Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

My thoughts drifted back to the night I left Victoria, when Wayne returned the Lock of the Wasteland to Mostima, who was determined to leave Victoria and travel the land of Terra to clear her mind. The two made a promise to each other.

Three years from now, we'll meet again in Longmen. I'll give you "all the time I have left," and you'll take me home!

Chapter 107 An Angel Standing Amidst the Vast Sea of ​​People (4,000 words in two parts)

Let's go back to the first day when Wayne returned to Lontinim.

He watched helplessly as Mayor Arthur cried all night and into the night in Vina's office, forcing her to go back to work. Wayne wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Thank goodness he was smart enough to quit early; otherwise, he wouldn't have been running around all over Terra as a firefighter, and it would have been a miracle if he could even carve a fork in the road between his office and bedroom.

After waving goodbye and offering encouragement to Vina, who was leaving with a long face, Wayne turned around and looked at Miss Mostima sitting opposite him on the sofa.

Mostima changed into a women's tuxedo similar to Kal'tsit's. Wayne had to admit that beautiful girls like Mostima and Kal'tsit, whose temperament was more important than their looks, exuded much more charm when wearing a handsome and tailored suit than when they wore a youthful Lolita dress.

This is probably what they mean by complementing each other perfectly; one plus one produces an effect far greater than two.

Seemingly sensing Wayne's gaze, Mostima raised her head, her indigo eyes meeting Wayne's gaze. The inorganic smile on her lips remained unchanged, as if she had no corresponding emotion whatsoever.

But Wayne knew that was the past her.

In the past, Mostima was an immortal, possessing a lifespan even longer than the Sarkaz, a race already known for its longevity. Through the power of the Black Lock and White Key, she locked her own time, gaining near-eternal life. However, all great power comes at a price. Unlike Winston, who was born immortal, Mostima, despite achieving limitless lifespan through external means, remained a short-lived individual with volatile emotions.

And so the accident occurred. When those without the self-control of immortals bear the fate of immortals, the turbulent emotions become a deadly poison. Mostima witnessed countless tragedies yet was powerless to stop them, felt countless moments of joy yet had no one to share it with, and could only stand alone outside his friends' funerals and weep, or recount the messenger's journey to the sleeping ones before their tombstones.

Her last emotional investment was in a Sakota girl with burgundy hair, but the ending was still not good. Unwilling to give up on her feelings, she was like a dam holding back a flood; without maintenance, it would gradually collapse. When she once again lost control of her raging emotions and pointed her gun at the red-haired girl who was the captain, her fate was sealed.

From then on, she no longer needed guns, no longer needed companions, and no longer needed feelings, just so that she would no longer hurt more people or herself.

But that was the old her.

With the black lock and white key that acted as a "dam" taken away, long-suppressed emotions surged forth once more. The longer suppressed, the more accumulated they became, and Mostima's outburst this time would be more intense than ever before.

Looking at Mostima's slightly trembling shoulders and her uncontrollably wandering eyes beneath her inorganic smile, Wayne knew just how turbulent her emotions were at that moment.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Mostima. Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Not pretending anymore?" Mostima pursed her lips, her smile fading as she tried to maintain a blank expression, but she couldn't suppress the pout that betrayed her dissatisfaction.

Her emotions are now beyond her control; she truly wears her heart on her sleeve, and even if she tries to suppress them, it's futile. Having long relied on the black lock and white key to arbitrarily seal her emotions and put on a poker face that shows she doesn't care about anyone, she has no idea how long ago she painstakingly practiced controlling her expressions in order not to abandon her feelings.

Wayne helplessly spread his hands and calmly said:

"You already know, don't you? There's no point in pretending anymore, right? Or do you need me to reintroduce myself?.....I am Wayne Bruce, Prince of Wales of the Royal Family Victoria Aslan."

"Tch, the old one, the one who was a bit of a fool, was much prettier... Ugh."

