The Legendary Main Story
"I think it's great, Surtr." Theresia kicked the shrimp shell, her foot passing right through the surface without causing any real impact in the material world. "You seem much more cheerful now. You joke, you get angry, you get conflicted. Before, although you seemed to have a lot of emotions, you never smiled."
—That sounds pretty good.
Surtr pushed the peeled shrimp forward, and the next moment, this food, which should have only existed in the material world, was copied without warning and appeared on the spatial plane where Theresia was!
She was startled when she saw the pink and white creature.
Then a smile crept onto her lips—it actually felt pretty good to tease people. She hadn't thought this way before, but now it was gradually changing. Since she decided to stop suppressing her true nature, there was no harm in finding more fun for herself.
' Surtr! You scared me to death!'—She saw the Princess move to the teacup, patting her chest in a frightened manner while putting a shrimp into her mouth with an expectant look.
Then—regarding Alina, she decided to reveal some things to Theresia.
—'My only intention is to bring together a perfectly matched couple; I have never intended to steal someone else's partner.'
She spoke very bluntly and left no room for ambiguity.
"But this guy's jumping up and trying to pry me off the wall, and I'm even thinking of giving it a shot—what do you think I should do?"
She saw Theresia in the cup suddenly cough violently.
Chapter 105 - The Legendary Main Storyline
Miss Surtr told Theresia about Alina's situation.
She also detailed Persephone's role and specific actions in the process. Throughout, Theresia listened attentively to every detail, not missing a single fragment of the story.
"—That's basically the situation. I'm actually quite troubled by it right now. Why would they suddenly jump in and try to steal me away? They're clearly a couple, but they insisted on dragging me into this mess. My last trip to the dream world ended abruptly, partly because of this."
Theresia returned to the mirror— Surtr simply reached out and placed it on the table. She had made herself a little too much for lunch, but she was never hungry or full, no matter how much or how little she ate.
She continued peeling the shrimp.
"I see, I understand now." Theresia in the mirror nodded seriously. "But you just said you wanted to try it? What is it? Didn't you have a headache?"
—'Because I think it's pretty good. It's the first time someone's ever pursued me...it feels kind of accomplished.'
She continued stuffing shrimp into her mouth. Then she saw the pinkish-white hair in the mirror cough violently again.
"You... you! Cough cough, Surtr!" Theresia clutched her glasses, looking like she was about to run out of breath. "You said this is the first time... you've been pursued by someone!?"
"Yes." Miss Surtr ignored the exaggerated performance of the pink and white-haired creature—to be honest, when people die, they're no longer on the same spatial level, so why would they have something as troublesome as a respiratory system? She's clearly a Terra ghost, so why is she pretending to cough like a human?
It was obvious that this pink-and-white-haired girl was stirring things up again. How could the Sarkaz Princess, who had never flinched even when knives were pointed at her in the eyes during the Civil War, be so neurotic and frivolous? Undoubtedly, this Theresia was now fanning the flames and joining in the fun—that's what Miss Surtr thought.
"—It's not like there haven't been guys who suddenly came up to me in the past. But those guys were either after my wealth, my power, or they were just young and naive, thinking they could achieve some grand ambition with me. Girls are one thing, I can just laugh it off and forget about them. But men... I have no interest in all that complicated stuff."
"I ultimately prefer simple, direct agency relationships. Request, reward. I execute it once I've determined both sides are equal. I quite dislike those who break contracts afterward and those who are insatiable, so perhaps that's why I'm not well-liked."
She spoke to herself, conveying her will to the pink-and-white fur in the mirror using a communication method that only Theresia could observe. Outside the mirror, however, she leisurely devoured the slightly excessive amount of meat rolls and shrimp.
She noticed that Theresia looked at her as if she were an alien insect.
But it didn't matter; Theresia, and many others, always looked at her the same way. She was already used to being treated this way and had learned to selectively filter it.
"But Alina is different. There's no vested interest between us; she doesn't need my power, nor does she need me to help her achieve any grand ideals. And more importantly... at that time, she didn't know she was in the Dream Realm, nor did she know I couldn't die."
The girl frowned slightly.
—'This proves that this feeling must be genuine. Although Alina and Talulah should be a couple, I haven't been keeping a close eye on them every day for the past three years. How would I know if they're best friends or lovers? If it's the latter, then even if someone tries to steal me away, I'll just have to pretend I don't know. But if it's the former...'
She pressed her hand against her chest, feeling the unchanging heartbeat within her chest cavity.
—'Although I wasn't immediately smitten, it was the first time a girl had genuinely pursued me. I felt I should perhaps reciprocate her sincere feelings.'
Then she turned to look at Theresia in the mirror.
"What should I do... Theresia?"
She did not receive a response immediately.
Because the mirror and the pink and white fur in it had cracked together.
"I'm sorry, Surtr." She saw the Princess, her face contorted with rage, force a smile. "I had no idea such a tactic existed, and that it was so simple to stir your emotions... I... well, I have something to attend to here, so I'll be leaving for a while. I'll give you my answer when I've thought it through."
"Ah... oh, um. Go ahead and do your thing, I'll look for it later..."
"You're going to find that Alina!?" The Princess's voice suddenly turned sharp, as if she had been stabbed by something sharp.
—'... Persephone.' Then Miss Surtr finished the second half of her sentence.
She saw the Princess's face suddenly turn bright red. Then, with a haphazard wave of her hand, she vanished from the mirror's surface, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
The Princess has left.
Or perhaps the Princess ran away.
Miss Surtr tilted her head—she wasn't quite able to understand the girl's strange emotional shifts.
—Nonsense.
—But Theresia is always like this, so I'll just let her be... After all, she looks very energetic, and I can always go check on her later.
She thought to herself, raising her hand to smooth out the cracks in the mirror beside the table. Then she got up and tidied her dining table and the various food scraps in the kitchen. And then—
"It's time to go find Persephone."
Persephone.
Why go looking for Persephone?
It's simple. Now that the decision is made and things are clear, it's time to go find her—even though this guy said during the day that Miss Surtr was free to do as she pleased. But who says that free time can't be spent near her?
So.
One of the many temporary offices in Persephone. Miss Surtr found the fellow who was handling hundreds of documents at once with great efficiency—the last document had just been finished by the purple-toned Doctor when she opened the door.
Clearly, whenever Miss Surtr opened the door, Persephone would be in a situation where she had just finished her chores—she knew Persephone's habits and abilities, and when she opened the door, she glanced to the side and saw the empty blue food box on the table.
Great, Hong didn't send the wrong box, which saved us some trouble.
"How does it taste? I think it's alright?" she asked.
"Very good, excellent flavor." Persephone handed all the processed documents to the silently approaching drone, then walked out from behind his desk. "Surtr, have you made up your mind?"