Chapter 279: Take Responsibility
In this situation, the best solution was to distract her.
As long as Sucrose's attention was shifted to something else, everything would be fine. This seemed like the best approach.
Nolan thought for a moment and slid his thumb beneath Sucrose's glasses, gently wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes while cupping her soft cheeks. He comforted her, saying:
"By the way, I have a rare biological material I want to give you. How about you try to guess what it is?"
He was referring to the scale of the Stormterror Dragon.
He had already planned to give it to Sucrose, and now seemed like the perfect time!
Ugh, first he bullies me by rubbing my ears, and now he wants me to guess? Sucrose thought as her eyes reddened even more, her silent tears threatening to fall again.
Seeing this, Nolan didn't make her guess any longer.
He quickly retrieved the Stormterror's scale from his Delusion space and placed it in front of Sucrose.
"Here, Sucrose, look—what do you think this is?"
Nolan glanced at the scale, then back at Sucrose, gently wiping away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"What... is this?"
Sucrose pressed against Nolan's chest, leaning forward slightly to look at the cyan-colored scale in front of her. It felt familiar, like she had seen it somewhere before, but she couldn't recall exactly where.
Nolan didn't keep her in suspense, smiling as he explained:
"This is a scale from the Stormterror Dragon. It also contains knowledge of a very advanced archery technique. It's an extremely rare biological material."
"Stormterror?!"
At his words, Sucrose suddenly remembered. The scale was indeed identical to the one from the dragon that had attacked Mondstadt.
"Yes, that's right. I originally planned to give it to you for research. It should be incredibly useful for enhancing your bio-alchemy skills," Nolan said, nodding.
He then carefully removed Sucrose's round half-frame glasses, using his water elemental power to clean off the tears that had accidentally smudged the lenses. Once the glasses were spotless, he controlled the water element to dry them, then gently brushed back Sucrose's teal hair to put the glasses back on her.
Sucrose adjusted her glasses, making sure they sat more comfortably. Her face flushed as she lowered her head, whispering softly, as if a bit embarrassed:
"Thank you."
Although the adventurer loved to tease her by rubbing her ears, Sucrose could still feel his genuine care.
Ugh... okay, just this once, I'll forgive him. Sucrose silently convinced herself.
[Sucrose Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 points. Current Affection Level: Lv.8 (366/800)]
Seeing the affection notification pop up on his character panel, Nolan knew that his efforts to calm Sucrose had worked. He made a mental note to be more careful next time and avoid making her cry again.
"Haha, speaking of which, I'm also curious whether the scales of an advanced elemental creature like the Stormterror are actually a form of solid elemental energy. How about we study it now?" Nolan could tell that Sucrose had a strong curiosity about the scale, so he went along with her thoughts.
"Mm!"
"By the way, did you get this scale from the battle with the Stormterror?" Sucrose asked curiously as she took the scale from his semi-transparent threads while attempting to stand up.
However, because she had been sitting on Nolan's lap with her knees bent for too long, her legs had gone numb.
She hadn't felt anything while sitting still, but the moment she moved to stand, a sharp sensation ran through her knees and calves, tightly wrapped in her semi-sheer black stockings.
Her entire body collapsed forward.
First, her hips landed heavily back on Nolan's lap, between his waist and legs.
Then, with her hands occupied, Sucrose couldn't catch herself, and she let out a surprised "Ah!" as she tumbled forward, her forehead heading straight for Nolan's.
Nolan felt a brief pressure from Sucrose's sudden fall.
Before either of them could react, their foreheads bumped with a thud.
Neither Nolan nor Sucrose, both holders of Vision/Delusion powers, would be seriously hurt by a little head bump. However, with their faces so close, their noses brushed, and inevitably, their lips lightly overlapped.
Oh no, this is bad!
Nolan immediately realized that this was moving too fast for Sucrose.
It wasn't that her affection for him wasn't enough, but he felt she wasn't mentally prepared for something like this yet.
As expected, tears were already welling up in her eyes.
He had just managed to calm her down.
The situation had taken an unexpected turn.
When Sucrose realized their lips were touching, her pale cheeks flushed red, and her mind seemed to freeze. She was at a loss for how to react, her eyes wide with shock.
Several seconds passed before she finally processed what had happened.
Her eyes quickly filled with tears. She had never experienced something like this before, and she hadn't imagined her first kiss would be taken in such an accidental way.
Though neither of them had meant for it to happen, the unfairness of the situation weighed on her, bringing an overwhelming sense of grievance.
Nolan could see that Sucrose was about to burst into tears.
His mind raced. He had no other tricks left to distract her, and if her crying attracted attention from passersby outside, rumors might start circulating in Mondstadt.
Tomorrow, the city might be buzzing with gossip that the Honorary Knight had taken advantage of an innocent alchemist.
And if the Knights of Favonius, along with Lumine and Fischl, found out, things could get even worse. They might look down on him, or worse, start disliking him.
The potential consequences were too dire.
With no other option, Nolan decided to take a bold step. He wrapped his arms around Sucrose, pulling her tightly against him, and pressed his lips back onto hers, preventing her from crying out.
He held her like this, waiting for her emotions to calm down.
"Mm... mmph..." Sucrose felt herself being held tightly, her hands pinned against Nolan's chest, unable to move.
At first, she instinctively struggled, but when she realized it was futile, she gave up, letting him kiss her, while silent tears streamed down her cheeks.
How awful. I hate this. How could the adventurer do this to me?
All sorts of emotions swirled in her heart, gradually washing away the sense of injustice. The tears stopped, though she still stared at him in frustration.
Seeing that Sucrose had calmed down, Nolan gently pulled back, wiped her tears again, and explained:
"Sorry, but if you had started crying and attracted attention, we'd become famous in Mondstadt for all the wrong reasons. I had no other choice."
Sucrose was about to retort, but after thinking it over, she realized Nolan wasn't entirely wrong.
Still, she couldn't help feeling a bit angry.
Without thinking, she bit down on Nolan's shoulder, holding her teeth there for several seconds before letting go.
Leaning her head against his shoulder, she whispered softly into his ear:
"Take responsibility for kissing me."
---
(End of Chapter)
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