Almost without warning, Mostima blurted out her thoughts, and when she came to her senses, she could only cover her head in embarrassment, displaying a socially fatal "I'm doomed" expression. Wayne added at the opportune moment:

"Don't pretend?"

Mostima, feeling annoyed, raised her head and glared at him with her beautiful eyes filled with a variety of emotions:

“You already know, don’t you? There’s no point in pretending anymore! Let me introduce myself. I’m Mostima, the fallen angel who was completely fooled by the Prince of Wales of the Victoria Aslan Royal Family, Wayne Bruce, for over two months without even realizing it, and who was single-mindedly trying to save him.”

As if emphasizing Wayne's crimes, Mostima repeated Wayne's titles, names, and deeds with great emphasis. Even with Wayne's thick skin, he couldn't help but reveal an awkward smile.

Admittedly, Wayne initially went to Laterano purely with the intention of manipulating the country; his target was Laterano, not Miss Mostima. It's just a pity that Miss Mostima unfortunately took on the role of messenger between Wayne and Laterano. This should be blamed on the unscrupulous boss, the Holy See, not Wayne himself. After all, even if it were someone else—the Archangel, or some other suffering narrator, or even the Undertaker—Wayne would still have manipulated her without hesitation.

But it must be said that this is also a kind of fate. Miss Mostima, who wanders the land of Terra as a messenger and is known as the elusive "air", will arrive in Victoria at the end of April 1092, meet Wayne, who is a time traveler, and accept this fateful pit. Isn't that a romantic thing?

"Now that things have turned out this way, how do you plan to take responsibility for me?"

Mostima turned her head and smiled, half-jokingly. But as Wayne said, she couldn't hide her emotions at this moment, especially in this situation where she desperately wanted to know the answer. Her clenched fists and her pupils, which seemed to be shining, showed the seriousness in her heart when she asked the question.

She acted as a messenger, vouching for Wayne in exchange for a large sum of Laterano's wealth. She also led six musketeers to the northern border of Victoria, helping Wayne and his men find the source of all the anomalies and preventing the situation from escalating immediately, buying them crucial time. Ultimately, she even lost all her musketeers in a foreign land. After all this, she faced an incredibly difficult situation; without someone standing up for her, she might truly have had neither the reason nor the courage to return to Laterano.

How does Wayne, who turned her into this wretched state, both physically and mentally, intend to take responsibility for her?

Wayne had already thought of the answer to this question, and he invited him seriously, without a hint of joking:

“Stay in Victoria, Mostima, I will protect you.”

Mostima’s clenched fist visibly loosened.

Although her expression was still slightly pouting and somewhat annoyed, Wayne's answer should have satisfied her.

What she needed wasn't a reward or a prize, because she hadn't acted with the intention of selling herself to someone for a higher price. Rather than monetary or power-based rewards, she wanted something more equitable in exchange—like a firm commitment.

Riding the wave of his victory, Wayne retrieved a weapon case he had prepared beforehand from behind the sofa. He opened the mahogany box, which was carved with clock reliefs, and inside, Wayne's staff—the Lock of Time—lay quietly.

Wayne took out his staff, placed it on Mostima's lap, and said:

“Stay in Victoria, Mostima, and I can return the Lock of Time to you.”

This is a divine artifact, and the most powerful of all divine artifacts—the [Time] type. Such a powerful force has never been returned to its rightful owner. This is why, even though Mostima didn't know Vayne's true nature at the time, after the staff became Vayne's property, she never once asked Vayne for the staff back.

When Wayne returns the staff to Mostima, it signifies both trust and relinquishment.

They trusted Mostima would choose to stay, forsaking the temptation of infinite life.

As long as Mostima stays, what harm is there in returning the staff to her? Both of them now possess the staff's adaptability, and they can easily spend their endless lives together. Moreover, this time, Wayne guarantees that there will be many, many people accompanying them, and no one will fall into loneliness again.

"...So there's only one answer?"

Mostima looked at the Lock of Time, which was sending a cold sensation through her leg, and suddenly asked this question.

