The distance between them was no more than a breath apart!
Anna’s heart pounded wildly, as if someone had gripped her throat. She suppressed her panic, but her voice betrayed her with an unintentional tremor.
“Lilith, what… what do you mean by that?!”
The fake panic on Lilith’s face had long since vanished, replaced by a playful, probing expression, even a hint of mischief that came with the satisfaction of a prank pulled off.
She tilted her head slightly, like a cat discovering a new toy, scrutinizing Anna’s face—strained despite her efforts to remain composed—and the slight contraction of her pupils.
“What do I mean?”
Lilith chuckled softly, her voice teasing, as if sharing a delicious secret.
“Miss Knight~ I don’t mean anything in particular. It’s just that suddenly… your heartbeat is so fast.”
She extended a slender finger and tapped in midair at Anna’s hand gripping the sword hilt so tightly her knuckles had turned white. “Faster than when you were pointing your sword at me just now… Why is that?”
As she spoke, Lilith deliberately lengthened her tone, tilting her head with an innocent yet utterly beguiling smile. “Could it be… Miss Knight, that you have some kind of secret that ‘mustn’t be known’?”
Anna’s heart leapt up into her throat!
Could it be… that the delicate “guard exchange” relationship between her and Lord Luo Ye had been discovered by Lilith?
Or perhaps her hidden feelings—for Luo Ye, and even for Princess Alicia, feelings she dared not acknowledge—had been sensed?
Anna forced herself to maintain a cold mask, her throat tightening as she was about to snap harshly and scold her for nonsense.
But Lilith, as if tired of watching her flustered, suddenly let out an “eheh” and stuck out her tongue.
Her smile blossomed even brighter, as though everything just now had been a fleeting whim fueled by curiosity.
“Oh well~ forget it!”
Lilith shrugged nonchalantly and turned away, starting to tidy the scattered books on the desk and the little notebook documenting “Luo Ye’s transgressions against her.” Her voice returned to its usual sweet, lively tone, carrying a faint but unmistakable warning.
“Anyway, it’s your own secret, Miss Knight. What does Lilith Kannor have to do with it?”
With the book in her arms, Lilith hopped and skipped toward the classroom door like a freshly dismissed elementary school student.
In terms of height, Lilith truly resembled a grade schooler.
But to Anna, the pressure emanating from Lilith as she passed by was immense.
Lilith glanced back, offering her a meaningful, knowing smile—the kind that said, I understand everything—and in a voice so light it nearly sang, she threw out the phrase that unsettled Anna the most:
“I live by the greatest truth in life—the less you know, the happier and safer you are!”
“Hehe, isn’t that right? My dear~ Miss Knight with all the big secrets~?”
The tap-tap of small shoes echoed through the empty tiered classroom, gradually fading away.
Anna remained frozen in place, only her hand clutching the sword hilt trembling slightly and uncontrollably.
Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating her pale face.
Lilith’s figure slowly disappeared beyond the door.
“The less you know… the safer you are…?”
Anna looked down at her trembling hand and the cold, heavy sword, whispering softly.
Then suddenly, realization dawned on her, and a small smile curled at the corner of her lips.
“Ah, so that’s how it is~”
“As long as I get rid of everyone who knows, then I’ll be safe, right?”
Her once-dull pale violet eyes suddenly brightened, deep and radiant.
……
Luo Ye woke up, finding himself back in reality.
The cold, hard touch. The clinking of chains scraping against stone tiles. The dim candlelight. The heavy iron shackles on his wrists and ankles. The ever-present anti-magic stones suppressing his mana flow.
Back again… back in Hysnay’s basement prison.
The memory of death was still fresh, his chest felt as if it still bore the phantom pain of freezing ice piercing through.
He almost instinctively tried to struggle upright, but the scene before his eyes made him freeze in place.
Silvery hair flowed like moonlight, trailing onto the floor. The duchess’s daughter—who, just recently in the real world, had whipped him with a sneer and force-fed him medicine—now knelt half down by his side.
She wore the same white dress as before, but her posture was completely different.
Not domineering or contemptuous, but almost reverent.
What made Luo Ye’s heart skip a beat was that her slender fingers were carefully fiddling with the lock on the shackle around his ankle!
Her ice-blue eyes were cast downward, silver-white lashes trembling slightly, her flawless pale cheeks flushed with a rosy glow like dawn’s first light, spreading from her neck all the way to her delicate ear tips, almost bleeding red.
Her movements were clumsy and nervous, her cherry lips tightly pressed together.
Anyone could tell she was deliberately avoiding looking at Luo Ye, the man she had imprisoned. Her eyes were fixed on a single spot on the ground.
Luo Ye was dumbfounded by this shy side of Hysnay.
Is this really the same perverted noble widow?
He recalled how, when returning from a simulation to reality, Anna also suddenly shifted from extreme hostility to gentler obedience. Could this be the protective mechanism granted by the time-rewinding power?
The more Luo Ye looked, the more he felt something was off—the protective mechanism seemed far too strong.
Even a gravity-controlling girl like Hysnay could be changed.
Well, of course. If she didn’t change, then he’d be killed all over again as soon as he returned—and have to check in again just to buy apples, right?
That had to be it.
Luo Ye solidified this thought and kept looking at the girl before him, thinking she truly was fair and lovely.
……
However, what Luo Ye didn’t know was this:
While he was unabashedly staring at Hysnay, her heart was screaming in panic.
Ahhh! Why is Luo Ye staring at me like that?
Doesn’t he know I already know he likes me? What does it mean that besides Alicia, there are other people watching over me—including him?
What does it mean that when the whole world abandons her, he still watches over her from behind?
That’s clearly not a confession!
He likes her but dares not approach her!
Ah, seriously, this idiot has liked her for three years, yet still insists on pretending to be deeply attached to Alicia.
What is he so afraid of?
This is her family’s basement. No one else will hear or know what we say or do here, okay?
Be brave!
Hysnay didn’t know how to face these forbidden feelings, but her instincts told her to hint to Luo Ye to be braver.
Yet, she suddenly remembered the ridiculous things she had done to Luo Ye recently and blushed, lowering her head in shame.
What have I done?!
Does Luo Ye think I’m such a shameless, wanton girl?