The First Shuraba

Human nature generally gravitates toward a good spectacle.

This is especially true when a conflict breaks out between several exceptionally attractive young people, particularly when it seemingly involves the ever-popular drama of a romantic entanglement. In such cases, the attraction grows exponentially.

Almost the instant Allie's words—"I'm going to kill you~"—left her lips, the originally quiet Golden Crucible restaurant fell into a sudden hush. Over eighty percent of the diners' eyes snapped toward Greg's table in unison.

Whispers immediately erupted throughout the room.

"Listen to that tone... Tsk, tsk. Is that the official girlfriend catching her boyfriend on a date with other girls?"

"No way, that blonde beauty is involved with him too!?"

"There are five top-tier beauties in this restaurant right now, and four of them are connected to him!? This is ridiculous!"

"Who exactly is he? Some high-ranking noble?"

"Doesn't matter who he is, he's in deep trouble now. Heh heh..."

Under the gaze of countless curious, envious, and jealous eyes, Allie seemed completely indifferent to the surrounding commotion.

She kept her head slightly bowed, her dark gold hair falling forward to mask half her face. Only her tightly pursed lips were visible, and the aura radiating from her grew increasingly heavy and oppressive.

"Young Master... sitting here with these... thieving cats, enjoying a high-end dinner... You look so relaxed and happy... You have no idea how hard it has been for me... all alone... since I left your side..."

Hearing this, Greg felt a sharp pang in his heart.

Even though his rational mind told him that Allie's claims of hardship were most likely an exaggeration, his emotions betrayed him. Hearing her speak in such a tone triggered an uncontrollable surge of indescribable guilt.

Greg realized that during this period, he really hadn't made much effort to contact her. He barely knew anything about her current living or working situation...

"I guess I really have been a bit too much."

For once, Greg's conscience felt a rare sting of remorse.

Meanwhile, watching from a distance, Wendy realized that her own decisions had accidentally caused this mess. She calmly turned her head away, pretending she hadn't seen anything while complaining inwardly:

Master Allie, doesn't your conscience hurt saying that?

You're the last to wake up and the first to go to sleep every day. Aside from meal times, you're either in the yard practicing strikes with that terrifying greatsword or lying on the roof soaking up the sun.

I'm the one doing all the work—organizing intelligence, analyzing information, and handling the chores!

Aside from eating, sleeping, practicing your sword, and occasionally 'instructing' me until I'm half-dead whenever the mood strikes you, what exactly has been 'hard' for you?

Of course, she only dared to think these things to herself.

On the surface, she maintained her impeccable and elegant poise, acting as if she had zero interest in the storm brewing across the room.

"Hey!"

Victoria, however, wasn't the type to take things lying down. Hearing Allie call them thieving cats to their faces, her eyebrows shot up in anger. She slammed her palm onto the table with a loud bang and stood up abruptly. Her gray eyes burned with fury as she glared back at Allie without backing down.

"Who are you calling a thieving cat?!"

This sudden outburst startled Silvia, who was sitting right next to her.

The pink-haired girl quickly reached out and grabbed Victoria's sleeve, whispering urgently and anxiously, "Vi... Victoria! Calm down! Don't... don't do this..."

Her voice carried a faint, undetectable tremble—not just because of the confrontation, but because of a certain... inexplicable guilt. The memory of her little actions under the table was still burning through her nerves, making her feel severely lacking in confidence when facing Allie.

Catherine, on the other hand, remained seated. Her azure eyes calmly scrutinized the suddenly appearing Allie and the chaotic scene unfolding before her.

She looks like... Allie Hill... Yes, that's right. During their first year, she was the quiet maid who followed Greg Sass everywhere.

But logically, after Greg was expelled from the House of Sass, her path as a family servant should have been one of a few things: being reassigned by the family, being dismissed, or... actively seeking a better path.

A completely disgraced former master is undoubtedly a liability for a servant. The smart move would be to distance oneself as quickly as possible, perhaps even taking a shot at him to curry favor with a new master. That would be the way to maximize one's interests.

"But she's still..."

Catherine's gaze swept across Allie's face.

She was still following Greg Sass, even after he had lost his title, wealth, and status.

Why? Was it just because of past sentiment?

No, that wasn't enough. There had to be something about Greg Sass that made him worth following even after losing everything.

At that thought, the corners of her mouth curled upward into an almost imperceptible, shallow arc.

"This man... really is getting more and more interesting."

At this moment, aside from his guilt, Greg felt nothing but a numbing sensation in his scalp.

Even though he had many life-saving methods, he was genuinely worried that his head might hit the floor before anyone could even react. After all, when there was trouble, Allie was his greatest combat asset—his mountain of support. But when there wasn't trouble, Allie was the mountain he couldn't overcome.

Greg decided then and there that he had to find a way to tame this mountain so it would stop being an obstacle to him!

Of course, that was a problem for the future. The urgent matter was how to extinguish the volcano about to erupt right in front of him.

Seeing the tension between Victoria and Allie reaching a breaking point, Greg silently activated Whimpering LV5, buying himself five seconds of time to explain.

"Everyone, calm down! Listen to me!"

Greg looked at Allie, forcing his expression and tone to be as sincere as possible.

"Allie, this is a total misunderstanding! Victoria and the others are just classmates and friends! I invited them to dinner today because I owed them a favor and promised to treat them to a big meal as thanks! There's nothing else to it!"

He spoke at lightning speed, trying to explain everything before the invincibility time ran out.

Victoria wrenched her hand away from Silvia and crossed her arms. She lifted her chin and let out a huff at Allie, following Greg's lead.

"Hmph! Exactly! Thieving cats? You have quite the imagination! If he hadn't begged to treat us, do you think I'd want to eat with this annoying guy?"

However, Victoria's words—which were meant to be an explanation but were clearly laced with spite—had the opposite effect on Allie.

"Annoying guy?"

The sharp blade that had begun to slide back into the scabbard beneath Allie's skirt suddenly shot back out halfway, its cold light gleaming!

Terrified, Greg used the last second of his invincibility to jump in front of Victoria, which was the only thing that stopped Allie from lashing out on the spot.

Little gray-haired brat, why are you always on the same page as Lilith!?

Don't pick the most ridiculous thing in your head to say right now!

Greg screamed inwardly, a layer of cold sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead.