Maria looked surprised at Justinian's question, unsure how to reply as she struggled to comprehend his assumption about her current relationship status.

"Julius is a good man and all, but I just don't see myself dating someone so idealistic like that."

Maria answered, which in turn made Justinian cough out even more. It got so bad that Justinian had to use his system to intervene to help him recover.

"I apologise for my manners..."

Justinian took a deep breath as he was finally able to breathe correctly.

But the biggest problem was... what in the world was Maria saying!?

She was supposed to fall in love with Julius for that reason! She loved how he was so idealistic and noble in a world full of scheming; that was the entire logic behind their relationship...

So... why now!?

Unless...?

Justinian thought about what happened at the ball, and to the system quest that was given to him...

Did... did he make too strong an impression on her?

'I've screwed up now, haven't I?'

Justinian pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to reason his way out of his current predicament.

Could Julius still be capable of handling future threats to arrive without Maria's support? What about the overpowered antagonists that only he could handle!?

Was that still viable?

'I either have to play matchmaker... or have to train Julius myself...'

Justinian thought, but then snapped out of it the moment Cassia flicked his forehead, making him wince in pain.

"What...?"

"I think you're overreacting more than I..." Cassia chuckled, surprised but amused at Justinian's overthinking.

To her, he was probably just thinking about something unimportant, not the literal derailment of destiny.

Nonetheless, Cassia's reassurance still helped; maybe he was overthinking things, they were still destined lovers after all... maybe in this timeline, they were more of a slow burn.

It didn't mean that Justinian had just given himself more work than needed due to accidentally switching the heroine's taste in men to suit him.

"You two relax!" Maria had two hands raised as if in a sign of peace. "Even I'm not crazy enough to steal someone's fiancé."

She said... but her eyes said something different; her pupils landed on Justinian for a second longer than necessary.

It was obvious to Justinian that Maria had just had hundreds of plans completely crumble due to this sudden development.

Maria laughed softly, brushing a golden strand behind her ear, trying, and failing, to hide the look of quiet calculation in her eyes.

"Don't take my jokes too seriously, please?" She clasped her hands together, trying to play it cool, but it was clear her joke didn't land in the way she had expected it to.

"Wish granted..."

Justinian took a sip of coffee, clearly still flustered by everything, but his new train of thought helped him calm down.

***

As soon as they finished their meal, they immediately left the establishment; their combined presence alone had already made a commotion on the second floor, with nobles, merchants, and every high-ranking person alike looking at them.

Like falcons waiting to swoop in for any juicy information they would accidentally leak.

"Was that really all your recipes!?" Maria walked out with a delighted smile, clearly happy with the food.

"Done by yours truly."

Maria's eyes sparkled at his admission, quickly heading to Cassia and whispering something in her ear that flustered her.

Cassia quickly straightened up, clearing her throat.

"Princess, that is not— You shouldn't—"

"Oh? That reaction tells me I was right," Maria grinned, thoroughly entertained.

Justinian raised a brow. "Should I be concerned?"

"No," Cassia said quickly.

"Yes," Maria said at the same time.

They both looked at each other.

Silence.

Then Maria laughed first, softly, gracefully, like someone who knew exactly what she was doing.

"I was simply saying… a man who can build duchies, military systems, curricula, and businesses, should also be a dangerous man in other aspects."

Cassia elbowed her.

Justinian once again spat out in shock, sure he was quite literally probably a hundred years old in total now, when adding his current age to his past age.

But the sheer shock of having Maria tell flirty jokes was still enough to catch him off guard despite his experience.

Because while the novel itself was romantic, it also thrived on raunchy jokes.

***

Once the date had come to a close, with Cassia changing in her room and Maria staying in one of the palace's guest rooms for her 'vacation', Justinian was left alone once more, but this time.

With a more scheming look on his face.

'I tried to act relaxed... but it's still terrifying.'

In the novel, Julius had to eventually fight demons themselves, and the only reason why he won was literally due to the power of love, and Justinian had hoped that was still the case.

But he couldn't just wait and see if his theory about destiny was correct.

'Cassia is strong... probably as strong as Julius in the later parts... but still.'

Justinian bit a nail.

'And I'm just a fake arcanist...'

[False Divine]

Justinian wasn't out of prestige; in fact, he had an overabundance of it; he's system also responded to good ruling, and with how much Snowkeep had improved over the past weeks.

He was quite literally swimming in it, his reputation no longer being contained to a simple duchy but throughout the entire kingdom itself.

'I guess it's time to make lies into reality.'

There wasn't exactly an option in the shop to become an arcanist, and even if it did, it would likely cost a million prestige that even Justinian couldn't have.

But there was exactly another good alternative.

Divine Blood: 50,000 Prestige

It sounded like a path to being an arcanist, but Justinian couldn't take that risk; it wasn't exactly specific, and while he loved vagueness with the system, due to its having unprecedented benefits.

It also has a case of disappointing him.

And what better to circumvent that than to literally bless the purchase?

It definitely worked when he did the divine construction.

'This leaves me at 6,356 prestige...'

Justinian sighed; that meant he was back to nearly nothing, but he had no choice; he needed to be careful.

His miracle this time? to enhance the divine blood purchase by as much as his miracle would allow.

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