Frost

Ain didn't even know how he had managed to coax Lillian.

With nothing but a promise of “I'll explain everything tonight,” Lillian had pouted slightly, put on a show of not wanting to see him, and turned to walk back into the estate.

【Negative Effects: Mana Leakage, Mental Exhaustion, Divine Backlash】

Likely due to overloading his magic earlier today, the other two negative effects still hadn't faded.

【Mental Exhaustion】

【Effect: Sluggish thinking, cognitive processing speed reduced by 50%; skill cooldown times increased by 100%; mental energy consumption for spellcasting doubled】

【Duration: Six hours】

【Divine Backlash】

【Effect: All attributes forced down by 30%; unable to construct any high-level magic circuits; if forced, continuously deducts 1% of maximum HP per second】

“I want to sleep so badly...”

...

At the dining table, the maids brought out one sumptuous and mouth-watering dish after another.

Ain couldn't help but swallow his saliva, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Having not eaten all day, he was practically starving to death by now.

“My Lord, Madam, to lay out such a lavish and exquisite banquet today! I am truly grateful! Thank you so much!”

Ain couldn't wait to dig in.

“Hmm? Isn't that Morningblue Ink Herb? Preparing such a grand feast, you're not about to announce some great, joyous occasion, are you? Ahaha...”

“Ha...”

After Ain spoke, intending to liven up the atmosphere, the entire room fell into a dead silence.

Erylin sat at the table with her head hung low, and Orion no longer glared at Ain with his usual fierce gaze.

Ain stood there blankly, completely clueless as to what was going on.

Did I... say something wrong?

Ain felt like his brain was overloading. With his mental energy exhausted, he was already struggling to control his words and actions.

Rather, he was simply blurting out whatever popped into his head without running it through his brain first.

Adela also shot a complicated look at Ain before quickly putting on her standard welcoming smile, gesturing for him to take a seat.

Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut from now on...

Ain instinctively wanted to ask Lillian, but she merely gave a soft huff and ignored him.

How am I the only one kept in the dark here!

“Ain, did you know that... Miss Imeve from before?”

Seeing Adela address him, Ain instinctively replied, “I guess... you could say that...”

He decided to spin a quick lie first.

Putting aside whether Sevis had actually told Imeve that Ain was the one who saved her,

even if he had, Ain had only happened to rescue her and carry her on his back for a short distance.

And yet, this Imeve was already offering herself in marriage?

Ain had originally planned to use Sevis's appearance to flirt with her a few more times, but he couldn't find her at the academy at all.

I haven't even started courting her yet!

Even a galgame doesn't let you farm favorability this easily!

Ain could only come to one conclusion.

This wedding likely had some unspeakable secret behind it.

And in all probability, it was Sevis's own doing.

So was this why the Boss asked him to come to the south with him that day?

The effects of his Mental Exhaustion left Ain completely unable to think straight.

“Then when do you plan to attend that wedding?”

“Looking at the invitation... it seems you two have known each other for a long time?”

Adela had already noticed Ain's odd behavior earlier.

Thus, while she appeared to be merely asking, she had already formulated her own little plan.

From her perspective, Ain seemed completely in the dark and even surprised.

Why would the Xavier family keep the groom-to-be in the dark about such a major wedding?

Drawing on her years of experience, Adela deduced that Ain was actually not familiar with Imeve at all.

That made things much easier!

As long as Ain showed even the slightest indifference toward Imeve or had no plans for the wedding—even if he just shook his head—she would immediately break the news of his engagement to Erylin.

She believed Ain would prefer to be with a girl he was familiar with.

After all, if they weren't close to a certain degree, how could Erylin just bring a boy home out of the blue?

Just as Adela felt victory was within her grasp, she never expected Ain's response to be...

“Yeah, I'll probably go.”

Ain had his own plans.

Under normal circumstances, he would have definitely rejected this wedding and flatly stated that he didn't even know Imeve.

But since this was Sevis's arrangement, going so far as to publicize Imeve's wedding announcement on such a large scale...

perhaps they just needed someone to act as Imeve's groom to shut up outsiders?

As for the specific reason, Ain had no idea.

The Boss must have his own deep reasons for doing this!

In that case, he might as well help out.

But Boss...

when I go find you in a few days, if you can't explain this clearly to me...

then I'm really going to have to teach you a lesson!

I might not be able to beat you in Act Five, but do you think I can't beat you now?

Shoving all kinds of troublesome matters onto me!

Who even wants to get married!

Hearing Ain's answer, Adela was also momentarily stunned.

Did I guess wrong?

This also made Orion, sitting at the head of the table, feel a bit indignant.

Is my daughter that bad?

Unlike Adela, Orion didn't beat around the bush. Instead, he asked Ain directly, “Then who do you think is better looking, Erylin or that Miss Imeve?”

Normally, Erylin would have definitely stood up in embarrassment to stop her father's dangerous remarks.

But now, the young lady sat in silence at the dining table, her head lowered, slowly chewing on her food as if lost in thought.

“Ah, well... it would have to be Imeve...”

The moment the name Imeve left his mouth, Ain instantly snapped awake.

Even in his mentally exhausted state, he immediately realized that he was currently on someone else's home turf. How could he praise a stranger?

“Cough! Imeve is naturally great! But when it comes to looks, it has to be my Lord's drop-dead gorgeous, breath-taking, and utterly mesmerizing Erylin...”

Ain rattled off a whole stream of compliments.

But to Adela, this was undoubtedly a terribly clumsy attempt to salvage the situation.

She cast a sidelong glance next to her and noticed Erylin's left hand hidden beneath the table, slowly gripping the fabric of her dress over her thigh until it was tightly creased.

Erylin also knew that Ain was just forcing himself to compliment her.

Seeing her daughter's low spirits, Adela realized she couldn't drag this out any longer. She spoke up,

“Ain, do you like Er—”

“Actually, I'm full!”

Erylin suddenly stood up, interrupting everyone.

Everyone turned to look at her, but the girl merely wore a faint smile as she rose and walked toward the exit of the dining room.

“Erylin?”

Ain instinctively called out to her. Just like before he went to save Lillian, he could tell at a single glance when her state of mind was off.

This time was no different.

Erylin kept her back turned to Ain, refusing to let him see her face.

“I'm f—”

But after uttering just those words, she immediately choked back the rest.

Her voice was already cracking slightly. If she continued speaking, Ain would definitely notice something was wrong.

Quickly forcing a smile onto her face, Erylin cast a brief glance back at Ain before walking away.

Where no one could see, a faint frost had already begun to form on Erylin's right wrist.

Ain stood there in a daze.

What was...

wrong with her?