Wayne almost had a heart attack for a moment and nearly couldn't breathe.

No way! This isn't a cane. If you want to break canes, I'll open a cane factory for you tomorrow, and you can break them all you want. But you can't break this!

Miss Mostima, seemingly oblivious to the sudden look of fright on Wayne's face, picked up her staff, stood up, and tucked it behind her back once more. Looking at Wayne, she said earnestly:

“I promise you, Wayne.”

But then, a somewhat vulnerable expression appeared on her face, and she sighed:

"However, please allow me to temporarily bid farewell to you and this country. I want to go out for a walk... to clear my mind."

Before he could even feel happy, Wayne looked bewildered and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Mostima squinted, his face clearly showing a "you bastard deserve a beating" expression, and said through gritted teeth:

"Yes, why is that? I don't know either. Why don't we have our clever and deceitful Prince Wayne think about it carefully, guess what it is, and then tell me the answer?"

Wayne awkwardly stuck out his tongue, indicating that he understood.

Mostima's meaning was easy to understand: she could stay, since she had nowhere else to go. But Wayne had inadvertently tricked Miss Mostima, causing her to get angry and decide to go for a walk, and incidentally give Wayne the cold shoulder.

At the same time, she also wanted to take this opportunity to face up to her own feelings.

She didn't want her current attraction to Wayne and her impulse to agree to his request to stem from the fluttering of her heart after the emotional seal was broken.

At this moment, she couldn't yet distinguish between true infatuation and this fluttering feeling; she needed time to process herself, and Wayne also needed time to deal with that mountain of things. And coincidentally, they both had time to wait for each other.

How long will it take you to walk?

Wayne frowned slightly and asked with concern:

"What about safety? What if Laterano makes things difficult for you?"

"No, on the contrary, there are people in Laterano who will protect me at all costs because of you."

Mostima answered with a confident smile, but instead of explaining the specific reasons to the bewildered Wayne, he continued:

"As for the timeframe, three years. Give me three years, Wayne."

"Three years from now, in Lungmen, at Penguin Logistics, I will be waiting for you at the end of the earth, to give you the rest of my life. See you there."

Wayne let out a long sigh.

Three years...that's a long time.

Wayne wanted to try to persuade her again, but this time, Mostima's expression remained unwavering; her mind was made up.

Wayne could only suppress his worries and longing, stand up, open his arms and give Miss Mostima a final, warm hug before her departure, vowing:

"Three years from now, I will come to Longmen to take you home. See you there."

After a long and lonely journey as a messenger, traversing every corner of Terra and wandering through countless crowds, the fallen angel Mostima, who could get along with everyone yet kept her distance from everyone, has finally stopped to rest today.

In order to enjoy a close hug.

P.S.: I hope everyone has a happy ending!

Those asking about the Reed route probably skipped the author's note, so I'll reiterate the book's plan here. The next volume is the Columbia volume, where Wayne will change his identity and legitimately head to Columbia. The Columbia characters will naturally appear then. The next volume is the Lungmen volume, which has already laid the groundwork, and will be the main stage for Lungmen and Reunion. The volume after that (volume four) is the Red Dragon volume, officially resolving the issues of Deeppool, the Guild, and the rise of Kazdel.

During this period, apart from the main trio of Theresa, Vina, and Wayne, other characters not featured in this volume will be mentioned, but will not occupy a major portion of the story.

Although this book is a harem, it's not a bulldozer. I carefully considered whether each female lead's storyline was feasible before including it. Characters like Swire, Bagpipes, and the Celts, who more or less changed her fate, will be part of the female lead's support group, but they won't be the female lead herself. So don't worry about the storylines getting messy or chaotic. Otherwise, why didn't I include Goldie when she was so popular recently? It's precisely because she doesn't have a storyline that I didn't want to force it just to ride the wave of popularity.

