"Qila, quickly teach me how to dance, it's urgent!" After coming out of the restroom, Leticia immediately abandoned Bai Ling and ran to Qila's side.
Bai Ling naturally knew what Leticia was going to do—she was definitely preparing to cram at the last minute.
Leticia's little schemes could be easily guessed with just a bit of thought, but Bai Ling had no intention of stopping her. She needed to give her a little hope, then ruthlessly crush that hope—that way Leticia's performance would be even more adorable.
There wasn't much time left before the dance began. Could Leticia learn to dance in such a short period? Bai Ling felt the possibility was slim.
Even if she really did learn, then she herself would make a small fool of herself but gain the opportunity to dance with Leticia—it was hard to say who would profit and who would lose.
Anyway, Bai Ling felt she wouldn't lose—only Leticia would.
This was a win-win situation where she won on both sides, giving Bai Ling full confidence to face what was coming next.
"Sister, can you dance?" Just at this moment, Little Ya, who had been squeezed away by Leticia, ran over. "I just invited Qila to dance with me, but I'm afraid I'll dance poorly and embarrass myself in front of Qila."
Miss Bai, who had successfully completed a displacement reaction to switch the sister over, shook her head. Like Leticia, she couldn't dance either.
Leticia was too lazy to learn, while Bai Ling had no time or energy. Before retirement, she was always running around the world dealing with troublesome matters. Though she occasionally had some rest time, she wouldn't spend it on such meaningless activities.
Could dancing kill enemies? Could it enhance her strength?
Obviously not.
So why would Bai Ling learn it?
"Mm, but didn't Sister Qian... no, wait, didn't Sister Leticia say she was going to dance with you, Sister?" Little Ya blinked. Just now Leticia had hurriedly gone to Qila for help, and she thought something had happened, but it turned out Leticia had been invited by Bai Ling to dance together.
And Leticia was worried about her poor technique, so she came to Qila for emergency tutoring. This was quite normal and fit Leticia's image in Little Ya's mind.
She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of others, especially not in front of her sister.
"Pfft, you and Qila are a perfect match—you'll definitely look great dancing together. As for me and Leticia, we'll probably be dragging each other down, seeing who makes more mistakes." Bai Ling giggled. "When the time comes, Little Ya can watch how your two sisters make fools of themselves."
"Eh, but isn't this..." Little Ya couldn't quite understand why her sister was laughing so happily when she knew she was going to embarrass herself later.
Shouldn't her sister be anxiously trying to learn some technique now? Knowing a little would be better than knowing nothing at all.
"Sometimes, embarrassing yourself together is also something that makes you happy." Bai Ling smiled as she picked up a piece of fruit and put it in her mouth. With Leticia not around, she could eat freely again.
Embarrassing herself was unacceptable for Leticia, but for Bai Ling, if it was embarrassing herself together with Leticia, then she felt this wasn't unacceptable either.
Her face was thick—a little embarrassment didn't matter. But Leticia's face was thin, so her performance after embarrassing herself would definitely be cute.
To see that adorable Leticia, Bai Ling was willing to embarrass herself along with her.
Of course, this was her thought, while Leticia definitely didn't want to embarrass herself.
"Sister, why don't you find an excuse to secretly slip away?" Qila looked helplessly at her anxious sister. Teaching her to dance in such a short time was completely impossible.
"No way, that would be embarrassing myself in front of that person!" Leticia quickly shook her head. "Just thinking about embarrassing myself in front of that person makes me unable to stand it."
"But if you stubbornly insist on dancing, Sister, you won't just embarrass yourself in front of Sister Bai alone." Qila patted her sister's shoulder, earnestly advising, "From a numbers perspective, I think Sister should slip away as soon as possible."
One was just embarrassing herself in front of Bai Ling alone, the other was embarrassing herself in front of everyone. If she thought about it calmly, it seemed better to slip away now.
