Inside the ship cabin, Charlotte’s body stiffened at Isabella’s words.

  “B-big sister Isabella, what did you say?”


  “Hm? You didn’t hear me clearly? This is troublesome. There isn’t any time to be wasted on explanations now.”


  Isabella looked at the unconscious Roel with a deep frown before decisively pushing Charlotte toward where he laid. Trying her best to maintain a poker face, she pointed to Roel’s lips and spoke words that left no room for doubt.

  “Kiss him right now!”


  “Ah? No, I mean, w-why do I have to do that……”


  Charlotte glanced at the unconscious Roel as a furious blush dyed her cheeks. Her mind was filled with question marks as she looked at the ‘big sister’ behind her with utterly bewildered eyes.

  Seeing how pure Charlotte was, Isabella sighed deeply in worry. Without a doubt, Charlotte was an outstanding individual, be it her beautiful appearance, her kind and gentle heart, or her amazing talent. Even Isabella dared not say that she was superior to Charlotte.

  However, if there was one flaw to pick about the girl, it would be her naivety when it came to relationship matters. She was simply too innocent, and she got shy too easily.

  The veteran Isabella couldn’t help but reminisce about her own romance experience. Back then, when she was still young and adventuring around, she met Winstor for the first time in an ancient ruin. The two of them had a small conflict, which escalated into a fight. She was still quite hot-headed back then, so she mercilessly pummeled Winstor with her proficient Jewel Magic. However, in the midst of doing so, she accidentally triggered a mechanism which trapped the two of them underground.

  It was from there on that the tables turned.

  Isabella might be powerful, but she was only interested in the wealth hidden in the ancient ruins. She didn’t have any interest in archaeology at all, so her knowledge about such ancient ruins was limited. It was the younger and weaker Winstor who stood up in this situation, taking the lead with his broad range of knowledge. The two of them made peace with one another and worked closely with one another to navigate through the ancient ruins. Eventually, they managed to find a way out.

  This life-and-death experience they shared became the foundation of their relationship, though to her chagrin, she later found out that it had been a love at first sight for Winstor—or to be more exact, he fell in love with her after getting beaten up by her.

  To be honest, Isabella had felt a little weirded out by this, and she even suspected if Winstor had some kind of strange fetish. However, Winstor had conducted himself quite normally over the years, so she eventually shrugged it off.

  Later on, the two of them teamed up and ventured to many places. Their abilities also swiftly grew stronger over the course of their journey.

  However, Isabella had been hesitant to reveal her identity as the successor of the Sofya Kingdom. She knew that Winstor was interested in her even though they had never said it aloud, but she was afraid the revelation of her identity would unravel what bond they shared. Unable to conquer her dilemma, she eventually left him with a kiss before quietly parting ways with him.

  It was a long 5 years before they met each other once more, at the Twilight Sages Assembly. They sat with faces concealed and voices altered, yet Winstor was still able to vaguely recognize Isabella. It was almost as if their reunion had been decreed by fate. Their feelings for one another rekindled, and they eventually came together as a couple.

  Isabella and Winstor’s relationship was something that had been tempered through overcoming multiple difficulties. It wasn’t just a verbal promise of engagement connecting them; their bond was far stronger than that, and it could weather through storms.

  That was why she could discern the frailty in her little sister Charlotte’s romance.

  Marriage of convenience was a huge taboo in the Sofya House. Due to the nature of the Loyal Origin Attribute, the women of the Sofya Royal Family had the right to one-sidedly void their engagements. As such, Charlotte’s case was actually rather rare.

  It was a huge pity that the Sorofya House had forgotten about their traditions over the past few centuries.

  When Isabella found out that Charlotte was actually an incredible prodigy, the first thing she should have done was to annul the engagement and return Charlotte her freedom. However, things were complicated by the fact that Roel was Winstor’s younger brother, her future brother-in-law. She wouldn’t want to sour relations with him considering that they were going to be one big family in the future.

  More importantly, even though it wasn’t very apparent, Charlotte seemed to harbor feelings for Roel.

  “Charlotte, he’s your fiancé. What are you afraid of?”


  “I know, b-but our engagement can still be annulled……”


  “Put the engagement aside for now and touch your own heart. Do you like him?”


  “!”


  Isabella threw a straight ball toward Charlotte that tore through all of her veils of concealment. It made her eyes widen as her face turned as red as an apple.

  “I…… I don’t……”


  “Haa? You don’t?”


  Isabella scoffed at Charlotte’s weak rebuttal. She was a little irritated by how quick her junior was to deny her own feelings. Taking a moment for a long calming breath, Isabella gazed intently into Charlotte’s eyes before speaking.

  “Very well. Since you have already spoken your mind, I’ll lay two choices out before you.

  “If you like him, you should give him a kiss and save him. This is a good opportunity to deepen your relationship. The bond between the two of you was founded upon a flimsy engagement promise, but you can further reinforce it with a connection of gratitude by saving his life here.

  “Otherwise, if you don’t like him, you should just turn around and leave. I’ll just use normal means to sustain his condition. You can be assured that his life won’t be in danger at the very least.”


  Those words left Charlotte deeply conflicted. Her eyes flickered in hesitation, and her body began to tremble slightly. Seeing this, Isabella found herself sighing deeply once more. She felt her own heart softening a little for the inexperienced Charlotte, so she mellowed her tone and spoke to her little sister with earnest words.

  “Charlotte, our Origin Attribute has fated us to remain steadfast to only one. There are many women in our clan who were too shy to speak of their feelings and ended up in tragic plights. Do you wish to follow their footsteps?”


  “I……”


  “Think of your rivals. A man like Roel is bound to have other women around him. If you can’t build a sufficiently strong bond with him before they make a move, how do you intend to guard your own family?”


  “!”


  Isabella’s words hammered right into Charlotte’s heart with great force, causing her body to shudder in horror. Two silhouettes, one with golden hair and the other with silver, surfaced in her mind before the word ‘family’ swiftly dominated her thoughts.

  Slowly, her clouded eyes began to clear up to reveal renewed determination, and her trembling also came to a halt.

  Alright, it looks like I’ve managed to rouse her morale.

  Isabella clenched her fists tightly, heartened by the sight.

  “I get it now, big sister Isabella.”


  “You should hurry up and get along with it then!”


  Isabella patted Charlotte’s shoulders with a solemn look, as if she was sending a soldier off into battle. Charlotte grabbed the hem of her skirt tightly as she slowly approached Roel.

  Her heart thumped louder and louder. She felt like her body was burning up. She looked at the unconscious Roel as she tried her best to build up her courage.

  This is all just so he can quickly free himself from danger. I’m only doing this because there’s no other choice. Besides, he’s unconscious now. As long as no one speaks of it……

  With such thoughts in mind, Charlotte gradually fell into a daze. She couldn’t tell whether it was a hallucination or not, but she thought she saw a butterfly bearing a golden rose fluttering before her eyes. It was only when Isabella’s urging voice sounded once more that she snapped out of her daze.

  If it’s for him……

  With tender eyes, Charlotte leaned forward to kiss Roel’s frozen stiff lips. At the same time, Roel, who had just been sent back to reality from a faraway place, groggily opened his eyes, only to be met with a pair of dazed emerald eyes in very close proximity.

  “.……”


  “.……”


  ““!””