“Um, I think I might like you.”

Li Zihan, who had been on the receiving end of the “good person card” many times, was so stunned that his hand slipped, and the kitchen knife cut his finger.

Bright red blood flowed from the wound, dyeing the wooden cutting board red…

Or not.

The very ordinary kitchen knife only scraped against his skin, which had ridiculously high defense, dealing a total of 0 hp damage before being dropped onto the cutting board.

“You… like me?”

Li Zihan was a bit dumbfounded.

“Mhm.”

The girl with light gray eyes pressed her lips together. Her tone was flat, yet it carried an indescribable, unclear emotion.

“At the time, I didn’t want to think too deeply about this problem. Now that I’ve come to my senses and thought about it, the Bronya should be harboring a certain degree of love for you, boss.”

Jizo Mitama, forever a god.

Li Zihan, completely caught off guard by this confession, thought to himself.

Because Jizo Mitama’s low-power mode had basically no combat effectiveness, and its high-power mode was too berserk, and he had even witnessed it nearly croaking in the Divine Grace field, Li Zihan had always thought it was mid-to-upper tier among the Divine Keys at best.

Now, he felt that Jizo Mitama might be the strongest Divine Key.

“When?”

The young man, who had subconsciously glanced at the tachi hanging from his waist, asked after a moment of stupor.

He still couldn’t figure out what was happening.

“Probably when I was waiting for you in London.”

The girl, who had been affected by Jizo Mitama when it attacked the Kevin puppet back then, pursed her lips, then reached up to brush a strand of hair from her forehead.

“At that time, I was already falling for you.”

“But, because of my promise with Seele, I rejected you, boss.”

The girl recounted her feelings in her usual calm tone.

“Now, that promise is meaningless, isn’t it?”

The girl, who could already see that Seele harbored feelings of love for Li Zihan, let out a breath, as if letting go of something.

…

The young man, who had thought Bronya was completely uninterested in him back then and had hit her with a follow-up blast from Jizo Mitama’s third rated power, looked away guiltily.

It seemed… he had used a little too much of Jizo Mitama’s power.

“Boss, what is your answer?”

While Li Zihan’s gaze drifted, the girl named Bronya fixed her light gray eyes on the face of the young man who had only ever been wrong in guessing her feelings.

“Um, you should know, sometimes, so-called emotions can be fake, amplified by external forces.”

Li Zihan, who could have just said yes but felt that wouldn’t be quite right, nudged his lips and said.

“The Eighth Divine Key, Fenghuang Down, can modify others’ thoughts. The Twelfth Divine Key, Jizo Mitama, can amplify people’s emotions.”

“Within magecraft, there are also many powers that can modify memories and alter consciousness.”

Is that so?

The girl, who vaguely recalled that the boss’s frequently used weapons included the Twelfth Divine Key and that he also used an unknown power called “magecraft,” listened to these words, yet her heart was strangely calm.

She should probably be angry right now.

After all, if the boss was saying this, he must have used the power of Jizo Mitama or magecraft on her.

But right now, she couldn’t muster any anger.

She was even a little happy.

He wasn’t hiding it from her; instead, he told her about it.

This development was strange.

But Bronya wasn’t surprised.

Because love has never been a rational thing.

“By how much was it amplified?”

The girl, who wanted to be angry but couldn’t, and who was actually a little happy inside, looked at the young man who had taken the initiative to tell her the truth and asked.

“In London, your affection for me was about one hundred and fifty percent of the normal value. After I left, it was about three hundred percent.”

So I started to waver and fall for him at one hundred and fifty percent?

Bronya calmly analyzed her own situation.

It was quite normal for her to fall for him at one hundred and fifty percent. The boost to three hundred percent was just complete overkill.

This development was also quite reasonable.

After all, the boss had run all over the place for her, fighting against all sorts of characters. It would be bizarre if she didn’t have any affection for him at all.

Having figured this out, she then spoke, calmly raising the next question.

“Then, boss, how long have we known each other?”

“The official time we’ve spent together is probably about half a month.”

Li Zihan, who had actually been mostly teasing Miss Mei and messing with the Paramecium before this, thought for a moment and gave a rough estimate.

“A sixty-six point six percent conquest in half a month? Looks like it was only a matter of time before the Bronya fell for the boss.”

The girl, with a light and casual tone, brushed aside the fact that she had been influenced by something like Jizo Mitama.

“Falling for the boss a little ahead of schedule doesn’t seem to be a bad thing.”

“However, if I questioned everything, it would make the Bronya’s feelings seem very cheap, wouldn’t it?”

She said this as if speaking to Li Zihan, and yet also to herself.

“Boss, from now on, are you willing to stay with me and keep me from being lonely?”

The girl, who had lived her first twelve years as a child soldier, starved for affection and lonely, turned her head to look into the red eyes of the young man beside her.

The girl, who was nearly invulnerable except for her fear of loneliness and her need for companionship, waited for an answer.

“Companionship is no problem at all.”

The young man, being stared at, gave Bronya the answer she wanted.

Who could withstand so many direct hits, one after another?

A faint smile appeared on the lips of the girl who had received an affirmative answer.

This was the answer she wanted.

“Then, from today onwards, is the boss Bronya’s lover?”

The gray-haired girl spoke, asking a somewhat redundant question as if confirming the preparations before a very important ceremony.

“Henceforth, please take care of me.”

Being confessed to like this, not giving a positive reply was clearly not Li Zihan’s style.

“Then, can Bronya ask you, as Bronya’s lover, to do one thing?”

After receiving a positive answer, the gray-haired girl pressed her lips together, her eyes shining.

She opened her mouth, and the words came out.

“Of course.”

The young man, who had nothing urgent to do for the time being and was quite free, didn’t mind helping Bronya with some matters, and his answer was concise.

Although she had expressed her love, the girl who only intended to accompany the person she liked as a lover or mistress opened her vibrant lips, and the words came out.

“Please treat Seele well. Date her seriously, spend your years with her, and in the future, walk with her into the palace of marriage.”

She stated her request.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep