Chapter 80 Expressing Feelings: Golden Branches and Green Leaves
Ancia sat down in the chair next to Heligaluo, took his hand, and asked softly, "Are you really angry with me?"
Heligalo kept his eyes down and didn't say anything. He simply changed his clasped hands into an interlocked shape and shook his head.
Ancia felt that he held her hand more tightly than ever before, almost pressing against her tightly, his knuckles as if they wanted to abandon all flesh and blood constraints and let their finger bones intertwine.
This doesn't look like she's not angry at all.
Ancia cleared her throat. "Heli, I heard that your boyfriend has been making you angry lately? Can you tell me about it? As one of your friends, I promise I'll stand by you."
Heligalo then looked up and saw Ancia's sincere expression, and a soft spot in his heart was suddenly touched.
He gathered his thoughts and slowly began, "She... seems to have fallen for someone else, someone I hate."
Ancia frowned. "How could she do that? This behavior is really excessive. No wonder you're angry with her."
Heligalo's lips, which had been pressed into a straight line, curved into a smile, but he pressed it down again. "I'm not angry with her, I'm just unhappy."
Ansia was slightly taken aback, raised her eyebrows, and stared intently at his expression. "Isn't being unhappy the same as being angry?"
Heligaluo shook his head. “It’s different. I’ll never be angry with her. She’s special. She always follows her heart. She’s steadfast, strong, beautiful, and upright… These qualities are hard to find in one person, so she easily attracts attention. It’s a miracle that I’m fortunate enough to have her favor. What I’m unhappy about is…”
His deep blue eyes were filled with complex emotions, including disappointment and a sense of embarrassment at his own predicament.
“I don’t know how to keep her here. She appeared so suddenly, without any clues, as if a deity was drawn by the bustle of the human world and decided to come down and see for herself. During her travels, she saw many exquisite flowers and plants; she picked blue irises, green thorns, red roses, black roses, and now her gaze is fixed on gray lilies of the valley…”
"She won't care about the conflict between Iris and Lily of the Valley, because that's unimportant in the world of gods. Iris won't stop the gods from taking an interest in Lily of the Valley either, but what about later? What if one day, after she's gained everything, she loses interest in this human world and returns to heaven?"
"I don't want her to know about these despicable thoughts, nor do I want to have only briefly enjoyed her affection."
So that's how it is.
Ancia sighed softly. Herigalo had an incredibly keen intuition that brought him close to the truth. Without her even knowing it, the Holy See's intelligence network had probably investigated every noble family in the Empire and all the surrounding human countries.
She didn't brush it off, but patiently untangled Heligaluo's knots one by one.
Ancia pondered for a moment, "Herri, have you ever considered that she's not as perfect as you imagine? She's just an ordinary person. She likes good-looking people, but she can't stick to one choice. Always following your heart sounds nice, but in other words, it might be called ego."
Heligalo looked at her disapprovingly, "Please don't speak ill of her. This world is inherently more lenient towards the strong, and she deserves more."
Ancia said helplessly, "Okay, I'll be careful. Heli, what I'm trying to say is, if she really is a god, why would she cry for you? If a god doesn't care about irises, she wouldn't be anxious and search everywhere for a way to heal them when they're injured. If this flower withers, just pick a new one."
Heligaluo smirked. "Perhaps I've encountered an exceptionally soft-hearted god."
Ancia was almost amused by his stubbornness. "Heligalo, look at me."
She gripped Heligaluo's chin, forcing him to look directly into her eyes. "My affection for you isn't the gaze of a god upon his creation; it's the appreciation and longing of an ordinary person for another ordinary person. In these eyes lies the same possessiveness as you!"
Heligalo saw it; his dark eyes, like Heligalo's, were surging with passion, a mixture of love and desire, burning intensely.
Ancia was also a little angry. "How could you think you're not important? You have a very special place in my heart. You're the first friend I made here. You're self-disciplined, compassionate, kind, responsible... um..."
Before she could finish speaking, Heligalo interrupted her with an urgent kiss, silencing her.
Heligalo leaned forward, a few words escaping between their lips, "Now... um... the first quality you admired is gone..."
The restrained person could no longer remain calm and composed. The joy of getting what they wanted and the desire to possess more intertwined, flowing from their azure eyes, down their gaze to their bright black eyes, and back into their heart mixed with equal admiration. Their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were all soaked in a bittersweet wind, wanting to merge with the other person in order to slightly relieve the itch in their heart.
Ancia's mind snapped, but her remaining rationality reminded her to bring him to the room. She grabbed Heligalo by the collar, and the two stumbled into the room. The balcony door slammed shut, startling the white doves on the roof.
Golden branches and green leaves, white flowers blooming from the heart, one after another.
*
A few days ago, Heligalo left Gracia for Red Maple City, while Valien is still in the palace; today is the day of his coronation.
With neither of her deskmates on either side of her present, Ancia occupied a whole row by herself in the in-depth magic theory class. Including the other noble magicians who had gone to attend the coronation ceremony, the two rows behind her were empty.
Ms. Elizabeth was finally able to walk to the front row to teach with ease. There were too many absent students, so she didn't teach anything too important today. Instead, she chose to explain some rare spells that were more difficult to perform but quite interesting.
