The Goddess of Time found it hard to understand why the situation had suddenly changed like this.
While watching the humans in confrontation over their treatment, she regretted coming down to the continent. But the topic took a turn to a different place.
“Wouldn’t it have been the end for Adriana if she had slipped away in the middle? That’s what I thought.”
“In relationships between people, a brief separation is a good seasoning. Elise, Daniel avoided you because you don’t understand that.”
Crack.
Elise twisted the corner of her lips. Normally, it was incredibly difficult to beat Elise in words, no matter how strong Adriana was.
It was hard for an ordinary witch to gain the upper hand in a debate with a capable princess handling a part of the government.
However, the one backed by action has the advantage in a debate.
Elise, who had been acting abnormally regarding Daniel McLean, could not lose in this subject.
“If the distance increases, the heart also drifts away, right? Daniel probably didn’t even know you existed.”
“Do you know that Daniel wears the ring I gave him like a necklace?”
Crack.
In fact, the reason Daniel wore it was not to remember Adriana but because it contained magic for traveling to the Forest of the Demon Realm.
However, Adriana intentionally concealed that information.
There was no need to reveal everything.
“Didn’t Daniel refuse all the gifts you gave?”
Elise pressed her lips together.
If you think about it, it was also because she gave Elise gifts that anyone would have rejected.
If she had given something useful like Adriana’s ring or something meaningful like Hayun’s bracelet, Daniel would have accepted it gratefully.
Every item Elise gave was things like collars, whips, candles, and used lingerie.
There was no way he would have accepted that.
“……”
Elise wanted to argue but couldn’t utter a word. It was all her own karma.
Then, another person joined the fray.
“I got a gift from my brother too.”
Sen proudly pulled out the pistol balester she had hidden behind her waist. Adriana and Elise shot sharp glares at her.
But Sen, who was already confident in being the winner, raised her nose and continued.
“Moreover, I’m a McLean. Is there anyone properly connected with their brother here? I’m family.”
“Hey, what’s with the audacity in front of family?” Sen joked. Adriana didn’t intend to hurt Sen’s feelings but definitely made one thing clear.
“You know sisters can’t marry, right?”
“……”
Sen’s mouth was instantly shut.
With a look of disbelief, she puffed her cheeks and replied.
“Blood is different. There’s no problem in getting married.”
“No, there is a problem.”
Elise jumped in immediately.
Before they knew it, it had turned into a 2:1 situation against the strong Sen.
“Even if you call her a step-sister, incest is a no-go.”
“I heard that it’s legally possible to marry since we’re not blood-related.”
Sen skillfully answered, having done some investigation, but Elise scoffed in response.
“Yes, until now. Just give me one year. I will reform the laws so that even non-blood-related siblings can’t marry.”
“Wow.”
The Goddess of Time watching couldn’t help but exclaim. It was a manipulation using the overwhelming position of a princess, albeit unsavory.
Changing the law entirely was bold.
“Don’t do that.”
Sen glared sharply at Elise. The trigger of the balester seemed like it could be pulled at any moment.
Having the upper hand, Elise shrugged and continued. Thanks to Sen intervening, she could point out another advantage.
“I’ve gotten kisses from my Master.”
“What?”
Both Sen and Adriana glared at Elise at the same time. Not to mention, even the Goddess of Time opened her eyes wide in attention.
The Daniel McLean she knew wasn’t that kind of person.
But there were no lies in Elise’s eyes.
Rather, she whispered as if savoring the situation at that time.
“Do you know the warmth of those lips? My Master, though rough in speech and action, had lips that were endlessly soft and warm.”
“Oh, there’s no way my brother would do that!”
“Right! You’re imagining things again, aren’t you?”
“No, he really did. It wasn’t on the lips but…”
Elise pointed to her palm and forehead while laughing.
“Here and here. He did it two times. Bertia will prove it.”
Bertia, who had been politely standing by with her sword sheathed, nodded slightly.
“That is correct. There are no lies.”
There was the time when she had been injured due to the Tudogs, and Daniel had healed her hand in the hospital room. And the time when he gave her a kiss on the forehead when she complained about her stomach hurting from May bragging about a fountain kiss.
