Chapter 453: A Family Argument

Would anyone blame Mia for being mad at Baiyi, though? He had humiliated her in public! As the crowd around her burst into a bout of unkind laughter, Mia could feel her cheeks burn; at that moment, she wished for nothing more than a cave to hide in.

She respected Baiyi with all her heart and considered him her second father. From time to time, she considered changing the way she addressed him. Sometimes, she even harbored a certain unbelievable sentiment towards him — someone she considered a father figure. She had placed him on a pedestal, but now, not even the great amount of respect she held for Baiyi could excuse Baiyi’s insensitivity!

That night, Mia returned home furious. At the door of her chalet, she kicked her high heel away and stormed inside barefooted. She bolted upstairs with loud steps and found Baiyi in her room, acting as though it was his. One look at him writing away at her desk was enough for Mia to know that he must be conducting another one of his researches, again!

When Baiyi spotted Mia out of the side of his eye, he turned around and saw her wearing a stormy expression and a gorgeous dress. Puzzled, he asked, “Wow! What’s up with this look? Were you just attending some sort of dinner? Why do you look so sullen, though? Were you bullied by someone there? Who in their right mind would dare slight you ? Do they not know who I am? I guess it’s time to remind them; tell me who is it, and I shall silence them!”

As Baiyi spoke, he stood up and walked towards Mia, in an attempt to pat her head. This was a habit that had grown on him.

When Mia took a step back, dodging his hand, and stared daggers at him, Baiyi’s heart lurched.

This was the third girl, in a row, who had rejected his innocent attempt at bonding — something Baiyi could not help noticing.

“Uh… W-what happened?” Baiyi scratched his head his confusion. He slowly turned to gaze at the papers at Mia’s desk, and his eyes went wide. “I used one of your goldfishes for my experiment, and I’m pretty sure it appeared over there, right? What happened to the goldfish? Is the fish still alive, or was it already dead when it appeared? Or—”

A loud sniff stopped Baiyi in his tracks, and he watched Mia lose her composure and burst into tears. As she tried to wipe her tears, she grumbled in fury, “Favorite student?! Most loved daughter?! Your precious gem?!  Lies! They are all lies! ”

Baiyi panicked at that. As he frantically tried to think of a way he could comfort Mia, she shoved him away and shouted, “Why don’t you go and bother yourself with your stupid research?! That’s the only thing you really care about!”

She chased Baiyi out of her home unceremoniously. As the pitiful Baiyi, who was now banned from Mia’s home, strolled down the road with a gloomy expression, he still could not understand why Mia had acted against him with such unprecedented hostility. Why had she been so difficult? Did she learn that from Mordred the Troublemaker?

Unable to rid himself of the worry, Baiyi headed in the direction of Aya’s residence, hoping to get some closure from Mordred.

Meanwhile, Mia stood next to her bed, wiping her tears away as she watched Baiyi’s silhouette disappear into the horizon. Her lips parted as though she had more to say, but her fury stopped the words from coming up.

She turned around in a fit of anger and suddenly realized that her room was sparkling clean. The floor shone so brightly, one would think it had just been waxed.

After the Grandruler’s failed invasion attempt, Mia had been really busy. Not only was she saddled with her lectures, but she also had to attend different meetings and press conferences, discussing the failed invasion attempt. She had also had to submit numerous reports on this issue. Mia had been so busy that she never got the chance to unpack and clean her room. Her bed had been littered with clothes — so was her floor. Amongst those clothes were her lingerie and underwear.

But now, her clothes had been washed and neatly hung at her balcony. Her room had been cleaned. Everything was in its original place. Even her desk, which was cluttered earlier, had been tidied up.

It was obvious who had done it.

Since Baiyi became the Grand Principal of Da Xue, he had not any housekeeping for Mia. After Da Xue’s founding, she and Baiyi began living in separate quarters. This was the first time in many years that he had cleaned her room and did her laundry. He had done it because she was not home when he came over to visit.

Mia could even imagine how Mr. Hope cleaned the room. He must have used magic to bundle her all her clothes together, after which he must have used a big ball of water, which he made using a water spell, to encase hovering bundle of clothing. He would have the ball of water hover behind him as he used his mana to control her broom, mop, and rag cloth to clean every part of her room. He might have even nagged to himself for a bit. “Is that a new miniskirt?! She bought another one of those super-short skirts behind my back again!” He might have also said, “Come on, I really expected a grown-up to be able to take care of herself! I wonder if she finally understood that thesis topic she asked me about last time… I sure hope so!”

As Mia imagined Baiyi work on her room in her absence, her chest swole with regret. She had screamed at Mr. Hope over a goldfish, a creature with a short lifespan, in front of the crowd from before, who she had no ties with or cared about. She had shouted at him for something so little!

While she had been cursing at Mr. Hope, the man had been happily tidying her room up, eagerly awaiting her return.

Tears streamed down Mia’s cheeks once again. At that moment, she wished for nothing then to curl up with her hammerhead shark plushie and cry. She turned to look at the corner of her bed, and it was empty; she had lent the plushie to Santa and Anna earlier.

In the end, Mia could only sob next to her window bitterly, with her head on her arms.

