After leaving the Rock Hall, Alberke’s whole body nearly went limp.
As soon as they came out, she wanted to pinch Dolores’s face.
She questioned angrily, “Dolores, you knew the content but didn’t tell us in advance!”
“Since you already talked it over with His Majesty the King, you could have at least mentioned my existence. I was almost scared to death.”
Actually, that was the real reason for Alberke’s anger. Yes, they were somewhat prepared, but meeting a high-ranking person with such imposing pressure for the first time in another world still brought Alberke a lot of stress.
Alberke wasn’t like Dolores, who was the King’s own daughter. When His Majesty the King examined her, she felt like her hair was standing on end.
“Well, I wanted to give you a surprise. I’ve always been curious whether our rational and calm Miss Alberke would tremble when meeting His Majesty the King.” Dolores smiled.
“That’s not funny at all.” Alberke puffed out her cheeks.
Maybe misjudging the reason for the King’s audience had some effect on her, but as a good friend, Alberke would take the chance to tease Dolores a few words.
She had originally thought the King’s summons was about the failure of the Eastern Expedition, making them act as a fire brigade. She expected tasks like cleaning up monsters.
But she didn’t expect it to be a more dangerous mission in the Underground, which coincidentally matched Grin’s main quest perfectly.
“Grin, how’s the map?” Alberke turned to ask Grin, who was looking at the map.
After the conversation ended, the King gave Grin the promised part of the map. But even after a rough glance, Grin couldn’t see any reason why it couldn’t be seen by others.
Was it just that Felts IV was very cautious?
Grin handed the map to Alberke and said, “I didn’t see anything special, but maybe you can find some issues. It doesn’t seem to have anything unusual, just some crystal positions marked.”
“Let me see.” Alberke took the map and spotted the problem at first glance.
“What can’t be seen by people with ill intentions should be the information behind this crystal layout, to prevent it from being used to infiltrate or tamper with the Sealing Array. It’s indeed something that needs to be kept secret.”
“As for the map part… hmm, although many sections are missing, a lot of places match my memory. It can help us avoid some detours.”
“Let me see too!” Dolores suddenly pressed against Alberke, reaching for the map. Alberke let go, and the map fell into her hands.
The map easily landed in Dolores’s hands. After she looked at it for a while, Alberke teased, “Can you understand it, my dear Dolores?”
Alberke’s voice was pleasant and melodious, but the content sounded a bit mischievous.
Even Grin noticed that in Alberke’s interactions with Dolores, whenever Alberke wanted to tease or prank Dolores, she would add a little emphasis before her name.
Something like “dear Dolores” or “my dear Dolores.” This had started after they recognized each other’s identities in this world. It was clear that the two had been very close friends before.
Otherwise, in their original relationship, Alberke still held considerable respect for Dolores as a princess. But now… it was hard to say.
“I don’t understand, but Viseliane can!” Dolores said.
After a round, the map ended up in Viseliane’s hands. Viseliane looked at it for a while and then returned it to Alberke.
“My expertise is not in arrays, but I can see that the crystals marked on this map and their connection points point to some kind of symbol. The meaning behind the symbol is what cannot be discovered.”
Alberke nodded, indicating that she was correct. When they were almost at Dolores’s bedchamber, Alberke still asked Dolores a few questions in confusion:
“So, Dolores, you really don’t plan to go down with us?”
While asking, Alberke was observing Dolores’s expression, hoping to see something on her face.
But this time, Dolores disappointed Alberke.
Dolores just shook her head.
“Haven’t I already said why? If I had an ability like yours, I would definitely risk going down for my curiosity. But unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of ability.”
‘I think that normally, even if you had such ability, you would absolutely not go down because of the danger, unless it involves something or someone you care about deeply.’
Alberke thought silently in her heart.
But in the current situation of Ulgrich, how many dangerous treasure hunts are there that don’t involve others?
“By the way, Hagel should be at the Royal Hospital now. You can go find him before you set out. Hilberu should be there too. You can expand your team anytime.” Dolores reminded considerately, and then said she was going back to rest.
She left surprisingly decisively, leaving the other two looking at each other.
“It feels a bit strange,” Alberke said in confusion.
“Isn’t it like what Dolores would normally do?” Grin asked.
“It is like her, but being too much like her is what makes me suspicious. Still, she’s right. Our next step is to go find Hagel and Hilberu.” Alberke put her hand down.
The two headed toward the hospital.
—
Inside the bedchamber, a similar confusion spread in Viseliane’s mind.
The Princess seemed to have become completely indifferent to Mr. Grin. That was a strange signal.
After meeting Mr. Grin, the Princess’s attitude toward him had visibly softened or become ambiguous.
Viseliane believed that after confessing to her, Grin would stop using those techniques. After all, if he intended to use them on someone, he wouldn’t have revealed them, let alone confessed to someone close to the target.
‘Could the Princess have truly broken free from the influence of that technique?’
While Viseliane was thinking unnoticed, Dolores suddenly spoke up and proposed a surprising destination:
“Viseliane, prepare a carriage. We’re going to the Royal Library.”
Viseliane nodded, but as she went out to give orders, she pondered Dolores’s intentions.
This thinking continued until they got into the carriage. After arriving and getting off, Dolores finally explained the purpose of coming here to Viseliane.
“Viseliane, I want to learn magic. Can you be my teacher?”
Viseliane nodded, but asked in confusion, “No problem, but why does the Princess want to learn magic?”
Dolores lowered her head, recalling the scene of Grin and Alberke together, and subconsciously placed her hand on her chest.
“No particular reason. I just think magic would be really powerful if I learned it, and I have some talent in this area.”
“Just… a whim. But I think I can study it seriously.”
‘Without power, there are many things I cannot do. Even staying by his side will be difficult.’
‘Sticking to him like a vase won’t earn his favor. It will only invite disgust, wariness, and suspicion.’
‘This is not what Dolores wants. Knowing it’s a wrong path, she can’t blind herself and walk toward the cliff.’
‘She doesn’t know whether what she’s doing is right for herself.’
‘It’s more like what a Dolores unaffected by the System would do—not caring about Grin, not feeling pain from other women being by his side.’
‘But.’
‘She does. She feels a bit uncomfortable when other women are near him.’
‘Even when it’s Alberke by his side, the current Dolores still feels uncomfortable, but has to pretend not to care.’
‘One troubling thing after another, yet she doesn’t even have the option to tear off her disguise.’
‘A Dolores completely in love with “Grin” due to the System’s influence is something Grin would not accept.’
‘He would definitely seek to wake up the real “Dolores” rather than let this personality that seems not of her own will remain.’
‘Even Alberke, her former close friend, probably wouldn’t want her good friend “Wang Ye” to be trapped under the System’s influence, right?’
‘Even Viseliane probably wouldn’t accept her Princess acting like a completely different person.’
‘So, from the beginning, she has had no chance to reveal herself. There is no one by her side who hopes for her continued existence.’
‘But that’s normal. She is, after all, an existence created by abnormal means.’
‘If Grin hadn’t awakened, then this version of Dolores would undoubtedly have been accepted by him.’
‘But the current Grin is a very kind Hero.’
“Princess… Princess?” Viseliane’s call brought Dolores back to her thoughts.
When she looked again, Viseliane had already brought some magic books.
Dolores placed her hand on the magic books, and her panicked heart gradually regained some calm.
But.
No matter what, having power always brings peace of mind.
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