Accompanied by a shudder from spatial currents surging and colliding, the scene in front of Vinny instantly shattered. A powerful sense of losing his balance struck without warning, as if the whole world had suddenly tilted. Vinny instinctively tightened his arms around Isatia.
“If you’re afraid, you can close your eyes.”
Isatia even offered him a kindly reminder.
Her voice was cold, but it carried the steadiness of an unshakable mountain. The authority contained within it gave one an abnormal sense of safety.
It felt like you had to listen to her, but once you chose to listen, you would definitely be fine. That made Vinny actually close his eyes on reflex.
Wait, this—this isn’t right, is it??
Vinny felt that oppressive sense of “the overbearing CEO is in love with ” getting stronger and stronger.
With his eyes tightly shut, Vinny felt himself tossed about in the gloom, like he had been stuffed into a black plastic bag and was being swung back and forth.
The only thing he could perceive was that familiar orchid-like fragrance. Right now it clutched his heart like a mainstay, keeping it from trembling in panic right along with the rest of him.
Yeah... it felt like not knowing where you were, being swept along by crashing waves, yet wrapped in a protective force—looking dangerous, but safe from beginning to end.
He did not know how long it lasted. The surroundings stopped jostling; the world stopped swaying. By his ear, he heard Isatia’s voice again. Unlike her earlier cold, steady tone, this ti there was clearly more warmth in it, with a magnetic edge that overflowed with allure, as if she were speaking right next to his ear.
“You can open your eyes.”
Tsss...
Vinny instantly sensed danger. The tips of his ears felt hot, and his cheeks were heating up along with them.
“Are we... safe now?”
He still had not opened his eyes. He did not know what the outside looked like, where they were now, whether they were still in the Marsmo Secret Realm, so he could not help asking.
“Mm. We’re safe. Don’t be afraid.”
Isatia’s voice was just like before, filled with a uniquely feminine charm and magnetism.
“Uh...”
Vinny still did not have much strength. His condition had not recovered to anything resembling ideal, but he did at least have enough strength to open his eyes. Since Isatia said they were safe, then they should be safe. So Vinny opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was that they were already back on the continent of Tyrelis and not still lingering inside the Marsmo Secret Realm. That was, without question, sothing to be very happy about.
Except—
Very quickly, Vinny suddenly realized this might not be such a happy thing after all.
If the Secret Realm collapsed while they were inside another space, they would be forcibly teleported out when they tried to return. As for the teleportation location, it would mostly be random, whereas the teleportation point for the Marsmo Secret Realm was “go out where you went in.” After all, there were sixty-four doors at the entrance, so having the entrance and exit be in the sa place was understandable.
Vinny knew Aesphyra had gone to find the Academy and bring reinforcents, but what he did not know was just how many reinforcents Aesphyra had brought.
“Put this survey spell formation here—right, right here. And this spell formation, carve it here. It’ll let us detect roughly where those two students are now. Move faster—the flow of ti inside the Secret Realm isn’t the sa as outside... What did you say? You suddenly can’t receive any feedback from the Secret Realm anymore?? That’s impossible, isn’t it?? Did sothing happen, did the Secret Realm close??...”
The specialist ntor from the Secret Realm School in charge of the rescue was still directing the other ntors under him as they drew and carved spell formations, when he suddenly received the news that they could no longer sense the Secret Realm’s existence. He imdiately grew anxious.
Just as he was forcing himself to calm down and think of a solution, he suddenly realized that the surroundings had gone quiet. The teachers and students who had been noising and bustling about were now silent to an unnatural degree.
What’s going on??
The ntor was puzzled.
After Aesphyra returned to the outside world, she imdiately told the on-site responsible ntors about the true nature of the Marsmo Secret Realm and inford them that two students had entered the deeply buried Secret Realm and could no longer use their tokens to teleport out.
With an accident occurring in Secret Realm exploration, the ntors had hurried to call in Academy staff who specialized in this area for an ergency rescue. To keep other students from accidentally triggering it and entering the deeply buried Secret Realm, the ntors canceled the rest of the exploration and ordered all students to head back.
Not knowing what was happening, faces full of confusion, the students just stood one by one in front of the Secret Realm entrance, unclear what was going on.
The ntors did not explain, only urged them to leave as soon as possible.
