“Ugh…! Hng…! Ahng…!”

Soft, breathy cries escaped from the young girl as she squirmed restlessly on the bed, her delicate frame rolling across silken sheets like a fish caught in a net of her own feelings.

From the outside, the room looked peaceful—its wide windows glowing faintly from the soft golden light within, a contrast to the moonlit stillness blanketing the luxurious, inn-like hotel that towered three stories high.

But inside…

Chaos.

Alice groaned into her pillow, burying her face deeper as her pink hair fanned out across the bed like a splash of color against white.

Her legs kicked aimlessly behind her, and she let out another muffled whimper.

Her face, half-hidden by the pillow, contorted between frustration and something dangerously close to tears.

Her cheeks were flushed, her brows furrowed, and every so often, her lips quivered with the words she couldn’t quite say aloud.

“Master~ squirming around won’t really do anything, you know~”

A whimsical voice echoed into the room, light as mist and twice as unpredictable.

Floating above her like a shadow that refused to be still was her familiar—Cheshire.

His massive, cloudy feline head spun lazily in the air, a crooked grin stretching from one cheek to the other.

Though bodiless, his presence filled the room like an overconfident storm.

He rolled through the air with exaggerated playfulness, humming softly, clearly amused at his master’s turmoil.

“This is so frustrating!” Alice groaned. “We need to do something, Cheshire…”

Her muffled voice was barely coherent through the pillow.

But then, she threw it—hard.

It flew toward the window in a burst of reckless emotion, faster than it should have.

But before the pillow could collide with the glass and cause a potentially world-breaking mess, Cheshire raised a casual paw.

With a small flick, he telekinetically dispelled the energy wrapped around it, like popping a bubble.

“Careful now, Master,” he chided in a singsong tone. “Your energy’s leaking out~”

Alice blinked.

“Oh—sorry…”

Only then did she realize it. A faint red mist shimmered faintly around her body.

Her Queen’s powers—her Red Queen’s powers—had begun to stir from the flood of feelings crashing inside her.

That pillow, once charged with a hint of her aura, had been no ordinary object.

If it had hit the window, it might have shattered more than just glass—it could’ve ruptured mana, shattered balance, or worse.

Even a pillow, when infused with enough raw, unstable power, could become a weapon of destruction.

She slowly sat up, exhaling a long, shaky breath. Her hands clenched the sheets at her sides.

“Cheshire… what should I do?”

“Hm?” he responded lazily, his cloudy, feline form floating upside down in the air as though the question barely registered.

Alice sat upright on the bed, her arms hugging her knees to her chest.

The room was quiet except for the muffled city sounds beyond the glass, and yet her heart thudded like a war drum inside her chest.

She looked toward her familiar, eyes narrowed in frustration.

“Come on, don’t ignore me right now,” she said, her voice tight. “We can’t just let this go on… right?”

“We~?” Cheshire echoed playfully, rolling in the air. “I think you mean you, Master. It’s a you problem, you know~? Ku-ku-ku~”

Alice flinched at the teasing tone.

“Who cares if Riley sleeps with his official fiancée or not? It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. And besides,” he spun in the air with a dramatic flourish, “the girl is actually his legally betrothed, so technically speaking, she has every right to take him to bed~”

Alice opened her mouth to argue, but Cheshire didn’t stop.

“You didn’t say anything when it was Snow. You didn’t lose sleep when it was Rose. So why are you acting all tipsy and flustered now, Master~?”

“I-It’s not like that!” Alice snapped, though her voice cracked. “It’s not that I hate the idea of Riley sleeping with other women… well… maybe I do a little bit… but…”

She bit her lip. Her voice softened into something almost fragile.

“As long as they love him… and he loves them back… I don’t mind. I really don’t. I just…” Her hands clenched tighter around her legs. “…but.”

She raised her head, looking directly at Cheshire.

Her golden eyes shone with a strange mixture of fear and clarity.

“You saw it too, didn’t you? Liyana… she’s not just any girl. She’s not normal.”

Cheshire’s grin faltered just slightly.

“And Riley… his emotions back there, they weren’t just lust or desire or even affection. I’ve seen him get flustered before. I’ve seen him fall for people. But that—” she shivered, “—what I saw wasn’t just a guy in love.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“There was darkness in him… not fear. Something deeper. Something uglier.”

Cheshire floated in silence for a moment, then offered a single word:

“…Hate?”

Alice nodded. “Yes…”

She hugged her knees tighter, as though trying to protect herself from something she didn’t understand.

