Because the nightmare was purified, the ritual that spied on the nightmare also ca to an end.
As the three players awoke simultaneously, Maria was also kicked out of the ritual.
"...What just happened?"
She opened her eyes, sowhat dazed.
Why had the nightmare suddenly ended without any action from Annan’s side?
Maria had never seen such a strange nightmare before.
And...
The relationship between Bella and Dmitry seed to be different from what she initially knew.
Her expression was a bit complex.
Based on Maria’s prior knowledge of Bella, she should have been the type to cheat emotionally. Even Dmitry, with his strong and steady character, explicitly said he "never wanted to see her again," and since then, even he, who used to be the friendliest towards werewolves, was filled with prejudice against the race.
Because of the first part of this relationship, Maria knew nothing.
By the ti she beca aware of it, the two of them were already at odds.
Maria subconsciously assud... Bella must have been deceiving Dmitry from the beginning. She was a thoroughly bad woman.
That’s why Dmitry was so angry.
And precisely because of this empathy for Dmitry’s feelings toward a family mber... Maria was filled with hostility towards Bella, killing her without hesitation, even crushing her to dust.
But from the scenario in the latter half of the nightmare...
Bella’s feelings for Dmitry... seed to be indeed genuine.
As a woman herself, Maria could clearly feel the intense love in Bella’s heart.
It was certainly not a falsehood, unless she could even deceive her own heart.
...In retrospect, that also made sense.
Though Dmitry’s talent could not compare to his younger siblings, he was by no ans a foolish man. Capable of assisting his father with state affairs since his twenties, and handling every matter in an orderly fashion, Dmitry definitely did not lack the wisdom to see through people.
If Bella had been a bad woman with ulterior motives from the very beginning, she would have never been able to win Dmitry over.
——Only love can beget love.
At least at that ti, Dmitry and Bella were indeed in love.
But later...
Exactly when did it all change?
Maria furrowed her brows, lost in thought.
"I think it must be because Thirteen Incense couldn’t enter the third round, so there was no further content from Annan’s side."
Unlike Maria,
Annan did not contemplate the emotional issues between Dmitry and Bella, but imdiately turned to Thirteen Incense, who was sitting on the bed checking the rewards for completing the nightmare, and asked in a low voice, "How long did you stay in the void after ending the nightmare?"
"...What?"
Thirteen Incense was also puzzled: "The void? The settlent stage? That didn’t seem to take long."
Annan nodded thoughtfully and then turned to the girl who was groggily rubbing her eyes, slowly getting up, and inquired, "Then Annan—according to your perception of ti, how long did you wait before entering the nightmare?"
"...Wait?"
Annan too was confused: "I don’t think so... I rember it felt like as soon as I lay down, it started imdiately."
"That’s where the problem lies."
Annan remarked, "Although this nightmare is, objectively speaking, sequential, it seed to them to be synchronous.
"If you think about it, Thirteen Incense and Husky’s timing entering the nightmare wasn’t entirely synchronized either. Husky entered a little earlier than Thirteen Incense, but that difference is also within a reasonable margin of error... because it’s true that Husky appeared a bit earlier than Thirteen Incense. They were both in the sa scene on the sa tiline."
It was just like the Great Hunt nightmare that Annan had participated in before.
Kafney entered that nightmare earlier than Annan. But indeed, they were still on the sa tiline... After Kafney had been in the nightmare for a while, Annan t her in the garden.
But it was different for Noah.
Her tiline was clearly completely different from the "main plot." It was much, much earlier... and it had nothing to do with another main character of this nightmare, "Cripple."
Annan realized that the players who had entered the nightmare seed not to have reacted yet—after all, each of them had only seen half of the nightmare.
Therefore, Annan kindly explained to them, "After Thirteen Fragrances and Husky entered this nightmare, Noah had not yet entered the nightmare. She was like in a true sleep.
"And after you, playing as myself and Dmitry, finished the nightmare where you gambled with Cripple, the two of you also fell into that state, but Noah woke up. It was only then that she began to enter the nightmare."
"...And on my side, it ended after an extra-long opening CG. And it was holographic."
Noah said this, her face slightly red, coughing softly to break off the topic.
She said with dissatisfaction, "It’s like playing Quantum Break. At least I could move in Quantum Break, but if this were a gal ga, it’d be the type where I could just hold down ctrl and go straight to the credits..."
"The first one entered playing as Annan, the second as Dmitry, and the third is the werewolf, right..."
Maria murmured softly.
Annan nodded, "As for the third person’s storyline, it should be related to the outcos of the first two. If we can’t advance to the third round, then the werewolf’s player won’t be able to act.
"Therefore, there must be at least two ends to this nightmare. Whether ’two consecutive wins’ and ’two consecutive losses’ lead to the sa outco is currently unknown. Even if there are two consecutive wins, whether the third person will witness the sa scene, and whether they all lead to that ’sugar and alcohol’ ending, cannot be determined yet..."
"But these can be tested repeatedly."
Maria added, "If we can’t directly defeat Cripple, we can at least test what would happen if we lost both rounds."
What she implied was that she did not expect Husky to beat Cripple at all.
"Indeed we can."
Annan nodded, "Then, before heading to Noah’s, I will pay so attention to their purification progress. I will especially focus on the latter part of the nightmare."
He looked at Thirteen Fragrances and spoke earnestly, "So please bear with it for the ti being... The target has changed slightly. In addition to advancing to the third round, try to bring out different ’mories about Bella.’
Having said that, he directly sent each of the three a hundred and fifty favorability points.
This was probably enough to exchange for three opportunities for exemption from death from Annan.
"It’s not hard at all, not hard at all."
Thirteen Fragrances imdiately rejoiced.
At the sa ti, Annan spoke softly again, his smile beaming, "Additionally, I’ve been planning to expand the Winter Hand’s team. Aside from the Disabling School, I am also ready to accept wizards from other schools... Probably right after I co back from Noah’s, I will start dealing with this matter right away."
"Understood."
Thirteen Fragrances nodded seriously.
Husky blinked, looked at Annan, looked at Thirteen Fragrances, and said nothing.
And after Annan and Maria left their room.
Maria asked Annan in a low voice, "What did you think of?"
"What are you referring to?"
"When the nightmare just ended, I saw you frown for a mont."
Maria asked earnestly, "Did you think of sothing? Otherwise, with only the part from before, you shouldn’t have that kind of expression."
"I indeed thought of sothing... but there is no evidence at the mont, so let’s not ntion it for now."
Annan spoke softly.
When he heard Bella say "this sugar is very sweet."
Without any evidence or logic.
—Annan’s [Intuition] suddenly led him to think of Prince Philip, far away in Noah’s.
Hopefully, it was just a mistaken feeling. Or rather... it would be best if it were a mistaken feeling.
Annan thought to himself, narrowing his eyes slightly.
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