Roel had a strange dream that was filled with ups and downs.

  The dream started out dark and cold. He found himself drifting aimlessly within the sinister abyss with indescribable fear clinging to him. He had faint memories of the abyss, as if he had been there before, but he barely had time to dwell on it with his consciousness beginning to fade.

  It was initially silent, but the more his consciousness faded, the louder the cacophony of sorrowful cries and despaired howls echoed in his mind. It was as if countless hands were pushing down on his mind, plunging him into the sea of madness.

  The voices didn’t sound human to him, but the aggregation of suffering, indignance, and despair within them was still far too much for him to bear.

  His sanity began to erode under this unbearable torture, to the point that he thought that he was going to pass out.

  Just as he was about to succumb, there was a sudden surge of warm energy arising from deep within him that brought a sliver of clarity to his mind. It was like a small matchstick in the midst of a snowstorm—small but reassuring, and somehow nostalgic.

  Roel instinctively knew what the source of this warmth was: his bloodline.

  I see… It’s senior?

  His resonating bloodline was bringing him an irrepressible feeling of warmth and intimacy, which he had subconsciously associated with Lilian. He recalled hearing Lilian’s shouts right before he passed out.

  He was tremendously relieved to know that Lilian was safe. At the same time, he was also surprised that his mind had slightly cleared up after the bloodline resonance.

  It was a peculiar sensation. He felt like he was submerged several centimeters beneath the water, able to gaze up at the world above him but unable to rise to the surface. Everything on the surface looked terribly blurred as if looking through a film of water. His cognitive functions were also dulled, severely impairing his ability to understand what others were saying.

  Even so, he still heard her question.

  “Roel… do you like me?”


  Those words stirred ripples, even in Roel’s dull mind. His lips quivered as he gathered all his strength to respond.

  “Senior…”


  “Don’t go to sleep yet! You have to answer this question no matter what!”


  Lilian urged in an agitated tone that was completely unlike her usual poised self, giving away her anxiety. Roel’s eyes slowly regained their focus under their bloodline resonation, and he saw an expression he had never seen on her before.

  Her lips were tightly pressed together, and her amethyst eyes were quivering in unease. It was an expression of trepidation, a show of weakness that was unlike Lilian’s nature. She had never looked so fragile before.

  Is senior… afraid of my answer?

  The possibility of getting rejected by a person one fancied was a common fear faced by all humans, and the fear only deepened when the intensity of the feelings grew. This was a trial that not even the highly mature Lilian could circumvent.

  Her fear was meaningless in Roel’s eyes. Her question was one he didn’t even need to ponder. How could he possibly not like her?

  Ever since their first meeting, Lilian had offered him tremendous help, be it with his studies or providing him with reinforcement against the evil cultists. Her doting only intensified after their reunion as bloodline kin, to the point where she was willing to compromise on her own interests for his sake.

  It was not just once or twice that she had stood forward to protect him from overwhelmingly powerful enemies like Magician King Priestley Maxwell, willingly putting her life on the line to protect him. She had also meticulously taken care of him when he was severely injured. Even though she wasn’t a member of the Ascart House, she didn’t hesitate to carry the burden of the Ascart Bloodline together with him.

  How could he possibly not be fond of someone who was willing to go so far for him?

  It hadn’t been a long time since they came to know each other, but her tenderness had already left a permanent imprint in his heart. Even with his mind all fuzzed up, the answer was one he didn’t need to give a second thought to.

  “… I like you.”


  Roel had to gather all of his strength to answer Lilian, who was trembling out of sheer agitation and fear. He finally reached his limit, but before his consciousness withdrew into the recesses of his mind, he saw an eruption of surprise, joy, and relief on her face.

  That’s good…


  His senses began to dull with the submersion of his consciousness, but he retained a faint impression of what happened afterward.

  Two warm bodies tightly embraced each other, driving each other’s bloodlines into a state of delirium. Amidst this wild ecstasy, there was a familiar scent that greatly reassured him. In the final moments of this wondrous dream, all he could remember was intense rushes of pleasure as strands of long hair brushed against his chest.

  This sweet yet oddly realistic dream intoxicated him like fine wine. He had no idea how long it all continued for, but he succumbed to exhaustion at some point and went into a deep sleep.

  …


  Time slowly ticked by.

  Roel’s consciousness first roused to the sound of trickling water, before the pleasurable warmth of the water soaking his body registered to him. Then, his eyes suddenly shot open. Elegant ceiling lights and wall murals came into his view.

  “This is…”


  His mind stalled for a brief moment at the sight of the resplendent bathroom. He lowered his head and saw that he was lying inside a delicately carved bathtub. It was filled with azure water that emanated a calming floral fragrance.

  What’s the situation?

  Roel took in the calming floral fragrance as he scanned the empty bathroom around him, but nothing registered as familiar to him. He could only try to rake up the dredges of his memory in hopes of making sense of the situation.

