After chatting a bit more about other topics, Grin went downstairs to check on Viseliane’s condition, leaving Dolores alone on the balcony.
Dolores leaned slightly against the railing, the emotions in her emerald-green eyes gradually calming down.
She believed her handling of the situation had been quite good.
Much better than that flustered child from the beginning.
Wang Ye… Dolores… Her luck wouldn’t last forever. In the end, being able to receive Grin’s apology and die with a semblance of willingness was her greatest fortune.
Dolores couldn’t quite define her current state. She hadn’t lost her memory, nor had she forgotten anything. In fact, she now remembered many things she had nearly forgotten before.
If she had to say, she had simply become a bit more selfish and now had someone she clearly loved.
Fortune had already favored Dolores once; it wouldn’t keep favoring her.
She felt she shouldn’t have fallen for Grin, or at least, she shouldn’t have fallen for her based on such shallow experiences.
She felt that if she could no longer understand the struggles of the past, even considering her past self’s resistance foolish and stupid, then she was no longer herself.
It was precisely because she knew the system essentially reshaped one’s personality upon reaching [Unswerving] that she had resisted.
The current Dolores did indeed find her past self foolish and clearly understood how deeply her mindset was influenced by the system.
But she didn’t care. Her feelings had been reshaped the moment she reached [Unswerving]. When Hagel entered and Dolores said those words to Grin, she had already been prepared for this.
She was also aware that she possessed no special or new kind of luck.
With an anxious heart, she had left those self-deceiving words in her diary and recording.
She neither chose to throw them directly at Grin at the last moment nor chose to open the door for a second communication with Grin.
“Cowardly…”
Dolores clicked her tongue. Even though she remembered all her actions and the “motivations” behind them…
The current her could no longer empathize with them.
In fact, Dolores had still voluntarily swallowed the pill. And because the door was locked, she had bought herself time to clean up and cover her tracks.
The diary, the Brief Sobriety of the Starry Sky, were all put away by her. The memory crystal holding the recording only let Grin hear the meaningless first half.
Then.
Dolores picked up the pendant she hadn’t taken off. It was the one Alberke had given her, claiming wearing it could to some extent resist the system’s influence.
But now, it seemed to have failed.
Dolores remembered her first meeting with Alberke, that flustered appearance… it must have been an act from the very start.
After Grin appeared, the curious Alberke showed up as well, since the Second Play through story began from that point. During their first meeting, Alberke must have already noticed the anomalies on herself and Grin.
She likely attributed these, just like Dolores did, to Grin’s influence. Once that idea took root, it was hard to correct.
In reality, these changes beyond their expectations were the result of the combined influence of the three of them: Alberke, Grin, and herself.
If Grin’s system hadn’t directly revealed their Transmigrator identities due to its special nature, the misunderstandings between them would probably have lasted much longer.
Before all this, Xiao Huayu was Dolores’s closest friend, the person she most wanted to see.
But now… it was complicated. Now, Dolores felt she should treat everyone except Grin equally, yet she still cared a bit more about Viseliane and Xiao Huayu.
So.
The worst outcome that the former Dolores had imagined had ultimately come true.
The current Dolores not only found the past foolish but also considered that resistance meaningless.
And, most laughably, she had been soft-hearted enough to leave a buffer period for her own emergence to go unnoticed.
Dolores took the pendant given by Alberke from her chest. She looked at the blue gem pendant for a good while before putting it back.
She was certain that the item from that fool Alberke hadn’t performed its intended function.
So, she didn’t plan to discard these items, including the diaries and such. She just needed to keep them safe.
Just as she was thinking this, Dolores’s casual gaze into the distance caught a familiar figure—blonde hair, green eyes, petite. The moment she thought of Alberke, the other appeared before her eyes. She waved towards Alberke, then Dolores turned and headed downstairs.
She wanted to meet Alberke before Grin did, this dearest friend of hers.
—
Ten Minutes Earlier.
Grin, who had come down early, routinely checked on Viseliane’s condition. She was recovering well; the system-produced item was indeed trustworthy.
Grin stood by the dresser next to Viseliane’s bed, looking at the bloodstain Dolores had accidentally left on the floor, lost in thought.
“Mr. Grin, what are you thinking about?” Viseliane asked softly.
“Viseliane, were you conscious before you woke up? No… I mean, could you sense changes around you?”
After speaking, Grin felt his words were a complete logical mess and couldn’t help but smile wryly.
However, Viseliane picked up the conversation:
“You want to ask if I sensed anything unusual about Her Highness, correct?”
Grin fell silent. Viseliane could tell she had hit the mark just by looking.
“Mr. Grin, although I’m not very clear about the ‘techniques’ you and Her Highness speak of or the other information, I know you are the person Her Highness values most.”
“This was the case after you arrived, and it was also the case before you appeared.”
Viseliane said, narrowing her eyes slightly, and brought up some minor details Grin didn’t know:
“Mr. Grin, actually, Her Highness once had many suitors, some of them quite powerful. But I never let any of them get close to Her Highness.”
“Before you obtained the Symbol of the Dragon-Blooded Bather, I could always bully you… You could feel that, right?”
Grin didn’t refute it. It was the truth.
“Why don’t you try recalling more details from the past? You might gain some new insights. Like how I sometimes try to remember Her Highness’s smiling face when I’m feeling down.”
A slight smile appeared on Viseliane’s face. Grin suddenly paused, as if he had genuinely thought of something.
He lowered his head, searching around the room, and then, from a very hidden spot—so hidden even he felt it unbelievable—he retrieved a diary.
Viseliane spoke up:
“That’s the diary Her Highness wrote before meeting you. I never thought you’d find it.”
Grin opened the first page. It was filled with paragraphs of text, neat and block-like, but written in characters completely unfamiliar to Grin.
He couldn’t read it.
But the handwriting did indeed bear the shadow of Dolores… though it felt more like the Dolores from his memories, as there was no trace of childishness in it.
Suddenly, the sound of Dolores coming downstairs echoed from above. Grin instinctively hid the diary.
Viseliane whispered to him, “I’ll keep your secret, Mr. Grin.”
Dolores, who had come down, then curiously asked what they were doing. Grin said Viseliane was recovering very well and might even be able to get out of bed in a few hours. Then Dolores said she needed to go out for a bit. Grin was reluctant to let Dolores go out alone under such unclear circumstances.
But Dolores said the person she was meeting was Alberke.
She wanted to have a conversation between just the two of them, to confirm some things.
After Dolores left, Viseliane let out a long sigh and teased Grin:
“Feels like our Princess has grown up so much all of a sudden…”
Grin frowned inexplicably.
Grown up…?
Viseliane’s choice of words felt a bit strange.
Thanks for translating