Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

“I will do it, at least before we return to the capital, before Natalie shows up,” Felicity replied firmly. “And I’ve learned a lot recently.”

"Enough, I've already endured and restrained myself enough, stop talking." Lilith dug her fingers into the flesh of her palm.

"I want to see how much you can endure. After all, only when you can't hold back will you truly drop your pretense."

Tensions were high—

Felicity showed no sign of backing down, as the hatred in her mind could never be easily let go.

The threat Lilith posed to Rhodes was infinite in her eyes.

Although Rhode was willing to forgive Lilith for the time being, so she couldn't really continue to tear Lilith apart and fight her head-to-head, she could at least disgust her with words.

But suddenly, Rod's voice came from between them, severing their increasingly intense emotions once again—

At that moment, Rhodes, holding Ivina's hand, stood before the table between them and softly called out:

"Hey."

"Hmm." Felicity snapped out of her reverie and looked at the muscular figure in front of her, blinking her amber eyes. "What's wrong, Luo?"

“No, it’s just to give Ivina some time to rest, so I came over to hear what you guys are talking about.” Rhodes shook his head.

“Ah…” Felicity touched her lips with her finger and said as if pondering, “It’s just catching up. After all, we’ve replayed everything in the past, so of course we have to have a good chat.”

That's what she said, but her eyes were fixed intently on Rhodes, making it difficult for him to get a word in edgewise...

There was no way around it; once that resentful aura rose, even if Rhodes got close to Felicity, he would feel immense pressure, as if she were deliberately avoiding him and walking away to ignore him.

But how could Rod really not care at all?

Rod sniffed slightly and reached out to pinch Felicity's cheek:

"Don't make yourself unhappy."

Upon hearing this, Felicity, who had been in a flustered and irritated state, softened her expression and, after a moment of silence, spoke in a sweet voice:

"Ok, I know."

Rhodes nodded and said to Lilith, "You too."

He then led Ivina to sit on two other chairs and poured her a glass of water.

"I'm tired, have a drink."

"Hmph." Ivina turned her head away, but still quickly snatched the glass of water and gulped it down.

"Bad Rod, he only knows how to seduce girls with such meticulous methods..." she thought to herself, her mind in turmoil.

"How's your dance training with Miss Ivina going, Luo?" Felicity asked with a smile, her elbows propped on the table and her palms supporting her head.

“After all, we are all ascendants, so the dancing went relatively smoothly.” After saying that, Rhodes turned his gaze to Ivina, “Ivina, you can dance for another hour or two until the afternoon, then the dance training will be over.”

"Oh." Ivina nodded, but when she heard the word "end," she seemed slightly dazed.

Even though I don't like dancing, and I don't like constantly stepping on Rod's feet, the word "end" still feels empty to me.

At 3:40 PM, there were only 27 hours left until the coming-of-age ceremony the following day.

Twenty-seven hours—it may be the last time, or it may not be.

It all depends on how Cecilia ignites the truth within her...

tired.

The cup in his hand felt increasingly heavy, so he placed it on the table.

"Rhode, if you had the chance to kill that Cecilia, would you kill her?"

How did you know...? Did you hear it before?

"Yes, I already asked Felicity."

Rhodes remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

But their gazes only briefly left Ivina before returning to her—

"Speaking of which, did you know that your red eyes are almost exactly the same as those of that so-called Cecilia?"

Ivina's heart pounded as if it were being bound by threads, and she forced a stiff smile.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, when I first saw you, I actually had a very strong sense of déjà vu. Scarlet eyes, almost the same outline... So I even asked the Duchess if you had an older sister, or rather... if you were an alter ego of her."

"After all, Cecilia's demonic skill is [Truthlessness]. She can continuously create clones at various points to make herself immortal, so it's quite common for her to have a strange clone."

"However, this speculation was ultimately dismissed, because after getting to know you, I realized that your personalities are very different from hers, so you are definitely not the same person."

"But all in all, it's quite a coincidence, isn't it?" Rhodes said calmly with a smile. "If Cecilia causes trouble tomorrow, then you can also see what she looks like, and you'll definitely be surprised."

