“Mr. Grin, Alberke, how did you end up walking together?”
When the two walked up to her, Dolores asked with confusion. She had clearly seen their little chat.
“I don’t have a place to stay, so I crashed in an unoccupied room. Mr. Grin lives in that area too, and we just happened to run into each other when we left.”
Alberke explained.
“You aren’t secretly living together, are you?”
Dolores asked suspiciously.
“Our relationship isn’t that close. Even if I wanted to, Mr. Grin wouldn’t agree. Don’t you think so?”
At the last sentence, Alberke turned to look at Grin. He coughed a few times and retorted:
“Miss Alberke, there’s no need to make this kind of joke.”
“It’s almost time. Your Highness, and Mr. Grin and Miss Alberke, hello.”
Viseliane walked over from nearby and greeted them.
Alberke suggested they could talk on the way, and so the four of them walked toward Rock Hall.
Along the way, Viseliane added that it was a private summons from His Majesty the King, not a grand meeting with all the court ministers gathered.
Regarding Felts IV’s current condition, the person who knew the most but wasn’t sure was Grin.
Not letting him burn his blood because of the dragon and thus overdraft his future was undoubtedly a good thing.
But this might cause Felts IV to fall into a state of exhaustion and recuperation recently, temporarily unable to participate in some important events.
Perhaps the reason the Scarlet Sect hadn’t made a move during this period was because Felts IV had already burned his blood and was in relatively good shape in the short term.
After all, a temporary Transcendent existence was enough to shelter the tottering Land Kingdom for a while.
But why summon them privately at this juncture? What would they talk about? The four of them present could only guess, not be certain.
They had always interpreted the current situation of the Land Kingdom from their own perspectives, but subconsciously ignored the fact that the king of this country was still right beside them.
Dolores’s words broke the silence first.
“For your upcoming trip to the Kingdom of the Past, I’ll entrust Hagel to accompany you, but I won’t go down this time.”
“Viseliane still needs some time to recover her strength, and I can just take the opportunity to try to get in touch with and learn some magic under her guidance.”
“Oh? I thought my dear Dolores would come down with us. Are you comfortable with Mr. Grin and me being alone together?”
Alberke said playfully.
It was clear she had some vengeful thoughts about Dolores’s earlier teasing, since they were close friends.
But Dolores just shrugged helplessly and replied:
“I don’t have much strength besides magic items. Going down would just make me a burden. Besides, I’m a princess. With the situation stabilizing, I can’t just run around.”
“As for what you said, Alberke, I think my feelings for Mr. Grin aren’t as strong as yours. I’ve always thought you were the type to adapt well to a new identity. Your views on love must have changed accordingly, right?”
Dolores replied somewhat subtly. Only Alberke understood the meaning and reacted.
She was saying that Alberke had adapted well to her new loli body, which was true, since Alberke had transmigrated about six months earlier.
Of course not.
“You know, if we were to fall for Mr. Grin, that would be some ethical issues. I shouldn’t be crossing that hurdle.”
Alberke retorted, while thinking to herself, ‘How come Dolores suddenly seems completely uninterested in Grin? That’s really strange.’
Something out of the ordinary must be suspicious.
Originally, Grin’s attention, like Alberke’s, was still focused on Dolores’s abnormal reaction, wondering if she was pretending to be uninterested in him.
When he heard Alberke utter the word “ethics,” Grin’s over two-meter-tall body stiffened instantly like a steel plate.
Ethics, what ethics? Alberke said “we”… meaning Alberke and Dolores. So, what ethical issue?
What hurdle was there to cross?
In an instant, Grin thought through all his blood relatives. He could only think of his father, Goregg, who was alone guarding the Desert Outpost, and his mother, who had long since died.
He couldn’t have any relatives, let alone a sister or his father’s illegitimate daughter.
Father’s illegitimate daughter… really none?
Although he felt a bit ashamed for doubting his father for a moment, he remembered that the region behind Alberke in the system was Hemulst, not the Desert Outpost.
That eliminated it geographically.
As for Dolores, both her parents were still alive, no accidents.
No matter how hard Grin racked his brain, he couldn’t figure out what ethical relationship he could have with these two little girls.
“Ahem… Alberke, making jokes like this can make people misunderstand. Look, Mr. Grin is frozen stiff.”
Dolores coughed a few times and reminded Alberke to look at Grin, who had turned into a rigid stone pillar.
“Cough, I’m fine. So it was just a joke… right?”
Grin didn’t know where to put his hands. He thought to himself, ‘If it was just a joke, it’s really scary. You can’t make jokes like this.’
Grin had expected a quick, straightforward reply from the two, but he caught a glimpse of Alberke’s thoughtful expression, even if only for a moment.
Could Alberke really be his father’s illegitimate daughter? Was that why she helped him so unreservedly?
That didn’t make sense either. Wasn’t Alberke someone who had transmigrated from another world? How could she have a blood relationship with him?
If there was no blood relation, even if she was adopted or recognized, there wouldn’t be any ethical problem.
Why did Alberke pause to think?
No, if it was just a simple joke, why did Alberke actually look like she was thinking?
It was an absurd joke, but Alberke had always appeared reliable in front of Grin. Although she sometimes deliberately acted cute, her general behavior was consistent with being serious and rigorous.
“Hey!”
Alberke suddenly yelped as Dolores poked her in the side, then heard the other’s quiet reminder.
“Stop pretending to be deep in thought. Look at how scared Mr. Grin is.”
Hearing Dolores’s reminder, Alberke turned and saw Grin’s somewhat grim expression. She laughed a few times and explained:
“It was just a joke, Mr. Grin. We’re about to meet His Majesty the King, and Dolores and I wanted to lighten the mood a little to relax.”
“Don’t make this kind of joke again. It’s quite scary, Miss Alberke, and Miss Dolores.”
Grin wiped the sweat from his forehead, as if he had just survived a disaster.
It scared him so much that he even added the honorific “Miss” to Dolores.
Alberke laughed along. Although at first she had wanted to retort to Dolores, thinking about it carefully… both she and Dolores were sort of creators of Grin, albeit unilaterally.
Still… there was no need to overthink it.
Dolores might like him, but she herself wouldn’t.
The brief lively atmosphere dispelled some of Alberke’s fatigue. Soon, they arrived outside the door of Rock Hall.
The king was waiting for them inside.
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