“It’s me who should be responsible for Emil! So, if anyone is getting married, it’s me marrying Lady Emil!”
The thought blurted out because she didn’t want the powerful yet fragile Emil to be hurt, and because her own heart was in turmoil.
The golden light, filtered through the leaves, gathered once again in those beautiful azure eyes. All the scattered confidence returned to their beautiful owner.
“Then do you have the resolve? The resolve to make me fall for you completely, the resolve to make me willing to marry you?”
Erika suppressed the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. Don’t think she didn’t know that this big girl had already fallen for her long ago.
Just as she said, Emil was a member of the Liones family — a family famous across the continent for their bravery — and she was the eldest daughter. She wasn’t the kind of person who would cross a line and decide her entire life on a whim, nor would she ruin her fundamental principles on an impulse.
Erika had thought she was just an arrogant little delinquent, but she hadn’t expected her to be so surprisingly serious about such matters.
‘So, if I agree, I’ll have one more girlfriend…’
“…” At Emil’s urging, the girl quietly rolled her eyes.
Her gaze swept over Emil’s partially exposed chest, her slender thighs, the shapely calves revealed beneath her slightly raised hem, and those blood-red lips that she found difficult to hate.
‘That’s right… I, Erika, am only doing this to tame Emil. I won’t let her tie me down…’
‘Everything is a temporary measure, just the mission to restore my family… right…?’
“Haah, haah…” Emil’s breathing was ragged, as anxious as if she had left soup boiling on the stove. Even so, Emil waited patiently for an answer — for whether she was truly prepared.
Looking at the Emil before her, Erika gave her a sweet smile, her eyes curving like crescent moons. That scenery, as exquisite as the first light of spring, caused Emil to daze for a moment, but it also settled her heart. Everything was understood without a word.
‘Having another girlfriend isn’t bad… No, not a girlfriend, she’s the first pawn to seize the Liones family!’
‘Even if feelings are involved, that big girl is definitely feeling them more than me!’
‘Wait a minute, did I miss something before this?’
Ah…
A problem seemed to appear before her.
The answer of “yes” or “no” was already unspoken, but no matter which path she chose to reach the end, it would trigger massive changes.
As Erika fell back into deep thought, Emil spoke up. “If you become a member of the Liones family, you might sometimes have to oppose Evelyn. You might even need to make an enemy of the whole world, because that is how we have always lived.”
Indeed, the Liones family was a group that would never serve under anyone else; they were lions.
Precisely because of this, they were also the first to bare their fangs at Demon King Noel. It was said that they were the first to rise up in resistance, and it was the courage of the Liones family that inspired one uprising after another across the land.
In the novel’s story, the biggest reason Queen Evelyn reached her ruinous end was that from the moment a rift formed between her and Emil, everything stepped onto an irreversible path of corruption.
From a certain perspective, Emil and her Liones family might become her — Erika Angelina Noel’s — most powerful and dangerous enemies…
But if she could get them on her side, making them her allies or even subordinates, they would undoubtedly be her most solid support.
But how much of this was sincere, and how much was just the rush of a first love?
To test Emil’s true intentions, Erika decided to throw out a small probe.
“But even if I have the resolve… I am, after all, just a lowly former slave. I might not be strong or powerful enough for Lady Emil to lean on. That’s why you refused to accept me before, wasn’t it…? Is just having resolve enough?”
“That’s right. You were a slave, and you are physically fragile and can’t handle much strain. But if you have the courage to face the storms with me, I can make you a member of the Liones family — my wife.”
Having said that, she added another sentence, her gaze seeming to pierce through Erika’s chest to her very heart. “Or I can become your wife. It all depends on your ability!”
“…”
“I can also make you stronger. Trust me.” Emil’s tone carried a sincerity born from opening her heart for the first time, but Erika already knew the answer behind everything.
She was of Demon King Noel’s blood; she could never truly become a member of the Liones family.
However, there was only one answer she could give now — “Yes.”
To survive, and to ensure she didn’t end up in a mutually destructive situation with either side that would lead herself or them to a ruinous end, she could only agree and then navigate between them.
‘Can I really do this? Can I achieve an ending where everyone is happy…?’
‘No! Not just that. For the family’s revenge and revitalization… I’ll make the Liones family a tool for nurturing the Noel family’s seedlings. Won’t it be more interesting if they defect completely?’
Erika felt the Fairy Blood in her body boiling slightly, even affecting her thoughts. ‘Was I always this evil?’
“It’s… my honor, Lady Emil. No, Miss Emil.”
“Ugh, al-alright, I understand your feelings.”
Emil showed a bashful expression that was unimaginable for her, looking just like a blonde tsundere loser character who had been defeated. Her eyes were also filled with extreme tenderness.
But that was only fleeting. As if it were an illusion, she regained her usual posture. “…Then, tomorrow morning, I’ll wait for you in the dormitory lobby. There… there might be a reward.”
*Click-clack, click-clack-clack!*
Emil quickly sprinted back toward the banquet hall. Her high heels made a rapid clicking sound, almost breaking the sound barrier.
“Wait.”
Suddenly, there was a slight itch at her tailbone, just above her buttocks. She touched it through her dress but felt nothing.
Just as Erika was feeling puzzled, text suddenly jumped out before her eyes.
—
[Status Window]
Name: Erika Angelina Noel
Level: 24
Class:
Half-Fairy: Level 2
Alluring Enchantress: Level 10
Performer: Level 8
Trainer: Level 3
Mage: Level 1
Talents: [Alluring All Beings], [Calm Thinking], [Eyes], [Fairy’s Touch]
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Description:
You are the sole survivor of a fallen family. You must evade the enemies who seek to completely destroy your lineage and successfully restore your family in the future. Fortunately, you are full of passion for rebuilding your family.
—
Eh? [Fairy’s Touch]? What is this?
Left behind in these desolate ruins, Erika felt the cold wind brush against her face and couldn’t help but feel a bit panicked. Then, she clicked on the new talent description…
‘What, what! This new talent…!’