It was more of an order than a question. Before Elena could respond, Lin Xiao already embraced her.

If it were before, she would have immediately begun struggling so that Lin Xiao couldn’t take advantage of her, but this time she didn’t resist.

Elena leaned her head against his chest and placed her hands on his waist and accepted his hug.

Because she has never hugged the opposite sex before, along with her chest, so her movement was very unnatural, like a doll who just learned how to hug.

Lin Xiao’s movements were also very awkward because all this time he has only ever teased her and never fully embraced her like this.

But the first couple of times might be rough, but wouldn’t they become better the more they do it?

“Elena, thank you…”

For some reason, Lin Xiao thanked her which made Elena confused.

Why did he thank her?

Was it because she didn’t kill innocent people? Was it because she wore the collar again? Or was it because she kept her promise of helping him?

She didn’t know.

She just knew that this was the most sincere thing she has heard from Lin Xiao. His voice was full of emotion and trembled a bit, it didn’t even sound like it came from Lin Xiao.

She just treated him slightly better, was it enough to make him happy like this?

Of course, it was.

Elena didn’t know how precious it was for her just to treat him a bit better.

Her personality was cold like an unmeltable icy mountain that used a blizzard to freeze all the travelers that dared to approach, and Lin Xiao was the only traveler that managed to avoid the blizzard.

The traveler liked this mountain, liked the chill, liked its loneliness and solitude, to the point of wanting to melt the mountain and bringing it home to make it into his own scenery!

Though he wanted to, he couldn’t.

The traveler could only look from afar, afraid of being frozen. The mountain also wasn’t willing to go along with him and continued with its blizzard and the traveler continued to look from afar, until one day…

That day, the traveler finally couldn’t control his longing and threw aside everything and climbed toward the peak… he was already prepared to die, but he didn’t encounter the blizzard.

Even frozen mountains have clear days. On that day, the sun was shining, and there was a spring breeze and as the traveler climbed up, he found a snow lotus blooming on the peak. A pure and immaculate flower that was enough to bring him to tears.

Sacred, innocent, and full of hope.

And so time passed as the two silently embraced one another and immersed themselves in the warm and cozy atmosphere.

But… although they enjoyed it, they still needed to breathe, right?

“Cough… did we hug for too long?”

The first person who reacted was Lin Xiao.

Noticing Elena’s breathing was becoming more irregular, Lin Xiao considerately let go of her and then awkwardly scratched his head and was too embarrassed to look at her.

Elena was no better and acted similarly. Having never had any intimate relations with the opposite sex, she didn’t know how to react.

“Um… Claire and the others should be ready soon, they’re probably waiting for us… l-let’s go as well.”

“O-okay.” Lin Xiao responded but suddenly thought of something.

“Um… Elena, do you want to try it again?”

“Try what?”

“I helped you take off the collar earlier, you should try it by yourself this time.”

“Right…” Elena nodded at Lin Xiao’s suggestion.

The incarnation may have been a bit long, but it was similar to marriage vows so she remembered it after hearing it once.

“You, Elena Santemirion take this oath…”

“Hey, stop.” She was stopped by Lin Xiao right when she started.

“I just knew you were going to mess up so I had you try it yourself, I said ‘you’ but you should say ‘I’ instead.”

“Tsk… why didn’t you say that earlier?” Elena rolled her eyes and changed the wording.

“I, Elena Santemilion take this oath, to be…”

Because she was focused on chanting, she didn’t notice the approaching footsteps outside the door.

…

“It’s already past the time, why haven’t those two shown up yet? Are they doing something strange in their room?” Claire’s grumbles sounded down the corridor.

“Hm, although not impossible, it’s the middle of the day, they wouldn’t be that shameless, right?” Elena smiled and walked next to Claire.

“But ShenDai Ying, I still don’t understand what’s the relationship between Lin Xiao and Elena?”

“Of course, it’s a master and maid relationship.”

“But it doesn’t seem that way to me, don’t you think they’re too intimate? On the outside, they pretend they don’t care, but they’re constantly exchanging flirty glances with each other, it’s strange.”

“Oh my Claire, why are you so concerned with the two of them?”

“Eh? No! I’m not, I’m just…. just curious!”

“Hehe, but you say they’re constantly exchanging flirty glances, I haven’t noticed… Elena, are you secretly doing something embarrassing with Lin Xiao behind my back?”

ShenDai Ying was also starting to get curious.

“Ah, we’re here, this is their room… hm, it’s not locked?”

When they arrived at Lin Xiao’s room to call them to gather, they noticed the door wasn’t locked so they curiously pushed the door open and heard an explosive oath.

“I, Elena Santemirion take this oath, to be Lin Xiao’s loyal slave that will take care of him from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, I will use my body and soul to satisfy, take care of and support my master without developing any feelings for anyone else, until d-d-d-death… eh? What are you guys doing here?”

And so, Lin Xiao and his slave completed their lifetime vow in front of two witnesses.