“But it was more than that too,” she murmured. “Inside Riley at that moment, there was this overwhelming swirl of contradictions. That darkness wasn’t just hatred. It was layered… thick… ancient, almost. Like he was directing years—lifetimes—of emotion at Liyana. And yet there was also love. Raw, unfiltered love—real, honest, radiant love. It was like watching two storms crash into each other. Light and shadow. Affection and loathing. Trust and betrayal. All of it inside him. All of it… aimed at her.”

She looked up at Cheshire, eyes filled with a quiet terror.

Even for Alice—who could see through the essence of someone by the color of their emotions—it was the first time she had seen something so warped.

It wasn’t just confusion or desire. It wasn’t even pain or love.

What she saw within Riley that night… was anomaly.

A spiraling storm of emotions, so deeply intertwined that even her Red Queen senses struggled to categorize them.

Love laced with hatred, longing tied to grief, affection fused with a sense of vengeance—colors that shouldn’t have coexisted were bleeding together, forming shades that shouldn’t exist in a living soul.

It made her sick to her stomach.

Cheshire, ever attuned to his master’s internal chaos, floated nearby in a rare moment of thoughtful silence.

He knew how sensitive Alice was to emotional resonance.

What others saw as simple flirtation, a bit of teasing between Riley and his fiancée, Alice saw as something far more dangerous.

Beneath the surface of that light banter—beneath the playful words and laughter—there had been weight.

A choking atmosphere.

Even Riley’s divinity—had flickered erratically during that time. It had responded unconsciously to the emotional turbulence he had at the moment.

“Kuku~” Cheshire finally chimed in, though his usual playfulness sounded half-hearted. “Well, that was certainly a sight to behold~ Riley having such complicated feelings for his fiancée wasn’t something I expected either. Ku-ku. But now the question is…”

He flipped in the air and floated above Alice’s head, peering down.

“…What should we do, Master? We can’t exactly jump in recklessly here~”

Alice looked up at him with frustration, her voice strained.

“That’s why I’m asking you for help…”

Cheshire paused. Then gave her a very un-Cheshire answer:

“…Please don’t look at me like that. Even I don’t know what to do.”

He rolled lazily to the side, frowning a little for once.

“We’ve practically confirmed it—Liyana isn’t human. Not fully anyways~ well whatever she is… we’re in the complete dark right now. And that makes her dangerous.”

He gave a little spin, paw gesturing in the air like a conductor pulling strings.

“And let’s not forget—her dear ol’ daddy? Not exactly someone we can afford to provoke casually in more ways than one~”

Alice’s lips parted, ready to argue. Her instincts screamed at her to do something, to act, to intervene. But…

She closed her mouth.

Because she knew Cheshire was right.

“Besides,” Cheshire drawled, spinning midair with a lazy twirl, “should we really make a move? It’s not like the situation is that dangerous, right?”

Alice’s brow furrowed. “…Hm?”

“Think about it, Master,” he continued smoothly, paw gesturing toward nothing in particular. “Do you really think something terrible is going to happen? It’s just a sleepover. A little cuddle time. Maybe some shared warmth, maybe some awkward tension—and if we’re being honest, probably a whole lot of flustered silence and repressed emotions knowing Riley.”

Then he paused, ears flicking as he added with a slightly smug grin, “Though… after what he did to you, I suppose we can’t rule out the possibility that he finally use his grown ass platinum-grade—balls once again~ he’s weirdly good using his stick right?”

Alice turned bright red. “T-That’s not relevant!”

“Of course, of course,” Cheshire chuckled, clearly enjoying her flustered reaction. “Totally unrelated, yes yes~ Ahem, anyway… that’s beside the point. Let me ask you something more important.”

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Not maliciously—just curiously.

“Do you want to fight Liyana that badly, Master?”

“What?! No—I… I don’t! Why would you even say that?”

“Oh?” Cheshire floated upside down, his cloudy body swaying like a lazy cat hammock. “Well, all of our options for intervening involve poking the hornet’s nest, no? Unless you’re planning to send her a bouquet and a passive-aggressive letter, anything we do now will basically lead to a confrontation. A fight. Not necessarily physical, but certainly emotional. You’re not exactly the type to meddle lightly.”

Alice opened her mouth to protest… but didn’t.

Cheshire continued.

“Suspicion and caution regarding Liyana’s identity? Reasonable. Smart, even. She’s… strange. Too poised. Too perfect. And whatever she is, it doesn’t line up with the humans we know, or most polymorphed creatures we’ve encountered at the least”

He floated down closer to her, his voice softening.

“But at the end of the day… she is Riley’s fiancée. The one he was arranged to marry. The one who waited months just to see him again. Isn’t this just a reunion? A complicated one, yes, but did you see the way their essences resonated? That deep, haunting emotion? That wasn’t fear. That wasn’t hate.”

