Restricted Fantasy I Chapter 102: A Kiss That Changed Everything

Thursday, late at night.

At the top floor of the Linn Center tower, adorned with the Golden Lion Group’s logo, lay an extravagant duplex penthouse.

In one of the rooms on the second floor, where the lights had already been turned off, the walls were decorated with cartoon stickers of golden bomb pigs. On the desk, a handheld gaming console and controller were left carelessly, still powered on.

On the large square spring mattress, a blanket was wrapped tightly into a bundle, with a few strands of golden hair peeking out from within.

At that mont, the blanket trembled slightly, like a glutinous rice dumpling steaming in a pot, overwheld by the heat.

"Ughhh!! I can't take it anymore!!"

The next second, much like a stone monkey bursting out of a mountain, Spencer leaped out of the blanket.

Dressed in a light, breathable nightgown, she effortlessly flipped upright, her face flushed red as she panted heavily. Placing her hands on her hips in frustration, she snapped,

"Lionheart!! Turn on the lights!!"

"The ceiling lights have been turned on."

The warm light illuminated Spencer’s puffed-up, indignant face.

She took a deep breath and glared at the AI lion head displayed on the room’s terminal screen, scolding,

"Why the hell did you set the AC so high?! I’m burning up! Lower it!"

"......"

Lionheart remained silent, but the stark display on the terminal showed a temperature of 14°C.

Instead of lowering it as she demanded, the AI-controlled temperature settings actually began to rise, eventually stabilizing at a more standard level.

"The previous temperature was too low. For your health, I have adjusted it to an optimal level."

"Too low? Then why am I still so damn hot? You think I’m an idiot?"

Lionheart paused for a mont before responding,

"The current temperature is within the range humans typically find comfortable. If you are still experiencing discomfort, it may be due to illness."

Hearing this, Spencer froze for a mont and quickly examined herself.

"...Am I really sick? Now that I think about it, I’ve been feeling this heat all afternoon, weirdly weak, and—"

"That is correct."

Spencer sat dazed on the bed, montarily stunned.

She had never once visited a hospital in her entire life. The private doctor her mother had arranged for her only showed up once a year for routine checkups, and even that seed unnecessary.

This realization made her marvel, What a perfectly resilient body I have!

And yet, now, this body was actually falling ill?

For the first ti, a hint of panic flickered in her eyes. She asked anxiously,

"So, what’s wrong with ? Feeling abnormally hot, short of breath, rapid heartbeat, mind racing so much I can’t sleep..."

"Searching... diagnosing..."

Lionheart remained silent for a mont before delivering its conclusion.

"It appears to be lovesickness."

"......"

Spencer opened her mouth but just sat there, staring blankly at the AI’s lion head on the terminal screen.

After a long silence, she finally asked,

"Lovesickness? What’s that?"

"......"

"Lovesickness is a condition caused by excessive thoughts, nervousness, and embarrassnt related to one’s romantic interest. The emotional burden manifests as physical discomfort," Lionheart explained.

"Romantic interest?!"

Spencer shot Lionheart a fierce glare, her face instantly turning red. She quickly waved a hand dismissively and scoffed,

"Impossible! That guy is insufferable—such a self-righteous hypocrite. Sure, he looks good, but—"

Mid-sentence, sothing flashed in her mind, causing her words to trail off.

Instead of continuing, she just kept shaking her head.

"Then, Miss Spencer, what exactly have you been thinking about that’s keeping you up?"

Hearing Lionheart’s question, Spencer, who had been shaking her head like a rattle drum, suddenly clamd up.

Her face flushed even redder. She hesitated, arms crossed, then cast a quick glance at Lionheart before stamring,

"Well... I just... don’t get his reaction. I don’t understand what he’s thinking, whether I managed to steal his heart or not..."

With that, she recounted to Lionheart the events of her kiss with Yan Huan.

The more she dwelled on it, the redder her face beca, and the faster her heart pounded.

Taking a deep breath, she finished her story and then, with barely contained frustration, demanded,

"I an, after sothing that embarrassing, how could he just walk away like it was nothing? And it’s not like I’ve ever seen him do sothing like that with Ying Gong or anyone else!"

"Acting like it never even happened—it’s infuriating!"

Lionheart remained silent for a long ti, seemingly stunned by her words.

Spencer, impatient, finally snapped,

"Hey! Say sothing! You’re usually so damn chatty!"

"......I see. You want to know why he left without a word, correct?"

"Y-yeah, sothing like that..."

Truthfully, Spencer wasn’t even sure herself.

Her mind was a chaotic ss. Every ti she replayed the mory, she felt both embarrassed by the sensation of his lips and frustrated by his inexplicable departure.