When this was mentioned, both women glared at Elise irritably.
“Isn’t it because you were whining that he did that?”
“Right! Your brother’s the victim here!”
“Oh? If there were no feelings, could anyone act that way?”
That wasn’t entirely untrue.
Daniel McLean had shown his weak side to Elise often, but if he genuinely hated her, he wouldn’t have acted that way.
“Daniel…”
“Onii-chan, die already.”
The two were spitting his name disdainfully.
Elise, who had been on the defensive, shrugged her shoulders with a triumphant smile.
Crash!
The window in the room shattered, and the curtain was ripped apart. In came three women.
“Ow! You could have just called from the entrance! We’re friends of Elise!”
Eve peeked her face out from the curtain.
“Seriously, it’s just wasting time! Do you think meeting a princess is easy? It’s been ages since we last saw you.”
May chimed in beside her.
“Anyway, it’s better to be quick with the business; I like it.”
And lastly, standing elegantly without any trouble was Eris.
The people left in the room stared blankly at the sudden arrival of the three. Seeing them, May raised an eyebrow.
“What? Sen and Adriana are here too? What are you guys up to?”
“……We were in the middle of a discussion about brother.”
Sen felt no need to answer but responded instinctively to the sudden turn of events.
Looking at Sen, May smiled and shook her hand.
“Oh my, our young lady. I was going to greet you at some point.”
“What?”
It seemed that the discussion would continue a bit longer.
*
The room, once a torture chamber and personal space for the goddess, now needed to be renamed as the training room due to its changed purpose.
Working out with torture devices wasn’t efficient, so we primarily did regular calisthenics.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Groaning while doing push-ups, the Goddess of Death fell to the floor after the last one. Looking at her trembling arms, she made a sad face.
“I can’t do anymore! I feel like I’m going to die!”
“You can’t die.”
“That’s what I mean!”
The black dress she had worn at first had now transformed into simple, solid black workout clothes.
Having discovered the joy of moving her body, the Goddess of Death said it was nice to exercise occasionally.
However, as time held no meaning here, I coaxed her into exercising whenever I could, making her sweat alongside me.
But now she seemed to have grown weary of that, grumbling as she sprawled on the floor. She liked exercising and showering, but she wasn’t deeply into working out.
“Hmm.”
To be honest, I was also just working out to kill time, so I didn’t want to force her either, and I mumbled while sitting next to her.
“What did you usually do before?”
“Hmm?”
“Well, you must have been alone before I came.”
“I just stayed still.”
“……”
Her tone made it sound so natural.
But because of that, I felt her sincerity.
“I was buried in darkness, so all I had to do was sleep. I only occasionally looked at the continent to destroy it.”
“……Right.”
Having been alone all her life, she didn’t realize what she was missing. Realizing that, I pondered what we could do and then noticed the long candles and shackles with iron balls attached.
I quickly arranged the candles in a triangular formation. The goddess was watching me in confusion, and I told her from a distance with the iron ball in hand.
“This is a game where you roll this to knock those down. Let’s play together.”
“Ew, why would I do that?”
“Because you’re bored.”
I shrugged my shoulders, and the goddess shook her head.
“I don’t want to. It’s annoying.”
“Well, then shall we just keep exercising?”
“……That’s sneaky.”
The Goddess of Death came over, dragging her hair. The iron ball was quite heavy, but for the goddess who had been working out, rolling it wouldn’t be difficult.
“If you win, we stop exercising, and if I win, we keep going. How about that?”
“……Really? You won’t make me?”
“Yeah, really.”
Finally, determination began to shine in the goddess’s eyes. After saying I would show a demonstration first, I rolled the iron ball and knocked down all the candles.
Seeing that, the goddess shrugged and smiled.
“It looks easy.”
“Alright then, give it a try.”
Setting the candles back up was annoying, but the goddess proudly rolled the iron ball.
Thud!
The ball hit the wall far from the candles.
“……That’s a scam, right?”
“You’re just that awful.”
