NOVPUBAt the end of the second-floor hallway in the Boss Cat Restaurant.
The air was very quiet.
So quiet that one could almost hear the heartbeat.
The two members of the Great Demon Clan at the door couldn’t help but marvel.
The New King and the former princess really knew how to play, to have fun; they were continuing right before their eyes, and even more enthusiastically at that.
Huh, why were there two members of the Great Demon Clan?
Antanas and Sinola looked at each other and surveyed their surroundings.
How had Pranay already gotten to the staircase entrance over there?
Pranay, with a slight smile, raised her hand to greet Antanas and her sister, pointed at her watch, indicating that it was time for her to start the restaurant’s operations for the day.
"... Seriously, how can your brother always manage to duck out so elegantly?"
Antanas couldn’t help but whisper to Sinola.
Sinola shook her head.
She was now biting her finger, feeling so jealous that she could snap her teeth.
Although standing in Talia’s position in that room right now would make her wish she were dead, just fantasizing about having such perfect lines spoken to her by an incredibly handsome man would certainly make her cheeks flush and her heart race uncontrollably.
No, she might even faint.
While Antanas and Sinola whispered among themselves, time in Talia’s room seemed to be frozen, long fixated on Lanci and Talia’s mutual torment and anguish.
"..."
Talia covered her face with her hands, now gradually coming to her senses, her mind still replaying the absurd things she had just done.
When even Lanci could feel the social embarrassment, she felt even more like she couldn’t stay in this world.
Why did it always turn out like this whenever she was with Lanci?
The worst part wasn’t anything else.
It was that her room’s door was broken at the moment; she couldn’t even stay inside with the door closed if she wanted to.
"Uh..."
Hyperion looked around; something was off.
She was a step late this time, or perhaps her timing was just right.
Lanci and Talia both needed to calm down.
Or rather, they were just recovering from a frenzied state and were now rationally savoring the aftertaste; the more they felt each other’s presence, the more they felt they had done something irreversible.
Hyperion quietly moved and reached out to grab Lanci’s wrist, gently pulling him towards her bit by bit.
Until they had silently gotten much closer to the door.
"Lanci and I have something to do, we’ll be back to school for a bit, ha!"
Hyperion, certain she had a firm grip on Lanci, called out and then took off running with him.
Antanas looked at the room inside the door, then at the two figures who disappeared down the hallway.
Her suspicions had been confirmed.
There definitely were some problems between Talia and Lanci, Hyperion and Lanci!
It seemed that Talia and Hyperion were able to coexist peacefully on the surface, but the closer they became, the more twisted the eventual explosion of emotions would be!
And when everything was unveiled, Princess Isatia’s expression would be the most splendid to witness!
Antanas couldn’t help but clench her fists, praying in her heart that the New King would soon find Princess Isatia. Although Dayi was cruel to enemies, she was quite ingenuous with her own people and held great admiration for her sister, certainly having never witnessed such thrilling scenes.
After a long while.
"I’m going to help my brother."
Sinola coughed lightly, bringing Antanas back to her senses.
"Oh, right."
Antanas nodded.
She also realized that they had lingered at Talia’s door for too long and quickly nodded to Talia before turning to leave.
Just like that.
The empty room gradually was left with only Talia by herself. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
She lay down next to the armchair, as deflated as a punctured ball, collecting the fruit knife, picking up a book that had fallen to the floor, and walking over to the armchair listlessly to lie down.
Staring at the ceiling, she covered her face again, shaking her head left and right, twisting like a worm.
"Tata, you are so cute today too... So cute that I really want to eat you up instead of breakfast."
"What I want to say is, the way you look when you eat is so adorable that it intoxicates me. Before my memories begin to fade, I want to be with you like a lucid dream, forever by your side."
Those few sentences, like a curse, could not leave her mind and continued to echo in her ears.
How were those words even humanly possible to say!
What’s worse was that she had forced Lanci to say them.
She had even responded to each and every line of Lanci’s.
"Ahhh!!!"
Talia let out a stifled, wailing scream in a low voice.
She felt that if she stayed with Lanci any longer, she might go insane; it would have been better to have both exploded earlier!
Until the clock on the wall had made several turns.
Talia eventually returned to being her usual expressionless self, lying on the armchair.
"If only you had made me angry the first time we met, everything could have been settled once and for all."
She helplessly picked up a magazine from the campus desk near her hand.
It seemed like she could focus her mind, or maybe it was just that reading magazines and newspapers helped her disguise her still restless heart.
After a thought, she stuffed the "Holy War Romance" magazine underneath a stack of books, keeping it out of easy sight.
