Chapter 711: Tuning

Your Majesty's waist side is also taut.

HaiSeYin's tone is as flat as if reciting an official document: "I only wish to help Your Majesty relax. Why is Your Majesty so tense?"

I am not tense!

Is that so.

A faint hint of amusement slipped into HaiSeYin's voice, barely perceptible, but Heimu sensed it—not with ears, but with the nose honed over years of dealing with all sorts of people in countless situations.

That amusement hid in the crevice of the vocal cords, like a hidden current churning beneath the sea surface.

"Your Majesty's heartbeat is rapid," HaiSeYin added.

The water is hot.

I, however, find the water temperature just right.

Another splash of water followed, this time lighter, as if someone lifted a hand from the water, fingertips skimming the surface: "Your Majesty, from the base of the ears to the side of the neck—are tinged with a rosy hue; the thin sheen sliding down the neck is most enchanting."

"Those are—water droplets, not sweat."

"Is that so."

HaiSeYin lowered her voice further, almost merging with the warm vapor hovering over the water: "Then, Your Majesty, could you explain—why your body temperature has been rising ever since I entered the water?"

"This pool itself raises temperature; if Jian Qi Jue lacks even this basic knowledge, perhaps you should consult the bathhouse spirits."

"I have consulted. The water of the Nereid Spring remains constant temperature and does not rise."

When HaiSeYin said this, her tone remained that same lightness, as if stating an unrelated fact: "Therefore—it's Your Majesty's problem."

A moment of silence.

The water's surface was lightly slapped, a crisp sound, as if a palm had just tapped it.

"Jian Qi Jue. Are you—"

A crack finally appeared in Ke Lv De La's voice; the composure she had been straining to maintain was nudged from beneath, and her tone grew slightly hurried.

"I have not."

"I haven't finished speaking."

"Your Majesty need not finish."

HaiSeYin's voice remained that same lightness, yet the smile hidden in the vocal fold crevice resurfaced, now more evident, like a string of bubbles finally breaking the deep sea surface: "Any question Your Majesty has, I can answer. Including the one Your Majesty is thinking of now but has not yet voiced."

Silence lingered for a while longer.

This silence stretched even longer, so much that Heimu, leaning against the door outside, couldn't help but glance back inside, wondering if something had already begun.

"What am I thinking now," Ke Lv De La's voice became a bit muffled.

"Your Majesty is thinking—"

HaiSeYin's voice suddenly drew nearer, close enough that Heimu outside the door instinctively leaned back a half inch: "When can my hand move away from Your Majesty's waist?"

"Do I need you to guess that? I already said it myself."

"But Your Majesty has not ordered me to move."

"I—I'm just waiting for you to realize it yourself."

"I thought,"

HaiSeYin's voice dropped another register, becoming a near‑whisper: the timbre, dampened by water vapor as it passed the doorway, sounded heavy and muted, like the lowest cello string lightly plucked: "Your Majesty does not actually dislike my hand being here. What Your Majesty dislikes— is the fact that you yourself do not dislike it."

Heimu's occiput rested lightly against the wall, feeling she should not be here.

But her foot still did not move.

"Jian Qi Jue!" Ke Lv De La's voice became unusually serious, a stark contrast to the earlier panic.

"I am here."

"I command you to put your hand back."

"Put it back where?"

"Put it back—" Ke Lv De La's voice faltered, clearly the question was unexpected: "Put it back into the water."

"My hand was already in the water. Your Majesty sits on my thigh, my hand in the water supporting Your Majesty's waist side."

HaiSeYin paused, "Your Majesty has maintained this posture for nearly a quarter of an hour. If truly uncomfortable, you would have risen long ago. You have not risen—so I infer that Your Majesty's command and Your Majesty's will are not entirely aligned."

"My command is my will."

"Is that so? Then could Your Majesty look into my eyes and say it again?"

A prolonged silence.

The sound of the water surface being gently agitated came intermittently, rhythmic, as if someone were passing time with ripples.

"Jian Qi Jue......"

When Ke Lv De La uttered those three words, her tone suddenly shifted, no longer the forced composure but a steadier timbre, like a hand poised over a chessboard, ready to make a move.

"Your Majesty, please speak."

"Do you think I enjoy teasing you a lot?"

"I wouldn't dare." HaiSeYin's reply came so quickly there was barely a pause.

"I think you are very daring."

When Ke Lv De La said this, a hint of clenched‑tooth bitterness tinged her tone, though it bore no relation to genuine Rage.

More like tuning a lute.

"I merely stated the observed facts."

"Then I have also observed a fact—today you speak unusually much. Usually you stand beside me for half a day without uttering a word, yet in the bath you become sharp‑tongued; I even suspect you have been tampered with."

"In most cases I need not speak. Your Majesty alone can make everyone wholeheartedly convinced."

HaiSeYin paused, her tone still that lightness: "But what Your Majesty needs here is not my silence."

After those words landed, the bath fell silent for several seconds.

"…What I need, you don't have to speak for me." Ke Lv De La's voice suddenly became softer.

"I know. So I simply do."

Another long silence followed.

Then Ke Lv De La's voice suddenly rang out again, with a slightly forced tone that clearly tried to change the subject and an unhidden hesitation.

"…Sword Banner Count. Stop calling me Your Majesty." Her voice was even lighter than before, "Call me Ke Lv De La."

HaiSeYin remained silent.

"I've said it, don't call—"

"Ke Lv De La."

HaiSeYin's voice brushed against her ear, low and magnetic, like the pressure of deep water surrounding you when you sink into the sea—light as a sigh yet heavy as a vow.

The name was spoken by HaiSeYin in an extremely slow, gentle rhythm, each syllable lingering between the lips and teeth before releasing.

The prior cold aloofness now split with a razor‑thin crack; what seeped through was not fire but a denser something—emotions pressed into the sea floor over thirty million reincarnations, now all bearing down on the three characters of that name.

Then that tiny, forcibly swallowed gasp finally leaked from Ke Lv De La's throat, like a cat whose Tail has been stepped on, emitting a half‑cry just before it covers its mouth.

She seemed to freeze entirely, a thin layer of gooseflesh rising from the base of her ears to her neck, and her fingers instinctively clenched HaiSeYin's arm that rested on her side.