“A foreigner? I thought we were only that cautious with places like Tevalon, where relations are tense.”

Seeing Hua Mu’s attention diverted, Bai Zhen breathed a small sigh of relief before explaining, “The Tower’s regulations for the Outer Tower and for civilian Sentinels and Guides aren’t that strict, but for those of us in the Inner Tower, there’s an explicit ban on binding with foreigners.”

Although the state’s control over Sentinels and Guides was no longer as inhumane as it once was, the Sentinels and Guides of the Inner Tower were still precious national resources.

The empire would rather see them die than allow them to become citizens of another country, and the same was true for other nations. So, even as countries secretly vied for resources, they maintained a tacit agreement on the surface not to accept transnational marriages between Sentinels and Guides.

“So, you don’t have any opinion on these rules? What about your own thoughts? As long as they’re not a foreigner and the compatibility is right, anyone will do? What if the one you’re compatible with is a foreigner?”

It wasn’t as if Bai Zhen had never encountered such a situation. During a multinational operation once, she had met a female Guide with whom she had a compatibility rating of over eighty percent. When the other woman helped soothe her spirit animal, it had nearly triggered a binding heat.

But both were extremely restrained and professional soldiers. In the end, aside from some awkwardness, they maintained a purely profound friendship—one unrelated to the connection between a Sentinel and a Guide.

“Miss, the breadfruit is ready.” Bai Zhen subconsciously avoided telling Hua Mu these things. For some reason, she felt a pang of guilt.

The Young Lady had already called her a pervert many times. If she knew that Bai Zhen would rather give up the chance to bind than leave this position, would she think she had ulterior motives?

And the incident where she almost had a binding heat was embarrassing; it might only deepen the Young Lady’s poor impression of Sentinels as unstable.

Hua Mu carefully took the steaming slices of breadfruit with a banana leaf. The sweet and sour aroma made her mouth water, but she didn’t forget to get to the bottom of the topic.

“So, what’s the deal? You just decide your whole life based on some compatibility rating, regardless of whether you actually like the person or not?”

But ‘like’… what kind of feeling was that?

Bai Zhen didn’t quite understand.

“High compatibility… probably means ‘like,’ right…?”

As the nation’s most valuable resources, Sentinels and Guides were the subject of immense time and energy in research by every country. A stable binding was the way to maximize their value, and specialized studies on this topic were endless.

Spirit animals and mental landscapes were currently the most inaccessible fields for humanity, with only a few theories serving as circumstantial evidence. In contrast, the effect of Guide-hormone on Sentinels was the field with the fastest progress and most abundant results.

Research on binding heat fell somewhere in between. Besides studies based on statistics, it mostly relied on monitoring physiological reactions—such as hormones, heart rate, and brain waves—to reflect changes in the subjects’ emotions.

Current research indicated that even for the same Sentinel and Guide pair, the compatibility rating was not constant. It fluctuated within a certain range depending on the situation, the subjects’ emotional changes, and the effects of certain drugs.

Of course, there was still a baseline value, and under normal circumstances, the range would not deviate too far from it.

Bai Zhen had participated in such experimental studies, so in her view, two people with high compatibility already had some degree of mutual affection. After all, so-called ‘liking’ was just a temporary effect of hormones. How was that any different from a Sentinel and Guide with high compatibility?

From a purely sensory perspective, a Sentinel would never dislike a highly compatible Guide.

Hua Mu was infuriated by Bai Zhen’s logic.

These low-level Sentinels, brainwashed by the Tower, served the empire and the royal family like robots, exhausting their lives only for the next generation to repeat the same mission.

Did they not have a single thought of their own? Not a single desire to fight for themselves?

Hua Mu knew it was absurd for her, a royal heir, to have such thoughts, but sometimes she just couldn’t stand such obvious lies.

Her father had tried his best to keep her away from these matters, to raise her as an ordinary noble girl rather than a crown princess, but she had inevitably seen much of the darkness.

High compatibility means liking?

Then did she, who had over ninety percent compatibility with almost all Sentinels, like every Sentinel in the world?

No, she hated Sentinels! She hated these seemingly strong but fundamentally sensitive and delicate, fragile and foolish, weak and pitiful Sentinels.

They were nothing more than walking corpses whose souls were bound by Guide-hormone, and Bai Zhen was no different!

Hua Mu didn’t want to think about it anymore. Pondering such questions was always fruitless and draining. Not only could she change nothing now, but when she truly ascended to her aunt’s position, she would have to do her utmost to ensure this system continued.

She understood. An empire had far more pressing concerns. How could a leader focus only on such trivial matters?

But for Bai Zhen, only for her guard, for this Sentinel closest to her, she wished she were different.

She wanted to see a person of flesh and blood, with independent thoughts and her own desires.

“Miss, the fruit slices are getting cold. You should eat them while they’re hot.”

Bai Zhen noticed Hua Mu seemed lost in thought and gently reminded her.

Hua Mu glanced at her and shut away all the rebellious thoughts in her mind. The Queen would be on the throne for at least a few more decades, and if not her, there was still her father. She didn’t need to worry about this at all. All she had to do was be a proper noble lady, develop some tasteful hobbies, and occasionally indulge in some trashy romance novels.

