Crunch—!

Having finished the last of the second-best meal I've ever had, I sighed and exited my dorm.

'Let's just see who's waiting for me'

...

"...Is this the room?", I muttered as I stood before the dorm labelled

Although me wandering in the female dorms at night would probably generate some nasty rumors, I didn't care, as my reputation was already rock-bottom anyways.

'Thanks, Max...'

Putting that asides, I checked my phone again, and confirmed that it was really Ria's room.

Sighing, I grabbed the door handle to twist it open, but—

Clunk—!

—It didn't budge.

'Does she want me in her room or not...?'

As I was about to turn around and leave to curse Ria for wasting my time, however, a door, about 3 dorm rooms away, was swung open.

CLANK—!

I turned to the source of the sound, only to find a familiar silver-haired dragon.

'Shit!'

I wasn't ready to meet Sylvia again, not by a long shot. Thus, I decided that it was best that I got out of here.

However, as I was about to turn around and run away as fast as possible, Sylvia noticed my presence and called out to me.

"Theodore!"

'C- Calm down', I thought to myself as I tried my hardest to keep myself from breaking down.

'Just act like normal! Treat her as if she's just a c- c- casual acquaintance'

And with that thought, I turned to Sylvia again.

"Hello, Sylvia"

Brushing her stray hair aside to her ears, she asked with a slightly worried tone. "You came back quite late today, did something bad happen?"

"No. I was just busy taking care of some businesses"

"I see. It's a relief that you aren't in any troubles!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere was slowly becoming awkward as I was just standing there, staring at her coldly without saying anything.

Despite my looks, however, my emotions were in turmoil.

'J- Just leave already! Stop l- looking at me with that worried gaze!'

Guilt was quickly building up inside me as I resisted the urge to just give in and spill out everything about the incident to her.

Unluckily, however, Sylvia continued to speak despite the awkwardness.

"Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Ria told me that someone wanted to meet me in her dorm", I stopped my hands from trembling and showed her the messages. "But the door's locked"

"Hm...", Sylvia lets out an exaggerated thinking noise as she tried her luck with the door knob.

Clunk—!

And, as expected, it didn't budge this time either.

'Yes! I finally have an excuse to leave n—'

"Fuhahahaha!", Sylvia interrupted my inner cheers with a cute laugh. "I knew this would come in handy someday!"

She then pulled out a silver key from her pocket.

"This is the key to her room. Ria herself gave me it a few weeks back"

Seeing that I was looking at the key in confusion, Sylvia continued. "You might be wondering why Ria gave me the key, right? Well, she said that I could use this to go into her room if you forced me to have se—"

Her face then turned beet red as she shook her head fervently. "N- Nevermind about that, it's not important!"

With her face still having a slight tint of red, Sylvia hurriedly turned towards the door and began to unlock it.

Click—!

"O- Oh, It's finally unlocked!", Sylvia sighed in relief. No doubt it would have been very embarrassing for her if the key didn't work after all the boasting she had done.

Watching her slowly open the door, I fell into thoughts. 'Isn't this whole situation eerily similar to what happened to me and Amelia before...?'

However, I quickly shook my head off such thoughts. 'I'm just overthinking things. There's no way that's going to happen to me twic—'

CLANK—!

"..."

"..."

I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts as I silently stared at what was happening on the other side of the door.

"Haaaah! Haaaah! H- Harder!"

"Y- Yes!"

In the room was Noah Adrancus, on top of Ria Pyrian, literally fucking her. They were so into it that they didn't notice the door being opened and two pair of eyes staring at them.

Observing this... peculiar scene for a few seconds, I let out a sigh on relief.

'Good... mine is bigger than Noah's...'

Having just had my ego boosted significantly, I turned towards Sylvia.

I was fully expecting her to flush red in embarrassment. However—

GULP—!

—Her face was expressionless. Those two cold blue eyes of her glared at the scene with anger and annoyance.

Even Max wouldn't dare to bother her if he saw Sylvia's face right now.

As I was thinking that, Sylvia suddenly let out a chilling cold voice. "Are you going to watch or what?"

Gulping a mouthful a saliva, I stuttered. "N- No. I'm getting out"

I then hurriedly stepped out of the room.