Every female protagonist has a story, and Mostima's story, "The Fool and the Liar," is just the beginning. From Wayne and Mostima's first meeting, to Wayne bringing food to chat with Mostima even when it's not time, to Mostima helping Wayne obtain funds, to Wayne "rescuing" Mostima from prison during the palace crisis, to Mostima leading a group to rescue Wayne to the North, and finally, fighting together against evil and rescuing the damsel in distress, the clues are clearly buried in the main plot. Attentive readers will surely discover this story about a fool and a liar.

Chapter 108 I'm Not a Beautiful Girl, But I Can Protect Beautiful Girls

Victoria, Londinium, Iron Palace. 6:00 pm

To celebrate the successful suppression of the rebellion, Vina generously opened a banquet hall that was not usually used.

The banquet hall is generally used for formal occasions such as state banquets to entertain important foreign dignitaries. The priceless Originium Lamp with its relief carvings and the top-of-the-line Lytanian classical phonograph are said to cost a fortune just to start. But that's just hearsay. After Theresa, with her strangely acquired talent for circuits and her electrical repair skills, successfully lit the relief Originium Lamp, Wayne, living up to expectations, successfully started the phonograph—a machine supposedly requiring a highly educated person—using his own less-than-reputable experience. He had attended aristocratic banquets for over a decade, and many nobles, presumably, purchased Lytanian phonographs as a status symbol. As a banquet prince, hadn't he seen it all?

So much so that the Royal Palace Logistics Department, which had originally planned to cut a large sum of subsidy funds, could only stand there dumbfounded when they saw the brightly lit banquet hall with its melodious music playing.

To be honest, using a banquet hall for no reason is indeed a bit extravagant. If it were in the past, Vina would have been subjected to a barrage of sarcastic remarks from those "pure" officials during court meetings. But now she doesn't have that problem. Wayne acted quickly, and the list of those to be purged was already lined up at the doorsteps of all the high-ranking officials that very night after the banquet began. As for whether they had actually written that elegantly worded, sarcastic document, who knows, and who cares?

This was a private party, and Vina invited her old friends—the gangs that had now unified the streets and alleys of Lentinium. With Vina's tacit approval, the Glasgow Gang was renamed the Royal Glasgow Pirate Gang, with the prefix "Royal" and the suffix "Pirate." The members were: Indra, Gawain, Morgan, and Dalke.

The royal pirate leaders, who hadn't seen Vina for a long time, were initially a little reserved, but as their conversation deepened, they rediscovered their old ways. Vina's unrestrained use of profanity and her bold, shoulder-to-shoulder gestures allowed her, who was tired of being an empress, to experience the joy of being a free-spirited, ordinary, and unconventional female leader.

It's a bit of a shame that, without knowing who it was—Wayne guessing it was Indra, the boldest guy—while Wayne turned off the main light source and activated the second lighting mode of the relief wall lamp: using special glass to scatter colorful light like a dreamlike bubble, wanting to give Theresa and Vina a little surprise, he secretly slipped over to the gramophone and changed the music while Wayne wasn't looking...

Wayne had no idea how the Letania phonograph, which was almost synonymous with elegance, could perfectly play the upbeat music from a disco, or which "genius" had engraved this kind of music on expensive vinyl records. Anyway, from then on, the atmosphere of the entire banquet hall changed from "high society, red wine, concert" to "look up with me and see that dazzling disco ball!"

You know what, looking at it from another angle, the wall lamps emitting a rainbow of colors do indeed resemble disco balls in some ways, and those are a hundred times cheaper. Besides, the atmosphere is great right now; at least Vina and her friends are really into it. Hopefully, she won't be unable to get out of bed tomorrow because she's been drinking red wine like it's beer and eating steak like it's kebabs. The more fun they have now, the more satisfying it will be to deal with the pile of official business tomorrow.

Vina, fly with confidence. Take responsibility if anything happens. I hope Her Majesty the Queen is alright.

Silently offering his best wishes to Vina, who was playing the violin with an erhu-like quality in the center of the ballroom... no, the banquet hall, Wayne turned apologetically to Theresa, who was covering her mouth and chuckling.