The girl—shining like a rainbow—crawled up Jin Shu's chest until her face hovered mere inches from his. Her pale pink eyes glimmered with a dreamy iy, log onto his as if she were peering into his soul.

  Pink eyes…? The sight sparked something in his fragmented memories, but he still couldn't pce her. Who is she?

  “The only oh pink eyes in your memories was—”

  Nano’s voice whispered in his mind, but Jin Shu didn’t have the luxury to listen. The girl suddenly leaned down, her red lips dangerously close to his. Reflexively, he turned his head, narrowly dodging her audacious attempt at a kiss.

  “What are you doing?! And who are you?” Jin Shu demanded, his voice sharp with frustration. Deg he'd had enough of her antics, he carefully lifted the girl off his chest and stood, putting space between them.

  Now upright, he could fully grasp how small she was. At a gnce, she couldn’t have been more than 130 timeters tall—nearly seventy timeters shorter than him.

  She tilted her head back to look up at him, her small face torted into an offended pout. “Shu-gege doesn’t remember me?” Her voice trembled, and tears began to well in the ers of her eyes.

  Jin Shu sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I reize you… but I ’t remember who you are.” His hoy drew a sharp intake of breath from her.

  “Oh?” Her lips curled into a mischievous smile as the tears vanished in an instant. “Don’t remember? Then could you lean down? It hurts my o stare up at you like this.”

  He opened his mouth to refuse, but a strange, inexplicable feeling stopped him. Relutly, he leaned forward, meeti eye level.

  The moment he did, she darted forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

  Startled, Jin Shu reeled back, a flush of annoyance c his face.

  “Does Shu-gege remember me now?” she asked, her voice as sweet as her smile.

  “What…?” He stared at her, more fused than ever.

  “Remember? I used to kiss your cheek like this whenever you visited the pace.”

  The pace? The word sent ripples through his mind as he struggled to ect the dots. “Are you one of the princesses? No, they’re both older… who—”

  Then, like a thundercp, reition struck. His eyes widened in disbelief, aumbled back, tripping over his ow. He hit the wooden deck hard, his astonished expression drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

  “No… No, it ’t be. Sun Li?” His voice was barely a whisper, tinged with denial.

  Sun Li cpped her hands together, her face lighting up with glee. “So, Shu-gege does remember me!”

  Jin Shu shook his head, as if hoping to shake away the impossible truth. “No, no, it’s not you… it ’t be…” But the memories, now crystal clear, told him otherwise.

  Sun Li took a step toward Jin Shu, her mischievous smile unwavering as he scrambled backward, his horrified expressioraying his panic.

  “Where are you going, Shu-gege?” she asked sweetly, though the glint in her pink eyes was anything but i.

  “S-stay away! D-don’t e near me!” Jin Shu stammered, crawling backward until his shoulders hit the ship’s railing.

  Sun Li stopped a couple of steps away, tilting her head with monoce. “Won’t you e give me a kiss, Shu-gege?” she teased, her pink eyes faintly glowing.

  For a moment, Jin Shu’s expressio bnk, and he began to rise unsteadily to his feet. But before he could take aep, a figure suddenly moved between them.

  Biyu now stood firmly in front of Sun Li, her presence calm yet anding.

  “Who are you? Why are you blog my Shu-gege?” Sun Li’s sharp tone was in stark trast to her earlier pyfulness.

  “I’m his wife,” Biyu decred, her voice steady and resolute.

  “Hmph!” Sun Li’s face twisted into an indignant pout. “Kneel!” she demanded, her tone dripping with authority.

  Biyu raised an eyebrow, giving the small girl a baffled look.

  “W-why aren’t you kneeling?” Sun Li’s voice faltered, a note of panic creeping in.

  “Why would I?” Biyu asked, genuinely fused.

  “Because… I ordered it?” Sun Li replied, sounding equally perplexed.

  As they stared at each other in mutual fusion, Jin Shu finally regained his posure and stepped forward.

  “Biyu, be careful,” he said gravely. “He is a Heaven’s Blessed. His eyes influenind.”

  Biyu blinked, her fusion growing. “He?” she repeated, gng over her shoulder at the small, feminine figure.

  “Yes,” Jin Shu firmed with a shudder. “This is the fifth prince of the Sun Empire. Sun Li.”