Many students guessed sothing must have gone wrong and left the scene, but plenty of others were full of curiosity, wanting to watch the excitent. Even if they were standing far away, they still wanted to see what on earth was happening.
And so, this scene ca about.
After learning that two students were trapped in the deeply buried Secret Realm, Student Council President Mirexia had also co to the site. When she heard from Aesphyra that one of the trapped students was Vinny, Mirexia imdiately found it hard to keep calm.
“Don’t worry, dear Mirexia. Classmate Vinny and the others will be fine.” Aesphyra said. “When they fell into the deeply buried Secret Realm, I gave them a lot of alchemy potions and magic scrolls.”
“You really thought of everything. Thank you, Classmate Aesphyra.” Mirexia said solemnly.
Thank you, huh?
Was Mirexia thanking her on Vinny’s behalf??
Aesphyra only smiled and did not respond to Mirexia’s thanks. As for why, perhaps even she herself did not know.
“They’ll be fine.”
If it had been before, Aesphyra would definitely have taken this opportunity for so physical contact—like stepping up to hold Mirexia’s hand to comfort her and so on. But this ti, she did not do that. She only stood there calmly, arms folded.
“Mm, I know.”
Aesphyra’s voice was so sure, as if she understood Vinny very well. Mirexia glanced at Aesphyra, her gaze unreadable, but her words matched.
Mirexia knew that, if it really ca down to it, Vinny could always turn into Vanessa. As long as Vanessa was there, everything could be negotiated.
Maybe it was the filter talking, but Mirexia always felt that as long as Vanessa was around, the sky could not fall; there was nothing that could not be solved.
And Vinny’s other identity was a secret that only she knew.
Still, when it ca to that side of things, the two of them could not help much. Aesphyra understood perfectly that in a situation like this, it was better to leave things to the professionals.
And so, the two of them just stood there together, watching the Secret Realm entrance.
Because the two of them were, respectively, the Student Council President and a direct party involved, they were allowed to remain on scene and thus were the closest to the entrance.
They were also the first to notice when the space at the entrance of the Secret Realm began to twist and change—and the ones who stayed silent the longest afterward.
...What the hell??
Vinny was dumbfounded. The two of them had just escaped from deadly danger, but the mont they ca out, he saw countless pairs of eyes land on him and Isatia, including two very familiar ones—Mirexia and Aesphyra.
Hey, no, having Aesphyra here was one thing, but why was Mirexia here too??
After montary confusion, a surge of embarrassnt instantly rushed up in Vinny’s chest.
Damn it, why are there so many people watching?!
Vinny’s expression froze at once.
He might be a “degenerate young master,” but he still cared a little about his image. Mm, not that he cared much, but at the very least he had to maintain the dignity of a degenerate young master, right??
With so many people staring, under all these watching eyes, a guy like him who usually strutted around all aggressive and domineering was actually being carried in the arms of a black-haired beauty... Where did that leave his dignity??
And the girl holding him looked much calr than he did. She showed none of the awkwardness of holding an opposite-sex body, while he, a grown man, was the one looking all flustered.
With that comparison, Vinny suddenly felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole.
They had co back. They were safe. But he had also socially died on the spot.
“Isatia, um, could you put down now?”
Moving his mouth as little as possible, Vinny spoke in a voice only Isatia could hear.
“Can you walk right now?” Isatia did not release him. Instead, she asked calmly.
“I can, I can! Just hurry up and put down. There are so many people watching!” Vinny was getting anxious.
There were even quite a few mbers of Isatia’s fan club in the crowd. Vinny might not be afraid of them, but still—“the gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall,” right? Why would he go out of his way to provoke trouble??
“You can? As in really can, or you just feel embarrassed?”
Isatia’s cutting remark left Vinny montarily speechless.
“If I put you down when you can’t stand yet, you’ll fall flat on the ground. That’ll be even more embarrassing.”
Isatia analyzed the situation with a perfectly cool face, and what she said was very hard to argue with.
“In that case, you can hand over to one of the clerics in charge of healing.”
“And let them carry you?” Isatia’s expression did not change. “How is it any different being in their arms versus mine?”
“No, no, I an, Classmate Isatia, your condition isn’t great either. We’re both exhausted, both injured. We should hurry and follow the Academy’s arrangents and go to the Academy’s chapel for an examination.”
