Chapter 103: A Gentle Kiss

Lukan finally stopped.

His calm gray eyes rested upon Tisha.

There wasn’t admiration.

Nor hesitation.

Only complete indifference.

Whether someone was beautiful...

Had never depended on public opinion.

"It depends on who is looking."

His voice remained gentle.

"But in my eyes..."

"You aren’t even comparable to one of her fingers."

Silence.

Tisha stood frozen.

Did...

Did he just say...

She wasn’t as beautiful as that chubby female?

Impossible!

She waved her hand before his eyes suspiciously.

"Are your eyes alright?"

"Or is something wrong with your brain?"

Lukan’s warm expression cooled slightly.

"My eyesight is perfectly fine."

"I know very well what my mate looks like."

"I don’t need others to tell me."

His gaze softened unconsciously as Sora’s image surfaced in his mind.

"She has a beautiful figure."

"She’s intelligent."

"She made noodles."

"She invented popcorn."

"She designs clothes."

"She creates pottery."

"She cooks food unlike anything anyone has ever tasted."

"She’s kind."

"And..."

A faint smile appeared.

"I think her eyes, nose, and smile are all beautiful."

At that exact moment...

Sora returned from the spring carrying washed vegetables and mushrooms.

She hadn’t intended to eavesdrop.

But every word drifted clearly through the quiet forest.

She froze.

"..."

Did...

Did Lukan really think that?

She instinctively opened her status panel.

"System..."

"Am I really that amazing?"

The mechanical voice answered mercilessly.

[Host, please maintain realistic expectations.]

[Objectively speaking... no.]

Sora: "...?"

The System continued coldly.

[However, Target Lukan has already developed an emotional perception filter.]

[Within that filter, your strengths are infinitely magnified while your flaws are naturally minimized.]

[To him, your appearance, personality, and abilities are all viewed through that emotional filter.]

Sora blinked.

Then suddenly remembered.

Among all her beast husbands...

Lukan was different.

She had never deliberately pursued him.

She hadn’t bribed him with delicious food.

She hadn’t raised his affection through calculated strategies.

Yet somehow...

He had become the first person to see her exactly as she wished someone would.

Not because she was the prettiest female.

But because...

To him—

She was simply Sora.

A thought flashed through her mind.

"System."

The familiar mechanical voice answered immediately.

[Host?]

"You mentioned before that I triggered a hidden mission because Lukan developed this... filter. What exactly is the hidden mission?"

There was a brief silence before the System answered.

[Host, it is called a hidden mission because it must be discovered by yourself.]

Sora rolled her eyes.

"You’re the System. Surely you can give me at least a little hint?"

[Sorry, Host. System regulations prohibit revealing hidden mission objectives.]

She crossed her arms.

"So you’re completely useless?"

[...]

The System remained silent for several seconds before finally speaking again.

[Although I cannot reveal the mission, I can provide one clue.]

Sora’s eyes brightened.

"What clue?"

[Near the Divine Mountain... there is a surprise waiting for you.]

"..."

She stared blankly.

"That’s practically the same as saying nothing."

The System pretended not to hear her complaint.

Still...

A clue was better than none.

While Sora was distracted talking with the System, Tisha continued glaring at Lukan with unconcealed disbelief.

"I don’t believe you."

She folded her arms across her chest.

"Someone like you must be forced into staying with her."

Her gaze landed on Sora again before returning to Lukan.

"If you’re in trouble, you can tell me."

"I’ll help you."

"There has to be some reason you’re pretending to like someone like her."

Lukan’s brows furrowed ever so slightly.

He had never met such an unreasonable female.

Just as he was considering simply walking away...

He noticed Sora approaching from the nearby spring, a basket filled with freshly washed mushrooms and vegetables resting in her arms.

Without another word...

He reached for her hand.

Sora blinked.

"Huh?"

Before she could react—

Lukan gently pulled her closer.

The next second...

His cool lips softly brushed against hers.

Sora’s eyes widened.

Everything happened so quickly that her mind became completely blank.

She could only stare at the handsome face inches away from hers.

His eyelashes were long.

His silver hair swayed gently in the breeze.

The sunlight filtering through the forest painted a warm halo around him.

He looked impossibly beautiful.

Unlike the passionate kisses she had imagined from romance novels, Lukan’s kiss was incredibly gentle.

It lasted only a few seconds.

