"Heeya~ Junior! Good morning~!"
Alice's cheerful voice rang out as she approached, practically bouncing with energy.
Despite her enthusiasm, it was clear she had hurried here; the slight sheen of sweat on her forehead betrayed her effort.
"Good morning, Senior," I replied, offering a polite nod.
"Hehe~" She scratched the back of her head, an embarrassed smile spreading across her face. "I didn't want to be late, but, you know... circumstances kinda piled up. I'm sorry!"
"No, it's fine. I haven't been waiting long," I assured her, keeping my tone light.
"T-Then it's all good!" she said, visibly relieved. "Hehe... ah, here!"
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small vial filled with a crimson liquid. She handed it to with a proud smile.
The bottle was labeled neatly, and a quick glance at the description told it was a rejuvenating potion.
"It's a Loca Potion-!" she declared with a hint of pride. "It helps people relax their mana flow and even lets them sleep faster and more comfortably. Since you've been dealing with symptoms of Weaver's Dream, this wonderful senior was thoughtful enough to get you one! I'm great, aren't I~?"
"Yes, that's very kind of you, Senior. I really appreciate it," I said sincerely, holding the vial carefully.
"Hehehe~"
Her cheeks flushed a soft pink at my response, and she tried to wave it off with a nervous laugh, turning her head to glance in another direction.
'Senior as always was as cute as ever.'
Right now, the two of us were standing in the secret garden behind Killian Hall.
The fresh morning breeze carried a crisp scent, blending with the soft warmth of the rising
sun.
It was an incredibly serene spot, and for a brief mont, it felt like the world had paused just for us.
Technically, I wasn't supposed to leave my dorm.
The complications surrounding my suspension made it a risk to be seen by other students.
Any encounter could snowball into trouble, and I really didn't want to deal with that right
now.
Thankfully, this garden was one of the academy's best-kept secrets-a hidden spot Seo and I often used for private training sessions.
As far as I knew, only a handful of people were aware of its existence, and even fewer would venture here, especially this early in the morning.
'Besides, I have my mana senses on full alert. If soone does wander in, I'll know before they get too close.'
I shifted my gaze to Alice, who stood quietly beside . Her usually bright and bubbly deanor seed a little dimr today.
She looked slightly under slept, her light makeup doing its best to hide the faint dark circles under her eyes.
'The White Queen must've made her move last night,'
The subtle signs were there—yesterday's tension in Alice's deanor and her forced smile, which couldn't entirely mask her unease.
But more telling than that was Cheshire's sudden absence.
The whimsical familiar rarely ignored Alice's summons, no matter the situation.
For him to do so yesterday even though Alice was really serious about it, ant only one
thing: sothing significant was happening behind the scenes.
Alice was even looking at random from to ti here and there.
I sighed internally, resisting the urge to ask her outright. She wouldn't appreciate prying, and besides,
I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer.
Considering all the complications I needed to fix at the mont.
"Did you sleep well?" I asked gently, hoping to ease her mind even a little.
Alice blinked, startled out of her thoughts, before offering a faint smile. "I'm fine, Junior. This powerful senior of yours~... is just a little tired... that's all~"
'A little,' huh? You're a terrible liar, Senior.'
Even in the ga, this selfishness of hers was precisely what led to her death.
That stubborn drive to carry the weight of everything on her own-it was both her strength and her downfall.
I wanted to step in, to interfere directly whenever possible, but her struggle was an essential part of her necessary scenario.
For her to grow, to unlock the potential that lay dormant within her, these trials were unavoidable.
My hands were tied anyway, still occupied with untangling the ss the other Riley had left behind while I was unconscious.
In truth, her facing these challenges wasn't entirely a bad thing.
If everything went as it did in the ga, this ordeal would eventually lead her to acquire the skill [Crimson Sea] a pivotal turning point in her journey.
That skill would awaken after she faced the strongest dungeon boss she'd ever encountered: [Primaris Gawain] a solo event even in the original storyline.
And because it was a solo event, there wasn't much I could do to help her, even if I wanted to.
The thought frustrated , but at the sa ti, I knew she was capable.
She had to be.
For now, I was just relieved she seed calr than she had been yesterday.