Leticia began to struggle, and seeing this, Qila quickly continued persuading: "Either way, the result is being laughed at by Sister Bai. Sister doesn't need to stubbornly go through with it."
"But just thinking about being laughed at by her makes me so annoyed."
"Who told Sister to be so easily provoked? Sister Bai provoked you a little and you fell for it—too naive." Qila rolled her eyes, then pushed Leticia toward the main door. "Hurry up and slip away. The dance is about to start—if you don't slip away now, there won't be another chance."
"Then, then I'll slip away first." Leticia gritted her teeth and quietly left the hall under Qila's cover without attracting anyone's attention.
Except for that girl who had been watching her all along.
Seeing Leticia sneakily slip out of the hall, Bai Ling burst out laughing. In the end, she still chickened out.
"Sister, what are you laughing about?" Little Ya asked curiously. She was tightly covering her chest, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.
She was about to go on stage and dance with Qila soon—she was so nervous.
"Nothing, Sister has some business to attend to." Bai Ling stood up, planning to follow and give Leticia a surprise.
"Ah?"
"Your Sister Leticia secretly slipped away. Sister is going to catch her and bring her back." Bai Ling showed a kind smile. "Don't worry, Sister will be back soon."
"Then, Sister, good luck." When it involved Leticia, Little Ya had no objections. The problem here wasn't serious—she should be able to handle it herself.
While Sister's problem was the serious one. This was a good opportunity—as long as Sister seized the chance, the progress in conquering Sister Leticia would definitely advance greatly.
As a national treasure-level sister, Little Ya indicated Sister should fly with confidence—she would provide full support.
"Mm, where did Sister Bai go?" Just after Bai Ling left, Qila came looking for her.
Similarly, she was also here to stall for time for her sister, but her mission was destined to fail.
"Sister said she needed to use the restroom." Little Ya grabbed Qila's hand. "Don't worry about Sister—let's practice the dance we're going to perform later!"
"But didn't Sister Bai just come back from the restroom?"
"Sister ate something bad and got an upset stomach! Yes, upset stomach!" Little Ya began lying with her eyes wide open.
......
"What, stomach ache again?"
"You... how did you..." Leticia turned around in surprise. Seeing Bai Ling appear behind her, she was also startled.
She still couldn't escape after all.
"Don't tell me you're planning to use the restroom, because this place doesn't have one." Bai Ling pointed downward, showing a somewhat punch-worthy smile. "Unless you want to say you're planning to relieve yourself in this place."
This was the back garden. If Leticia really nodded, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing face.
Leticia's expression stiffened. She really couldn't find any reasonable excuse to explain why she had secretly left to come to this place.
"I, I just wanted to come out for some fresh air, can't I?" Leticia defended with a red face. "What about you? What are you doing out here?"
Fresh air? Coming out for fresh air at this time—she probably wouldn't go back until the dance was over.
"Me? Of course I came to watch a certain little cutie and prevent her from deserting." Bai Ling spread her hands, indicating her reason for coming out was much more substantial and believable than Leticia's.
Catching a little cutie who wanted to run away—what a reasonable excuse.
"So you're planning to drag me back?" Leticia glared at Bai Ling. If Bai Ling dared to nod, then she would—she would ignore everything and just run away directly.
Better to be laughed at by Bai Ling later than to have an explosively clumsy dance with Bai Ling in front of everyone.
In that case, not only would Bai Ling laugh at her, those ignorant nobles would probably laugh at her privately too.
If they found out later who was dancing at that ball, Leticia's reputation would be completely unsalvageable.
"Depends on your answer. If you admit you can't dance, then going back together is fine." Bai Ling looked up at the sky. There were quite a few stars tonight—she liked such nights the most.
"I can dance, but I don't want to dance in front of so many people." Stubborn as a duck—this described Leticia's current state perfectly.
Since she had said this, Bai Ling wouldn't give Leticia any more face-saving steps. "Then, there are no other people here. How about dancing with me?"
