Chapter 16: Conditional Love

“Cael Arden…”

Evelina turned to look at me, arms crossed.

“Only child of a baron… with no special talents or quirks whatsoever.”

She began to list out everything from my personal life; it was clear she did her research on me the moment I made an impression on her yesterday.

“And now in front of me… overwhelmingly loyal and stupidly talented.” Evelina tapped her foot. “Probably even more talented than Julius.”

Her last word came out as a whisper.

“Nothing about your personal life would indicate why you’re so oddly loyal and persistent.” Evelina conjured a parchment in front of her.

“In fact… everything actually leads to the opposite.”

She stared at me again, ripping the paper apart as she walked towards me, step after step, until I was pinned between a wall and her.

She placed a hand on my chin, forcefully making me look down and into her eyes.

“If you’re truly loyal, surely you won’t mind, will you?”

She laughed, a small pulse of red energy coming from her thumb that was pressed on my jaw.

It was mind-reading magic, something she had obtained through forcefully combining dark magic and imbuing it into a ring that forcefully modified its formula.

This was the only case in the novel of it ever happened, and even I had no idea how to recreate it, the details surrounding it being way too vague and lacking in detail.

It’s only limitation, however? It acted more like a lie detector machine, requiring physical touch to activate and a question for it to trigger.

But despite its limitations, it was stupidly effective.

“Do you love me…?” She asked.

“Yes.”

But I was prepared; there was no way I would fail her test, and getting flustered over questions like this was below me already.

“Will you die for me?”

“Yes.”

She raised a brow.

“Will you ever betray me?”

“No.”

Evelina smiled. She was more than satisfied with the answers she had gotten; it solidified that I was definitely loyal to her. But she needed more answers, and getting them through yes or no questions was definitely a difficult job.

Even forcing it to work on anything other than yes or no questions would take too much mental strain; she had to make do with what she had.

“Do you need something from me?”

“Yes.”

“Does it risk my life?”

“No.”

“Do you wish for my love?”

“Yes.”

Evelina finally released my chin from her grip; that was the most she could do without completely tiring herself out.

“Well, guess that confirms things.”

She headed to the window beside her bed, looking outside and seeing the influx of academy students starting to enter.

The day was just about to begin.

’What in the world am I going to do with him?’

Evelina muttered, she had many pawns who served her to gain power, and that was simple; she could just give them lessons on dark magic and be done with it.

But for someone so obsessed with her love, she couldn’t exactly do the same thing.

’I guess I can lead him on for now?’

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. ’I just need to ensure he loves me and I can keep his loyalty… shouldn’t be that hard.’

She looked behind her shoulder for a brief moment, gauging my reaction.

But I was just there… standing, waiting for her to make up her mind, I quite literally had nothing to do in the meantime, after all, the rest of my preparations wouldn’t even take that long.

’Especially for someone as… eccentric as him.’

She shrugged, approaching me again. If it means keeping me on a leash, she wouldn’t mind intimacy now and then.

“Hm?”

My mind nearly broke apart.

Before I even realized it, she kissed me on the cheek.

…She… kissed me?

“W-What…?”

I know I said shame or being flustered was completely below me at this point… but it seems all of that was completely useless when it came to her.

I was as red as the blood that was flowing through my body.

“Did I overdo it…?”

Evelina stepped back, seeing my expression and face going completely haywire.

And she loved it… It meant I had a weakness.

“Nah…”

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