Every sentence out of Isatia’s mouth felt like relentless pursuit to Vinny, the pressure of her offensive so intense that he had no idea how to respond. So all he could do was say that.
“But I’m not tired.”
“Don’t push yourself. I know you’re tired.”
“Do I look tired to you?”
Isatia gazed calmly into Vinny’s eyes. There was not a trace of fatigue in them. And just when Vinny ran out of retorts, Isatia leaned in close and whispered by his ear.
“Right now, I’m more awake and clear-headed than I’ve ever been.”
“It’s all thanks to you.”
What she naturally ant was Vanessa’s holy hymn stopping [Perennial Imperial Diadem] from continuing to crumble.
On this trip, not only had Isatia managed to reconstruct the Marsmo royal palace, she had also resolved the long-standing threat that weighed on her heart. It was no exaggeration to call it a triumphant return.
With the problem of [Perennial Imperial Diadem] resolved, Isatia’s spirit had returned to its forr state. Even if it still did not quite match what it had once been, it was a thousand tis better than before.
Compared to that constantly exhausted, dim existence from earlier, she now cherished and surrendered herself to this bright world in front of her.
“Vinny, I’ve never felt the sunlight this dazzling. Thank you for sharing a few rays from your warm world with .”
Isatia continued to use that cold yet magnetic voice right next to his ear.
“And thank you even more for letting see hope.”
“I’ll cherish this light and hope you’ve given —and I’ll cherish you.”
Ah... ah ah??!
Vinny could still keep up with what Isatia was saying at the beginning, but by the end his brain completely failed to process it.
Was he hearing things? Or was he having so kind of emotional hallucination?
This was love talk, right? No matter how he listened, it had to be love talk, didn’t it??
Did Isatia always talk in this register??
You’re a girl, you know?? How are you so bold, holding a guy in your arms in front of a crowd like this and whispering sweet nothings in his ear??
I’m the guy here, aren’t I??
Right now Vinny felt like a muffled thunderbolt had gone off inside his skull. He fell completely silent.
Who could possibly withstand having an untouchable black-haired cool beauty, the kind no one could climb up to, shower you in love talk with a voice this seductive and magnetic, # Nоvеlight # in front of a huge crowd, while she was hugging you??
Who could endure that? If soone could, they’d have to be a figure near to the gods and far from humanity.
Vinny suddenly thought of sothing. In the original work, Isatia had been the heroine most popular with female readers, receiving countless love letters from girls—more even than Aesphyra, who was phenonal at flirting with won.
At first Vinny had found that a bit strange. Now, all of a sudden, everything seed perfectly reasonable. He could kind of understand what all those girls calling her “Big Sister” in their letters had been thinking.
With a presence and offensive power this strong, plus a top-of-the-continent status and face, if he were a girl, he might also feel a little flutter in his heart.
No, wait—was he being flirted with as if he were a girl??
“Uh...”
Vinny did not know why, but his heart tightened a little. He looked at Isatia, who was holding him, then looked out at the others watching him with all kinds of expressions.
The ntors and students were one thing. Put the ntors aside—their reaction was, “They’re back, that’s all that matters. As long as they’re safe.” Most of the students, on the other hand, were shocked beyond words. Once they processed what they were seeing, all those eyes that were about to glow green converged on Vinny, especially the students from the Imperial faction. He did not even have to say what those gazes ant.
Those people’s looks Vinny could almost ignore. The real problem was the two girls in the very front row, not far away from him.
Aesphyra was still smiling in silence just like earlier. The mont she saw Vinny and Isatia, she folded her arms, the sa as before, with almost no change in posture.
Only almost. Her hands had tightened by the tiniest margin, so subtle even she had not realized it herself.
Then, wearing that sa smile that did not reach her eyes, she looked straight at Vinny and said nothing at all.
As for Mirexia, she was first overjoyed to see that Vinny appeared to be unhard. Then, once she registered who the other person was and the position the two of them were in, she fell into a strange silence. Her expression did not change much, but it seed rather stiff. Her moist lips parted just a little, like she wanted to say sothing, but nothing followed.
“I was saying Classmate Vinny would be fine. And now it looks like not only is he fine, his romantic fortune is pretty impressive too.”
Aesphyra chuckled. It was hard to say whether she was talking to Mirexia beside her or to soone else.
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