"There isn't even music. Do you want to dance awkwardly?"
This problem was easily solved. Bai Ling took out her phone, tapped the screen, and melodious music flowed from the phone.
This left Leticia dumbfounded. "You actually downloaded this?"
There was no internet in the Demon Realm. For Bai Ling to play this music meant she had downloaded it on her phone.
This kind of noble and elegant orchestral music was indeed quite suitable as dance accompaniment.
"I often listen to these when I'm bored at home. They're very pleasant and have a mentally refreshing feeling." Bai Ling explained as she placed her phone on a nearby wooden bench, then extended her hand toward Leticia. "So, come on. I'm very much looking forward to dancing with Demon King."
"You bastard, don't think I'm afraid of you." Leticia gritted her teeth and grabbed Bai Ling's hand.
Bai Ling's hand was still as warm as before. This girl's body temperature seemed to always be like this, unchanging with seasons or time.
Holding her hand, Leticia felt her heartbeat beginning to gradually accelerate. She felt there must be some strange spell on Bai Ling—otherwise, why would Leticia, who wasn't interested in women, become so flustered whenever she encountered her?
"You're a bit nervous." Bai Ling pulled Leticia closer and said quietly.
"Tch, you talk too much. If you're going to dance, hurry up and dance." Leticia said impatiently. "Quick, quick, the music is almost over!"
"It's fine, I put it on repeat." Bai Ling also took a deep breath.
The two stood in place like statues. Even when the music began its second loop, they hadn't moved even slightly.
"What are we doing? Cosplaying statues?" Leticia looked at Bai Ling's expressionless face and asked somewhat puzzledly.
Bai Ling guiltily looked away. "I don't know how to dance."
Bai Ling didn't know, and Leticia naturally didn't know either. With no one knowing how to dance, the two were stuck in this awkward situation.
"Alright, I overestimated you." After discovering that Bai Ling was just as clueless about dancing as herself, Leticia's mood improved considerably. At least now they were mutually embarrassing themselves. "I remember it should start like this."
Trying her best to recall the few dance scenes in her memory, Leticia carefully took the first step.
Following Leticia's movement, Bai Ling also slowly moved. Though somewhat clumsy, at least they had taken the most crucial first step.
"Hey, you stepped on me again!"
"You stepped on me four times, I only stepped on you three times."
"Surnamed Bai, you clearly stepped on me six times!"
"Impossible, only three times."
"My brain isn't so bad that I can't even count."
Of course, the duet of these two dance novices was quite unwatchable. Their attention was even focused on how many times the other had stepped on their feet.
Under this picturesque and beautiful starry sky, in this dreamlike colorful garden, the dance of these two girls should have been perfect and intoxicating.
But sometimes reality always has some regrets. Though the two girls in this place were so beautiful, the dance they performed could only be described as disastrous.
Cough cough, at least their looks could make everyone ignore this disastrous dance.
"I feel dancing is harder than fighting." After finishing one dance, Leticia plopped down on the ground and took off her little boots. "Wow, my feet are about to swell up."
Leticia, this mage, wasn't as thick-skinned as Bai Ling. However, her black stockings weren't transparent enough for Bai Ling to see the true face of that little foot.
"I don't think my feet are much better than yours." Bai Ling also sat on the ground and took off her shoes. Her stockings were more transparent, clearly showing the red mark on her foot. "Look, you stepped on this."
As she spoke, Bai Ling moved her foot closer to Leticia, seemingly wanting Leticia to see that she wasn't lying.
"Move it away, move it away, it smells like feet." Leticia glanced at it and quickly pushed Bai Ling's foot away with her hand. "Don't you think your current posture is very... seductive?"
Bai Ling was wearing somewhat revealing clothes today. When standing or sitting normally it was fine, but sitting on the grass like this was quite alluring.
"So, were you seduced by me?" Instead of being shy, Bai Ling asked with a grin.