"Owie!"

 

"Ah! I didn't mean to—"

 

"Ria! What are you doing to my fiancee? Who are you to push her like that?" The fiancee of Cytheria grabbed me by the collar.

 

"Eh—" I had both of my hands raised.

 

"Ria, are you okay? Did he do anything bad to you?" He asked.

 

'Hold on, is he blind? He clearly saw her on top of me, not the other way around. Or is he dumb?'

 

At any given moment, a fight could break out because I can see clearly in his eyes the urge of wanting to punch me right straight in the face. Anger can completely change the look of an individual. Furthermore, insecurity was written all over his face contradicting his prince-type looks.

 

Then checking on Cytheria, I found something odd in how she's looking at Adelle like a weird feeling that this is the first time she expressed something genuine which is reflected in her eyes. It might be my imagination, but my guts are telling me it is not. On the contrary, Adelle's not even had the slightest interest in Cytheria as her entire attention was on me. Adelle's gaze made every hair in my body stood up.

 

But for now, I need to de-escalate the current situation I fell into. Moreover, why are there so many people following this guy? So much unnecessary audience.

 

"Ria?"

 

"Eh? Yes~? Oh, I'm fine."

 

"You sure?" As he said that, he tightened his grip and briefly glanced at me.

 

Looking at me like I'm some sort of rubbish, huh? I can't blame him if I were to catch my fiancee in that situation. I would've killed that guy... instantly, not even the slightest hesitation. No excuse could get me out of this situation considering they would rather believe Cytheria more than me.

 

I heave a sigh in defeat, accepting my fate as a no-good playboy.

 

"Care to let go now?" Once I spoke, his hands began shaking in anger, and his eyes gleamed murderously.

 

He slightly lifted my collar up. "How dare you—"

 

"Listen to the man, you're ruining his clothes." Cytheria got up from her spot.

 

Once Cytheria stood up, the atmosphere suddenly became stifling. Then I saw a glimpse of Cytheria's glimmering eyes which made my skin crawl. At that moment, I raised my guard as I recalled the person whom I'm messing with—The Genius Archmagus of the Tower.

 

"Should I?"

 

"Yeah, you should," I suggested.

 

"You should because we're in the middle of our important meeting, discussing future interests regarding the upcoming festival. An important affair between two factions. But then, you entered the room abruptly which spook him." Cytheria added.

 

"While being half-naked and sitting on top of him?" One person chimed in, going straight to the point.

 

"R-Ria..." His face fell then veered toward Cytheria for an answer, but a different kind of answer—a pretense.

 

As for the person being questioned, she was standing there not even bothered by it. On the other hand, I was sweating my balls off because I could feel Adelle's animosity for the first time. Throughout the years we've spent together, Adelle hasn't expressed this kind of animosity ever.

 

'Ah, yeah... Knew it.'

 

"Because he's handsome. Wouldn't you want to have someone like him?" Cytheria said nonchalantly.

 

Everyone in the room was dumbfounded by her response, particularly me as I'd been dealing with her bullshit since earlier, but I laughed it off inwardly.

 

"What? Did I say wrong? Look at every woman behind you, all their eyes are drooling over him. He's quite a specimen."

 

Adelle veered her attention toward the people around her. What Cytheria said was absolutely correct as their attention was all on me. Their gazes brought goosebumps throughout my entire body as they evoked the not-so-pleasant memories of the past.

 

As for the fiancee, the air around him changed and his grip became stronger as the veins in his arms are about to pop at any given moment from anger. "You said, you're only interested in the white dragon kid and I have no problems with it. But, this kid?" He glanced at me coldly.

 

"I've changed my mind. I wanted both of them."

 

"W-Why! I've been—"

 

"Are you dissatisfied with my decisions?" Even though she spoke in her normal tone, everyone in this room understood what was about to come next.

 

"N-No..." He then released his grip on me. "... I'm worried for you as your fiancee."

 

"Then, why are your eyes reflecting signs of disapproval?" Cytheria said with utmost coldness in her voice.

