Round Two Ends; Round Three, an Even Fiercer and More Spectacular Clash Among the Gods, Begins at Once! (Continued)

After the Grand Tutor weakly spoke, she staggered forward two more steps, then collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious.

Then,

The Grand Tutor didn't wake for a full day and night.

Alice stayed by the Grand Tutor's side, terribly worried.

But the Grand Tutor's mount, the Silver Dragon, repeatedly assured her that it wasn't a serious problem.

[Don't worry. There's no way this guy would die so peacefully.]

At last...

On the evening of the second day, the Grand Tutor slowly regained consciousness.

The Grand Tutor still looked deathly pale, but after a full day of forced rest, she had at least managed to regain a little strength.

She was able to continue their journey.

"Grand Tutor."

Alice asked curiously, "Where did you go? Why did you wear yourself out so badly?"

"I went to the Desolate Frozen Land and found Rhine Hyun and his Imperial Guards fighting the ancient dragon Obadiah."

The Grand Tutor didn't hide anything. She continued, "I tried to stop him, but I lost and came running back in disgrace."

Alice said, "Rhine Hyun... You mean that Rhine..."

The Grand Tutor replied, "Yes. He's the guest you received that day."

Alice smiled. "I knew it. So Mr. Rhine really is a Prince."

"How can you still smile about this?"

The Grand Tutor's gaze turned stern.

"Your relationship with the Hain Prince will be a lifelong disgrace, and it could become ammunition against you at any moment. How can you smile when things are this bad?"

Alice tried to argue. "But..."

The Grand Tutor's tone was resolute. "No buts. You must never mention that scandal again. You have to act as if it never happened. Do you understand?"

"Mm..."

Alice reluctantly nodded.

Honestly...

The Grand Tutor couldn't help feeling exasperated.

Alice was usually clever and sensible, but whenever Rhine Hyun came up, she completely lost her bearings.

After several days of talking and spending time together,

the Grand Tutor was fairly satisfied with Alice.

Although Alice had never received an education and came from an utterly lowly background,

having grown up among common folk, she was purer than the children raised in the foul atmosphere of the royal court.

Perhaps putting someone like her in charge of Leta could give the country a chance to climb out of the mire and break free of its shackles.

However,

the one thing the Grand Tutor wasn't satisfied with was her relationship with the Hain Empire's Prince.

The elves' hatred of humans ran deep.

Ever since Order, the human Main God, slaughtered and remade the elves' gods, the two races had been bound by a blood feud to the death.

And Alice, whose first time had been taken by the Hain Prince—

her position would become a huge liability in her future political career.

If not for this,

Alice could have been a promising Empress.

But now...

What could be done?

The demigod tutors of the White Light Courtyard had searched and investigated all of Leta.

They eventually determined that only two people in all of Leta had a suitable bloodline.

One was Alice,

and the other was the Grand Tutor.

There was no other choice...

The Grand Tutor couldn't possibly take over as King of the Moon herself.

If she didn't groom Alice,

was she supposed to make herself, a human Law God Mechanism with only half her life left, the King of the Moon?

The Grand Tutor's only wish now was to help Alice grow into a worthy Empress before she died.

She wanted Alice to become a new beacon for Leta after her death.

And yet...

Alice couldn't understand the Grand Tutor's good intentions.

The Grand Tutor was thinking about Leta's security and future,

while Alice was agonizing over how she would get along with Mr. Rhine after becoming Leta's Empress...

In the future, Mr. Rhine would inherit the throne and become the Hain Emperor, and if all went well, she might become Leta's Empress...

An Empress and an Emperor—it did sound like a rather fitting pair.

But unfortunately, the countries they ruled were Leta and Hain.

Just then, the Grand Tutor suddenly thought of something.

"By the way, Rhine Hyun had something he wanted to tell you."

"Huh? Really?!" Alice exclaimed, delighted.

The Grand Tutor said flatly, "He said—though you've only been apart for a few days, he's already begun to miss you. No matter what kind of person you become, he's looking forward to seeing you again."

Alice was so moved she could hardly contain herself.

Alice covered her mouth, on the verge of tears. "Mr. Rhine... Did he really say that?!"

The Grand Tutor rolled her eyes at Alice.

"Yes. From beginning to end, he wasn't at all surprised that you'd succeed as Leta's Empress. He must have been planning from the very start to win your favor before we discovered you."

The Grand Tutor's analysis was precise and reasonable.

But Alice didn't care in the slightest.

If Mr. Rhine was willing to deceive me, it must be because he cares about me!

After all, why didn't he go and deceive some other girl?

And so what if he knew I'd become Empress someday?

Mr. Rhine himself was going to be Emperor someday!

Alice didn't take in a single word of the Grand Tutor's rational analysis.

But Mr. Rhine's two little messages made her want to run off and become his dog.

A brilliant light flashed in Alice's eyes.

Mr. Rhine misses me. Mr. Rhine wants to see me again...

Could it be that Mr. Rhine... has fallen for me too?!

No matter what kind of person I become, he's looking forward to seeing me again...

Mr. Rhine... He...

Alice was deeply moved. She wished she could go to the Desolate Frozen Land right now and reunite with her beloved Mr. Rhine—though of course, that was impossible.

Meanwhile,

the Grand Tutor's expression grew increasingly helpless.

Because she'd heard Alice's inner thoughts.

Honestly,

she couldn't understand why Alice was so devoted to Rhine.

During their time together, by making liberal use of her mind-reading ability, the Grand Tutor had mostly figured out Alice's temperament.

She was a clever, rational girl.

She could stay calm and make the right judgment in most situations.

Sometimes, her shrewd maneuvers even left the Grand Tutor impressed.

Except when it came to handling anything involving Rhine Hyun...

The Grand Tutor couldn't help asking, "You only spent one day with Rhine Hyun, right?"

Alice replied, "Mm, that's right."

The Grand Tutor asked, "Then why do you like him so much?"

You don't know him, and you haven't had time to grow close to him, so why are you so infatuated with that man?

The Grand Tutor couldn't understand.

"I..."

Alice was at a loss for words.

It wasn't that she was confused about the answer to the question.

She was just too embarrassed to say it...

Actually, more than love or the heart—those vague, intangible things—

Alice had fallen for Rhine Hyun with her body.

Alice couldn't help remembering that night when he had burned her soul to ashes...

Scene after scene surfaced in Alice's mind, leaving her [self-censored][self-censored]...

Ah...

No, she couldn't say something like that out loud.

The Grand Tutor would definitely despise her!

But wait a minute...

Couldn't the Grand Tutor read minds?

Alice suddenly snapped to attention!

Which meant... all my thoughts had already been...

Alice stared at the Grand Tutor in horror.

A few blushes had appeared on the Grand Tutor's usually impassive face, and even her breathing had quickened...

The Grand Tutor had indeed read Alice's mind.

Mind-reading was one of the abilities the Grand Tutor had gained from the demigod remnants inside her. It had plenty of limitations, but it still worked every time against Alice.

When she used her mind-reading ability, the Grand Tutor could not only hear what someone was thinking, but also see the images in their mind—and even feel what they were feeling...

And thanks to this ability,

for a brief moment, the Grand Tutor felt some strange, inappropriate reactions stir in her body.

It reminded the Grand Tutor of the unprecedented turmoil she'd felt inside when she'd faced off against Rhine Hyun that day.

"I have to say..."