Considering how chaotic things got-especially with the sudden confirmation of my relationship with Snow-it was a small blessing to see her more composed.
Still, that incident clearly weighed on her.
The way her expression faltered when Snow's na ca up, the subtle tension in her voice-
it was obvious.
But whether it was jealousy or frustration at for keeping it a secret, I wasn't entirely sure.
This was Senior, after all. With her, it could very well be so playful, childish anger.
The kind of irritation born from the belief that friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other.
A harmless grudge that would fade with ti.
But then there was the possibility that it was sothing more.
If she did have feelings for if this was born from sothing deeper than re friendship --what was I supposed to do?
I glanced at her.
The morning sunlight caught the strands of her pink hair, giving her an almost ethereal glow.
Her expression was neutral now, but the weight behind her gaze was impossible to ignore.
Walking deeper into the garden, we eventually arrived at the center where an open field stretched out below us.
The ground bore the evidence of countless training sessions-scarred with sword marks, and littered with the remnants of shattered wooden and tallic training dummies.
'A perfect secret training ground indeed.'
Alice led the way down the gentle slope of the hill, her steps light and deliberate.
She ca to a stop and, with a small flick of her wrist, conjured a magical blanket seemingly
out of nowhere.
It shimred briefly before settling onto the grass, and she sat down with a relaxed smile. "Finally, it's just the two of us now, Junior-," she said, a teasing lilt in her voice. "We can finally talk about that, as promised~. Although I'm a bit late, I'm sure our talk won't take too
long-." "It's fine, Senior," I replied, sitting beside her. "I'm free all morning."
"Morning?" she asked, her brow arching suspiciously. "Why? Are you doing sothing this
afternoon?"
The intensity in her gaze made pause for a second. I could feel her eyes probing, trying to uncover sothing I wasn't ready to share.
"No... not really. Just sothing involving my suspension process," I answered, keeping my tone as neutral as possible.
I couldn't exactly tell her the truth-that I was due to be taken to the imperial palace later today to et the emperor.
The emperor himself had demanded an audience regarding the deal that transpired during my trial, and, frankly, the entire situation felt like a tightly coiled spring ready to snap. Thinking about it made grimace, especially recalling the night I was inford about this
arrangent.
The Shadow Knight had appeared out of nowhere, her figure barely visible in the faint moonlight. There was an eerie presence about her an unsettling stillness that sent a chill
down my spine.
"A-As per the emperor's order student and noble of the empire Riley Hell, you are hereby to be inford of your summoning t-tomorrow, -heek!-"
She delivered the emperor's ssage without ever looking directly at , her posture rigid,
her voice clipped and formal.
She stayed far away, keeping a notable distance between us as if my very presence unsettled her, and even shrieked here and there whenever we established eye contact...
"T-This is to remain in t-top secrecy-"
It was written all over her actions, from her unwillingness to et my gaze to the way she
spoke in hurried, concise sentences.
She was scared of .
But why? And if she was going to deliver such important news, why choose the dead of night? Couldn't
she have picked a more normal ti?
The mory lingered as Alice tilted her head slightly, her curiosity evident.
She clearly wasn't convinced by my vague response.
Honestly, I wasn't sure how our conversation was going to play out, especially given that I
had zero recollection of whatever happened between us. What exactly did I do to Senior?
Alice, on the other hand, seed to have her own agenda. She tilted her head with a knowing
smile, her tone teasing as always.
"Hmm~ it's not because you're going on a date and getting all chummy with that
GIRLFRIEND of yours, Junior-?"
"No..."
The flatness of my response didn't seem to convince her entirely.
Her golden eyes lingered on , still skeptical. But instead of pressing the matter, she sighed
softly and turned her gaze toward the sky.
Her fingers lightly touched her lips, a fleeting gesture that carried a strange weight.
She seed lost in thought for a mont, but then her eyes flickered with mischief, and a sly
smile crept onto her face.
"You know, Junior-," she began, her voice playful, "you're more of a womanizer than I originally thought. And here I was, thinking I was really your first kiss..."
Her words hit like a thunderbolt. First kiss? What?!