She had just settled down for a bit.
There was a knock at the door.
Since the door had already been knocked down, there was no choice but to knock on the door frame.
Talia looked over.
It was Antanas who had just broken the door, and she was now holding a toolbox, ready to repair it for her.
"I’m here to fix the door, sorry about that."
With practiced ease, Antanas brought out a set of stainless steel hinge bearings and matching hardened screws.
"Trouble you."
Talia sat in the armchair of her room, watching Antanas with mixed feelings.
She had never imagined that she would reunite with Antanas one day, and even more so that it would be Antanas fixing her door.
Watching Antanas work expertly on the door frame, Talia put down the magazine in her hands and walked over to the doorway.
"Let’s fix it together."
She squatted down on the ground and said to Antanas.
"But you’re a princess, how can I let you do such a thing?"
Antanas looked at Talia in surprise and asked.
"Not anymore."
Talia shook her head understandingly and picked up a screwdriver.
"...You really have changed a lot."
Antanas stared at Talia, lost in thought for a good while, before she spoke.
The Talia of the past would have been contemptuous towards most creatures, looking down on them, but now she seemed almost like a human commoner.
Most importantly, that sense of distance about her seemed to have vanished.
"By the way, what exactly is your relationship with Lanci?"
Antanas was incredibly curious about what Talia and the New King thought of each other and what stories had transpired between them.
Whenever she asked the New King, he would only smile, not giving her any opportunity for gossip.
She didn’t know if Talia would speak of it.
Antanas could hardly contain her curiosity.
"He and I are friends, I suppose."
Talia’s voice carried a hint of hesitation.
Initially, her relationship with Lanci was purely that of employer and employee.
Later, before he paid off his debts, she needed to protect him and ensure he paid what he owed.
Now, without considering those things Lanci brought that pleased her immensely, she found his company agreeable.
"Don’t you think he’s a special person?"
Antanas asked tentatively.
"..."
Talia remembered that Cat Boss had asked a similar question.
After a long silence and tightening two screws, she finally resumed speaking:
"To be honest, I don’t understand."
Even after living in the Hutton Kingdom for so long, Talia still hadn’t figured out the issue she had discussed previously with Cat Boss.
She knew that the "special" Antanas was referring to wasn’t the literal meaning of "unique," but rather referred to aspects of "love" and "companionship" in human concepts.
Previously, she had sought the answer and consulted with Cat Boss.
The answer she got was—this person always makes you happy, you’ll slowly find yourself unable to live without him, you start to care about and be curious about his thoughts, and you who were once calm will be easily swayed by emotions because of him.
Talia was confused and troubled about this for quite a while, it seemed like Cat Boss had hit the nail on the head with each point.
Back then, Lanci had brought her many desirable things, she herself couldn’t leave him because of the debt she owed, she wanted to understand the damn thoughts in his head, and sometimes she would get irate over his subtly mocking polite words and expressions.
It couldn’t be more accurate, yet she still couldn’t comprehend it fully.
But now.
Somehow.
It seemed a bit different.
"How should I interact with him next…"
Talia spoke full of confusion.
She should have thanked Lanci, but having again ended up in a situation with him that was anything but clear, she didn’t know what expression to face him with.
"The two of you did play quite wildly just now."
Antanas nodded and spoke candidly.
Boss Lan’s Great Love Poet was indeed horrendous; ordinarily, it might not have any effect, but when someone is extremely emotional, it can directly turn that person into the state of having drunk fake alcohol.
Especially in battle, once inside the Great Love Poet’s killing range, even Bishop Askesan of Annihilation would lose his wits.
Just now, not only had Talia become frenzied, but even Lanci himself wasn’t quite normal.
"..."
Talia turned her head away at once.
From another person’s perspective, her and Lanci’s morning had indeed been overly abstract.
"However, it can’t be helped. Until time smoothes over the awkwardness between you two, you’ll just have to interact like this for now. If it’s uncomfortable, keep your distance from each other as much as possible."
Antanas sighed.
Sometimes when something awkward happens between two people, the more you try to clarify things quickly or force an interaction, the deeper the divide becomes. In such situations, the best solution is to give each other some distance and space.
"Look on the bright side, you couldn’t possibly have anything more awkward happen. You can’t spend every day in the Cat Boss Restaurant sitting in jail together."
Antanas added as she lifted the door and attempted to align the hinges.
"That’s true."
Talia nodded.
Everything passes with time.
Indeed, it’s good to have friends around. Her mood was instantly much lighter, and she even felt a bit hungry.