Elizabeth: "There is a niche spell that consumes a lot of magic power and whose effects cannot be observed with the naked eye. It is called True Blessing. All magicians can learn it, and the final effect is related to one's own attributes, like this."
With a wave of her staff, a golden, illusory crown appeared in her hand. She placed the crown on her head. "Magic is said to bring good luck, but whether it actually works, we don't know. Sometimes people attribute their success to luck, but they overlook the fact that that good luck might come from the care and effort of those around them. But learning it, at least, provides some psychological comfort, and that's part of the meaning of magic."
Elizabeth wrote the spell in the air, and Ancia easily gained this general magic spell in her skill list.
It lasted only a minute before the crown on Elizabeth's head disappeared, the golden light vanishing into the air as if it had never existed.
She shrugged. "Like this, the mana consumed is enough to cast two or three high-level spells, but it only brings good luck for a minute."
Anxiya enthusiastically cast a spell on herself, and as soon as the golden crown was placed on her head, a system notification sounded in her mind.
[Congratulations to the player for completing the side quest [Augustin: The Calamity of the Empire].]
...Is it a coincidence?
The faint sound of cannons could be heard outside the window, and looking out through the castle window, fireworks were rising in the direction of the royal palace.
A realization dawned on Ancia's eyes. It seemed that Verion's coronation ceremony was complete, and the system notification should be the settlement of the Verion incident.
This was going to happen today anyway, so the magic still...
[Congratulations to the player for completing the follow-up quest [The Butterfly Marquis].]
Ancia: ? ? ?
The crown on her head disappeared at the very last second before the quest notification sounded, and her level was boosted to 66 by the experience from the two quests.
Aurora's fate has been completely altered. She was supposed to become the Black Widow Marquis before the game's ending, but now, before the second year is over and the Demon King has been killed, she has been promoted to Marquis, and even her title has changed.
And this lucky magic...
Ancia touched the top of her head; the crown had disappeared, and it was hard to say whether it had actually worked.
After finishing her magic lesson today, Ancia returned to Villa No. 11 and read until late at night.
Lulu turned on the magic wall lamp at the right time, adjusting the light to a comfortable level.
Ring ring—
The visitor chimes on the first floor rang. Ancia was tired of looking at them, so she went downstairs and opened the door, only to find that the visitor was someone she had never expected.
She stood there stunned for a while before she regained her composure, "You...aren't you supposed to be very busy today? Shouldn't you be at the palace gala right now?"
Wearing casual clothes and showing signs of fatigue, Verion stood quietly at the door, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from Ancia.
He was certainly very busy. His coronation had just been completed, but he had not yet fully grasped the actual power. He should now use the party to win over those he could use and to feign compliance with those old foxes.
But Villion deliberately made an excuse to leave and then appeared here.
Verion's gray eyes were cold, and he nodded slightly with elegance. "I've come to thank you and the Dark Night Guild for your help, and also to thank you for recommending Aurora. She's very smart and very useful."
Ancia tilted her head. "You came here just to say this?"
Verion handed over a token. "More than that, this is a token that allows free access to all areas of the palace. It's my personal property. I want to use this as a token to form an alliance with the Dark Night Guild. My grandfather's former supporters are not available for the time being; I need reliable forces. I promise that if we become allies, I will fully support the development of the Dark Night Guild until the day I abdicate."
After a moment's consideration, Ancia accepted the token. "Deal."
A hint of warmth finally appeared in Verion's indifferent expression. He stepped forward and asked the question that had been troubling him for a long time, "Why did you help me?"
This distance had violated social distancing, and Ancia took an uneasy half-step back. "I believe you can become an excellent king, that's all."
Verion subtly raised an eyebrow; this reason was completely different from what Eve had relayed. He then put on his polite smiling mask again. "I see. So, ally, what about my coronation gift?"
Ansia's eyes widened slightly. "A gift?!"
She didn't even plan to attend Vilian's coronation ceremony, so why would she prepare a gift for him?
If she were to pull out any magical item now, with Verion's discerning eye, she would definitely see through her perfunctory attitude.
In a moment of quick thinking, Ancia gently waved her staff, and a golden crown appeared in her hand. Magic propelled the crown to float up and fly to the top of Verion's head.
After a moment's hesitation, Ancia said sincerely, "Well... I wish you good luck in the future, and that you won't have to work so hard to achieve your dreams."
Verion reached out his hand, his cool fingertips touching the light magic. It was warm, unlike the cold wind.
"Thank you, I like it very much."
He received many valuable and rare gifts today, but none of them combined could bring him as much joy as this blessing.
Seeing that the person in front of him visibly relaxed, Vilian tactfully chose to say goodbye, "I have other things to take care of, so I'll be leaving now."
Ancia nodded. "Goodbye."
Verion slowly walked toward the carriage waiting at the side door. He still didn't understand why Ancia would help him without seeing any benefit. He also didn't understand himself, why he kept thinking about Ancia's meaningless persistence in the memory palace after the party started.
But that's alright, they've become allies, and he has plenty of time to find the answer.
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