It was then that Ria, and by extension, Noah, noticed our presence. "W- Wait, Sylvia! What are you doing her—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, as Sylvia had already stepped out with me and slammed the door shut.

SLAM—!

Sylvia then turned towards me and bowed, while still keeping that trademark emotionless face of hers. "I'm sorry for letting you see such a sight"

Not waiting for me to answer, she wobbled back to a dorm room while still trembling in anger.

CLANK—!

I stared at the room Sylvia had just gone inside in silence.

Eventually, I lets out a small chuckle. "Heh... that's Eleanor's dorm, not yours, Syl..."

Sighing, I turned on my phone again and contacted Arthur.

"It's about time I prepare for my end of the deal..."

***

Reimes tavern.

It was the name of the tavern-cum-smithy the cloaked Sylvia was walking towards right now.

Shabby even for the standards of the commoner district, the tavern was the definition of the place that high nobles like Sylvia herself shouldn't even get near to.

However, only Sylvia knew that this place had more to it than meets the eyes.

No, it wasn't the place to request for top-class information brokers, nor was it the gathering hub for assassins.

Instead, the only reason she was here was... the food, which was more delicious than even the most expensive meal in Avaron in Sylvia's opinion.

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia stared at the entrance, which was right in front of her.

Plit—! Plat—!...

Despite the rain, however, Sylvia was still able to hear the noisy chatters of the customers, the distinct smell of alcohol, the catcalling and whistling directed at the barmaids, and—

'Food...!'

—The smell of what she went out into the rain for.

CLANK—!

As soon as she entered the tavern, everyone present turned their gazes towards her. However, they soon returned to doing their things.

After all, the hood of the cloak had obscured Sylvia's immaculate and beautiful face.

Though, it did nothing to conceal her tail, which was slightly perked up in anticipation.

Settling down on an empty table, she called a foxkin barmaid over.

'Actually...', Sylvia glanced around the tavern. 'All of the barmaids are foxkins... how interesting...'

Sylvia paused the thought of the owner potentially having a weird fetish there and ordered.

"The usual, please!"

Hearing this, the barmaid titled her head in confusion.

"Oh, you must be new", Sylvia said as she gazed over the confused barmaid.

"Yes. I've just started working here a week ago"

"I see..."

Sylvia then looked around the tavern to find another barmaid. However, they were all busy entertaining the other customers.

Sighing in frustration, Sylvia hesitated telling the barmaid was she was going to say. However she eventually gave in as she thought of the food that she was going to enjoy savoring.

"Tell the chef that... 'little lizard' is here..."

Although confused, the barmaid wrote exactly that in Sylvia's orders and rushed back to the kitchen.

While waiting for the food, Sylvia stared at the space right in front of her and muttered. "Status: "

[S - Magic Eyes of emotions] is deactivated for 65.23 hour(s)

'I have under 3 days left...'

As such, Sylvia wanted to make the best of it before she was forced to go back to her expressionless self again.

However, judging by the situation she was in right now, she couldn't.

It had been a few days after she walked in on Noah and Ria doing... you know... And not once during those past few days did Ria nor Noah talk to her. In fact, they actively avoided her.

Of course, Sylvia had no way to know that they did it out of embarrassment and... fear.

Unaware of that fact, Sylvia's thoughts drifted to the next-closest person to her beside her family.

'Theo...'

The black-haired, gray-eyed Halfling that gave her the one month that she was having right now.

The way he carefully hid his strength around other people, the way he easily forgave Sylvia for what she had done, the way he showed his affection for his 'daughter', and the way he accidently flirted with Sylvia on multiple occasions...

All of those things made her somehow feel... at ease around him, even more so when she was with Eleanor or Ria. Though, that might just have been because of the egg.

'The shiny egg...'

Putting the thought of the precious egg asides, Sylvia once again focused on Theodore.

'Something's definitely wrong...', she concluded.

After all, the goofy and somewhat edgy Theodore seemed... depressed lately.

Although her Eyes were deactivated and she was unable to see others' emotions like she could before, Sylvia could easily tell that something big was weighing on Theodore's mind, making him sad.

Not just that, Theodore also acted very coldly towards her these past few days. When she wanted to make a meal for him like she always did for almost a month, he just shook his head and straight up told her not to waste her time.