  The revetion hit like a thundercp. Biyu’s gaze flicked between Jin Shu and the ‘girl,’ a strange expressioling on her face as the pieces fell into pce.

  “Boo! You know I don’t like being called him or he, Shu-gege.” Sun Li’s pout was as cute as it was unnerving, and it sent another shiver rag down Jin Shu’s spine.

  “The pretty girl that kissed Daddy is a pretty boy?” Yin’er chimed in ily, her question punctuated by the st bite of her fish.

  “Ahem!” The older man took the opportunity to cut through the esg se. “Prince Li, could we please move this versation to the ship’s ? There are too many eyes and ears here.”

  The group gnced around, notig the sailors and dockworkers shamelessly gawking from both the ship and the nearby port.

  Sun Li’s cheeks flushed with a light pink hue. “Um, let’s set sail.”

  “An excellent idea, Yhness,” the older man agreed, bowing slightly before hurrying off to give the sailors their orders.

  Sun Li turned back, ign both Biyu and Yin’er, and focused solely on Jin Shu. “Would you like to e down to the , Shu-gege?”

  Jin Shu immediately averted his gaze, retreating behind Biyu. “Biyu, you don’t seem affected by his ability. Could you stay between us?” He gnced warily at Sun Li, a cold sweat f on his brow. “I don’t want him doing that to me again like when we were kids.”

  “What is that?” Biyu asked curiously, her toraying geerest.

  Jin Shu’s face reddened as he shook his head frantically, avoiding the question like the pgue.

  Sun Li’s eyes sparkled with urained mischief, their vibrant pink hue brighter than ever. “Shu-gege, would you like to relive those preoments?” He teased, pulling out a softly glowing orb ner than his palm. “I recorded everything on this memory orb!”

  Jin Shu’s face turned pale, and then to fire. “You WHAT?!” he yelled, leaping out from behind Biyu in a desperate attempt to grab the orb.

  Sun Li giggled, pulling the orb bad spreading her arms wide. With nothing to grab onto, Jin Shu stumbled forward awkwardly, trying to retreat as quickly as he had lunged.

  He wasn’t quiough.

  Sun Li caught him in a tight embrace, ing his slender arms around him as he grinned up into his horrified face. “Shu-gege, I missed hugging you like this,” he cooed, his voice both pyful and sugary.

  “LET GO OF ME!” Jin Shu squawked, his struggles only making Sun Li’s grip tighten.

  All of a sudden, the Rune of Unity on Jin Shu’s chest fred to life, casting a soft glow through his clothing, as if his very heart was alight. The gentle radiance halted his struggles as his sciousness retreated into his soul.

  Within his soul, chaned. His younger self was in full-blown hysteria, his form trembling and breaths ing in shalloid gasps. As a spiritual maion, the younger psyche couldn’t teically hyperventite, yet it seemed determio try. Nearby, the older psyche stood firm, trying to steady the panicked boy.

  When Jin Shu’s awareness ehe older psyche turo him, his expression calm yet resolute. “Let me take over the body,” he said. “The kid’s fear is bleeding through and overwhelming us.”

  “Do it,” Jin Shu agreed without hesitation. He couldn’t afford to remain in this fractured state any longer.

  In an instant, Jin Shu’s mind snapped back to reality. trol of his body had passed eo the older psyche—the Jin Shu of Earth.

  To the others, not even a sed had passed. But in that moment, Jin Shu’s demeanor shifted dramatically. The fear vanished, repced by an unyielding sternness. His eyes grew cold as he reached down and grabbed Sun Li by the colr of his robes, lifting the small prince effortlessly as one might a misbehaving kitten.

  “Ah?! Shu-gege, what are you doing?” Sun Li yelped, his voice tinged with nervousness as his pink eyes widened with surprise. But his protests died in his throat whe Jin Shu’s icy gaze. He shuddered and cmped his mouth shut.

  Saying nothing, Jin Shu turned and began striding purposefully doweps toward the ship’s , carrying Sun Li like luggage.

  Biyu blinked in surprise before hurrying to follow him, her eyes dartiween Jin Shu and Sun Li. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Yin’er fluttered onto her shoulder and whispered, “Daddy’s mad.”

  “Hm? How do you know?” Biyu asked, gng at the little tiger.

  Yin’er shrugged, her tiny paws raised in a gesture of innoce. “Yin’er just knows,” she said simply, her voice light yet knowing.