Lily quickly snatched the necklace from Leo's hand and examined it herself. As her fingers traced the gem, the air around her had suddenly turned colder.

"These cracks… they weren't here before," she muttered, her voice low.

Her eyes darkened.

"Those girls—!" Anger flared within her, sharp and sudden.

Before she could snap, Leo calmly placed a hand on her shoulder, grounding her.

"Don't worry," he said evenly. "They didn't harm us. At most, they only managed to get a little information."

Lily turned to him, her brows furrowing. "Leo, don't tell me you actually fell for their charm."

Now, in hindsight, all that cuteness felt twisted—no longer endearing, but deceptive, almost ugly.

"No, what do you take me for? There is only you for me." Leo replied without hesitation. "I suspected something was off from the beginning, so I played along."

"How?"

"Well, first, she bumped into me, which should have been a mistake", he said. "Then later claimed they approached us because we were freshmen. Someone planning to ask for help wouldn't intentionally collide with the person they need."

He continued, his voice steady.

"Second, those frog beasts. Do you really think they should've been held back by them? Most of those beasts were peak 1-star, with only one bulkier one barely at low 2-star strength. If they truly couldn't handle that, how did they reach the 800s on the leaderboard?"

He glanced at Miho.

"Even Miho, ranked 994, can easily kill a low 2-star beast. You really think three people couldn't even escape?"

Lily paused, thinking it through. The more she reflected, the clearer it became—there had been many inconsistencies. She had simply overlooked them, assuming innocence, weakness, and they needed help.

"…Wait," Lily said slowly, her eyes widening. "Did they somehow influence me too? Is that why I thought they were innocent?"

"They might have," Leo replied. "Since direct attacks didn't work on you, they probably did something subtle that didn't register as an attack. Or maybe something else entirely. I'm not sure."

Beside them, Miho shivered.

"M-master…" she said softly, her eyes watering. "I'm sorry if I disclosed something…"

Lily immediately stepped forward and gently patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said reassuringly. "We didn't reveal much. And in that brief moment, Mira spoke with you; you wouldn't have had time to say anything important. It's alright, okay?"

Leo laughed to ease the tension.

"They don't even know my name yet."

Miho nodded, wiping her eyes.

Lily then turned back to Leo. "So… what do we do now?"

"Now?" Leo shrugged lightly. "Nothing. We continue as planned. We head back to Aurelius Hall."

He smiled faintly.

"They said they wanted to join our territory once it's formed. Let them come. I suppose you can handle things personally then."

A dangerous glint flashed through Lily's eyes.

"Yes…" she said softly. "Leave them to me. I need to have a nice talk with them. They damaged a precious gift given by you."

Her lips curved slightly.

"Now that I think about it, I was right—they were indeed trying to seduce you. I really need to have a very nice talk."

As Lily spoke, Leo felt a sudden, inexplicable chill.

A bad premonition crept up his spine—one that wasn't meant for him.

---

"Aaachoo!"

Aina sneezed loudly, rubbing her nose.

"Did I really catch a cold?"

"Aina," Sylva asked casually as they walked through the forest, gathering her attention, "what do you think about them?"

"Hmph," Mira scoffed. "That man is clearly clinging to Miss Lily for her strength."

"I talked to Miho last night," she continued. "She said his beast doesn't even obey him. He's weak."

"Yeah," Aina chimed in.

"Didn't you see how easily Miss Lily flung him away? That punch was so weak it didn't even hurt him—yet he was sent flying."

"If there's one thing I'll praise him for," Sylva said lazily, "it's controlling his urges."

"Yes," Aina nodded. "He didn't even glance at us properly, not back there or even in Aurelius Hall. I tried so hard, but he just backed away."

"Hmph, just acting in front of Miss Lily, a coward" Mira sneered. "I bet if we catch him alone, he won't hesitate for a second before touching us."

"Well," Sylva said proudly, "no human can resist elven allure—even when we're disguised as humans. We're the top beauties among them."

"But don't you think Miss Lily is very pretty?" Aina said thoughtfully. "Her appearance might even overshadow some of the top beauties in our Empire."

"That's only natural," Sylva replied. "She has high elven blood. And it confirms she's a descendant of our princess who was kidnapped centuries ago."

All three nodded in agreement.

Then Mira spoke again.

"What do you think Miss Lily's strength is? Yesterday, I tried my mental interference technique, and it backfired horribly. I tried controlling her subtly, but I still ended up clutching my head in pain. Thankfully, she didn't suspect anything—she thought it was just the cold."

"It must be very high," Aina said. "Even my subtle influence was blocked. In the end, I had to amplify my charm just to make them follow."

"Our individual attacks can affect someone up to mid-3-star," Sylva added. "And combined, even a pseudo–4-star is possible. Since we didn't use a combined attack on Miss Lily, we can safely say she's at least 3-star. Didn't you see that ten-meter fortress like a treant? Our arrows wouldn't even scratch it."

"Mhm," they nodded. "Worthy of being our princess's descendant."

"But then why was that man able to resist our attacks so well?" Mira frowned. "Only when all three of us targeted him did he feel slightly drowsy. Is he pseudo–4-star?"

"Don't joke," Aina scoffed. "He must have equipment blocking our attacks. Miss Lily probably bought it for him."

Mira nodded eagerly.

"A man whose beast doesn't even obey him, yet he resists our interference? Impossible. I bet even that beast was tamed with Miss Lily's help. He only captured it after it was weakened. Miho did say it was strong, big, and scary."

"Yeah, that must be it," Aina agreed. "By the way… don't you feel like the name Lily sounds familiar?"

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