Chapter 28: Caught having an affair?

“Big sister, it’s not what you think!”

Enis’s cheeks flushed red as she panted, a trace of saliva still lingering on her earlobe.

She wanted to explain what she and Sister Shali had been doing, but the words slipped to the tip of her tongue and then refused to come out.

How could she put it into words?

She and Sister Shali had been behaving like they were having an illicit affair in the room—but it was actually to rehearse how to abduct her sister’s fiancée.

By the Black Night Goddess above, what a terrible little sister she was!

It seemed there was no way to clarify this now.

At this point, all that was left to do was…

“Sister Shali, run!” Enis shouted.

Before Enis even finished yelling, Shali had already leapt off the bed and rushed to the open window.

“Scoundrel!” Filia ground her teeth and waved her hand.

Two shafts of light spears, precisely controlled, shot toward Shali’s limbs.

The light spears paused briefly in midair, then changed course to attack Shali’s clothes and skirt, trying to pin her down on the spot.

Shali’s heart twitched.

That was her brand-new outfit she’d just bought today!

They could come at her all they wanted, but if they ruined her clothes, that was absolutely unacceptable!

Shali grabbed the slow-motion-like light spears with her hands, crushed them with force, then flipped and leapt out the window.

“Don’t even think about running!”

The light spears beside Filia transformed into chains, but before they could chase out the window, an invisible magical barrier blocked their path.

“Sister, we have a reason for doing this!”

Enis maintained the defensive magic, thinking fiercely that she couldn’t let her sister catch up to Sister Shali.

Filia frowned, extinguishing the light spears and chains around her, and pointed out something even Enis hadn’t noticed, “What’s going on with your magic?”

She knew her little sister’s magic level well.

As a novice mage, no matter how much she pushed herself, there was no way she could so easily block her intermediate magic!

…………

“I feel like I’ve been caught in the act…”

After jumping out the window onto a tree, Shali turned back just in time to see Enis defending against Filia’s magic.

She recalled the flame explosion spell Enis had unleashed when fighting the Dark Hollow Tree Demon—it was far more destructive than she had expected.

“…Could it be that my magic recharge also boosts my spells?”

At first glance, it seemed absurd.

Upon closer thought, it was still absurd!

In another world, with the protagonist’s physique, she’d definitely be captured by the villainous older sister and turned into a magic furnace.

No, this is an inner-world realm!

The probability of such things happening here was extraordinarily high!

“I can’t let more people discover that I’m basically a ‘power bank’…”

Muttering to herself, Shali climbed over the manor’s outer wall.

But a bigger problem now stood before her.

Where was she going to find Ruya?

This world wasn’t modern society; she couldn’t just call someone on the phone to meet up.

There was special magic to connect two people across hundreds of miles, allowing communication.

Unfortunately, neither Shali nor Ruya had the magic for that, so they were in a state of “no contact, meeting only by chance.”

“I’ll check the Stein family’s manor.”

Shali thought it more likely Ruya would appear there.

As she turned, a figure dressed in a white dress came into view.

Their eyes met.

“Sister Shali?”

“Ru…Ruya?” Shali was startled.

The girl sitting in a wheelchair, with an ethereal aura—who else could it be but Ruya!

But why was she here?

Moreover… Ruya was hiding inside the bushes, layered with branches and leaves; if not for the perfect angle, Shali might not have noticed her.

“Shh!” Ruya put a finger to her lips and glanced around before beckoning to her.

“What are you doing here?” Shali whispered, stepping closer.

“I wanted to meet the fiancée from the Kavus family before the official betrothal tonight… How about you, Sister Shali?”

“Me? Well…” Shali scratched her head.

I was just caught in the act with your fiancée’s little sister, Enis, whom I met this morning, and barely escaped.

No matter how she said it, it sounded terrible!

“Pat, pat, pat…”

Suddenly, footsteps approached not far away.

Ruya quickly grabbed Shali’s hand, made a shushing gesture again, and lowered her head a little.

The footsteps grew closer, at least five people by the sound.

“Miss really ran this way?”

“I saw it with my own eyes, it’s definitely here!”

“Using tracking magic, can we, a few mages, not even find a disabled person?”

“But Miss has no magic in her body. Even tracking magic can’t locate her…”

“Tch! We must find her before dark!”

Through the gaps in the bush’s branches, Shali watched the group dressed in black formal wear run off in another direction, their footsteps fading.

“Are they gone?” Ruya asked timidly.

“Looks like they’ve gone far,” Shali stood, shaking leaves from her hair, then glanced at the relieved Ruya. “Were those people here looking for you?”

“Yes.”

“Are they the Stein family’s attendants?”

“Not exactly…” Ruya shook her head, “They’re specifically assigned by my mother to protect me.”

“Then why do you hide from them?”

“It’s always uncomfortable having someone follow you around,” Ruya didn’t elaborate but smiled faintly and asked, “Sister Shali, why are you here?”

“Me? Haha, I’m just passing through.”

“But didn’t you just climb out of the manor?”

Caught! Shali twitched the corner of her mouth. “That’s because I… took a wrong turn.”

“What? That’s too fake.” Ruya laughed at her poor excuse.

“Cough… haha, just joking…” Shali’s gaze drifted elsewhere.

Silence fell between them.

Shali felt uncomfortable all over.

She’d been thinking about how to meet Ruya, but now that she had, she didn’t know what to say.

Be honest?

“Hey, if you let me recharge your magic, I can restore your mana and even let you bear the Black Night Goddess’s blessing, but after that, you can’t marry anyone else.” — If she said that, she felt her life would be over.

To be honest, she wasn’t mentally ready for Enis’s proposal.

To act so intimately toward Ruya, no matter how she thought about it, was hard to accept.

After all, they’d only just met once!

And considering Ruya’s age and physical condition…

If she really did it, she’d be on par with the “scoundrel and scum” Filia accused her of.

“Sister Shali, you look like you have something to say to me.” Ruya’s eyes sparkled with a smile.

“Um… I want to invite you to lunch, as thanks for this morning.”

“Okay.”