"Lily, Lily, wake up, it’s ti..."
Dizzy and disoriented, Lily slumped in a chair in front of the temporary quarters, her little head nodding off. Her face didn’t grow rosier from the drunkenness; instead, it seed sowhat drained of color.
In a daze, she caught a whiff of a faint aroma and instinctively leaned toward its source, then suddenly felt emptiness in front of her and crashed into soone’s embrace.
For a mont, she snapped to attention, and her mind cleared up considerably.
Kael looked helplessly at Lily, who had toppled into his arms. Unable to let go and let her fall, he soothed the horse beside him before stepping forward to steady her as she lost her balance.
"Senior Sister Lily, we’re preparing to head back now," Kael said softly.
The horse that Kael was leading gently nudged his Mage’s simple attire with its black muzzle.
Perhaps due to the calming effect of Queen Jasmine’s Magic Aroma, Lily quickly regained her senses, sowhat reluctant to leave Kael’s side.
"Sorry, I drank too much yesterday, and just now I wasn’t fully sober..." She felt her face heat up and couldn’t lift her head in front of Kael.
Damn it, why did I do sothing so embarrassing? Getting drunk and crashing into his arms like so lush, will he think I’m an indecent woman?
Actually, she still felt a little weak in her limbs. This was her first ti entering the Dungeon to battle, and the intensity far exceeded her imagination, the gore was enough to cause nightmares—
At least, part of the reason she drank so much last night was the scare she got on the battlefield.
It certainly wasn’t because she saw Elanna and Kael fighting side by side, while she could only hide under others’ protection and sneak in hits.
But on that battlefield, the fear of dodging the wolves’ assault, hearing the agonizing or horrified screams of so Rangers before they died, those piercing noises penetrated her ears and left her sowhat panicked.
This was her first ti participating in the Dungeon’s battle!
"Senior Sister Lily, do you feel a bit better?"
Hearing Kael’s voice again, Lily struggled to prop herself up and patted her face, saying, "Sorry, I lost my composure."
She was a Mage, a Mage who had reached this point through her own strength and effort, but now she felt there was still so much to learn.
"Kael, I really am grateful to you…," Lily didn’t refer to him as Lord this ti.
Perhaps it was the shared identity as Luxius’s students that allowed her to montarily forget Kael’s status as a Lord and made communicating with him less constrained.
"Hmm, what’s wrong? Why do you say that?" Kael asked, curious.
Looking a little dejected, Lily said, "The war in the Dungeon is much crueler than I imagined. For a mont, it felt like when I first went to the Royal Capital.
Just as powerless and unable to make much change, I could only choose to be protected by others.
Back then, all I could do was learn as much as I could, absorbing knowledge I didn’t particularly enjoy, to arm myself with the power of knowledge.
But after I beca Mr. Luxius’s student, that drive seed to disappear all at once…"
Lily lifted her head to look at Kael, her eyes flitted with emotion, and finally, her lips curled into a brilliant smile as she murmured softly:
"I once had a crush on a super cute boy. Although our eting was full of coincidences, it certainly was a wonderful mory.
It might be abrupt, but sotis I try to gather the courage to confess to him, so at that ti I told him…"
Her expression still bore the pallor of alcohol consumption, but the usually aggrieved little face no longer showed the panic and fear of when she had been kidnapped.
"I like you!"
Kael clearly froze, for he could naturally see the way the girl looked at him.
Prior to this, in her attempts to lean towards Kael, she was like a gluttonous feral kitten, cautiously gauging his expression, trying to obtain sweet sustenance from him.
Kael even felt that if he outright rejected her, she would bolt at the first opportunity, teenage girls are always like that, tentatively getting close to soone for the first ti, wanting to get closer, yet fearing rejection.
In that mont, Kael finally realized a damn fact—
He didn’t have Mind Reading Technique and could never clearly see others’ feelings for him.
He thought he had just been carefully maintaining relationships with others, that through so suggestive actions, he could get others to give up.
Back then, Lily would probably wear an unconcerned expression on her face, or turn and run away crying.
But now, with a brilliant and relieved smile, as if confidently stating a fact to soone else, it was strong...
No, it wasn’t confidence and strength, but rather that the previously bewildered girl seed to have found a new direction to strive for.
This was an admission from a lovesick young girl, and Kael felt obliged to give a proper response.
So he offered a gentle smile and said, "Confession should really be initiated by the boy, it’s not good for the girl to do the confessing."
Lily had rely been relieved in voicing her feelings and had already braced for rejection, planning to embrace the new challenges with a fresh stance.
It was like the ti she dared to venture to the Royal Capital alone; she preferred that version of herself, filled with courage despite her fears.
But Kael’s response had thrown her carefully settled heart back into disarray.
She even thought Kael might say sothing like "I like you, so should we try being together?"
But instead...
"So I’ll pretend I didn’t hear your confession today, sorry, Senior Sister Lily, I won’t let others know about what happened today."
Lily sighed; indeed, as she thought, Kael was very polite and sincere in his rejection.
But compared to such a boring response, she felt even less able to let go.
Everything was as if it had never happened; the two silently went on to pack up their things, preparing to return to the Ranger Camp.
When Kael saw Elanna, he was all smiles and laughter, as if nothing had happened.
But for a mont, Kael sensed sothing was amiss.
Just then, a player passed by him, and Kael rembered this person, as the one who most enthusiastically called on the forum for ’Please hurry up and write!’ and ’Sister Asta’ when updating the fan fiction about him.
If he rembered correctly, the na was Yi An, right?
Rare for a player, the nickna sounded quite normal and more like a real person’s na.
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