And whenever she came into his dorm to infuse her Water mana into the egg, Theodore always looked for an excuse to leave the dorm and let her alone.

It was almost like he wanted to avoid Sylvia, just like how Ria and Noah did.

Though, his demeanor did nothing to mask the immense sadness, reluctance, pain, and guilt that was very obviously reflected in his dull gray eyes whenever he looked at her.

'Even if Theo doesn't tell me about what's bugging him, I'll still help him to the best of my abilities!'

That was the least she could do for her benefactor after all.

'Yes... I'm only doing it because he would help me suppress my Eyes, that's all...'

Well, that thought of her was shaky as best, considering the uneasiness she felt in her heart when she saw the Saintess of Lightning clinging onto Theodore like a bug.

'What a weird and... scary feeling...'

However, she couldn't think about the feeling that she didn't understand any longer, as the barmaid had already returned with her meal.

"Enjoy your meal!... Uh... 'little lizard'..."

Although Sylvia would have contorted her face into a frown at the barmaid's choice of words normally, she didn't, as the meal she was waiting for all day was right in front of her.

GULP—!

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, Sylvia picked up a fork and a knife, and cut into the wing of the roasted baby Black Wyvern.

Although the morality of a dragon eating a Wyvern was... very questionable, Sylvia didn't care, as the meat was still very delicious.

Crunch—!

The feeling of the juice melting inside her mouth and the sensation of chewing on the tender meat could best be described as—

"D- Delicious!"

—Satisfyingly good.

With a puffy mouth, Sylvia kept eating while voicing out how good the food was.

Although doing so gained her a few weird stares, she didn't care, as the meat was just too good.

Having finished the wings, Sylvia picked her drink up before finishing the rest of her meal.

Glug—!

She put the cup of alcohol near her mouth and drank it. However, she didn't chug the whole cup down her throat. Instead, she just drank enough to wet her lips and make sure that her throat wouldn't go dry when she continued eating.

"Fwahhh!", having finished drinking, she picked up her fork and knife again to continue enjoying the meal.

However—

"Lady Sylvia! What a coincidence meeting you here!"

—She really couldn't enjoy her meal, especially when Max Vermillion was here.

While Sylvia was still drinking, Max kicked the door to the tavern open and marched towards Sylvia confidently with his bodyguards by his side.

'Was he... stalking me?', she thought. After all, someone like Max would never go to somewhere like this for no reasons.

Sylvia then briefly glanced at Max.

In stark contrast to her, Max was wearing flashy clothes, ones that begged everyone to identify him as a high noble.

And, judging by the fact that he was speaking in a very intimate tone with Sylvia, it wouldn't be long before her identity was exposed to everyone present.

However, Sylvia tried to ignore him, and focused back on her meal.

She used her knife to cut the Wyvern's hind leg, the part that she looked forward to the most. Or well, the part that she used to look forward to the most.

"Ooh... What an... exotic meal. But I, Max Vermillion, will guarantee that the top-class chefs back at my mansion can do much better than this filthy and disgusting tavern. No, to even compare the worst meal I've ever had to this right here is an insult!"

Max's statement, which was more like a loud boast, made almost everyone in the tavern frown, and Sylvia was no exception. However, she still managed to keep her annoyance in and continued eating.

Crunch—!

It was then that Max clicked his tongue in annoyance and reached his hand out for the Wyvern meat.

"Look, Lady Sylvia. I'll prove to you that a—"

Just when Max's hand was mere inches away from the meat, Sylvia suddenly clenched her fork hard and put it against Max's neck.

"Should I cut your hands off? Or should I just use this to rip your throat out and stuff it in that disgusting mouth of yours?"

Looking down at the fork that was infused with cold Ice mana, Max gulped hard in fear.

His bodyguards, who were standing right behind him, unsheathed their blades.

Tension rose dramatically in the tavern that was filled with a joyful mood mere minutes ago.

Sylvia briefly glanced over Max's bodyguards and merely clicked her tongue.

'Weak'

Ice mana then surged around her, before condensing into a light blue hue that enveloped her entire body, looking as if it could burst at any moment.

Interrupting her chant, the door to the smithy part of the building was suddenly swung open, revealing an old male with white angelic wings.

