Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

LFTMPH Chapter 71-Speak the Truth Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

Xia Ge: “……ask me something different.”

The cloaked person didn’t mind obliging: “The fox mask, do you like it?”

Xia Ge: “……”

Why must you ask about what I like and don’t like?!

Xia Ge: “Mm……I don’t know, it’s not too bad.”

The Soul Speech orb clearly started shaking.

Xia Ge choked: “Truthfully, I really, really like it!!”

The Soul Speech orb promptly went still.

System: [Pfft.]

Xia Ge: “……”  Did the Soul Speech orb have to be so touchy?  It couldn’t give her a little leeway with her words?!  Faced with someone unfamiliar who’d given her gift, was Xia Ge wrong to prevaricate a little?!

Hearing Xia Ge’s truthful answer, the cloaked person’s voice sounded rather pleased: “Good.”

……you, don’t be too proud of yourself!

Xia Ge glanced down at the pile of clothes by her feet, anger in her chest and malice in her heart, yet her voice was calm and collected: “Are these your clothes?”

The cloaked person looked at the clothes, thought for a minute, then nodded.

The Soul Speech orb did not light up.

Lips curling up in a cunning smile, Xia Ge asserted: “But these clothes are very small, so that you must mean you’re faking your height!”

If you insist on exposing me, don’t blame me for exposing you back!

The cloaked person shook their head: “No, you’re wrong.”

Their voice nonchalant: “They were my clothes before, but now they’re yours.”

Xia Ge: “???”

Giving Xia Ge a considering look, the cloaked person took the initiative to add: “You were under the paper doll curse before, and I had worried that you might have no clothes whenever you returned to your natural form.  However, it seems I was overthinking.”

Xia Ge’s eyes were wide: “Paper doll curse?”

The cloaked person was full of humane sympathy: “Yes, a spell that turns people into pieces of paper.”

There actually was such a spell……but that meant…….

This cloaked person had known Xia Ge was a person from the beginning!

And that meant they’d been helping Xia Ge out from the start?!

Xia Ge couldn’t help looking over the red ribbon that she’d tied in a bow around that table leg, her face blushing.  If the cloaked person had known from the start, then the ribbon was……?

Seeming to read Xia Ge’s mind, the cloaked person said in a very earnest tone: “I dressed you.”

And, with a flick of their hand, the red ribbon that’d formerly struggled untied itself with a few shakes before lightly returning to its owner’s hands: “Clothes.”

Wrapping Xia Ge’s paper figure up in red cloth had been……dressing Xia Ge?

The Soul Speech orb made not a move.

Xia Ge: “……”  And apparently that was the truth.

Suffocating.

Finished speaking, the cloaked person suddenly advanced on Xia Ge.  Although Xia Ge wanted to retreat, the cloaked person gently grasped Xia Ge’s black cloak, holding her in place.

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Since Xia Ge had lost her green ribbon, she’d been too lazy to dye herself another one.  And she hadn’t gotten her red Danfeng ribbon yet.  So she was still using the black string she’d found to tie her hair.

Now the cloaked person stood on their tiptoes, reaching out a hand to brush at Xia Ge’s slightly disheveled hair, the other hand still holding Xia Ge’s cloak as they softly said: “Don’t be scared, I don’t mean you any harm.”

“I won’t hurt you.”

“……”

Xia Ge watched the Soul Speech orb, her body stiff.

If the cloaked person was lying, the Soul Speech Orb would turn the falsehoods into the truth.

However, the Soul Speech orb did not light up.

Meaning……for now, at least, the cloaked person was telling the truth.

Removing their hand from Xia Ge’s cloak, the cloaked person unexpectedly grabbed hold of Xia Ge’s hand.  Xia Ge’s posture was rigid, but she let the cloaked person pull her hand up.

Her pale left hand was slightly cold and the scar on her palm obvious.  When Xia Ge noticed that the cloaked person seemed a little fixated on that scar, an embarrassed Xia Ge tried to pull her hand back.  Yet the cloaked person simply tightened their grip.

Xia Ge: “What……”

Without speaking, the cloaked person slowly took the red ribbon that’d clothed a paper Xia Ge and wrapped it around Xia Ge’s hand, over the web between her thumb and forefinger, hiding her scar, and finishing it off with an exquisite bow at the wrist.

Then the cloaked person put Xia Ge’s hand back at her side.

The red ribbon, obedient to its master, immediately got rather excited after the cloaked person withdrew their fingers.  Twisting and turning, it rubbed at Xia Ge’s wrist like it’d just received some kind of special reward.

Thinking the ribbon’s touch annoying, Xia Ge had to resist the urge to scratch at herself as the corners of her mouth twitched: “I don’t want this.”

The cloaked person’s answer was indifferent: “It will protect you.”

Again, the Soul Speech orb indicated that the cloaked person was still telling the truth.

Xia Ge: “I’m good without it, thanks.  I don’t need its protection.”

The cloaked person didn’t even have to say anything, Xia Ge could just feel the questioning attitude exuding from them.

“Just wear it,” the cloaked person said finally, “If you keep it on, I’ll let you go.”

Oh, that was right.  Why hadn’t the cloaked person asked Xia Ge why she was being pursued?”

Xia Ge: “I……”

But the cloaked person interrupted: “It’s starting.”

The brightness of the magnificent lights outside intensifying, a clear, piercing introduction rang out: “Welcome everyone!  I hereby announce!  That tonight’s revelry, from this moment, officially begins!!”

“Oh, it’s actually going to start?”

Cheering came from the general seating area, and suddenly Xia Ge no longer cared about the playful red ribbon.  Pushing the cloaked person aside, a barefoot Xia Ge jumped off the sofa and ran up to look out of the room’s window on her tiptoes.

“In the ‘big’ black market, it’s usual for a tempting item to be auctioned off first.  It gets the buyers amped up, and then lesser items will follow……”  The cloaked person, unperturbed by Xia Ge’s actions, came to stand beside her, lightly explaining, “So the best things are at the very beginning or at the very finale.”

“Ah, makes sense……”  With big eyes, Xia Ge watched the person standing on the stage below, who was outfitted in a bright paper mask and an expensively gaudy cloak, every gesture exaggerated and comical, “Then I wonder, what will the first item be——”

Xia Ge stretched, trying to get a good look, when suddenly her body was lifted off the ground.

“Ai——”  Xia Ge kicked her feet in the air, “What are you doing?!”

Cloaked person: “Put on your shoes.”

Xia Ge: “……”