it's a nightmare but it's one exciting ride

"I didn't have anything to not stay for, really. All my relatives are idiots and there wasn't anybody who wanted to marry me who constituted a significant enough improvement to be worthwhile. Here I can do what I want, except when Beast wants something, which is rare enough to give me plenty of time to myself, and when I don't want to be by myself Old Liu and A-Fei and Naisi and even the beast are decent company."

of-the-night-sky

"What did the binding feel like?"

"...There was a wind," she says thoughtfully, "and then it sort of wrapped around me, and sank into me--it was cold, but it was a good cold."

of-the-night-sky

"Did the wind come from the Beast or the palace? Could you tell the direction?"

"Not really...I say it wrapped around me but it was always going in a circle around me, it's just that it got tighter and tighter."

of-the-night-sky

"Always?"

"When the wind started, it was going in a circle, there wasn't always wind."

of-the-night-sky

"I see. Has the Beast ever killed someone, that you know of?"

"Not that I know of. I don't think he'd do it without a really compelling reason, his bark is way worse than his bite."

of-the-night-sky

This is completely neutral information. Chu Wanning is completely uninterested in how the beast bites. She wasn't even talking about how the beast literally bites, and he isn't thinking about it either!! At all!!

"I see. May I find you here again if I have more questions?"

"I won't always be here but I don't mind answering questions wherever."

of-the-night-sky

"Thank you."

He'll attempt to return to his room now; he still isn't interested in bothering Zhao Naisi in hers.

His room is pretty close to the entrance; if he circles around he can get there without getting turned around at all.

of-the-night-sky

Good.

He tidies his letters into the drawer of the writing table, and then climbs into bed. There is nothing left to do with himself for now but let thoughts spin around in his head, stitching together new questions and designs and experiments.

Beast

When he attempts to leave his room the next morning he finds the situation with the kitchen replicated.

of-the-night-sky

That's alarming!! Chu Wanning panics; he's so strongly inclined to kick the Beast that he has to slam the door shut instead.

He leans against it, breathing hard. What's wrong with this creature? Flaunting his own bed to Chu Wanning only to completely neglect it in favor of the floor! What was he doing here, did he think Wanning might run? Had he wanted to watch Wanning sleep? Chu Wanning can't think of a single motivation that would excuse such absurd behavior.

He might have woken the Beast already by shutting the door so violently, but Chu Wanning is now determined not to acknowledge this problem at all. He'll write at his desk until the Beast leaves. That's a perfectly acceptable plan.

Slightly less than an hour later, there is a knock on the door.

of-the-night-sky

"What!"