"Tsk tsk, your temper is hot for someone with good Ice affinity, little lizard"

Sylvia briefly glanced over the old angel and snorted. "It's just a quarrel between two 'friends'. You need not to get involved in this, master Semier"

"How many times do I have to tell you?", the angel scowled. "I'm your grandpa, so call me as such. And since when did I take you as my disciple?"

Ignoring him, Sylvia thrusted her fork forward with great speed.

WOOOOOOSH—!

However, all she struck was thin air, as the angel suddenly appeared behind Max and pulled him back.

"Oooh! That was close, the brat almost died"

"If only he did die", Sylvia grumbled in annoyance.

Sighing in frustration, Sylvia glared at the angel, whose name was presumably Semier. "Master Semier, I've already told you that it's just a childish little quarrel. No need to get yourself involved"

"Well, that 'little quarrel' of yours almost killed someone"

"I'd have one less stalker if he died anyways"

"Maybe", Semier nodded thoughtfully. "But no one's dying in my tavern"

It was then that Max and his guards woke up from their stupor.

"Commoner!", Max gripped Semier's shoulder. "Who the fuck are you to talk so casually to Lady Sylvia?"

Semier stared at Max like he was staring at a mentally ill person.

After all, who could address the one that almost killed them with respect and... affection like that?

Of course, he didn't know that his granddaughter did exactly that to a certain part-dragon.

"See, I told you", Sylvia sighed. "He's like a cockroach, I can't get rid of him whatever I do"

"I see what you mean..."

Semier then struck the back of Max's head and knocked him out.

The guards, seeing this, immediately rushed in with their swords brandished.

In response, however, Seimer merely flashed them the brooch that he kept in his pocket.

"W- What?", a guard gulped in disbelief. "Why are you here, Archangel S—"

"Hey!", Semier interrupted him with a small whisper. "Go tell Marquis Vermillion this: If I find any spies or nobles snooping around here, well, let's just say that the Vermillion house won't last for another day"

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, the guards hurriedly picked Max up and rushed out of the tavern.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What are you looking at?", Semier scowled. "Keep doing your things"

After a few more seconds of silence, someone suddenly shouted.

-HURRAH FOR BLACKSMITH SEMIER!

-OOOOOOOOH!

Smiling wryly, Semier joined the cheering men for a bit, before returning to his granddaughter, who had almost finished the rest of her meal.

"Tch! Can't you leave some for me?"

In response, Sylvia stuffed even more meat in her already puffed mouth.

Sighing, Semier waited for her to finish her meal before continuing the conversation.

"Anyways, I see that you're expressing your emotions freely today. Did your Eyes deactivate?"

Hearing this, Sylvia's tail perked up in excitement. "Mhm! It happened when I was in t—"

"Wait!", Semier interrupted her. "Let me guess..."

After a while, he spoke. "Is it the guy you talked about? What was his name again? Arty... Arthus...?"

"No", Sylvia shook her head. "He's someone else"

"Hm? How interesting... You can tell me the story now"

"Okay!", Sylvia nodded excitedly. "And maybe you can help me identify something... weird..."

...

"I see", Semier nodded his head thoughtfully. "He seems... peculiar"

Semier didn't know how to feel about this. After all, he had a very bad memory of him interacting with someone as... religious as Sylvia's story made Theodore out to be.

Though, thinking back to the expression of joy and happiness Sylvia made when she told him about her everyday life with Theodore and... the egg, Semier could only lets out a sigh.

'Your taste in men is weird, little lizard...'

Pausing his thoughts there, Semier looked at Sylvia, who was waiting for him expectantly. "I think I've figured out what the weird emotion is, little lizard"

"What is it?", Sylvia impatiently spoke.

Semier sighed. "Now now, I can't tell you it outright, but if you look at your own soul once your Eyes are back, you'll see that it would probably be colored pink"

Hearing this, Sylvia titled her head in confusion. "Pink? You mean the same color that the bastard Max's soul had whenever he looks at me? A- Are you telling me that I'm similar to him?"

"Not quite", Semier chuckled. "But you're getting there!"

Frowning, Sylvia nudged Semier's arm. "Come on grandpa, stop being vague and tell me!"

"You're finally calling me grandpa after all these years, and it's because you want me to tell you the emotion that you're too dense to recognize?", Semier scowled.

