These Dangerous Girls Placed Me Into Jeopardy

Because most of the students were just standing there staring at us, there were still plenty of empty seats. After I casually picked a spot and sat down, Lillian Ji also sat directly across from me.

Then, the students sitting near us immediately wolfed down their food and hurried off, or simply picked up their trays and squeezed themselves into tables further away.

They deliberately created a mysterious "square" of empty space around us.

"..."

What the hell is this... are they isolating us?

"Everyone’s so considerate. Even though it’s so crowded, they still left us such a big space, hehe~" Lillian Ji giggled as she placed her lunchbox on the table, untied the cloth wrapping it, and opened it.

It was all very ordinary dishes, things like stir-fried diced bamboo shoots and braised shrimp balls, but somehow it looked incredibly appetizing. How to put it... it was like something you’d see on a food show, dishes that had been given that sparkling special-effect treatment.

It really looked amazing. Did she make it herself?

"Did you make this yourself?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"My family's maid made it," she said.

"Maid? Your family has a maid?"

Hearing the word "maid," I immediately perked up and looked at Lillian Ji.

Well, how should I say this, I only have the tiniest, tiniest bit of interest in maids... Really, just a tiny bit!

It’s not like I think maids are super cute or anything! Absolutely not! I’m not at all interested in modified maid outfits with garter stockings!

And I definitely didn’t specially buy an external hard drive just to store data for that 3D Custom Maid game!

Lillian Ji smiled slightly and tilted her head. "Oh my? Ethan, haven’t you ever heard of the Ji family?"

"...No."

Forgive my ignorance, but no, I really had never heard of any "Ji family."

"Hehe, it’s fine if you haven’t. No need to worry about it. It’s not something important. Just know that my family can afford to hire maids."

...The way you said that only makes me more curious, okay. Even if I hadn’t heard of the Ji family before, they must be some kind of absurdly rich tycoon family...

Looks like she wasn’t just a flawless beauty who was top-tier in both academics and sports, but also a legit rich young lady... This woman is seriously terrifying.

This is what people call the ultimate version of a rich, beautiful heiress.

I stayed silent and focused on eating, not daring to even glance at Lillian Ji, so I shifted my gaze to the onlookers instead, checking their titles.

Compared to before, the titles here were way more normal, similar to what I saw on the way to school. But among the crowd, there were a few names that were gray...

Aside from white, green, and pink, now there was also gray... Just how many different colors are there?

If I concentrated a little, I could even hear the people around us whispering.

"Lillian Ji actually came to the cafeteria! Isn’t she supposed to be some rich heiress? I can’t believe she’s in a place where us commoners eat!"

"Idiot! Don’t you see she’s carrying her own lunchbox? It’s obvious—she came to the cafeteria to accompany that guy! Who ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) is he? Which class is he from?"

"I don't know... but man, that dude must be something else, actually bagging Lillian Ji!"

"Oh my god! The goddess has been captured!"

Sorry, but I didn’t "capture" Lillian Ji, and I have absolutely zero intention of doing so. If anything, I wish she would just leave me alone forever.

But that wish probably wouldn’t be coming true anytime soon...

"Ethan-kun."

"...Huh? You’re calling me?"

Ethan-kun? What the hell is that? Don’t call me using that cringy palindrome-style nickname!

"Would you like to try some of the lunch my 'maid' made?" she said, clearly emphasizing the word "maid," probably having caught on to my interest. This girl’s ability to read people was terrifying!

I mean, yeah, I kinda did want to taste maid-cooked food... but no way was I falling for it! If I said yes, there was a high chance she would immediately pick up some food and bring it right to my mouth. No matter whether I accepted or refused, that would turn into a disaster!

I had to firmly refuse and avoid any unnecessary complications.

"No thanks, I’ll just eat my own food."

"Mm~ I see. Then can I try some of what you picked out, Ethan-kun?"

Stop reversing my name like that!

A little irritated, I grumbled, "Help yourself."

And then... Lillian Ji did something completely beyond my imagination.

"No~ I want Ethan-kun to feed me~"

"Pfft!"

It wasn’t just me—half the cafeteria probably let out the exact same spluttering sound at that moment!

She was acting cute and spoiled! She wasn’t even trying to maintain her image anymore! Sure, it was really adorable and all, but wasn’t her whole character setup completely falling apart?!

What kind of idiot author wrote her character like this?! Fix it immediately!

Even though I was desperately winking at her to stop, Lillian Ji showed no intention of stopping at all. She even leaned forward toward me, slightly opening her mouth, making that classic "feed me" gesture that only moronic couples ever did.

"Ah~~~"

She was throwing me right into the center of a public execution!

I watched in horror as even more of the onlookers’ titles turned gray—and some even started turning black!

Was this... the legendary wave of "envy, jealousy, and hatred"?

This was bad... If this kept up, there was a real chance I’d get jumped and beaten up in an alley on my way to school tomorrow.

What should I do... should I feed her or not...

As I hesitated, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine.

Killing intent!

It was coming from right across the table!

Lillian Ji was half-squinting at me, as if silently telling me: If you don’t feed me right now, I’ll gouge out your eyeballs and eat them myself! (Purely my own imagination.)

Under that crushing pressure, I had no choice but to quickly pick up a piece of mapo tofu and bring it toward her mouth... but then, an accident happened.

Maybe it was the combination of nervousness, panic, and fear, but somehow the nerve signals in my brain short-circuited, and my hand started trembling uncontrollably.

And then... the tofu that was supposed to go into Lillian Ji’s mouth... ended up poking her right in the cheek.

Me: "..."

Lillian Ji: "..."

Onlookers: "..."

Plop.

The tofu dropped onto her lunchbox.

GAAAAHHHH I’M GONNA GET KILLED! I’M GONNA GET KILLED! HELP!

I immediately threw both arms over my head in a defensive posture, bracing for Lillian Ji to stab my eyes out with her chopsticks, but...

What I heard instead was Lillian Ji’s gentle, watery voice.

"Are you okay, Ethan-kun? Are you feeling sick? Your movements are really stiff. Should I accompany you to the infirmary?"

Her tone was full of genuine concern, not a hint of blame, as if she truly didn’t mind what just happened and was sincerely worried about me.

Everyone around us was moved by her kindness. Honestly, even I felt a little touched. For a moment, I even wondered if thinking of Lillian Ji as dangerous had all been just my imagination. I relaxed a little and lowered my arms to look at her again...

Imagination my ass!

Red. Blood-red. Crimson. The color of danger!

Lillian Ji’s title had changed from green to blazing scarlet!

Somehow, from that terrifying red aura, I could feel her overwhelming killing intent, even though she still wore that tender expression of concern. All I could sense was her desire to kill me!

"I-I’m fine! I’m totally fine!" I stammered.

"That’s good... I’m so relieved."

Lillian Ji pulled out a handkerchief, wiped her cheek, and continued eating.

The terrifying blood-red glow around her name lasted for about three minutes before it faded back to green... but it was noticeably a paler shade of green than before.

Did that mean she had calmed down a little?

Or was she just pretending not to care for now?

I had no idea what was really going on in Lillian Ji’s mind. In any case, she didn’t speak to me again for the rest of lunch.

And I was so tense and terrified that I couldn’t even enjoy my food.

That was how our lunchtime ended—under an atmosphere so strange it felt suffocating.

But somehow... I had a very bad feeling.

It felt like Lillian Ji was really, truly angry this time.