So, she reasoned, she must be obsessing over whether her kiss had successfully taken hold of him.

"First, Miss Spencer, you need to understand exactly what you did to him."

"Isn’t it obvious...? A—a kiss... That’s what adults do..."

Her voice was barely above a whisper, and she avoided Lionheart’s gaze, her cheeks burning.

"Miss Spencer, according to my research, the Dragon Empire is a very conservative nation. Its traditional customs dictate that a kiss is an act reserved solely for lifelong partners—specifically, married couples."

"WHAT?!"

Spencer’s eyes went wide in utter shock.

"Y-you’re serious?!"

"The data I retrieved confirms it."

She froze, completely stunned, then suddenly thought of sothing and hastily asked,

"But—! But he said kissing on the cheek was no big deal! Like it was nothing! How could he have such a strict custom?!"

"......It is likely that he was speaking ironically, Miss Spencer."

Lionheart’s confident tone left Spencer montarily dumbfounded.

"Ironic...? You an—?"

"Yes. Saying the opposite of what one truly believes to save face—this is a common trait of tsunderes. Even though he knew, deep down, that this was an unacceptable act, he pretended it wasn’t a big deal to maintain his composure."

Lionheart’s explanation was so logical, so precise, that Spencer was left in awe.

"O-oh."

That actually... makes a lot of sense.

It sounds exactly like sothing she would do.

Could it be that he and she were more alike than she thought?

"Miss Spencer, think about what kind of person Yan Huan is when it cos to relationships."

"What kind of person...? He’s... pretty reserved, I guess..."

Lionheart’s words prompted Spencer to rest her chin on her hand, thinking back.

Yan Huan was admired by many, yet even after almost a full school year, he had never been involved in a single scandal.

Even An Le once ntioned how he always maintained a certain distance from other girls.

If he were back in the Eagle Nation, soone like him would be constantly receiving party invitations.

And yet, here, the only hint of romance he had was with Ying Gong Tong—and even that had never escalated to a kiss.

Now, Spencer finally understood.

Her eyes widened as she looked at Lionheart and swallowed hard.

"So... I took that from him, which ans—"

"Yes. To soone from the Dragon Empire, that was an incredibly serious violation."

Lionheart’s voice was steady as it continued,

"He was simply trying to maintain his usual composure, but you took sothing from him that, to his culture, is considered his most precious virtue. He fled because he was too conflicted to face you."

Spencer was completely shaken.

She bit her thumb, her thoughts spinning wildly.

If that was true...

Then everything Yan Huan had done before suddenly made sense.

"Could it be… that this is my true nature?"

That must have been why, in the end, Yan Huan avoided looking at her.

He was starting to doubt himself, wasn’t he?

Which ant—she was this close to successfully plundering him!

Yet, despite her flushed cheeks, Spencer’s expression carried an odd mix of triumph and distress.

She was thrilled because the ever-composed and seemingly untouchable Yan Huan had finally crumbled under her attack—his defenses were in shambles, and soon, he would surely surrender to her.

But she was also distressed...

If the customs of the Dragon Empire were really that strict, then how the hell was she supposed to hand Yan Huan over to An Le now?!

She never intended to go this far...

This was all Yan Huan’s fault for provoking her!

Feeling increasingly conflicted, Spencer flopped onto her bed, unsure of how to face An Le.

If she told her outright, they might not even be able to stay friends anymore.

Or... was there another way? So loophole in these strict customs that would still allow her to give Yan Huan to her?

"Ughh… forget it! I don’t care anymore!!"

Tossing aside her thoughts, she rolled onto her side. Thinking about it was too exhausting—she might as well enjoy the fact that she had completely shattered Yan Huan’s composure.

But as she kept replaying the events in her mind, she inevitably recalled what Ye Lina had told her earlier today:

"Yan Huan noticed you weren’t feeling well, so he brought you to the infirmary."

Even though she absolutely hated that guy—and he probably hated her, too—he still went out of his way to bring her to the infirmary.

And what did she do in return? She stole the thing he valued most...

Wasn’t that a bit… ungrateful?

"......"

Spencer absentmindedly raised a trembling hand.

She hesitated for a long mont before finally brushing her fingertips against her lips.

The very spot where they had kissed.

Her blue eyes beca hazy, her cheeks burning even hotter.

"...T-turn off the lights! I’m going to sleep!!"

After a long pause, she yanked the blanket over her head and muttered from beneath it, her voice muffled against the covers.

"So, it’s Saturday—you're going to film an MV with Bai Yi?"

In the South District, inside Yan Huan’s rented apartnt, ow-chan gracefully leapt onto his desk, watching him write sothing.

