"Hey, wait," Levi instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but Seraphine's hand was already intertwined with his, their fingers locked tightly together.
Her fingers, wrapped in white silk gloves, felt smooth and delicate. They were long and slender, like fragile, glazed white porcelain.
Yet this seemingly weak little hand was unexpectedly firm and strong right now. Even when Levi exerted force, he couldn't break free.
He instantly panicked. "I..."
'I do actually like Seraphine.'
Another bout of awkward silence ensued.
"No, actually I..."
'Actually, I'm just a little embarrassed.'
Another bout of awkward silence ensued.
'Damn it! Telepathy is terrifying.'
'The moment a thought pops into my head, she hears it.'
'Can this even be called dating?'
'Give me back that sweet romantic process of back-and-forth laning, testing each other's positioning, full of lively, fun, and thrilling tension!'
"Um," Seraphine pursed her glossy, moist lips and looked over rather shyly. "Mr. Levi, do you need me to pretend I don't know?"
Levi was speechless.
Ivern also fell silent.
He suddenly realized that the most redundant thing in the world was worrying about a son-in-law cheating on a telepathic daughter.
'Uh, wait—bah! Who the hell accepted you as a son-in-law!'
"Tch." While Ivern's face twisted in conflict, Vi had no interest in watching this coy romantic drama.
"Levi, so you're into these rich Piltie chicks, haha." She mocked him mercilessly, acting as if she definitely wouldn't fall for a rich Piltie chick herself.
"You two keep being all lovey-dovey here, I'm going to take a shower!" With that, Vi turned to leave.
Ivern struggled internally for a good while before finally staring helplessly at Levi and Seraphine's tightly clasped hands, warning them fiercely.
"Holding hands is the absolute limit!"
"No doing anything out of line, you hear me?"
"Anything out of line?" Seraphine tilted her head.
The education she had received in a certain area since childhood was tamer than the illustrations in a children's textbook. It was practically nonexistent.
So she asked, "Dad, what counts as 'out of line'?"
"Well, about that..." When it came to this topic, Levi had a lot he could say.
He knew...
'Crap!' Levi broke out in a cold sweat from sheer panic. He immediately used all his strength to break free from Seraphine's grasp.
The images conjured up in his mind were a bit too early for this girl.
"You—" Ivern stared blankly for a moment before reacting with embarrassed fury. "Levi, you really aren't a damn virgin!"
"I..." Levi stammered.
The older man and the younger man stared at each other in a strange, unspoken mutual understanding.
Only Seraphine was left completely bewildered, asking, "Dad, what does 'virgin' mean?"
This conversation could no longer continue.
Looking at his daughter, whose eyes were as pure as gemstones, Ivern ultimately had no choice but to glare fiercely at Levi. "Anyway, don't you dare corrupt Seraphine, understood?!"
After receiving Levi's firm promise, the old father finally followed Vi out.
Leaving only Levi and Seraphine alone in their own little world.
This was also their rare private time together over the past week.
"Mr. Levi?" Seraphine asked coyly. "Are you free after this?"
"I wrote a new song for you, and I want to sing it for you... um, just for you alone."
The girl's intentions were already quite obvious.
But after a brief flutter of his heart, Levi replied helplessly, "Let's do tomorrow."
"Next, I have to go to the university and the community to hold meetings with the other working groups and help them establish their grassroots sub-branches."
The moment work was brought up, the romantic atmosphere instantly vanished into thin air.
But it couldn't be helped.
The various Windguide working groups were currently mired in ideological errors, directional disagreements, and systemic chaos, disorganized and scattered. He had to correct these mistakes as quickly as possible.
Compared to the great cause of achieving Great Harmony, a little romantic date could be put on hold.
"I'm sorry, Seraphine."
"Wait until tomorrow... uh, after the general assembly tomorrow, I'll come spend time with you."
Levi suddenly felt a bit guilty.
Who knew if he would have other things to do after tomorrow's meeting?
Never mind, there was no need to ask. He definitely would.
The organization was in a critical period of establishing its system and clarifying its ideology. As the top leader, how could Levi possibly run out of things to do?
He had to care about factory production, inquire about the organization's finances, oversee armed forces development, intervene in internal conflicts, and research and judge external strategies. As for the research and development of weapons and industrial products, as a knowledgeable transmigrator, he also needed to provide some inspiring advice...
Levi could even foresee that as the Windguides' cause flourished, their ranks expanded, and their influence grew... he would only get busier in the future, never more relaxed.
There was no helping it. Having taken up this heavy burden, he shouldn't expect an easy time.
The time left for himself and his loved ones would only grow scarcer.
"I'm sorry, Seraphine," Levi sighed with a complex tone.
He knew what this girl wanted was the romantic love of a prince and princess from a fairy tale.
But he was no Prince Charming.
He was the "villain" who was going to send the prince to the guillotine.
"No." Even without physical contact, Seraphine seemed to have read his mind.
"Mr. Levi, go do what you need to do." She wasn't disappointed at all; instead, she encouraged him, "I understand. What you're doing is more important than anything else!"
"Yeah, thank you." Levi breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll be going then." He hardened his heart to bid Seraphine farewell, turning around to rush to his next meeting.
But Seraphine stood on her tiptoes and jogged over to Levi, stopping him in his tracks.
"Wait! Mr. Levi..."
"I'll go with you!"
"Huh?" Levi paused. "I'm going to a meeting, I can't keep you company..."
"I know." Seraphine found an excuse, though her words didn't quite match her heart. "I-I'm just thinking about work too..."
"Mr. Levi, aren't you going somewhere else for a meeting?"
"Then let me give you a ride—"
With that, Seraphine slowly channeled her magic.
The Hextech Mobile Stage hovering nearby floated over leisurely.
Seraphine grabbed Levi's hand without a word, stepped onto her hovering stage, and turned back to say to him:
"Mr. Levi, look, I can fly now!"
"Let me be your 'driver.' Escorting you to work and meetings will also improve efficiency, won't it?"
"This..." Levi really hadn't expected her to pull this move.
But Seraphine was already tugging hard at his hand, pulling him up in one breath—
With the magical amplification of the Hextech Mobile Stage, the strength this girl could burst forth with was truly not small.
Levi stood on Seraphine's hovering mobile stage.
Though called a stage, its shape, size, and even some of its functions were practically identical to the lotus throne of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Both were single-person flying artifacts.
Standing one person was fine, but two people made it a bit crowded.
Especially a man and a woman.
To stand steadily on it, they practically had to embrace each other.
"Mr. Levi, let me fly you over," Seraphine hummed with a hint of shyness.
Assigning a flying driver to the leader sounded perfectly reasonable.
'But...'
'I know how to fly myself!'
Levi thought to himself.
But somehow, feeling the faint, delicate fragrance wafting from Seraphine, he inexplicably didn't want to say it out loud.
'Yeah, I just won't say it for now.'
'I'll pretend I can't fly and let her give me a ride.'
"Uh... wait." Levi looked at Seraphine pressed tightly against his body, his expression freezing.
'Pretend my ass!'
'This girl can read minds!'
A wave of awkwardness washed over him, and he was just about to say something.
But Seraphine merely blushed and stayed silent, acting as if she didn't know anything. She just quietly leaned against his side, steering the narrow hovering mobile stage as it slowly took flight.
The stage flew into the sky. A gentle breeze brushed past their faces, lifting Seraphine's long pink hair.
The alluring blush on her profile silently caught Levi's eye.
"Um..." Levi hesitated to speak.
'Whatever...'
'This is nice.'