He grinned, eyes twinkling with mischief and something… wiser.

“It was love, Master. A strange, ancient kind of love that doesn’t quite make sense in our world. Like two puzzle pieces from different boxes that somehow still fit. It may be dangerous, but it was real.”

Alice clenched her fists, but didn’t argue.

Cheshire leaned back, then added, “So now you’re practically begging me to help you pull the two of them apart during their tender, long-awaited reunion… hmm~?”

“They’re not alone,” Alice muttered quickly. “Snow and Rose are there too. So, it’s not like they’re having some… lovey-dovey time all to themselves…”

Cheshire floated in a circle above her before stopping with a sudden gleam in his eye.

“…Master.”

“Hm?”

“Could it be… you’re just salty?”

Alice blinked, startled. “Huh?”

“Kuku-hahaha~!” Cheshire burst out laughing, spinning midair with delight. “Oh, that explains everything! Of course, Master would be a little jealous—after all, they left you out of their cozy little bonding moment, didn’t they~? Oh, how cruel~ The great Red Queen, abandoned for a sleepover she didn’t even know was happening~!”

“I-It’s not like that at all!”

“Oh, but it is” Cheshire cackled. “The mighty and noble future archmage Alice Holloway, stewing in her fancy hotel bed, wondering why she wasn’t invited to the cuddle pile! Kuku~ Don’t worry, Master. Your sulking is very dignified~”

“I am not sulking!”

“Oh, no, of course not,” Cheshire said with exaggerated politeness. “You’re strategizing. With a pout.”

Alice grumbled something incoherent under her breath and flopped back onto the bed, burying her face in the nearest pillow.

She hated that he wasn’t entirely wrong.

…

“I feel… so tired…”

My body was heavy—unreasonably so. It felt like I hadn’t just slept, but collapsed.

I stirred slightly, the world around me nothing but a hazy blur.

My vision wavered, the soft morning light piercing through the window and forcing my eyes to blink against it.

My head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache, like I had been underwater for far too long and only now remembered how to breathe.

Mana.

I instinctively reached inward and began to circulate what little remained.

My limbs slowly regained some strength as I used the leftover trickle to reinforce my nerves.

The burn in my muscles receded, though the exhaustion clung to my bones like lead.

This isn’t just tired… it’s like I was drained.

As I sat up, my hand instinctively reached for my forehead.

It was warm, slightly damp with sweat. I glanced around, recognizing the soft sheets, the scent of polished wood, the filtered light slipping through my curtains.

My room…?

The rays were too bright and high to be early morning. Late morning? Early noon? Either way, I had overslept. Badly.

“I feel so dry…” I muttered, barely above a whisper.

My throat was parched, my tongue thick in my mouth.

Even with mana running through me, I felt like an empty shell—like something had pulled every drop of energy out of me, both physical and magical.

I slowly stood from my bed, legs wobbling slightly as I fought the wave of dizziness.

My mind was blank for a moment, then slowly began to recall fragments of the night before.

Right… Liyana…

We had been together. In bed. She was touching me. I was touching her. There were hands, lips… breathless whispers. And—

Snow and Rose… they were there too.

That made me freeze.

I looked around the room, suddenly aware of the absence. No trace of them. No sign that they had ever been here.

The sheets were clean, my clothes tossed to the side neatly, not like they’d been hastily discarded.

Did that actually happen? I frowned, my fingers twitching as I tried to piece together the memories.

The more I focused, the more jagged the pieces became.

I remembered warmth—soft sighs—Snow’s teasing grin—Rose’s piercing gaze—and Liyana. Her touch. Her voice.

But then… something else.

A sudden flash of her face, mouth parted, tears in her eyes as I forced her down and made her swallow my—

No…

I didn’t—did I?

A spike of cold panic shot through my gut, overriding the exhaustion.

I clutched the edge of the bed, heart hammering.

What the hell did I do last night?

“Oh, darling~ You’re finally awake.”

My body jerked upright like I had been struck by lightning. That voice.

“Liyana…?”

She was standing by the door, her expression radiant and composed as ever. Pale hair cascading down her shoulders, not a single strand out of place.

Her soft smile was tinged with that usual sweetness—and something else I couldn’t place. Contentment? Satisfaction?

“Good morning,” she chimed with a giggle, stepping inside the room as if she belonged here. “You were sleeping so soundly. I didn’t want to disturb you. But it’s a good thing I came to check on you~ Breakfast is ready, darling~”

I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to come out steady.

“R-Right… um… where are Snow and Rose?”

Liyana just smiled at my words.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep