Chapter 142: A Mini-Lesson on Feelings

Fortunately, I didn't become the first transmigrator to be choked to death by a fish bone!

After much effort, Tina finally managed to extract the bone, and Klein felt significantly better.

"Klein, are you okay?" Tina dropped the fish bone and looked at him with concern.

"Tina, what kind of nonsense have you been teaching Christina again?" Klein turned to face her. She immediately tried to look away, feeling guilty. He reached out and gently held her face, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Tina?"

"Wuu~~ I won't do it again~~" Tina begged for mercy immediately.

"Sigh!" Seeing his wife’s pitiful expression—even though he knew it was an act—Klein couldn't bring himself to scold her. He sighed and turned to Christina. "What exactly did Tina teach you?"

Christina looked up. "Lady Tina taught me the rules that a prisoner of war must follow."

"Rules a prisoner of war must follow?" Klein reached out with his right hand and grabbed Tina, who was trying to slip away, pulling her back to his side by her collar.

"Yes!" Christina nodded innocently. "She said I have to sleep with the person of highest status here and perform the same kind of training that Lord Klein and Lady Tina did that night..."

"Tina!" Klein’s face darkened instantly.

"Klein~~" Tina quickly put on her most pathetic look.

Just then, Peline walked back into the room. Klein said to her, "Keep a close eye on Tina; don't let her run off! I need to talk to Christina, and then I’ll be having a 'counseling session' with her!"

"Yes!" Although she was confused, Peline accepted the order and reached out to hold Tina firmly in place.

"Christina, come with me!" Klein stomped upstairs, fuming.

"Oh!" Christina hurried to follow him. Once they were upstairs, Klein told her to sit down.

"Lord Klein, is it my turn to sleep with you now? I thought that was only for nighttime?" Christina asked.

"Sleep with your head!" Klein felt like tapping her on the forehead, but decided against it. He crossed his arms and paced the room. "Christina!"

"Yes?" The girl in the purple robe looked up at him, her face full of confusion.

"I am going to tell you this in all seriousness," Klein said solemnly. "While it is true that you are a prisoner of war, there are no such 'rules' as the ones Tina told you! As a prisoner, all you need to do is await my instructions. My word is the only one that counts here, understand?"

"Oh!" Christina blinked, looking lost.

"First of all," Klein sighed at her bewildered expression, "what happened that night between Tina and me is a matter for a husband and wife. It is something that can only be done after marriage, and it is certainly not something to be shown to others! That is common sense; you must remember this!"

"Husband and wife? I know that—it's what a man and woman who love each other call themselves after they marry!" Christina said happily.

"Exactly!" Klein continued. "And as a girl, you should only sleep with your husband. Even as a prisoner, if someone tries to force you into such things, you must resist as hard as you can, understand? If the person is not your husband and does that to you without your consent, it is immoral! It is a terrible thing! It is a crime!"

"Then did Lord Klein commit a crime against Sister Peline?" Christina asked innocently.

"I..." Klein was suddenly choked for words. "She..."

On second thought, she had a point! Although he had slept with Peline because he was unable to control his urges after eating the strange fruit, Peline was neither his wife nor his girlfriend. She had simply been following orders as his follower. Strictly speaking, was that a crime?

Then again, while Peline might have initially complied out of duty, she had been quite proactive yesterday. In that sense, she had likely accepted him.

So, was he a criminal or not?

Wait! It took him a long moment to realize he was being sidetracked. He was in another world, and he was the master of this city—didn't he get to decide what was a crime and what wasn't?

He gave a dry cough to cover his embarrassment and looked at Christina. "Don't change the subject! I’m just telling you to get that nonsense Tina taught you out of your head. You are my prisoner, but I will never force you to do things you don't want to..."

"I don't think it's that bad, though?" Christina said, looking at him.

"Bad, your head!" Klein almost died of frustration. "As a girl, you need basic self-preservation instincts. If your teacher doesn't even teach you common sense like this, you’ll end up being sold into slavery and still be counting the money for the person who sold you!"

Christina blinked, staring at Klein, wondering what he was thinking.

"Listen to me and remember this well!" Klein said sternly. "Only when you meet someone you truly love, and you are certain he can stay with you for a lifetime, should you even consider doing the things Tina, Peline, and I do. The safest way is to wait until after you are married! Otherwise, you might regret it for the rest of your life, understand?"

"Then how do you know when you've met someone you truly love?" Christina asked curiously.

"Do you think this is a relationship workshop?" Klein grumbled, but he answered anyway. "When you meet someone you truly love, you’ll want to look at him all the time. When you can't see him, you’ll feel empty inside. When you’re far away from him, you’ll feel lonely; when you’re close to him, your heart will race like crazy. Every word he says will sound beautiful, and every action he takes will seem dashing. Sometimes you'll dream about him, and your mind will be on him every single moment..."

As Klein spoke, the image of Alex first appeared in Christina’s mind, as he seemed to fit the description. But that image quickly shattered. It was true that when they first met and during the journey to the Beast Forest, Alex had seemed to fit the bill. But later, when they arrived here, his decision to use her as a human shield to save himself, followed by his pathetic behavior in the prison, had completely destroyed any positive impression she had.

"Someone I truly love?" Christina clasped her hands together and looked up, lost in thought. "Is love really like what Lord Klein says? When I first saw Alex, my heart would beat very fast—does that count as love? But back then, other than my heart beating fast and feeling a bit happy, I didn't feel anything else. Could it be that what I felt back then wasn't love?"

"Hard to say. Maybe it was just a sprout that withered away very quickly," Klein said with a shrug.