“…” Ivina lowered her head and stroked the water glass.

Of course I know what she looks like; in fact, I practically sculpted her like a figment of my imagination...

“But if you ask me whether I would kill Cecilia…” Rhodes paused for a moment, then spoke without hesitation, “That is obviously not the case.”

"……what?"

Ivina raised her eyes.

Chapter 97 Will you take responsibility?

"Isn't she a really bad person? Why not kill her?"

“She is valuable. You may not understand, Ivina, but she means a lot to us.”

Cecilia's role is self-evident; in fact, one of the most crucial steps in killing the Dragon God relied on Cecilia's actions.

In fact, before the final battle, Rhodes and his companions assisted Cecilia in collecting the twelve fallen demon god positions that had been divided into twelve parts by the gods, and pieced together the remains of these demon god positions to two-thirds their original size.

And what is the purpose of this divine position?

Naturally, it was used to gather the overwhelming malice accumulated throughout the history of the Demon God race, and as the most terrifying pollution bomb, it reduced the Dragon God's health bar by forty percent.

Therefore, without Cecilia, who could inherit the incomplete position of the demon god, to ignite the war by invoking this broken divine position, they would indeed have had difficulty killing the dragon god.

Of course, things may change in this lifetime.

The simplest example is what Rhodes envisioned last time: if his next divine seed were to be a [Demon God Seed]... then perhaps he himself could control this most terrifying contaminated explosive in the world.

But all things considered, it was the right thing to spare Cecilia's life as a precaution, since her [Demon Seed] was already the most powerful among all witches.

"Huh? It worked...?" Ivina blinked...

"What would Rhodes do to her if he defeated her?"

“I will seal her power, then restrain her movements, and make her come back to be my obedient maid,” Rhodes said calmly.

Ivina's pupils sharpened, and at that moment, the pressure that had been building up suddenly dropped.

But the relief I felt was quickly replaced by renewed anxiety.

Because... that's not quite right either.

Rhode was willing to keep Cecilia because her life was valuable, but was his own life valuable to him?

If Rhode really does control Cecilia and keeps her by his side as a maid, then he too will share this fate, going from a pampered object to a nobody on the street.

This is probably the best possible outcome.

Because what if Rhodes can't control Cecilia?

Once that happens, Cecilia will be an enemy to Rhodes, and he himself will clearly be a threat.

After all, even if Rhodes is kind and won't lay a hand on himself, it's still unrealistic to expect to keep an enemy's eyes by your side, right?

Ivina reached out and gently placed her hand on the eye that was wrapped in bandages.

She could certainly explain that only this golden eye could transmit vision to Cecilia, but whether Cecilia would believe her after she explained was another matter entirely.

The more I thought about it, the more complicated it became; the more chaotic my thoughts became, and the more my heart pounded.

In the end, all I could do was shake my head and put these questions behind me.

"She is your maid?"

“Yes, it used to be.” Rod replied frankly.

“I don’t understand why you saved such a bad person before…” Ivina said in a low voice.

“I used to think she was a pitiful child, but I didn’t expect her to betray us. There’s nothing we can do about it.” Rhodes shook his head. “Alright, it’s almost time to rest. Let’s go back to practice.”

Rhodes stood up and walked in front of Ivina, extending his large, warm hand and smiling elegantly:

"invite."

A slight silence followed.

Ivina stared at the hand, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

My body felt as heavy as lead, yet the desires in my heart rose cautiously and timidly—

For her, what the story would ultimately be like was no longer something she could explore.

There could be too many possibilities, too many implications, and even what Cecilia said might be a lie, while Rhodes might just be saying it casually.

So why bother...

She stretched out her soft little hand and placed it in Rod's broad palm;

But... Rhodes still caught Ivina's hesitation.

……

...

Although Rhode really wanted to flirt with Lilith tonight, he knew this was the last night.

So he stayed in his room.

At this moment, Ivina and Rhodes were separated by a rolled-up blanket.

Rod stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

There's already enough idle chatter; adding any more meaningless actions won't make a difference.