Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

Why didn't you say so earlier?

Ivina took a deep breath and finally uttered those three words, barely accepting the truth.

“There’s no need to feel pressured,” Lilith replied calmly.

Lilith, who had been mostly silent during the meeting, surprisingly spoke up this time.

After all, Ivina was indeed very special in her eyes.

It's not that Ivina is a junior from the second playthrough, but rather that Ivina's words to her on the arched bridge touched her deeply.

"Ah, um." Ivina nodded awkwardly, then stuffed her hands between the sofa and her bottom, sitting on them like that.

As a child, she thought that if she could see God, she would be shocked and respectful. But when she actually saw God as an adult, she was not excited, but embarrassed.

She shook her head, then spoke in a concise and clear voice:

"Rhodes, continue."

"Hmm." Rhodes leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and pondered for a moment.

“The current situation and the goals have all been explained, so…” Rhodes paused slightly, “Next, we’ll talk about internal issues.”

Let's get back to the core of the topic.

In their eyes, there's not much need to think about what to do next or what to be busy with.

After all, when it comes to actually carrying out the mission, it's basically Rhodes who assigns the tasks, so even if they understand everything clearly, it won't make much difference.

Therefore, once they knew that Rhodes was unharmed after the battle, they could focus their attention on the girl awaiting judgment.

Whether it's hatred, aversion, indifference, or hesitation.

These emotions were vividly reflected in each of the girls.

They are all beings who have experienced pain and loss.

Therefore, when the situation reversed, their spirits were naturally raised to the highest level.

Well, as I said before, except for Ivina.

She remains the person who least needs to care about these things, because she has never experienced Lilith's suffering, and therefore has no possibility of hating Lilith.

Although she now understands that Lilith did more than one wrong thing and needs everyone's forgiveness, the memories from Cecilia are ultimately Cecilia's, not hers.

So she simply curled up to one side and quietly picked up the pudding recipe to look at it, to avoid arguing.

When Rhode saw all the girls starting to make small movements, but all their eyes were fixed on Lilith, he understood that everyone knew what to do.

Regarding whether Lilith truly loves him, after the Deep Sea God's description, it is still necessary to address this question.

“Natalie.” Rhodes’ eyes were fixed on her. “Felicity, you’ve told me everything.”

“Hmm.” Natalie hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, Lilith wanted to find a way to lessen her guilt, so that’s why she made that request, right?”

The essence of Lilith's philosophy can be clearly summarized in one sentence: "Mitigating guilt."

This incident was essentially caused by Lilith seeking Felicity's testimony in order to prove that she liked Rhodes and was not using him.

Meanwhile, with Felicity's testimony deemed invalid, the blame fell on Natalie.

Of course, Lilith wasn't trying to absolve herself of the terrible act of not confessing her feelings on the altar.

She simply wanted to prove to Rhodes that she didn't want to use him as a "monster" but loved him, thus mitigating her guilt.

Rhodes nodded:

"Well, now that you understand, what do you think? What exactly did Lilith do in the three years after my death?"

Instead of asking Natalie whether she liked it or not, which would be awkward, she was asked to simply state what Lilith had done.

After all, Rod understood that it was very inappropriate for a girl to say whether another girl liked him or not.

He just wanted to lead them away naturally; he didn't want them to actually start a fight.

Ultimately, the right to interpret the topic fell to Natalie.

Natalie felt a heavy burden on her shoulders and her mouth was dry.

Maybe I didn't want to say those things... I could never really forgive Lilith like that.

One thing at a time, it's true that I don't want Rhodes to wallow in frustration, and it's also true that I want to tell the truth.

But in the end, she was just like Felicity.

She has also experienced pain and loss.

He also experienced the pain of being overthrown and killed by the people because of Lilith's disappearance.

She didn't want Lilith to be forgiven so easily, nor did she want the story to continue so easily.

She remained silent.