Yan Huan set down his pen, stretched lazily, and replied,

"Yeah. I made plans with Bai Yi for the afternoon. Then next Tuesday is Ying Gong’s cousin’s birthday, and after that, the Club Competition preliminaries."

A stack of completed advanced math problems sat neatly on his desk.

But at this mont, his focus was on another docunt in front of him—one with Spencer’s na written at the top.

A battle plan.

ow-chan glanced at the docunt and quipped,

"Looks like Spencer kissing you really pissed you off, huh? You ca ho and wrote up a whole strategy against her overnight, ow."

"? Pissed?" Yan Huan scoffed. "Why would I be? It’s not like I lost anything..."

But his expression clearly said otherwise.

It was like those guys in his past life who claid they wanted to "escape being single," but when faced with the reality of dating soone significantly older or… larger than expected, they suddenly weren’t so eager anymore.

Sure, Spencer was objectively attractive by conventional beauty standards. But for so reason, she gave him that exact sa off feeling.

Maybe it was the Modifier’s side effects...

Either way, he decided to just chalk it up to being bitten by a dog and move on.

Thinking about it only deepened his frustration. Yan Huan shot a dark glare at the small black cat sitting primly beside him and muttered,

"You expect

to sacrifice myself just to deal with a Modifier, and you don’t even give

worker’s comp? Instead, I get two points in Reproduction Attributes just sitting there, mocking . You trying to kill

faster?"

This wasn’t just him playing the victim.

The world where these Modifiers originated was steeped in desire. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be caught in its web. Giving in to those instincts was like throwing gasoline onto a fire.

Fate always made sure its ‘gifts’ ca with a hidden price tag.

If he’d really lost control that night and done sothing to Ye Shiyu, he’d be looking at a one-way ticket to the underground ending.

And now?

That stupid kiss had only fueled Spencer’s plundering instinct instead of making her feel the sting of failure.

His first kiss—gone. And now, he’d have to sohow get it back.

If this wasn’t a debuff, what the hell was it?

Feeling Yan Huan’s murderous gaze, ow-chan guiltily averted her eyes, focusing on the papers in front of him instead.

"So… based on this, her behavior is probably related to her mother, ow?"

"...Changing the subject, huh?"

Yan Huan’s expression darkened. He reached out and grabbed the loose skin at the back of ow-chan’s neck, forcing her to look at him.

"ow~"

But the black cat rely blinked her round green eyes, looking unbearably innocent.

As if to say: I’m just a cat. How could I possibly be talking?

"......"

Yan Huan was montarily disard by the sheer adorable audacity of it.

For so reason, looking at ow-chan’s wide, innocent eyes, he suddenly rembered Spencer, half-asleep, calling him "Mama" in her dazed state.

He had to admit… at that mont, she had looked kind of cute.

But acknowledging that lone thought seed to trigger an avalanche of forgotten sensations from earlier—

Her body temperature.

The softness of her figure.

The lingering scent of her body wash.

The color of her eyes.

The shape of her lips.

That slightly protruding fang.

The golden strands of hair that had fallen over her face...

All at once, everything about that damn kiss ca rushing back in perfect clarity.

Yan Huan took a deep breath, quickly releasing ow-chan and looking away.

Instead, he turned his attention back to his notes. His gaze landed on the words he had written—"Mother," "Eagle Nation," "Black Gold Family."

That searing kiss, which had initially been nothing more than a stepping stone in his strategy, suddenly felt glaringly personal, stirring a strange curiosity within him.

Still, knowing how utterly clueless Spencer was, she’d probably chalk up the entire kiss as so kind of childish ga.

Given so ti, she would forget all about it.

Yan Huan subconsciously rubbed his lips, as if trying to erase the mory, then grabbed his pen and drew a large circle around the word "Mother."

Looking at ow-chan, he stated,

"I don’t know if her behavior is directly related to her mother, but I do know one thing—her mother holds a huge influence over her.

"And that… might just be sothing we can use to our advantage. Which ans we need to tweak the strategy a bit."

ow-chan tilted her head in confusion.

She had no idea what kind of "strategy" he was talking about, but—whatever.

Nodding enthusiastically, she responded,

"ow!"

Which, in this case, ant: You’re absolutely right, ow!

Friday.

Life at Yuanyue Academy continued as usual.

According to An Le, Spencer had called in sick—her family’s butler had sent a ssage to the teachers, requesting a leave of absence.

With that annoying troublemaker gone, Ye Shiyu also quieted down, staying in the second-year section to focus on her studies rather than bothering Yan Huan.

So, aside from feeling a little off whenever he faced Ying Gong, Yan Huan actually got to experience a rare mont of peace.

The day passed quickly, leaving him no ti to dwell on Spencer’s absence.

Because up next on his schedule—

Saturday.

Music video filming with Bai Yi.