After deciding to disguise herself as Fox Lian's admirer, Emma faced a daunting challenge—how to express "praise" for him as naturally and variedly as the other fangirls.
For a God Clan scholar whose daily vocabulary was more like "the spiritual flow here is sluggish and needs optimization" or "the third node of this formation is misaligned by 0.7 degrees," this was harder than deciphering ancient forbidden arts!
Fox Lian Observation Log(Top Secret · Must Destroy)
[New Moon] Praise of the day: "Your Highness's silver hair ribbon today shines like the morning glow." Inner thoughts: Why does he change his hair ribbon every day? This is the seventh one this month! Does the Fox Clan run a silk shop? Execution: Casually said to a bird-clan girl in Rune Literature class. She was thrilled and agreed. Success.
[Full Moon] Praise of the day: "Your Highness's fingers while writing are like jade carved into orchids." Inner thoughts: He's just holding a pen! How am I supposed to make poetry out of this? Wait—today he's using a wolf-hair brush… (Fluff alert!) No, I need another angle. Execution: Whispered in the library just loud enough for him to hear. His hand paused on the page? Must have been my imagination.
[Dark Moon] Praise of the day: "When Your Highness walks beneath the corridor, even the wind lingers at your hem." Inner thoughts: Spare me. This is tooth-achingly corny! And today the wind was eastward, he walked west—the directions don't even match! Execution: Practiced on Gu Liang. My expression was so grim she suspected I was cursed.
…
Emma felt drained. She even secretly studied Three Hundred Love Poems and The Rainbow-Flattery Manual—books she would never have touched before—until her head spun and stomach churned.
Worse, Fox Lian always seemed to "coincidentally" appear right after she rehearsed a line.
Like when she practiced by the pond's reflection: "Your Highness's eyes hold the flowing stars." She turned—and Fox Lian himself was standing behind her, violet eyes thoughtful. She nearly fell into the pond!
Or when she forced out: "Your Highness walks with radiant grace." Then bumped into him at the corner, blurting instead: "Your Highness walks with radiant dust." He raised a brow; she wished she could vanish in smoke.
Fox Lian Observation Log · Emergency Addendum Praise stock critically low! Three days straight of generic terms like "peerless," "unmatched," "world-shaking"—already arousing suspicion from the lotus spirit in my group! Must develop new praise directions! Tried complimenting his tail's swing frequency as matching the golden ratio… Gu Liang stopped me in horror, saying it sounded like I was analyzing food. Help! Why did no one warn me that maintaining a fangirl persona required such a vast vocabulary?!
That night, Emma buried her face in her pillow, silently screaming at the blank page. She'd rather duel ten demon generals than compose another line of praise!
Then inspiration struck—if "the living fox" was too much pressure, why not… focus on his accessories?
The next day, Fox Lian appeared wearing a new fluffy snowflake-shaped brooch. Emma seized her chance.
She stepped forward, summoned her best acting, eyes "obsessed" with the brooch, voice "sincere" in admiration: "Your Highness, this snow-brooch's crystal structure perfectly embodies the condensation beauty of ice-elemental law."
Fox Lian: "…" Classmates: "…" Gu Liang: frantically tugging her sleeve.
Emma realized she might have messed up again. But before she could backtrack, Fox Lian glanced at the brooch, then looked at her—violet eyes glimmering with deep amusement.
"Emma's praise," he drawled, fingers brushing the brooch, "is always… so unique."
Emma: "!!!"
He smiled! He didn't think it strange—he even responded!
Fox Lian Observation Log · Breakthrough Major discovery: Perhaps… I don't need to follow conventional praise templates? Keywords: unique, unconventional, academically angled. New direction confirmed: analyze his accessories from scholarly perspectives of physics and magical law! Survival pressure -50%!
From then on, Emma's "praise poetry" took a strange turn:
"Your jade pendant's spiritual circuitry is exquisitely designed."
"The meteoric iron of your crown enhances mental focus remarkably."
"These cloud-pattern boots layer three dust-repelling arrays—very practical."
And Fox Lian, each time, listened seriously, nodded, and replied: "Emma truly has keen eyes."
A bizarre mutual understanding formed between them.
Only Emma knew the truth: clutching her log filled with "academic praises," she oscillated between relief at finding survival strategy and despair at what she had become.
Until later—when Fox Lian, having secretly kept that log, read it aloud to her blushing face, then pulled her into his arms, tail wagging in satisfaction: "So you've been 'uniquely' fond of me since then."
Emma buried her face in his soft tail, thinking— This cursed praise poetry… wasn't wasted after all!