Seemingly unable to figure it out, she looked at Felicity and received a nod of approval.

Then she looked at Lilith and saw that the other looked slightly nervous and uneasy.

She was slightly dazed.

This is quite a rare sight for Lilith... Although there's no change in her face, her uneasy fingers are clearly visible.

Yes, she had already made her decision about whether to lie or not, so why hesitate any longer?

It is enough to state what you believe to be the truth and deny what is false.

"Rhodes!" Natalie called out Rhodes' name with all her might, her eyes tightly shut.

"Ah."

Natalie's pale fingers clenched her knees as she raised her head, her crimson eyes filled with unwavering determination.

"I'd like to know what you're thinking right now, Rhodes."

In my past life, Lilith and I were always arguing.

So, you want me to talk about what Lilith did? Isn't that just a way to get me to smear her? How could I possibly say anything good about her…”

Rhodes' eyes widened in surprise, then he nodded.

That's right.

"Then...then I'm going to slander Lilith now, saying she's a bad person who abandoned our great cause and disappeared without a trace, and we don't know what she's doing."

"Natalie." Lilith's unease finally reached its peak, and she couldn't help but call out this.

At this moment, Lilith's heart was pounding violently, and her breathing became rapid.

Although she had expected Natalie to say that, she didn't expect Natalie to be so blatant in saying that she would speak ill of her.

Lilith glanced at Rhodes with her almond-shaped eyes, wanting him to stop Natalie from lying, but—

Rhodes seemed to breathe a sigh of relief:

"Whatever, I understand the conflict between you, so say whatever you want, vent your anger if you want."

Ultimately, I will make my judgment based on what you say.

In an instant, as if her brain had been disconnected, it appeared in Lilith's mind with a snap.

And what follows is a momentary freeze in breathing.

Wait.

This isn't right...

why?

How could we let Natalie lie so easily?

She herself admitted that what she said next was said with hatred in her heart.

In that instant, she thought of the most terrifying possibility for her—

That means Rhodes never intended to forgive her from the beginning; just like the thousand demands he made back then, he was playing her for a fool.

Even what he said before was a lie to deceive her, just to stabilize her emotions.

Otherwise, how can we explain why Rhodes would allow Natalie to spout such nonsense?

Instantly, a suffocating feeling spread through Lilith's brain, her blood turned as cold as if it had lost its temperature, and her whole body stiffened.

Her pupils trembled violently, but Rod did not continue to explain.

Suspicion or pain, these are all temporary.

He certainly couldn't have been deliberately playing a trick on Lilith.

On the contrary, he was only thinking about the future of the team and how Lilith could integrate into it normally.

This is true.

Strictly speaking, most people don't feel resentment or hatred towards Lilith.

Let's start from the very beginning.

If Lilith can openly confess her feelings to him at the end and confirm all the facts, then no one will really say anything.

After all, the girls had finally let go and moved on after the final battle.

They also understand that the result is due to their own lack of competitiveness, and they can certainly accept this fact calmly.

What they truly couldn't accept was that Lilith ultimately ruined everything they cherished and erased it all with the utmost arrogance.

So, in essence, they are just rejecting Lilith.

By using rejection as a method to protect Rhodes, he can prevent him from being hurt by Lilith's actions and resist the possibility of Lilith gaining Rhodes's love again.

This is why, even when the girls know that other girls are rivals, they don't feel the same wariness and disgust they do towards Lilith.

Firstly, Lilith is indeed the biggest threat, and secondly, it would be better for any one of them to receive Rhodes' attention than for Lilith to take it away from them.

The reason Rhodes was determined to crush Lilith's feelings for him back in the Duke's mansion was because he understood this.

Lilith was so special among these girls.

As the most successful victor in the past, and now the most unsuccessful loser, as long as she is there, the team's hostility will never be eliminated.

But now that he wants to give the repentant Lilith a chance to start over, he certainly can't just suppress her words with his big hand.