 

The fiancee and the others who came before him took a few steps back except for Clara and Adelle. On the other hand, I'm busy tidying my disheveled uniform—simply not caring at all. It's between two engaged people, what's there to fear? But then, I noticed that something feels off about the room.

 

"Y-Yes—" The fiancee answered.

 

Cytheria dashed forward with her right hand thrusting right into her fiance's face. Moreover, her hand was coated with an incredible amount of mana that could kill a person in one strike. 

 

"That's smooth, I give you props for it. You live up to your title as the Arch-magus." I stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

 

Everyone other than Cytheria and me suddenly stopped moving as if time froze.

 

Cytheria's gloomy expression instantly shifted to a cheerful one, creeping me out. "You already caught on? That's fast. Since when did you notice? Normally, people wouldn't see through it, yet you noticed it immediately."

As soon as I saw her cheerful face, I let go of her and maintained a reasonable distance between us. "When you got up earlier. The room suddenly felt strange."

 

Furthermore, Adelle won't express that kind of animosity toward anyone as she had caught me countless times in this scenario from our time together in the guild. She's the most understanding person I've ever met in my life, so her behavior earlier is out of the ordinary. 

 

[What a dangerous woman. She's far, far, more dangerous than I've thought. This is why you need to learn to not play around.] Diana remarked.

 

[Point taken.]

 

[I'm glad you decided to meet her. Without a doubt, she's a genius. She executed everything flawlessly. Not only she's using illusion magic. She separated us from the others by creating an empty domain which is what you're standing on right now. Despite its flaws, it's well constructed for someone who doesn't mainly use our kind of magic.]

 

[Illusion magic is difficult enough to achieve, yet she took it to another level. Charm magic then this... She really can cast various types of magic. Could be some sort of copy magic or... Was it possible to transgress the law of Gaia? Not, right?] I remarked.

 

[Not that I heard of. Look at the Arya kid, she can cast multiple spells. Gaia can bestow a blessing to an individual like the race of the dragons. The innate ability to conjure directly to the spirit of Gaia, granting them countless magical possibilities, even immortality.]

 

[Henceforward, their god status among every living being.]

 

[Yes. Unlike us, the gods of Avalon had a different magical disposition than the dragons. My magic comes from a different place, somewhere dark... not here.]

 

[Pix.] I blurted out.

 

[Who's that?]

 

[Nevermind, just someone from the past... Anywho, taking a look around, I can see the flaws you're pointing out.]

 

[Indeed. The room she had created is probably a mere reflection of the original room. Look at the corner of the room, the shapes of the furniture and windows were slightly warped. It's likely, the original room is just next to us.]

 

[How can we escape? Just wondering.]

 

[Just punch through it.]

 

[Punch through it? That simple?]

 

[Of course, because of our disposition. Even though her trick is amazing, it's merely nothing for us.]

 

"They say, my magic is rare, but here I am, meeting two people who can use them at a high level. You can even control puppets." I pushed Cytheria's fiancee's frozen body then it fell to the ground turning into a dummy white figure with a purple flower emblem on its face.

 

"What can I say? I'm born a genius. So, shall we?" Cytheria revealed her mischievous grin.

 

"No. I'm done for today. I need to be somewhere else by now."

 

"Eeeh? Good grief, we're just getting into the good parts. I even did all of that."

 

"You shouldn't have."

 

Looking down, I saw a piece of paper under my foot, so I picked it up, crumpled it into a ball, and flicked it toward Adelle. Before it can even hit Adelle, the crumpled paper hit an invisible wall which caused peculiarity as the image of Adelle and others became contorted.

 

"Nice projection. So, tell me, how many artifacts do you truly possess?"

 

"A few of them. You want one?"

 

"Don't need it, moreover, it won't work with me."

 

"Of course, you don't need it when you have your adorable cat spirit."

 

The tone of her voice didn't go well in my ears, thus, I became more vigilant towards her. Then Cytheria cracked a smile. "I've been wondering since the beginning if you're a plain idiot or a smart ass. I can't tell which. But now, I finally reached my conclusion."

 

Cytheria pressed her fingers in her temple and said, "You're deranged in the head."

 

Editor : Zenon#4120