She popped a slice of the fruit into her mouth and tasted its sweet and sour flavor. The fruit’s dense, sticky, and soft texture was less like bread and more like mashed potatoes. But whether it was bread or mashed potatoes, this was the taste of carbohydrates! It was something that made you fat, made you obsessed, made you happy!

Even in the past, she wouldn’t have dared to eat too much, but today, Hua Mu ate three whole large slices!

Bai Zhen finished the rest, and Hua Mu once again witnessed the impressive appetite of a Sentinel.

With full stomachs after a long day, it was time for the two of them to rest. The trip to the north shore had been quite fruitful; not only had they solved their water problem, but they had also found a staple food.

“Bai Zhen, it’s all the same if we wait for rescue here, right?” Hua Mu mumbled drowsily, draped over Bai Zhen. It was the first time since arriving on the island that she’d felt stuffed—it was pure bliss!

“You want to stay here?”

Bai Zhen could see Hua Mu’s good mood. The way she was lying on her was, for the first time, completely relaxed.

“Yeah, there’s water and bread here. It’s so much better than the other side. We can move our useful things over and build a signal fire here too.”

Bai Zhen couldn’t predict which direction rescue would come from, so in theory, it was indeed the same no matter where they waited. Plus, given the absurdly high rate of shipwrecks on the south shore, rescuers would likely choose to land on the north shore, so waiting here might be more advantageous.

“You have a point, but it rains often here…”

Having been deprived of water for so long, Hua Mu didn’t think rain was a problem at all.

“Let it rain. We can even take a shower. And don’t we have the canvas? We can bring it over to block the rain!” She rolled over on top of Bai Zhen and pointed to a nearby banyan tree. “We can clear out that spot, set up a canopy, and put bamboo underneath…”

Hua Mu gestured excitedly as she planned, looking utterly delighted. Bai Zhen didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm in the slightest, so she temporarily set aside her excessive worries.

“You’re right. If we build the platform higher, the dampness won’t be so bad.”

“Exactly. Now that we’ve solved the water problem, we should think about improving our living quarters. We spend all day lying in the sand or on piles of grass. Our clean bodies just get dirty again.”

As Hua Mu spoke, she took Bai Zhen’s hands and wrapped them around herself—this was, of course, just to make herself feel more secure, not because she liked being held by the Sentinel.

Bai Zhen was a little flustered at first, but she slowly relaxed when she saw that Hua Mu didn’t seem to have any major reaction.

The Young Lady must be very insecure, she thought. To seek a sense of safety, she was becoming less and less guarded about getting close to her.

Bai Zhen didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, she was secretly delighted by their closeness; on the other, she was afraid she would get spoiled by it.

Hua Mu felt the warmth spreading from the Sentinel’s palm on her lower abdomen. Bai Zhen’s fair face was flushed crimson in the firelight.

This- this was just for comfort. It wasn’t proof that her relationship with the Sentinel was getting better, nor was it because she had any…

“Miss, are you sleepy?”

“Mmm…”

…nor was it because she had any special feelings for this Sentinel.

“Then you should rest early. I’ll scout the nearby area again tomorrow. If it’s safe, we’ll move our things over.”

Hua Mu tilted her head, pressing her ear against Bai Zhen’s chest. She loved talking to her in this position; the Sentinel’s normally cool and rigid voice resonated in her chest with an indescribable sexiness.

How unfair, deliberately lowering her voice. As if it wasn’t pleasant enough already?

“Bai Zhen…”

“Do you have an order for me?”

“Can you sing?”

“Huh?”

“I want to hear a song. Anything is fine. Sing for me.”

Bai Zhen was in a difficult position.

She’d had very little entertainment after entering the Tower. Besides military anthems, she only knew a few tunes she had learned while living with the Black-Eyed Clan. As for so-called popular songs, she didn’t know a single one.

“Then… I’ll sing you a lullaby from my hometown.”

Hua Mu found a comfortable position and snuggled in. “Okay, go ahead.”

Bai Zhen cleared her throat and began to sing softly, “Rusty-spotted kitty, meow meow meow…”

“Pfft—”

The moment Bai Zhen opened her mouth, Hua Mu couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It wasn’t that she sang badly, but… hearing “kitty” and “meow meow meow” sung by the stone-faced Sentinel was just too funny.

She never would have dreamed that Bai Zhen would sing such a song in such a gentle tone—what she dreamed about was much more stimulating than this.

“M-Miss…”

“Ahem, it’s very nice. Don’t mind me, keep going.”

Bai Zhen bit her lip but finally gathered her courage and continued to sing.

“Rusty-spotted kitty, meow meow meow, with a group of good babies in tow. After catching little birds, they catch a frog, and then they catch one big baby. Whose naughty baby is this, running around instead of sleeping at night? It’s my little darling, strong, healthy, and full of spirit. Mama cat, please don’t catch her, let her come back and go to sleep…”

What a lullaby. It was so much cuter than those scary stories.

Amidst the gentle singing, Hua Mu slowly drifted off to sleep.