After what seemed to be a long slumber, Ann regained her consciousness.

However, for some reason, her body felt sluggish and she still felt like she was having a brain fog. Needless to say that her brain’s processor speed was very low and she wasn’t really sure where she was, what time it was, what she did before this, what her plan next was, and so on…

This feeling was the same as when she accidentally fell asleep and overslept after a long time overworking. A sleep so good it made you have an identity crisis but your body ached at the same time, yet it felt good.

 

What entered her field of vision first was none other than Allen’s relieved yet worried face.

“Ohhh, my husbando!”

Ann said without thinking as she sat up on the bed, her eyes glued on Allen’s face.

Although she was having a brain fog and wasn’t sure what her full name and age was, she still recognized her husbando in a heartbeat, really, an amazing priority.

But in response to Ann’s unexpected reaction, Allen’s pupils narrowed in a happy surprise. It was obvious that he was delighted by Ann’s response upon seeing him.

 

Then, Ann noticed Faye who was also looking at her with a happy face.

“Ooooohhhh!! My adorable child?!!!!”

This time, the way Ann said those words showed that she wasn’t in her right mind.

Realizing that, Allen’s expression that had begun to brighten then turned gloomy again.

Meanwhile, hearing Ann’s words, Faye was confused.

Age-wise, she would best be Ann’s little sister instead of child. Physically, she had grown up so much in the course of being under Ann’s care, so she was wondering where Ann’s words came from.

 

Right at that awkward moment, Viscountess Vanessa walked in together with Reginald and an elderly man that seemed to be a doctor.

The three of them stopped in their tracks when they saw that the unconscious patient was now sitting on the bed.

Their appearance was obviously noticed by Faye and Allen who immediately turned around to see them, while Ann had already seen them the moment they entered and her first reaction was to mumble in a voice that was only audible to the one closest to her, Allen.

“Hmm what, another wild husbando appeared!”

Though ‘husbando’ word sounded odd, it was most likely close in meaning with the word ‘husband’, so the temperature around Allen dropped in an instant, causing Faye to have a shudder of unknown cause.

 

“Oh my? She’s already awake? That’s good news,” Viscountess Vanessa’s words broke the silence.

“But is it… her?” Reginald hesitatingly said.

Though Allen was still bothered by Ann’s words, he quickly answered, “It is indeed her.”

These weird antics and words… Who else could it be if not the Ann he had fallen in love with? Still, it’d be nice if her oddness would stop being annoying like that…

 

“Then, let’s have another check up to make sure she’s alright,” Viscountess Vanessa said.

The doctor and Reginald had checked Ann the moment she had arrived in the villa, still unconscious. They determined that nothing was wrong and that Ann would wake up soon, but when it was taking too long than expected, Allen asked the doctor and Reginald to check on her again.

Surprisingly, Ann regained her consciousness before they could do another check. But since they were here already, they might as well check her once more.

 

“Yeah,” Allen said as he stepped forward then stopped.

He turned around to look at the still-dazed Ann, approached her, lightly flicked her forehead and said with a low voice, “Did you have a dream of becoming a harem queen?”

“No, I mean in the game—wait, what?”

Ann quickly responded, still in her daze, but after a few moments, it was as if Allen’s forehead flick kickstarted her brain to finally boot.

When she had processed what had happened before, she became embarrassed and said, “S-s-sorry…”

She wanted to bury her head in something, so she pulled the blanket to cover her face.

 

“Alright, please examine her,” Allen moved away and let the doctor and Reginald to go check on Ann.

The first one to check was obviously the doctor. Ann obeyed every instruction that the doctor gave her. From pupils check to everything else.

“She’s all healthy,” the doctor eventually concluded.

Then, Viscountess Vanessa and the doctor went to another room, leaving Faye, Allen, Ann, and Reginald.

 

Reginald proceeded to sit down next to Ann and took her hand to start scanning her whole body with his magic again, and to make sure to eliminate any residual dark forces still remaining.

But when he took Ann’s hand, he suddenly shuddered.

Since Ann was facing the opposite direction from Reginald, she could see clearly how Allen’s expression turned colder at that moment. She felt very guilty because the reason why Allen was like that was most likely due to the words that accidentally slipped out of her mouth during when her brain was still booting.

Luckily, Allen’s rationality won, so he quickly suppressed his jealousy and with that, the cold aura also disappeared.

 

“Alright… There is no residual dark magic left. How are you feeling?” Reginald asked.

“Uhm…,” Ann was trying to put her feelings to words, but Reginald misunderstood her.

“Oh, right. I’m Reginald, a magician sent to help out in the rescue mission,” Reginald introduced himself.

“Oh, I… I am Ann,” Ann almost blurted out, ‘I know you already, no worries,’ but she immediately changed it into an introduction.

This was the first time the two of them met, after all.

To think that Reginald who was supposed to despise her character in game to help her out like this… Ann felt happy.

 

“I feel alright. Just a little bit tired. With good nourishment, I will be back to normal,” Ann said.

“I see. That’s good,” Reginald nodded.

“What did they do to you?” Allen asked in a worry.

“You even went unconscious after that,” Reginald said.

“Uhm, that… that one is my doing,” Ann raised her hand slowly like a child that was caught red-handed.

“Huh?” Everyone was puzzled hearing that.

