Paranoid Celia

"No..."

Ansu looked at Celia's gloomy and sinister eyes, wondering why she was still obsessing over the idea of imprisoning him.

Had all his efforts been for nothing?

"That is obviously out of the question! I am a living person and a student of the Benalu Royal Academy. If I suddenly went missing, it would definitely cause a massive uproar!" Ansu said helplessly.

"You could just drop out!" Celia said, suddenly becoming excited. "If you drop out of your own accord, no one will think much of it... Then, you can move in with me. My house is quite large, and it has everything you could possibly need..."

"Ansu, I can satisfy any need you have... as long as you do not go out anymore and live in my Lawrence Manor forever..."

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became, feeling that this was the best solution.

Moreover, she would be able to see Ansu every day, and he would never leave her sight again...

"That is house arrest, my Lady Witch..." Ansu could not help but press his hand to his forehead, feeling like they had somehow circled back to the beginning.

"It is not house arrest!" Celia tried her best to convince Ansu. "It is for your protection. No one cares about a student who disappears from society! Only this way... can I prevent them from taking you away from me!"

"I refuse!" Ansu's temper flared.

He took advantage of the fact that she did not know too much yet and maintained a very firm stance.

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.

Celia looked at the unwilling Ansu and let out a soft sigh.

"Fine..."

She lowered her head sadly. "Ansu, then I will think of another way..."

Ansu observed the witch who had suddenly turned soft and docile, thinking to himself that it was a relief the incident where Freya was hypnotized had not happened...

Although she seemed to be suffering from mild depression and a persecution complex, she was still somewhat within a controllable state.

But if this were the yandere version of Celia from the simulation!

Then he truly would not be able to escape!

Thus, Ansu continued his attempt to comfort her. "Lady Witch, it really is not as serious as you think."

"Besides, nothing has even happened yet..."

However, Celia's behavior grew increasingly strange. She suddenly stood up and called for the head maid outside.

The expressionless head maid pushed the door open slightly and asked, "Miss, what are your orders?"

"Go, quickly gather and report the information of all the surrounding residents to me!" Celia looked out the window suspiciously. "I always feel... like someone is watching us from the shadows. I do not think Lawrence Manor is safe!"

The head maid acknowledged the order and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Celia called her back again. "Go and nail all the doors and windows shut! They must be completely airtight!"

The head maid nodded.

"And!" she added further, "I suspect that spies from the Church and other organizations have already infiltrated us! Bring all the maids here. I want to inspect each of them carefully..."

"Alright, that is enough..." Ansu wordlessly stopped Celia, who was incessantly barking orders, feeling that her persecution complex was far too severe. "If you nail all the doors and windows shut, you will look suspicious even if you were not before, right?"

He addressed the head maid, "Do not let them in. You may leave now."

The head maid instinctively looked at Celia.

Celia thought gloomily for a long time before finally waving her hand helplessly.

"Fine, you may leave..."

After the head maid left, silence returned to the room.

Ansu looked at the still-paranoid Celia, thinking that letting this continue was not an option...

"Lady Witch?" Ansu employed one of his three signature moves, ‘changing the subject’, and asked with feigned curiosity, "I remember you came to the school to find me last week because you had something to say, right?"

So much had happened since then that he had almost forgotten about it.

"Yes... I did have something to say." Celia shot a gloomy look at Ansu. "But then I heard the rumors about you and that Holy Maiden at school, and I saw the two of you walking together so intimately. I was so furious I lost all interest in talking about it..."

Ansu gave an awkward smile. "That could not be helped... after all, she really considers me..."

Celia's eyes narrowed instantly, warning him not to mention the term ‘Chosen One’ that she did not want to hear.

Ansu pulled back his smile. "In short, the relationship between us is not at all what you think. Lady Witch, you have to believe me."

"I believe you, but I do not believe her..." Celia said sullenly.

Who knew when that little Holy Maiden would transform her ‘faith’ and ‘admiration’ into ‘love’? She knew exactly how popular Ansu was with girls...

Celia gazed intently at Ansu's face.

Although this guy always had a bit of a carefree and lazy attitude, he was actually very calm and reliable at every critical moment. Moreover, even without mentioning the qualities she admired, Ansu's looks were very much to her aesthetic taste...

Even if she were not his ‘boss’, and even if the matters of hypnotizing him and forcing him into the cult had never happened...

If they were just two ordinary people on equal footing, she would probably still be attracted to his various traits, right?

Mm... the more Celia thought about it, the more she felt that was the case.

It was a good thing she had hypnotized him then!

Celia never regretted that decision.

Thinking of this, her mood actually improved a little.

Although Ansu did not know what she was overthinking again, he saw that her emotions had calmed down significantly, so he asked curiously once more, "So what exactly was it?"

"It is about money."

"Money?" Ansu asked in surprise.

"Yes." Celia nodded gloomily. "After several crackdowns, the cult's legitimate businesses have been forced to shrink. Our finances are becoming increasingly tight, and the teacher no longer allows me to control large amounts of cult funds... So, regarding the matter of sponsoring Professor Duncan..."

Ansu had not expected that the first problem regarding Professor Duncan would actually be money.

"What about the three hundred thousand pounds we promised to sponsor him?"

"I can only scrape together a hundred thousand at most." Celia sighed. "Perhaps I should sell some of the collectibles in Lawrence Manor. That might recover some funds..."

"It is better not to do that." Ansu shook his head. "Why would a dignified noble lady sell off her family assets for no reason? Doing that would be too suspicious."

The Echoes of Truth had indeed been very wealthy before. After all, such a massive underground organization inevitably controlled countless legal and illegal industries, and even received large donations from many wealthy outer member followers.

However, due to several recent major events, Cult Leader Samantha had no choice but to keep a low profile. After all, too much wealth of unknown origin might be detected by the Church.

"But since Professor Duncan is willing to follow the Church's expedition team..." Celia finally remembered this point.

Although she did not really want the Church involved in this trip, this method would undoubtedly save a lot of expenses.

"But a hundred thousand is still not quite enough..." Ansu looked at Celia, who had been sullen all day, and suddenly suggested with a smile:

"Lady Witch, let us think of something happy. How about I take you to make some money?"

"Make money?" Celia looked Ansu up and down. "You can get that much money?"

Ansu smiled confidently. "Of course. Who do you think I am?"

I am a man with a cheat system, after all!