He then turned towards Sylvia with a gentle gaze and patted her head. "It's better for you if you figure it out yourself, little lizard. And e- even if you call me grandpa again, I won't tell you"

"Although, as a reward for calling me 'grandpa' again", Semier smirked. "I have one advice for you"

Hearing this, Sylvia's ears perked up as she tried not to miss Semier's next words.

Chuckling, he continued. "You'd better get close to him while you can. That girl, Lyn, was it? She's going to snatch him from you if you're not careful"

"WHAT!?", Sylvia screamed out loud, gaining a few weird stares.

However, Semier just gestured for the customer to go back to doing their businesses.

After calming down, Sylvia asked with a shaky voice. "Y- You mean he won't be f- friends with me anymore i- if he... he..."

Looking at Sylvia weirdly, Semier sighed. "How dense... just like your mother..."

However, Sylvia wasn't able to hear Semier's mutter, as she was deep in thoughts.

After a while, she woke up from her thoughts with a determined look in her eyes.

'I'll finish my end of the deal as excellently as possible so that Theodore HAS to be friends with me!'

And with that, Sylvia pulled her phone out and texted Theodore to meet her tomorrow. However, she frowned when she saw Semier doing something weird.

"What are you reading?"

"This?", Semier lifted his gaze from the book he was holding. "It's titled 'The love story between the golden-eyed Hero and his asshole of a rival' "

Sylvia looked at Semier as if he was out of his mind. "But I thought you hated reading?"

"I do. But this book is just too intriguing!"

Frowning, Sylvia snatched the book from Semier's hands and skimmed through the first couple of pages.

The story was fairly simple. It took place in a battle academy, much like Avaron. No, exactly like Avaron.

The main character was named Arthur Sparevillain, and he was a Hero that was hiding his identity.

'Typical BL stories...', Sylvia thought.

His asshole of a rival was named Theodris Grey, and he was a haughty and rude noble who, on his first day of school, beat Arthur in a duel using underhanded tricks.

Despite their rough start, however, they still turned into lovers by the mid-point of the story.

'Wait... this seems familiar...'

After a few seconds of thinking, Sylvia's eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"THIS BOOK IS—"

***

"—BASED ON ME AND THAT PUSHOVER!?"

BAM—!

I slammed the disgusting, filthy, heretical book onto the table.

Seriously, I wanted to raze the book down to nothingness with the holiest of fire.

I then turned towards Alicia, who was looking at me with a terrified gaze. "Why..."

"..."

"...Why do you read this kind of thing!? No, more importantly, I thought you hated reading?"

Still shaking from fright, Alicia carefully answered. "I- I do. B- But this book is just too intriguing!"

I had to admit, the premise and the first couple of chapters were very good, but—

"It's not okay when it's based on me!"

—I just couldn't let a story where Arthur and I kisses each other in every single chapters exist.

Trying desperately to save her precious book from the fate of being burnt to ashes, Alicia quickly spoke up. "B- But it's not based on you! The rival is named Theodris Grey. His name is nothing like yours! Besides—"

Alicia then gulped as she glanced at me. "—This is a limited edition copy that I bought for 50 Silvers!"

Ignoring her, I picked the disgusting book up and looked for the author's name.

'I'll execute you for heresy!'

===

Written by: Eleanor Salvant

===

"..."

Clenching my fists in frustration, I threw the book back to Alicia and plopped down to the couch.

Wanting to take my mind off the fact that I wouldn't be able to vent my frustration out on anyone, I turned on my phone.

===

[New messages from: ]

===

"I should probably change her contact name...", I muttered.

After fiddling with some settings, I finally opened the chat box to see what she sent me.

===

Heroine#2: Theodore! I finally got in touch with a Grandmaster blacksmith \o - o/

Heroine#2: Meett me at the cafeteria tomorrow! :D

===

And after her last message, Sylvia sent a gif of a cat doing a very cool backflip.

"How... Syl-like..."

===

[Gif of cat doing a very cool backflip]

Me: ok

===

I then turned off my phone and stared at the ores that looked like glass that was lying on the table in front of me.

"This should be more than enough..."

Throwing the ores into [Alternate storage], I yawned and decided to go to sleep early.

After all, I needed every ounces of mental power I could muster up to go through tomorrow without breaking down.