Dinner passed in an oddly peaceful way.
That alone made it unsettling.
Evelina sat across from me, posture refined, movements elegant, as if nothing had happened upstairs. To anyone watching, she was once again the perfect D’Arclight heir. Cold, composed, untouchable.
But her foot brushed against mine beneath the table.
Once.
Then again.
I ignored it.
Not because I didn’t notice, hell, like I wouldn’t, because acknowledging it would only encourage her, and the last thing I needed was that.
My sanity wouldn’t be able to handle the teasing if it happened.
Miss Rose and the other servants kept their heads down, working in near silence. No one dared speak. The air itself felt... obedient.
"So," Evelina finally said, breaking the quiet. "Your parents are barely home, huh?"
"Yes."
No hesitation.
Her gaze flicked up instantly.
"You don’t mind? I heard that you were very close with them."
"Technically, yes."
I couldn’t really argue with that. The memories I inherited from the original Cael seemed happy. Decent, at the very least.
But even those memories weren’t enough to make me miss them; the sheer weight of my past life’s experiences overshadowed everything I’d inherited.
She took a sip of wine, eyes narrowing slightly as she studied me over the rim of the glass.
"You’re very casual despite the topic at hand."
"We all have to grow up someday."
"Oh?" A faint smile curved her lips. "You know, when I was memorizing the details of most of the enrolling students in the academy, I barely even batted an eye at you."
"I couldn’t blame you for doing so."
Her smile widened.
"Yet the moment we first met in the academy, it defied all explanations. You were skilled, powerful, confident, nothing I had heard about from other sources."
She set the glass down gently. "What caused the change?"
Her question was sincere, not calculated or investigative, but a simple, curious inquiry about the most unexpected person who had managed to capture her affection.
Even my servant’s ears twitched at the question; they were curious as well... I acted completely differently in the span of a day without any explanation.
"Random late-night motivation, ended up more productive than I thought it would be."
Evelina chuckled at my answer, her soft laughter making the rest of the servants tense up.
Making a D’Arclight laugh was enough to elevate your position in the nobility a hundredfold, and here I was, the young master they raised as a child, doing it without any problem.
They were both proud and a bit perplexed.
***
Later that night, after the servants had withdrawn and the estate had gone quiet, we stood on the balcony overlooking the courtyard.
We walked to burn off the calories from our freshly eaten meal and to gaze at the starry sky. For a city filled with industrial light, its sky still managed to preserve its beauty.
One perk of being a fantasy world, I guess...
"The moon’s beautiful, isn’t it?"
"I guess so..."
She replied bluntly, making me laugh. I should have guessed a phrase like that wasn’t present in this world.
And I definitely preferred it that way.
It gets annoying trying to figure out hidden meanings behind the most casual words possible.
Reminds me of the days I tried seducing former targets to take them out in secluded areas.
Never again...
"Wait..."
Evelina suddenly stood straight, narrowing her eyes over the distance.
"What is it?"
"Isn’t that... Julius and Lillian?
I looked in the direction she pointed, and she wasn’t wrong; they really were there.
What made it even more interesting was that their actions came directly from the novel itself.
’The murder of the plaza arc...’
A fairly important arc in the novel, in which Julius and Lillian get caught up in a murder mystery investigation, an arc that ends with Julius receiving a huge power-up.
It never even came to me that today was when it was supposed to happen, not like it mattered to me.
Besides, I needed him to get strong for future purposes.
"You know... change of plans for the night, let’s mess with them instead."
"Really...?"
"You sound disappointed."
"I’d be lying if I wasn’t."
Evelina chuckled, placing her thumb on my lip as she admired my small frustration.
"Don’t worry, that still isn’t off the table." She turned back to where she could see Julius and Lillian creeping around some alleys. "Besides, my fun was interrupted back in the tournament."
[Dark Step]
The ground below us suddenly started to morph, indicating the near completion of her teleportation.
"This could be good payback."
"I’ll do as you wish... but."
Evelina raised a brow, curious.
"I’ll do this as your equal."
This time, I was the one who kissed her first, perfectly timed. Just as a cloak of shadow wrapped around us, we vanished from the balcony and reappeared where the other two lovebirds were.
FWOOSH!
We reappeared on a rooftop a few streets away from them, and after the spell had disappeared, Evelina pushed me back with a surprised blush creeping across his features.
"You idiot... we’re already lovers, what do you mean equals?" Evelina laughed, surprised that I took the first move this time.
"I just wanted to say something dramatic."
"...Can’t blame you for that."
Evelina adjusted her skirt, the faint shimmer of the activated darkyte on her amulet fading as she peered over the edge of the rooftop.
Below us, Julius and Lillian moved cautiously through the narrow streets, their steps hesitant, their conversation hushed. They were trying to be subtle.
They weren’t.
"Still the same," Evelina muttered. "Too heroic for their own good."
"They wouldn’t be so annoyingly popular otherwise," I replied, crouching beside her. "Classic Prince Charming and her lover."
"You talk as if we’re both any better." Her lips curled into something amused.
"It’s because we are." I confidently replied.
The alley ahead of them was darker than the rest, unnaturally so. The torches flickered, shadows stretching in ways they shouldn’t. Even without knowing the novel, anyone with basic sense would’ve felt something was wrong.
Lillian hesitated.
Julius didn’t.
It was like watching a live-action adaptation of the Crown of Thorns, seeing Julius and Lillian recreate the events of the novel word by word.
Well... live adaptation would be an understatement...
I’m literally living in that world.
And now currently about to completely change the events of this storyline with the villainess of that same novel.