderment.
The corner of Charlotte's mouth rose slightly. "You thought that if you didn't teach me… I couldn't go and learn it myself! I had Annie send me some little videos about biting mouths. I know how it goes now — it's just two people putting their tongues out and licking at one another, isn't it… And here I thought it was some great matter."
Saying that last part, Charlotte was in fact a little unsure of herself.
Because a moment ago, while they were biting mouths, she had felt her whole body go hot and soft — a feeling she had never known before.
Unlike the last time, when the two of them had merely touched like a dragonfly skimming water.
This time… had been an experience of another order entirely.
"So you… only watched… how to bite mouths?" Zhao Chen asked in astonishment.
"Yes. Biting mouths. Is there something else to it?" Charlotte looked at him in puzzlement.
No wonder she got so worked up when I went on to what came next — she never learned the whole of it at all!
That Annie is truly a menace.
Giving Charlotte study material of that sort is one thing, but you might at least have given her the full set!
Zhao Chen gulped, feeling the heat in his belly, and looked at this simple, guileless white-tiger girl before him.
Because his hands were pinned by Charlotte — and though with Zhao Chen's strength he could perfectly well have reversed the hold, that would certainly have hurt her—
Zhao Chen could only lift his head, bring it close to Charlotte's ear, and speak with a breath of heat behind the words.
"In truth, biting mouths is only the first half of the course; there are more interesting things after it. Let go of me first, and I can teach you slowly."
Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen dubiously, and slowly loosened her hands.
And just as Zhao Chen was making ready to teach Charlotte, and teach her properly, what was meant by the 18 Forms of Tiger-Subduing—
a mechanical voice came from the doorway.
"Secretary-Officer Lilith requests an audience outside."
That voice gave Zhao Chen the feeling of cold water poured over him from head to foot.
And Charlotte's whole body shot upright; she bolted straight off the bed and hid behind the window curtain.
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte skulking like a thief, and could not help finding it endearing.
"What are you hiding for?" Zhao Chen asked.
Charlotte said in a small voice, "To… to let Lilith know I'm here… wouldn't quite do."
Charlotte herself did not know why she was hiding; it was purely an act of instinct.
"Just sit properly in the chair. When Lilith asks about it in a moment, say you saw I was in poor shape yesterday and came to look after me. And then to discuss the disposition of the campaigns to follow with me. And… ahem… straighten your clothes." Zhao Chen cast an eye over the clothes upon Charlotte.
That sudden flash of spring was all his own handiwork.
Charlotte glanced down at herself, and her face reddened a shade further.
But she did as Zhao Chen said, put her clothes in order, and sat obediently upon the sofa — though anyone with eyes could see that Charlotte was, just now, in a very odd way indeed.
That was Charlotte all over: at the business of fighting she was a first-rate hand, but in everything else she was as simple as a blank sheet of paper.
Zhao Chen bade Lilith wait a moment outside, washed and combed himself, and changed into fresh clothes.
And at the same time he looked at Charlotte and asked, puzzled, "Just now, why did you suddenly kiss— bite my mouth?"
Hearing the question, Charlotte glared at him crossly. "And whose fault is that but yours, Commander-in-Chief — you don't wholly trust us at all. I was angry with you: that you would sooner shoulder certain things alone than tell us, and let us face them together with you!"
Zhao Chen laughed despite himself. So that was the reason.
Zhao Chen made for the door — and then another question came to him. "That's right. How did you get into my room last night? You have clearance for my quarters?"
"You gave it to me yourself, back then; my clearance is the same as yours, and I may enter any area of the Owl Dragon Legion," Charlotte explained.
Zhao Chen struck his own forehead; he had very nearly forgotten that.
And now he stood at the door and tapped it open.
Lilith was standing there, and she had wheeled up a meal cart laden with a rich spread of food besides.
"Good morning, Commander-in-Chief. I saw you were in poor shape yesterday, and after a night's rest you must certainly be hungry. So I brought some food." Lilith said it with a smile on her face.
And it must be said — smelling all this, Zhao Chen truly did feel very hungry.
He stepped aside and let Lilith into the room.
Lilith came in smiling, and without a change of expression took in the whole of the captain's quarters in the space of a second — and so, naturally, saw Charlotte sitting bolt upright upon the sofa.
Lilith greeted Charlotte with a smile, and at the same time gave a small sniff.
Strange… this scent isn't right.