Soft.

Pure.

Almost innocent.

Yet the cool touch of his lips reminded Sora of chilled lemonade on a scorching summer afternoon.

Refreshing.

Sweet.

Leaving behind the faint scent of pine and wild herbs.

Just as she was beginning to enjoy the moment—

Ding!

The System suddenly shouted inside her head.

[Host! This is an excellent opportunity to increase Lukan’s affection!]

"..."

Sora nearly stumbled.

"System!"

She complained inwardly.

"Can you please stop appearing during moments like this?"

"You’ve completely ruined the atmosphere!"

The System sounded aggrieved.

[I... I was afraid you might miss such a valuable opportunity.]

"I wasn’t going to miss anything!"

[Sorry...]

Sora sighed helplessly.

What an unreliable System.

Whenever she genuinely needed help, it disappeared without a trace.

Yet whenever something romantic happened...

It appeared faster than lightning.

Fortunately...

Lukan’s kiss remained as gentle as when it began.

He simply brushed his lips against hers before letting go.

There was no further intimacy.

No lingering touch.

Only the faint blush spreading across his pale ears betrayed his embarrassment.

Not far away...

Tisha felt as though lightning had struck her.

Her beautiful face twisted in disbelief.

"You..."

She pointed accusingly at Lukan.

"You actually kissed her?"

Her voice rose several octaves.

"A beautiful female like me is standing right here..."

"And you choose to kiss that fat pig?"

"Are you blind?"

"Or is there something wrong with your brain?"

She was on the verge of exploding.

Never in her life had anyone rejected her.

Not only had this handsome wolf beastman rejected her repeatedly...

He had actually kissed another female in front of her.

How humiliating!

Tisha had grown up surrounded by praise.

From childhood, every beastman in the Snow Tiger Tribe treated her like a precious treasure.

Whatever she wanted...

Someone fetched it.

Whatever she liked...

Someone offered it.

She had never experienced failure.

Much less rejection.

Yet today...

Everything she believed about herself seemed to be crumbling.

"No..."

She shook her head vigorously.

"It can’t be."

"He simply hasn’t seen what true beauty looks like."

"Once he realizes how beautiful I am..."

"He’ll regret choosing her."

Taking a deep breath, Tisha forced herself to calm down.

She lifted her chin proudly again.

Just as she was about to continue persuading Lukan—

She froze.

Because Lukan wasn’t looking at her anymore.

His eyes remained fixed entirely on Sora.

The warmth in those silver-gray eyes was unmistakable.

It was as though the person before him was the only one in the world worth looking at.

That expression...

It couldn’t be faked.

Tisha’s confidence finally wavered.

"...Impossible."

She stared at Sora carefully.

Could there actually be something special about this female?

She leaned closer, discreetly sniffing the air.

Instead of the sweet fragrance many females deliberately wore, Sora only carried the clean scent of soap pods mixed with wild herbs.

Fresh.

Natural.

Nothing seductive.

Tisha narrowed her eyes.

She examined Sora from head to toe.

Her face...

Ordinary.

Nothing exceptional.

Only her nose was slightly more delicate than average.

Everything else appeared completely average.

Then...

Her gaze slowly moved downward.

"..."

Her expression stiffened.

That chest...

Was unexpectedly generous.

Then...

Her eyes shifted lower.

"..."

Even her hips and curves were fuller than her own.

Almost instinctively, Tisha glanced down at herself.

Her figure had always been the pride of the Snow Tiger Tribe.

Her chest was considered the fullest among all the females.

Yet...

Compared with Sora...

It seemed just a little smaller.

And Sora’s naturally curvy waist and rounded hips made her entire figure appear surprisingly attractive.

Tisha bit her lip.

"No..."

"That’s impossible."

She compared herself again.

Then compared once more.

The result remained the same.

For the first time in her life...

She realized there was actually one aspect in which she had lost to another female.

Her face gradually darkened.

This...

This simply couldn’t happen.

Meanwhile, Sora finally recovered from her daze.

She glanced sideways at Lukan, whose expression had already returned to its usual gentle calm.

Only the faint redness lingering at the tips of his wolf ears revealed how nervous he truly was.

Unable to stop herself, Sora smiled.

Perhaps...

The System wasn’t entirely wrong.

Whatever hidden reason existed behind Lukan’s unwavering affection...

She genuinely wanted to discover it.