Baiyi learned from Mordred what had happened. Thanks to him, Mia had been greatly humiliated in front of the Emperor and a crowd of nobles. She became the butt of their jokes, and hurtful names like “Beauty and the Dead Beast” were made in her honor. This made Baiyi furious. He was not angry at the childish nobles, who made fun of Mia. His anger was directed at himself.

He now felt he should not have immersed himself in his research, during which he neglected everyone else. In that time, he had lost his understanding of human emotion.

Baiyi wallowed in regret for the next two days. He was ashamed of himself, and he did not know how to get back on good terms with his Little Mia. The Shadow Walker’s idea, which was proposed later, brightened his mood. All he had to do was come up with a way to reconcile with Mia — something he found difficult.

Baiyi continued to think until he arrived at Mia’s chalet, but she was not at home. He did, however, met Anna standing outside, with the hammerhead shark plushie in her arms. It seemed she had also come to see Mia.

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Anna was still very frightened of him. The moment she saw Baiyi, she hugged the plushie tighter and lowered her head, too scared to speak. It was not all that bad, though; at least, she had not run away.

“Uh hem. So…” Baiyi started. “You’re here to see Mia, too?”

“… M-mm hmm.” Anna nodded. “T-to return Sharkie to B-big Sister Mia.”

She gazed at the plushie with a longing expression as though she did not wish to part with it. As though seeking to salvage her last moments with it, Anna rubbed her cheeks on Sharkie’s snow-white underbelly.

“Oh, that thing, huh?” As Baiyi watched the loli caress the plushie, he wondered how the toy managed to garner the affection of every girl that came across it. For crying out loud, he had added so many enchantments to the plushie that it was just as dangerous than a nuclear weapon! However, the plushie’s appeal and popularity never changed. Although Mia neglected it when she grew up, the new lolis absolutely adored it. When Baiyi was still on Moon World Earth, he had bought many plushies for Anna and Santa, but they were not as fond of them as they were of Sharkie!

‘What sort of loli hypnotic spell do you possess?’  Baiyi thought as he looked at the plushie.

“Say, I’m pretty sure Big Sister Mia doesn’t need this anymore. She’ll probably just ask you to keep it for yourself.”

Anna shook her head sideways. “No way. Big Sister Mia loves Sharkie. Sometime before, she asked me to return it to her, and now, I’m here, returning it.”

“Is that so?” Baiyi muttered and thought for a while. Then, he said, “Unfortunately, she’s not at home now, right? I think she’s giving lectures now. Maybe you should give me the plushie, and I’ll return it to her in your stead. How about that?”

Baiyi had thought of using the plushie to repair his strained relationship with Mia.

However, Anna shook her head sideways again. She directed a serious stare his way and said, “It’s not a plushie! It’s Sharkie .”

‘Is that what’s more important to you right now?’ Baiyi smiled weakly. “Fine, fine. Sharkie. Now, may I return it to her for you?”

Anna shook her head sideways once more, displaying her obstinance. She glared at him and said, “It was I who took Sharkie from Big Sister Mia, so it is I who will return it to her!”

‘This little brat! Why is she being so difficult, too?’ Baiyi could not help but lament. It was he who saved Anna and Santa from a world where they existed idly in the Throne of Heroes, waiting to be summoned. Despite his kind act, neither loli had any affection for him. The little girls loved the other girls more than him!

However, Baiyi had no idea that Santa did try to talk to him sometime earlier. He also did not know that he had accidentally scared the child away with his maniacal laughter.

“Alright, alright. Look, this is what happened…” Baiyi told the little girl about everything that had happened to strain his relationship with Mia. “So you see, I really need this chance.”

“Is that so?” Anna asked while wearing an expression of doubt. “As expected from Big Meanie. He managed to cross someone as nice as Big Sister Mia…”

‘Excuse me? I heard that! Do you really consider me that horrible? Although I captured you a bit roughly, that was the bad thing I did to you! I have been nothing but a nice guy, afterward! Why isn’t that enough for you to change your impression of me? Gods… I thought I was popular among little girls; where has that trait of mine gone?!’

After saying her piece, Anna shoved the plushie into Baiyi’s hands, albeit reluctantly.

“Huh? I thought…” Baiyi asked.

“Because Big Sister Mia is someone important to you,” Anna said. “These days, she looks so forlorn, and I want her to be happy again. If Big Meanie could make her happy again, then I have to give you a chance!”

She stuck out her little pink tongue at Baiyi and ran away.

“Okay. Suddenly, she’s adorable again,” Baiyi muttered to himself, watching Anna run into the distance.

Baiyi raised the plushie to his face and squeezed its underbelly while mumbling to himself, “Why the hell are you more popular than I am, huh? Really, will rubbing my cheeks on you really help so much?”

As a scholarly man, whose aim was to uncover all mysteries, Baiyi brought his face close to plushie and rubbed it against the plushie’s underbelly, just as Mia always did.

“Ah! I feel… I feel… nothing ,” Baiyi muttered. “Maybe I should try again…”

He rubbed his face against the plushie again, but he felt nothing. After this, Baiyi gave up and decided to go look for Mia in her lecture hall.

He turned around and saw Mia standing there.