Rex got the second arrow ready, but this ti he waited until Diana was paying attention to how he looked. He let go and sent out the thinnest thread of telekinetic force, which was just enough to change the arrow’s path by a few degrees.
The arrow curved a little bit in the middle of its flight and hit the edge of the target, just missing the outer ring before falling off.
"WHAT!?" Diana’s mouth fell open. "That... t-that counted!"
Rex said, "Phew~ I didn’t know that it’d hit the target."
"By pure chance!"
"The terms were ’hit the target even once,’ and you can see it with your eyes, right? I clearly hit it." He smiled at her with a look of victory. "I think that ans you owe sothing that will make you look bad."
Diana looked like she didn’t believe it and was also laughing. Her competitive pride clashed with her sense of good sportsmanship.
In the end, she gave up and threw up her hands. "Okay. What will I get in trouble for?"
Rex thought to himself. "Strip for , and bend that fucking ass so that I can fuck it hard."
Rex acted like he was thinking about it, which made the tension grow, but then he started to hold his chin. "Hmmmm... let think of sothing good."
Then he got an idea right away. "Got it! Alright... right here, right now, I want you to dance."
"Any dance you know will do. It doesn’t have to be long, but just enough to count as your punishnt."
"D-D-Dance?!" Diana’s cheeks turned a little red. "I don’t really like to dance."
"That’s what makes it so embarrassing," Rex said with a smile. "Co on, don’t make wait! A deal is a deal."
Diana groaned but moved away from the bow. "Alright, alright, I’ll do it..."
After thinking about it for a mont, she started to do a stiff, awkward version of a formal dance step, like the kind that would be done at a noble’s ball. It was clear that she had taken lessons at so point but hated every second of them.
"I’ll make you pay if you tell my family about this..." Her discomfort only made her more endearing.
"Hahahahaha~! I didn’t expect a prideful archer like you could dance so awkwardly like that." Rex really laughed, and after a few seconds, Diana stopped.
Her face was red, but she was still smiling. "That’s enough of your laugh! Are you satisfied now?"
"Very," Rex agreed. "You’re a good sport, Diana."
"I still think you got lucky," she said under her breath, though her tone was not very angry. "Soday, we’ll have a rematch."
"When you’ve really practiced, of course. And I’ll make sure next ti... there’s no luck for an amateur!" Diana said while pointing Rex right at his nose.
"Cool. Excited for it," he then thought to himself. "I’ll make sure the next punishnt is going to be lewd..."
[DIANA VON STARLIGHT: 28/100 → 34/100]
[OBSERVATION: PLAYFUL DYNAMIC ESTABLISHED, COMPETITIVE INTEREST SPARKED]
Diana gave him real advice between her own drills for another half hour on the practice field. When they said goodbye, she was smiling easily and had promised to teach him more if he really wanted to learn.
Rex was happy when he left the field. Diana was acting exactly as expected.
Her pride made her want to prove herself, but she also respected his willingness to try. The rematch would give him another chance to be with her, and each ti they talked would help him build the foundation he needed.
...
By evening, Rex’s muscles were starting to hurt, reminding him that he had hit them with an axe just a day before. His telekinetic healing made the pain bearable, but it was severe enough that when Helena found him in the common room and reminded him of her offer to give him a massage, he said yes right away.
"Co on," Helena said, pointing to the stairs. "My room has more space, and you’ll want to be alone for this."
Rex went up to the second floor with her. The Starlight family had rented a few rooms there.
Helena’s room was at the end of the hall. It was bigger than his and had a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf.
"Close the door," she said as she walked over to light a few more candles. "And you’ll have to take off your shirt."
"I can’t work through fabric."
"Well... don’t mind if I do then."
Rex did what he was told and took off his tunic and put it away. He saw how Helena felt before she could hide it when he turned back.
Her eyes got a little bigger as they looked over his chest and shoulders. Rex knew that this body was in great shape because he worked out and trained all the ti, but seeing how much Helena liked it on her face reminded him of how powerful exposure could be.
"You’re, um..." Helena cleared her throat and looked like she was getting herself together. "You have more muscle than I thought."
Rex asked, "Is that a problem?" in a naive way.
"No... Not at all." She pointed to the bed. "Lay on your stomach. I’ll start from your shoulders and work my way down."
[HELENA VON STARLIGHT: 43/100 → 48/100]
[OBSERVATION: PHYSICAL ATTRACTION CONFIRD, MATERNAL ATTRACTION SHIFTING TO ROMANTIC]
Rex lay down on the bed, crossed his arms under his head, and got comfortable. A mont later, Helena’s hands were on his shoulders, and they were warm and surprisingly strong.
She started working on the knots in his muscles with the skill of soone who had done it before. Her fingers found the tense spots with the confidence of soone who knew anatomy.
"You’re tight all over," she said in a low voice. "This is more than just the cut from the axe."
"The risk of the lifestyle," Rex said. "Fighting, training, and never really relaxing."
Helena humd in agreent and put her hands on his shoulder blades. The touch, the focused attention, and the quiet of the room all ca together to make it feel like the space was ant to be private.
Helena said, "Can I ask you sothing?" after a few minutes.
"Anything."
"Why did you really jump in front of that axe?"
Rex knew this question was coming. Helena was too smart not to be curious about his reasons, especially since she knew he was a reincarnator.
He said, "Honestly? I didn’t think about it..."
"Elliot was going to die, and my body moved before my brain did."
"That’s not an answer," Helena said again. "You are a reincarnator."
"You know what death ans for you: permanent and final. So why take the chance for soone you barely know?"
She had stopped moving her hands on his back and was waiting for him to say sothing.
Rex turned his head a little so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe I’m tired of always weighing the risks."
"In my first life, I played it safe. I lied, I plotted, and I died alone when I fell from a balcony because I couldn’t stop playing gas."
At least that part was true.
"This ti, I wanted to do sothing different..." Rex tries to survive holding his puke when he says. "Help people and also be honest for once."
He stopped. "Even if it kills again, at least it will an sothing."
Helena’s face softened, and her hands went back to work, moving lower down his back. "Rex Rexilion... you’re indeed a strange man... and also a reincarnator."
"Thank you for saying that; maybe I could take that as a complint once in a while." Rex smirks.
"It is." She worked in silence for another minute before speaking again. "Did you know that Elliot’s dad left when he was young?"
"I didn’t," Rex said.
"He did... he just walked out one day and never ca back." Helena sighed. "Elliot made up this whole heroic persona based on the idea that he was nothing like his father: strong, dependable, and present."
"But sotis... I think he’s so focused on being the hero that he forgets to pay attention to the people around him."
Rex listened quietly, knowing what this was. Helena needed to confide in soone outside her family to release her emotions.
The massage had turned into a reason to confess.
Helena went on, "Diana practically raised Lily while I was busy training Elliot."
"I was so busy making sure we had food and stayed alive that I never thought to ask if anyone was happy."
Rex said, "You did what you had to do."
"Having three kids as a single mother? That’s not easy at all..."
"Yes," she said. "But still... it felt kind of lonely..."
[HELENA VON STARLIGHT: 48/100 → 52/100]
[OBSERVATION: EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY, SEEKING VALIDATION]
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