[Dolores Affection Task: (Familiar)]
Task requirement: Complete the bet with Felz IV, and accomplish an acknowledged event (0/1)
Task reward: Unlock Dolores Affection [Trust] stage.
[Main Quest: The Kingdom of Suland of Days Past]
[Courage on Display (1): Completed]
[Mortals Under Dragon Calamity (2): In Progress]
Task requirement: Survive for 24 hours under the attack of Zuge the Dragon in the snowy mountains. Task rewards increase according to damage inflicted, reputation, and other factors.
Task reward: Dolores Affection +5–? (limited to Familiar stage), Dolores Affection +1–? (limited to Trust stage), Albek Affection 0–0 (limited to Familiar stage), Hilberu Affection +5–? (limited to Acquainted stage)
Special reward condition: Wound the snowy mountain dragon and bathe in Dragonblood.
Hint: Time remaining until dragon arrival: 7 hours 21 minutes.
…
[Side Quest: Trapped Beast in the Ruins Forest (Completed)]
[Side Quest: The Missing One in the Ruins Forest (Completed)]
[Side Quest: Her Highness the Princess in the Royal Garden (In Progress)]
[Side Quest: Good Morning, Miss Nun (In Progress)]
…
Dolores Special Quest (Locked): Requires character Affection to reach [Unspoken] stage, and completion of the character’s regional main quest [The Kingdom of Suland of Days Past] Stage Four.
Albek Special Quest (Locked): Requires character…
These were all the tasks the [System] had issued to Green: there were Affection tasks, Main quests, Side quests, and Character Special quests—four major categories in total.
The main quest [Courage on Display]—that is, the battle in the Royal Palace with the vice-captain—had been completed with exceptional results, and so Green had received a tool that could directly raise Dolores’s Affection to the required stage.
Each of the two quests in the Ruins Forest had brought Green five points’ worth of Dolores Affection items. Every move he made in the garden had been carefully premeditated.
The dragon was set to attack the capital today, which prompted Green to swiftly end his exploration of the Ruins Forest and hurry back to the capital.
The system had prompted that once Dolores’s Affection reached Familiar, the upgraded Affection task could be completed alongside the main quest; otherwise, he would be forced, just like in his previous life, to deal with the disasters step by step as commissioned.
That, at the fastest, would still take months to process. Clearly, Green lacked the patience for that.
Five daily words, five daily touches, plus the side quest Affection—just enough for Green to raise Dolores’s Affection to [Familiar].
What surprised Green was that the Hand Bracelet he had given as nothing more than a cheap way to catch Dolores’s attention seemed to have made her genuinely happy.
It wasn’t just the maids who knew—the bracelet wasn’t valuable, Green knew as well. It wasn’t a magic item, just worth the materials at best.
He hadn’t expected Dolores to keep it; throwing it away outright was within his expectations.
To a princess, it was no better than trash… Yet, at that moment, the system panel clearly stated that Dolores’s happiness increased her Affection, and after accepting it, she even showed a hint of a happy expression.
It felt just like the Dolores in Green’s memory, happy simply to receive a gift from him—so pure, so innocent.
Why did he suddenly have such a thought?
—He suddenly recalled the Dolores of the past.
Pausing as he left the Royal Palace, Green’s mind drifted back to Dolores’s reactions over the past few days—all so far from the gentle person in his memories of their first meeting.
He’d used the differences brought by his reincarnation to cover all of this up, convincing himself that the present Dolores would never treat him as she once had.
But in that moment, Dolores had shown an expression that matched the one in his memories.
At the time, Green had been too distracted by her sudden movements to notice.
But looking back now, reviewing the details, this little thing inexplicably clung to his thoughts, biting down relentlessly.
In a daze, Green seemed to see the Dolores from his previous life again. The girl in his memory still spoke with that gentle voice, telling him how much she liked his gift, how it was the first truly heartfelt gift she’d ever received.
“Expensive gifts? Others have given me plenty, but I know, I’m well aware they only do it because I’m a princess.”
“Green~ you’re different. I can tell you don’t like me just because I’m a princess. If you like me for my beauty, and so want to understand me, I wouldn’t mind at all~”
“Please don’t care about the value of the gift. I really like it, so to me, it’s the best, the most suitable gift.”
The white-haired girl spoke to Green in this way, clutching the cheap gift he’d given her as if it were the most precious treasure.
In his past life, Green had left the true treasures for the ones who sacrificed themselves, and at the appointed time, could only bring Dolores a gift that was far from dazzling.
But Dolores didn’t care whether it was expensive—only that it was from him.
It was this attitude in his past life that had won Green’s heart.
Green once thought that all these differences would one day wash away his memory of Dolores.
Was he still yearning for that “perfect” Dolores?
That gift, this time…
At first, Green had only wanted something to attract Dolores’s attention, using the pretext of a gift at just the right moment.
That kind of romantic scene, that gentle Dolores from his previous life, could never appear again now that he had gone off-script in this life.
He knew that, in this life, Dolores saw him as no different from all those frivolous suitors. The same cheap gift, yet this time even given with a selfish motive.
This life’s Dolores hadn’t experienced all those things with Green—those wonderful memories that should have been sealed away in the past, leaving only hatred in the present.
“As for this gift… I’ll accept it. After all, it’s a token of your sincerity, isn’t it?”
Dolores’s words from not long ago echoed in Green’s mind. The image of her putting on the bracelet replayed before his eyes.
She seemed to have cried—was it because she was too happy? Was it for receiving his gift…
But he…
“Damn it! Damn it, damn it!” Green suddenly grew irritable, slapping his arm against the nearby wall and shouting in anger.
“She’s treated you like that, and you’re still remembering her kindness! Green! Are you pathetic or what!”
“She always said you could rely on her, that you could trust her completely! That she would be your harbor… but have you forgotten what she did?!”
“She’s no different from those traitors who betrayed you—she just stayed with you longer… Are you still going to make excuses for her?!”
Green shouted loudly, venting as if he couldn’t stand his own sentimentality.
That felt like weakness, like a denial of everything he was doing now.
If he still wanted to be like his past self, then why not just continue down the same path with Dolores? He already knew what the future held.
But he had chosen to use the [System], to use the power that belonged to the [Demon].
Even if he wanted to regret it halfway, could he shamelessly confess to Dolores what he had done to her? He had already used the [System] and [Affection]—forces that bordered on the evil—on her.
Absolutely, absolutely no one would tolerate having their will manipulated. No one could forgive such an act.
Not even Dolores.
Green had no path of return.
He wiped away his tears, steeling his resolve.
He and Dolores would never return to what they were in their past life.
No matter how many images of that perfect “Dolores” crowded his mind, they were all in the irretrievable past.
Unconsciously, Green found himself at Golden Square.
In the distance, a carriage passed by. A girl inside lifted the curtain to gaze out in curiosity. Green reflexively activated magic to reduce his presence.
He saw Dolores’s face.
Instinctively, he walked toward her, but the carriage drove away, leaving him behind. Dolores’s figure naturally vanished from his sight.
It was as if Dolores had completely disappeared from his world.