Solaris's Biggest Romantic Showdown

The system notification exploded in Kexi's head while he was eating breakfast.

To be precise, he was holding a steaming bowl of seafood congee, trying to use its warmth to soothe his heart, which Cantarella had sent leaping up and down in fright.

The system clearly had no intention of letting him eat in peace.

[Ding!]

[Main quest issued: The Final Confession.]

[Quest details: Send a love letter to each target on the list, inviting them to the "Montelli Family grand gala." Requirements: No personal names may be used to sign the letters; all must be signed "Montelli." The words "birthday banquet" must not appear in the letters. Each letter must contain a sincere invitation and a restrained expression of longing.]

[Quest time limit: Seven days.]

[Quest reward: For each valid reply received, the host's resonance duration increases by one minute.]

[Special reward: If every target on the list attends, a hidden ability will be unlocked.]

Kexi's hand froze in midair, the bowl of congee still in it. His expression looked as though someone had just tossed a fly into his food.

"You damn system, do you think I'm not dying fast enough?"

The system remained silent.

"I just survived Cantarella! I haven't even sorted out that once-every-seven-days business, and now you want me to write love letters? In bulk, no less? Do you know what'll happen if those letters get sent out?"

The system continued to remain silent.

"Jinhsi is the magistrate of Jinzhou! Changli is her teacher! Sanhua is her personal guard! You want me to write love letters to all three of them at the same time? If they get together and chat for a minute, won't I be exposed? And then there's Phrolova from the Fractsidus. Do you think I don't have enough enemies in Rinascita already?"

[Notice: The host has already written love letters to everyone mentioned above, and has continued doing so for over twelve years. Please have confidence in your ability to pull this off.]

Kexi had no answer to that.

It was true. Ever since he was five, the damn system had forced him to write love letters to a long list of names. Back then, he couldn't even recognize all the characters, so he had cobbled his first letter together with pinyin and stick figures. The recipient was Jinhsi.

More and more names had been added since then.

Changli, Sanhua, Yangyang, Suisui, Baizhi, Cartethyia, Phrolova, Cantarella, Phoebe... and later Lynae, Mornye, Chisa, Lupa, Danika, Qiuyuan...

From important officials to ordinary people, from the righteous to the villainous, from Jinzhou locals to forces beyond its borders, not one had been spared.

Most absurdly, the system had even solemnly sorted them into categories for him: confidante type, combat type, research type, mysterious type, interest-based type, nun type, and assistant type.

"Are you playing a gacha game or something?" Kexi was thoroughly annoyed.

"Also, why is there a question mark on here?"

[Notice: This target's identity is special and has not yet been unlocked.]

"Fine... You really are a damn system."

Kexi sighed and looked at the sky outside the window. Suddenly, even today's sun seemed less bright.

But he still put down his bowl of congee.

Because he had seen the reward: for each valid reply he received, his resonance duration would increase by one minute.

Right now, he could only last five minutes. A single glare from Cantarella made his legs go weak. With that little ability, he could barely protect himself in the world of Solaris.

"Fine, I'll write them."

Kexi stood up.

"I've been writing them for twelve years. One last letter won't make a difference."

That night, the study in Montelli Manor was brightly lit.

Kexi sat at the oversized desk specially made for him. Spread out before him were more than a dozen sheets of fine, gold-stamped stationery, each giving off a faint scent of sandalwood. Beside them, the Montelli Family's specially made wax seal and a complete set of writing tools were neatly arranged.

He picked up a pen and took a deep breath.

"Damn system, I have a technical question."

[Speak.]

"There are over a dozen letters. Can I copy and paste the contents? None of them knows the others are getting one anyway. Can you give me a template?"

[No. The system requires each letter to contain unique memories and expressions of emotion pertaining to the recipient. Mass copying is prohibited. Otherwise, the letters will be deemed invalid.]

"Did you come here just to torture me?"

[This is a reasonable test of the host's writing ability. Having written love letters for twelve years, the host should be capable of tailoring each one.]

Kexi was too speechless to respond. He lowered his head and looked at the stack of stationery again.

Forget it. He would treat this as a summary of his twelve-year love-letter-writing career. Afterward, he could confidently blame the whole embarrassing history on "youthful ignorance."

"Even if that ignorance lasted twelve years," he muttered, and put pen to paper.

"Phew. Finally done."

Kexi wiped the sweat from his brow. Writing so many letters in one sitting had worn him out.

Each one used different wording, a different approach, and a different emotional tone.

Kexi rubbed his aching wrist and silently did the math. If he received a reply to every letter, his resonance duration would rise from five minutes to nearly twenty. Then, even if Cantarella came looking for trouble again, he would at least have a little more confidence.

"Damn system, the letters are done. How do I send them?"

[The system will send them all on your behalf tonight. The host need only seal the envelopes.]

"Send them for me? You can do that?"

[The system has access to the basic logistics network of the host's world. All love letters over the past twelve years were delivered by this system. Has the host never wondered why none were ever refused and returned?]

Kexi paused.

That was true. In twelve years of writing love letters, not one had ever been returned. Every one of them had reached its recipient, whether in the heavily guarded Jinzhou border court or at a constantly shifting Fractsidus base.

"So you were behind it. I thought Montelli's mail carriers were just that good."

[Montelli's mail carriers are not capable of infiltrating Fractsidus headquarters. Please have confidence in this system's professional abilities.]

"All right, all right, you're amazing." Kexi sealed the last envelope and stamped it with wax. "Send them."

[Confirming dispatch... All letters have been sent. Replies are expected to arrive over the next three days. Please monitor incoming correspondence closely.]

The study fell quiet.

Kexi leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly, he felt empty inside.

Twelve years.

From the age of five to eighteen, he had written 3,652 love letters-no, counting the dozen or so tonight, it was already more than 3,660. How much of what he had written in those letters had been sincere? Even he couldn't tell.

At first, he had simply followed the system's instructions mechanically, copying down those sappy lines. But as he wrote more, the recipients had gradually changed from names beneath his pen into real people.

Some things, once he had written them often enough, became hard to distinguish as a task or the truth.

"Forget it. No point thinking about it." Kexi stood up and loosened his stiff shoulders.