Alicia is here……

  The realization of this brought very different feelings to the duo in the room.

  Roel was feeling a little out of it. He was attempting to prove his innocence to Nora when Alicia suddenly jumped in. Even by thinking with his toes, it was obvious that this wasn’t a good thing!

  And, his ominous feeling was backed by the sharp glint that had just flashed across Nora’s eyes.

  “Lord Brother?”


  “I-I’m in here, Alicia,” replied Roel with a slightly strained voice.

  The door opened, and Alicia, dressed in a beautiful white dress, entered. She first directed a warm smile toward Roel before turning to Nora with a slightly less warm look on her face. She respectfully raised her skirt slightly and curtsied.

  “Good afternoon to you, Your Highness. It has been a while since we last met at your birthday banquet.”


  “Good afternoon, Alicia. It has indeed been a while since we last caught up with one another. I went by your room to look for you earlier, but I heard that you were still asleep. I didn’t think that you would ready yourself so quickly.”


  Nora responded to Alicia’s greeting with a smile, though her words clearly relayed her displeasure at having her conversation with Roel disrupted.

  Alicia was unfazed by the remark, and she replied with composure.

  “Pardon me for having kept you waiting. It was my first time with Lord Brother last night, so we ended up staying up for too long and had difficulties trying to wake up on time.”


  Alicia’s explanation made Nora’s eyebrows shoot up. Roel, on the other hand, was rendered dumbstruck.

  I can’t possibly have really done that, right? No, I shouldn’t panic. I should first clarify the situation first.

  “Alicia, could you clarify on what you meant by ‘first time’?”


  “Hm? It naturally means the first time I’m sleeping with Lord Brother on the same bed.”


  “Ahh, I see.”


  Roel wiped the sweat off his forehead in relief as his heart was put at ease.

  Despite the clarification, however, Nora wasn’t glad in the least. How could she possibly be glad upon hearing that the person she fancied had shared a bed with his non blood-related sister? She would have to be a saintess to feel glad!

  The issue here was not whether Roel had made a mistake or not. What she had a gripe with here was that there was a constant possibility of Roel making the same mistake again, especially given the current circumstances! If they could share a bed this time, they could very well be huffing and puffing together on the bed the next time!

  “Miss Alicia, I don’t believe that your actions are appropriate for a lady.”


  Nora maintained a ‘kind’ smile as she spoke with a criticizing tone.

  “The Ascart House is a respectable family with a long history behind it, and it wouldn’t condone the scandalous act of two youths nearing adulthood sharing a bed with one another. The only place where such a practice is tolerated is in ordinary families with a lot of children. I believe that the Labyrinth Villa has more than enough rooms for you to choose from, so you ought to carry yourself with respect.

  “But, speaking of such, Roel, may I know which room it was we previously embraced one another? So many things have changed over 200 years that I’m finding it a little difficult to find my way around.”


  “Embrace one another? Lord Brother?”


  “No, that is……”


  Nora’s suggestive words made Alicia’s face darken a little. Roel quickly explained the situation, and Alicia, who had already heard of their short trip back into the past, heaved a sigh of relief.

  Unfortunately, Nora had no intention of letting things rest just like that.

  “Roel, you haven’t pointed the room out to me yet.”


  Nora continued asking with a smile, so Roel could only earnestly try to recall the matter. However, this recollection made his face turn pale.

  Wait a moment, that room can’t possibly be…… Shit!

  “I-it’s the third room on the west wing of the villa.”


  “The third room on the west wing of the villa…… Your explanation is so abstract. Allow me to think about it for a moment…… Ah, isn’t that Miss Alicia’s bedroom ?”


  Nora exclaimed in ‘realization’. She hurriedly turned to Alicia with a look of apology on her face.

  “Oh my, I didn’t expect Alicia to be living in the room that we used before. Ah, but I’d imagine that the bed should have been changed by now. This sure is a huge coincidence. Please ignore what I have just said.”


  Nora looked at the seething Alicia with a look of sympathy, as if pitying her. That was a critical strike to not just Alicia but Roel too.

  What’s going on here?

  Sensing a chill in the air, Roel didn’t even dare to swallow his saliva down. He tried his best to make his presence as thin as possible, so that he wouldn’t get implicated in this frightening tug-o-war.

  On the other hand, Alicia slowly composed her breathing before bringing back a smile to her face.

  “Ah, that must be a room filled with memories for Your Highness, right? Since that’s the case, why don’t I let it out to you? Lord Brother and I will use another room instead. Or perhaps, I should reciprocate the favor and visit Lord Brother’s room the next time.”


  Alicia clapped her hands together with an innocent smile on her face, as if a child stumbling upon a good idea. Those words struck one of the thorns lodged in Nora’s heart, and coldness glazed over her eyes momentarily. Nora didn’t think that this young lass would actually be such a difficult opponent to deal with.

  “Alicia, such matters should come with mutual consent. It hasn’t been long since Roel was severely injured, so he should be given plenty of time to rest, don’t you think so?”


  Nora shot a menacing glance at the black-haired boy who had been feigning dead all this while, as if threatening him to dare say otherwise. Roel found himself shuddering involuntarily upon meeting her eyes, and his instincts were ringing warning bells in his head.

  “I agree with what Nora said. Alicia, it isn’t too appropriate for us to be sharing the same bed.”