“So… Where should I start from?” Ann used the hand that she had raised to scratch her head in confusion.

 

“Okay, so here goes. After I was kidnapped, I was brought to their hideout and had to meet with that creepy ex-king,” Ann began to sum everything up.

“Creepy ex-king…,” Reginald muttered, trying to hold back his laughter.

“Yeah, we all know who he is. Anywayyy, obviously they tried to coerce me into cooperating with them, which I will never do. In the end, he got angry at me and was about to whip me until I agree, but the dark magician appeared and—”

“He wanted to what?!” Allen interrupted.

“Uh, yeah, he suddenly took out a whip and… Anyway, he’s such a creepy ex-king and a bad father,” Ann completely assumed the posture of a gossiping mother.

“…” Everyone was speechless at how Ann continued to blabber.

“He then tried to do something to me by using his dark magic, but instead of controlling me himself, his dark magic seemed to suppress my control instead. Ah, by the way, I am a ghost inhabiting this body, hohohohoho…,” Ann added a casual explanation.

“……”

Nobody laughed, so Ann had to clear her throat before continuing.

 

“And at that time, the real owner of this body reclaimed her control and I was like watching a TV show—”

“What is a TV show?” Faye tilted her head in wonder.

“…Uhhhh, it was like watching an opera. Anyway, I could only watch as the original Anne deceived and fought you guys. But when this Reginald appeared and imbued her body with light magic, I regained a bit of control… temporarily,” Ann said as she patted Reginald’s shoulder with a face of a grateful grandma that had her grandson help her do something.

“…,” Reginald was looking at Ann with a weird expression now, it was one that people made after realizing that the other party was a weirdo.

“So, I did the smartest thing I could do in that short moment: to use my own magic to cause water imbalance in my own body that caused me to collapse unconscious!” Ann flexed her nonexistent arm muscles.

“…You did what?” Reginald was confused.

“Yeah, that’s why my body was impacted like this and that’s why I said with enough nourishment, I’ll be back to good,” Ann said as she nodded.

“How did you do that?!” Reginald couldn’t contain his composure and asked.

 

“Uh… with my… water… magic…”

Ann finally realized that nobody knew they could utilize their water magic this way. And this time, she knew that she had messed up. This knowledge was too dangerous to spread around.

“How?!” Reginald asked again.

“Uuuhhhmmmmm…,” Ann was now close to crying. It seemed like she won’t be able to escape the questioning and she wasn’t sure how long it’d take to educate the people of this world with some basic science…

 

“Let’s put that aside for now. Are you sure it won’t do harm to your body?” Allen asked in concern.

“Yeah, I’m sure!” Ann turned her sparkling eyes towards her savior and number one husbando who helped her out of this difficult situation!

Indeed, my husbando is the best!

Allen was surprised seeing Ann’s reaction, but it was much to his delight.

 

Seeing that Reginald was about to open his mouth again, Ann quickly asked, “Anyway, what happened after I lost my consciousness?”

“Reginald used his light magic to purify your body and to eliminate the rest of the dark magic inside. We managed to catch some of the rebels, but the rest got away. We decided to return here to help you recuperate first,” Allen spoke so much compared to how he was usually, causing Reginald to shift his focus, now he was more intrigued about how Allen could actually speak so much in a single go like this.

“Oh… Wait, where is this?” Ann looked left and right and confirmed that she didn’t know where she was.

“This is a villa that the Doussier family owned,” Allen answered.

“Oh…,” Ann nodded in understanding.

No wonder there was Viscountess Vanessa there, too.

 

“What are our plans after this?” Ann asked.

“Rest until you’re okay enough to go home,” Allen said.

“Home…,” Ann felt warm inside when she heard that.

“…,” Reginald felt the lovey dovey atmosphere rising up, so he decided it was best to go.

“I’ll be outside then,” Reginald said as he left the room.

“Uhm, I wanna go to Viscountess’ place,” Faye was a sharp girl that could read the atmosphere, so she quickly left as well, leaving Allen and Ann alone.

 

Seeing that only the two of them were left in the room, Ann quickly hugged Allen who was within her reach and said, “It’s good to be back. I can’t wait to be home.”

“…Yeah,” Allen didn’t say much, but he hugged Ann back.

After her energy was recharged, Ann let Allen go and then looked at Allen expectantly, with her mouth protruding more than usual.

“…What are you doing?” Allen asked, amused.

“Where’s my kiss?”

“…!!” Allen’s ears turned bright red in an instant.

“No,” he quickly added.

“Why not?! You don’t love me anymore?!” Ann pouted.

“No, it’s not that. I won’t be able to hold myself back, so not now,” Allen quickly explained.

“Oh… right,” Ann blushed when she realized what Allen meant.

 

“Sooooooo…,” Ann tried to find a topic to shift their attention to.

“What are my homework upon returning?” Ann finally asked.

“A lot. You have to answer to the Rubennhelsch siblings, show up to Silas, then—”

“Hold it. Silas? Naia and Norrad? Why?” Ann asked, so Allen quickly explained what had happened.

“Ah… I never expected that,” Ann felt a warmth rising up in her heart.

“…Then, we have to see the prince to report things… Ah,” Allen seemed as if he just remembered something.

 

“What’s wrong?” Ann asked.

“The saintess has returned from her pilgrimage and is scheduled to see you after you return.”