  “I remember the weird fog lamp shining on me… Right, my consciousness was pulled toward the pitch-black abyss, then…”


  As he browsed through the memory fragments of what his subconscious mind remembered, his brain suddenly blanked.

  If I am bathing in a bathtub now, could it be that the earlier dream I had…!!!

  Roel immediately shot to his feet, but vertigo suddenly struck him and he tumbled back into the bathtub.

  Bam!

  “Ouch!”


  The dull pain from knocking against the bathtub’s edge made Roel frown. Knowing that it was abnormal for this to happen to a high-level transcendent like him, he lowered his head and looked at his own body in astonishment.

  Is this muscle fatigue? No, that’s not it. It feels more like I can’t properly control my body. Am I injured?

  However, the loud bam had clearly alerted the person outside the bathroom. The white stone door suddenly burst open to the entrance of a black-haired woman.

  “Roel!”


  “S-senior!”


  “What a relief! You’re finally awake!”


  Lilian pressed her hand against her chest as she exhaled deeply out of sheer delight and relief. However, Roel was unable to give a response with his attention captured by her body.

  Her alluring, shapely body was clad in a single piece of towel that proved insufficient to conceal her fatal charms. She appeared to have been bathing just earlier on, for there was an adorable red tinge to her cheeks and shoulders. Her completely exposed collar bones were a stark contrast to her usual conservative wear, which made the situation even more arousing.

  Gorgeous.

  Roel was immediately bewitched by the sight. It had been a long time since he last saw such a side to Lilian, not to mention that the last it happened, his body had been regressed into that of a child. Fortunately, he was able to snap out of it fast enough to not appear daft. He quickly averted his eyes before speaking up.

  “Senior, I…”


  “My apologies, I didn’t think that you were already awake.”


  “No, it’s nothing. What’s going on?”


  “You were attacked by an enemy. I saved you and brought you here…”


  Lilian slowly made her way toward Roel as she calmly told him about what had happened that night.

  It was in hopes of catching a night of good rest that the main team decided to enter the abandoned Marlin Town. As usual, they set up their barriers and assigned sentries to keep watch at a few vital areas. Everything was still normal in the evening, but as soon as the night arrived the surrounding fog suddenly grew denser.

  Shortly after, a lanky old man carrying a lamp suddenly emerged from the fog.

  It was immediately apparent to them that something was amiss about the old man, but it didn’t occur to the main team to inform Roel and the others about it right away. In their view, the auxiliary team was weak and couldn’t offer substantial aid in times of crisis.

  That proved to be a grave mistake.

  A fight broke out right away, and the members of the main team displayed incredible strength. However, the enemy’s ability to make people disappear into thin air was simply so disquieting that the academics who had little combat experience swiftly fell into a state of panic. By the time half of them had been defeated, their morale had completely disappeared, prompting the remaining members of the main team to flee frantically.

  Lilian fought with the old man throughout the entire duration, and the enemy had shone his lamp on several occasions too. The only difference was that Lilian’s sharp intuition induced her to activate Ten Fortresses as soon as the lamp lit up.

  It was fortunate that Ten Fortresses proved to be sufficient to block off that eerie light, but some of its effects still got through to her. It wasn’t enough to lull her into depravity, but she had to deplete a significant amount of her mental resources to suppress its effects. For that reason, she chose to retreat for the time being and recover.

  Soon after, Roel and the others arrived and crossed paths with the lanky old man. Lilian was initially some distance away, but she recognized the frost aura Roel had scattered and immediately rushed over. Thanks to that, she was able to make it in time and save him.

  “I’m sorry that I came late. The other two transfer students from the Knight Kingdom vanished before I could make a move, so I wasn’t able to save them.”


  “No, this isn’t your fault. I would have likely lost my life if not for you. Thanks.”


  Roel quickly refuted Lilian’s self-reproach and thanked her. He was worried about Selina and the others, though he didn’t think that anything would have happened to them just yet. He wanted to find them right away, but he knew that it would be reckless to dive into action without a full understanding of the situation.

  So, he pondered for a moment and swiftly realized that there was a gap in Lilian’s words.

  “Senior, aren’t we currently inside the domain of your Ten Fortresses? Why would there be a bathroom here? The timing also seems to be off.”


  “…”


  Lilian kept her silence in responce to Roel’s question. Seeing that, Roel hesitated for a moment before speaking up once more.

  “Did something happen in between the time you saved me to the moment I woke up? Did we…”


  Roel was halfway through his words when he was suddenly hushed by a trembling finger.

  Lilian raised her head to look at him with pleading eyes. She was blushing down to her neck, looking pitiful yet mesmerizing.

  Her eyes were glazed with deep feelings, and her blush extended all the way up to her neck. She looked at Roel with pleading eyes.

  “Don’t ask,” she begged.

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