  While Roel was kind of forced to say those words, he did think that it wasn’t right for them to make such a practice commonplace. He definitely wasn’t just saying these words out of fear of the livid Nora!

  Alicia’s cheeks puffed up in indignance. She pondered for a moment before finally replying.

  “Since Lord Brother has already said so, I shall go along with your wishes. By the way, I heard that you have been having trouble sleeping recently, and I heard that music is a good way to relax to boost sleep quality. I am still confident in my skills with musical instruments, and I believe that it’ll aid you in your recovery. Until you fully recover, I shall accompany you till you fall asleep.”


  Alicia spoke with a warm smile.

  Roel, on the other hand, had a strange look on his face. Relaxing before sleeping, playing instruments …… He couldn’t help but think of all of those metaphors he had seen in his previous life on the internet, and it made his face blush furiously. He quickly tossed aside all of those R-rated connotations to the back of his mind.

  “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. We can just chat with one another.”


  Roel spoke with a wave of his hand, hoping to disperse the scent of gunpowder that was lingering between the two girls. To his dismay, neither of them had the intention of letting things rest just like that.

  “Alicia, I understand that the two of you are siblings living under the same roof, but considering that you aren’t related by blood, it’s only right for the two of you to maintain an appropriate distance with one another.”


  “I beg to differ, Your Highness. A harmonious family is the foundation of happiness. There are people who devote their lives just to have what we have. I don’t think that we should intentionally distance ourselves from one another out of fear of what others may think.”


  “I do concur with you that a harmonious family is important, but intimacy shouldn’t just be one-sided. Haven’t you considered the possibility that your actions may have been a bother to Roel?”


  “Your Highness, you are only saying such words because you are oblivious to the deep bond my brother and I share. You might be unaware of this, but I have a phobia of sharp objects, especially cutlery. In order to help me, Lord Brother would usually sit beside me during mealtimes and feed me. That’s how close we are with one another, Your Highness.”


  After saying those words, Alicia shot a glance at Roel with shyness and affection brimming in her eyes. Her gaze was so adorable that it made Roel’s heart skip a beat. At this very instant, he felt an urge to leap forward and give her a tight hug.

  This urge was swiftly dispelled by fear though.

  “Is what she said true?”


  A voice that felt as cold as the night of Winter Solstice sounded in Roel’s ears, freezing his body up.

  “Y-yes, it’s true. There’s nothing that can be done about that. Alicia needs extra care.”


  “Wouldn’t it be fine to leave it to the servants?”


  “Your Highness, may I humbly ask you not to interfere in the affairs of the Ascart House? I believe that this is a matter for Lord Brother and me to decide on our own. It’s with the Xeclydes’ virtues of compassion and magnanimity that the nobles of the Theocracy have been united as one thus far. I trust that Your Highness intends to uphold this good practice?”


  This lass!

  Nora’s pupils dilated upon hearing Alicia bringing the name of the Xeclydes into this argument. Naturally, she couldn’t refute the values that the Xeclydes embraced as they were the key to the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s many years of peace and stability.

  It was also a huge taboo for an outsider to meddle in the affairs of another noble house, and it was especially true for the royal family. Excessive interference would cast doubts on the royal family’s intentions, and it could be dangerous if others viewed it as an attempt to consolidate power

  Nora was aware that she had misspoke, so she quickly shut her mouth. Her blazing sapphire eyes met Alicia’s ruby ones, and sparks could almost be seen flying across the room.

  Nora had to admit that she had indeed been underestimating Alicia thus far. Her opponent was far more intelligent than those of her age. Initially, Nora thought that Alicia’s feelings for Roel were only kinship, and they would slowly fade as time went by. However, she dared not think the same anymore.

  It was obvious that Alicia liked Roel, and her feelings for him ran deep. It was fortunate that Roel seemed to be oblivious to it at the moment, possibly because Alicia was concealing her feelings under the veil of kinship.

  Hmph. Such little tricks.

  Nora had always preferred to confront someone head-on with her feelings, so she viewed Alicia’s tactics with disdain. That being said, she had to admit that Alicia’s strategy of silently standing by Roel’s side and permeating every aspect of his life was indeed something to be feared.

  The advantage of proximity should never be underestimated. In fact, Nora would say that Alicia was ahead of her in the race at the moment. If those two were to continue their intimate actions of hugging and feeding one another everyday, it was only a matter of time before they finally became a pair!

  This realization raised Nora’s wariness to the maximum. Unfortunately for her, she realized it too late. Roel had already been nurtured into a siscon over the past half a year. Just three days without Aliciatonin was enough to spark withdrawal symptoms in him.

  With this, the argument finally reached a standstill. By bringing up the social conventions governing the royal family, Alicia managed to clinch the upper hand in this face-off. However, it wasn’t completely over for Nora yet. She still had a trump card in her hands.

  “That reminds me, I met Uncle Carter earlier in the morning. He says that he hasn’t informed you of the matter yet, and he told me to relay the news to you.”


  In this seeming moment of desperation, Nora suddenly clapped her hands together, and a radiant smile emerged on her lips. Her sudden change of topic made Alicia feel a little unnerved.

  “Hm? Is it something concerning me?”


  “Of course.”


  Nora’s lips further curled up, forming a devilish smile that Roel was deeply familiar with. She gracefully pulled Roel over to her side before turning to face Alicia.

  “An agreement has been formed between the Ascarts and the Xeclydes. I’ll become Roel’s protector. Do you get it now?

  “He’s mine.”