The system’s reply chilled her to the core. Her forehead was filled with drops of sweat. She sat in silence, her fingers still gripping the edges of the jacket draped over her shoulders. The warmth from it had long faded, but the man’s words still lingered in her mind.
"We will et again, princess."
Her body stiffened. The way he had said it felt so casual yet so deliberate at the sa ti, and that was enough to terrify her. She did not know what he ant by it. Was it just a casual remark, or was there sothing hidden in it?
Princess? He had called her a princess.
Liora clenched her fists.
"System," she said at last. She could not keep it to herself. She had to get the answers before it was too late. "Do you think... he knows?"
A beat of silence stretched between them.
"Knows what, Host?" The system’s voice was careful. Liora did not know, but she could feel that there was a drastic change in the system’s tone. She did not know if it was because of guilt or sothing else. But she had no thoughts to console it when she could not put herself together.
Liora exhaled sharply and continued. "That I’m not from this world. That I really am a princess."
The system hesitated. If it had a physical form, she could almost imagine it shifting uncomfortably. Finally, it spoke, but its voice lacked its usual chanical certainty.
"I don’t know."
Liora’s brows furrowed.
"Then why did he call that?" she pressed.
The system went silent again, as if trying to process sothing it could not quite grasp.
"It is almost impossible for soone to know about your transmigration," it finally said. "Even I don’t have full records of your past. Only fragnts exist. If he sohow knew..." The system paused before continuing, "Then it wasn’t because of ."
Liora’s heart pounded. That ant it was either pure coincidence or—
"Unless," she murmured, "he found out about you?"
The system stiffened.
"Maybe," it admitted. "But even if he sensed my presence, that does not an he knows everything. My data is protected. If he were capable of fully accessing , I wouldn’t exist right now."
Liora frowned. "Then who is he?"
The system did not answer imdiately.
"I don’t know," it admitted at last.
Liora narrowed her eyes. "You detected him as a threat, didn’t you?"
"Yes," the system confird. "It was automatic. The mont he got close, all my internal warnings activated. It wasn’t sothing I decided—it was sothing programd into . He is a danger to the system and a danger to you."
Liora shivered.
"But that’s all you know?" she asked in an unconvinced tone.
"That’s all I know," the system repeated. "I’ve never encountered soone like him before. This is the first ti I’ve detected a presence capable of shutting down."
Liora stared at the empty space where the man had stood not long ago. Her instincts had not been wrong—he was dangerous. But if he had ant to harm her, he could have done so with ease. Instead, he had saved her. He had given her his jacket. And he had called her princess.
"System," she murmured, "what do we do now?"
After a brief pause, the system’s voice softened.
"Don’t worry, Host," it said. "When I upgrade, I might unlock more information. Most systems reset when rging with a new host. They gain knowledge and experience with each upgrade to maintain fairness. A powerful system with a weak human would create an imbalance, leading to manipulation. That is why information cos in phases."
Liora bit her lip. "So, you’re saying we just have to wait?"
"For now," the system confird. "But you’re not alone in this, Host. You don’t have to face it by yourself."
Liora closed her eyes.
That was the problem. She wasn’t sure if she was truly alone in this anymore.
"Ugh!"
Liora’s gaze snapped toward the source, her instincts flaring with alertness. After going through so much, she could not afford another episode.
But relief washed over her when she found that it was actually Zhou Yinuo waking up. She imdiately clenched her jacket and walked toward her.
"Hiss!"
But soon, Liora hissed as pain shot through her entire body. All the cuts on her body stretched with just a little movent, and a generous amount of blood flowed out from her wounds.
"Host, you should heal yourself first. Your health is dwindling minute by minute."
"Yeah! Help buy a health potion," Liora said through gritted teeth as the pain stabbed through her. Her entire body was burning like it was on fire. She realized it was not just because of simple cuts. Sothing was wrong with her body.
"System! I feel hot all over my body! What is happening to ?" Liora said with difficulty, her breathing coming in large gasps as she writhed in agony. What was happening to her?
Alert..
Alert..
[Poison detected in host’s body]
"What poison? How?" Liora’s eyes burned with horror. When had the poison entered her body? She had not even eaten anything aside from those noodles, so how was this possible? Was sothing wrong with the system’s diagnosis?
"It’s a kind of apophoradips that heats your body. It was probably done by that man. He is a dual elent user. He has also awakened poison mastery, but it is at a very beginning level. So, he could only create low-level poison. It’s not enough to kill you, but it will make you very uncomfortable."
Liora’s anger flared as she listened to the system’s explanation. If she could, she would beat the shit out of that man. How dare he play with her? She knew what his intentions were with this little trick of his.
Liora writhed in agony and dropped to her knees again as another wave of pain shot through her.
Through ragged breaths, she spat out, "Fucking asshole, you bastard! If I don’t kill you for this, my na isn’t Liora!"
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