I racked my brain for any mory of such an event, but ca up with nothing. It was like a
cruel joke―getting cockblocked by my own lack of mory.
"You were the one who said I looked really lovely, Junior. You even said you liked ~," Alice
continued, her tone light, but with an edge that made squirm. "Your words were so sweet, you know~. And then you suddenly kissed , too! So, in the end, did all of that an nothing, Junior-?"
She leaned in slightly, her eyes sparkling with mischief and sothing else I couldn't quite
place.
"..."
'Did I... actually do all of that?'
Every fiber of my being scread that this had to be so elaborate prank.
But the faint flush on her cheeks, the way she kept glancing away between sentences-it all
pointed to the possibility that she wasn't lying.
"You said our fates were intertwined, Junior~," Alice murmured, her voice soft but with a sharp edge that sent a chill down my spine.
Her delicate hand rested lightly against my chest, her touch both gentle and unnervingly
intense.
Her golden eyes, usually so playful, seed to pierce right through , searching for answers
I wasn't sure I could give.
"So then why..." she trailed off, her gaze unwavering, "why are you going out with the
princess, Junior?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words ca.
The weight of her question pressed down on like a storm cloud, and my mind scrambled
for so sort of explanation, so excuse that wouldn't make things worse.
She continued, her tone shifting into sothing dangerously sweet. "You're not telling ... that you're trying to date the two of us at the sa ti, are you?"
I was about to explain myself, finally deciding to try being a bit more honest about what had
happened that day.
But before I could utter a single word, a sharp, searing headache struck like a bolt of
lightning, making stagger slightly.
The world around seed to slow down, as though soone had pressed pause on reality.
Ringing notifications from the system bombarded my consciousness in a rapid, jumbled
ss:
[Note: Ergency foreign interference detected!]
[Note: Ego corruption imminent!] [Note: Current user soul threshold damaged-]
[NOTE: ERQAEF!@#!""!@#!@#$#!] And then, amidst the chaos, a strange silence.
[...Sigh... I gave you the path to a free road, and yet you're still so indecisive... I wonder if it's
because you're the last...]
"What-" I tried to form a thought, but that voice... It was unmistakable.
It was him. The other Riley.
[You know Alice is weak in upfront battles, don't you?]
"What are you talking about? Why are you-" I tried to question him, but the voice
interrupted again.
[It would've been good if you inherited the second's boldness...]
And then, before I could grasp any answers, the voice faded as abruptly as it had appeared.
The world began moving again, but sothing was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
I could feel it-the sensation of my body moving, yet it wasn't entirely my will guiding it.
It was a bizarre duality, as though my decisions were both mine and not mine at the sa
ti.
My body carried forward, closing the distance between Alice and .
Her eyes widened in shock, confusion flashing across her face as she processed the abrupt
shift in my deanor. "Alice..." I tried to warn her, but the words never left my lips.
Instead, my right hand moved, capturing the back of her head with a firm yet gentle grip.
Her breath hitched, but before she could react further, I leaned in.
Our lips t.
Soft, warm, and completely unexpected. "Hmn-?" she let out a muffled sound of surprise, her golden eyes growing wide.
Yet, even in her confusion, she didn't pull away.
It was as if the shock paralyzed her, or maybe...
Maybe part of her didn't want to stop it.
I didn't know if this was or him, but in that mont, ti seed to stretch endlessly as
the warmth between us lingered.
"Haah~"
"Hnn~!"
Finally, after what felt like an eternity compressed into a single mont, our lips finally
parted.
A faint, glistening bridge of saliva connected us briefly before it broke, disappearing as quickly as it had ford.
Her warm, shallow breaths caressed my face, and I couldn't help but notice the flush of red
creeping up her cheeks, making her resemble a ripened tomato.
'Did I really just French kiss.... Alice?'
Her golden eyes, now clouded with an intoxicating haze, locked onto mine, her expression
dazed and overwheld.
She looked... unnecessarily erotic.
That kiss-it was far too intense.
My heart thundered in my chest as my mind raced to process what had just happened.
Yet, before I could fully regain control, words escaped my lips-words I hadn't even consciously ford.
"Senior... would you like to beco my second wife?" 'What in the actual fuck am I saying right now!!!!????'
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