Lex believed in coincidences, but only as long as they did not involve himself. Weiss had merely begun telling his story, and already he mentioned a place called Avalon. The casual way in which he named it meant to Lex that it was a name Weiss believed that the Innkeeper would be familiar with.

There was also the fact that Weiss was a Celestial, the race that Mary used to belong to. The first apartment building Lex had ever made within the Midnight Inn had been named Avalon by Mary, and Mary was the one who had asked him to talk to Weiss about his home.

In short, it was undeniable that Mary and Avalon were connected. While he listened to Weiss’ story, it only took the slightest bit of effort for Lex to look into Avalon. As long as the Midnight Inn or Henali portal had any record of Avalon, he’d be able to know what it was.

Ignoring the hundreds of billions of unlikely Avalons that couldn’t possibly be referred to by both Weiss and Mary so affectionately, Lex concluded that the Avalon they were talking about was one of the largest Celestial cities.

It was not the oldest - not by far - but it was one of the modern cores of the Celestial race. It was built within the High Solarium Major realm, which was an exceptionally powerful Major realm even across the universe.

It was said that the conquest for High Solarium saw the Celestial race fight against the Sages, and come out victorious! Of course, what Lex was reading were merely snippets of rumors on the Henali portal. Nothing stated there could be verified.

Whatever the case, Lex finally felt like he had a lead on Mary’s life before she became a projection. The only question was how was she related to Avalon? It was likely a very strong relation for her to mention it, and looking up significant females related to Avalon shouldn’t be too difficult.

As the previous wielder of the system Lex had, her achievements were likely massive. After all, to date, Lex still had not used the full power of his system. He could only imagine the amount of power she must have controlled at her peak. Considering the whole universe found it difficult to ignore Lex, she must have been even harder to ignore.

To date, Lex could not imagine how or why she faced such a total defeat. But that was something for him to focus on at another time. For now, he listened to Weiss.

Meanwhile, Z and Tildie met in a private setting. A number of guards still followed her though, and two of them accompanied her even in the meeting.

Tildie and Z both stared at each other awkwardly at first, unsure of how to proceed. Although Z had many fans, especially since the comic books and fanfiction stories started to come out, he hardly met any of them. Moreover, while some of them confessed to him before, this was the first marriage proposal. As if that was not enough, the proposal wasn’t even because of himself, but because he was a descendant of Zarek.

Tildie, on the other hand, did not have as much say in this matter as it may appear. Although the Innkeeper had said that she and Z should decide on their own, her decision had been made on her behalf and there was no way she could go against it. It was fortunate that she was genuinely a fan of the Midnight Inn, so she wasn’t too resistant to the idea. Perhaps that’s why she had been selected to begin with.

Eventually, though, Z started a conversation. It wasn’t because he forced himself, or because he didn’t want a guest to feel awkward, or because he was trying to emulate an anime character, although all of those ideas certainly existed. No, he imagined that if he showed too much weakness and Lex showed up, he might force Z into some kind of bizarre training to deal with such awkward situations. That thought alone pushed him into action!

The two of them talked, and once they started to talk the conversation started to flow smoothly. Tildie was genuinely curious about many things relating to the Inn, and there were few more knowledgeable about such topics than Z.

Thus, once the conversation began, the hours flowed by smoothly, and Tildie actually began to get a positive feeling about things. She could almost envision her future beside Z, and started to warm up to the idea. Although he was a little weak in his realm, that could be addressed in the future.

What she did not expect, however, was that after a full day of talking, Z apologised to her, and told her directly that he would not be accepting the proposal. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Tildie was stunned because never in her entire life had she imagined that she would be rejected for a marriage proposal! She was royalty among Celestials, with her actual father being a Dao Lord! Who wouldn’t want to form a connection with her? She always imagined that would be her lot in life.

"Please do not take it personally," said Z, seeing that the news was a major blow to her. "My decision has nothing to do with you. It’s just that here in the Midnight Inn, the things we value are a little different. We do not seek power, wealth, or fame. The Innkeeper alone has all of that, so what could we even hope to contribute? No, the thing we value at the Midnight Inn is genuine connection, and to serve the Inn wholeheartedly.

"While it is true that I might be able to serve the Inn better by forming a connection with you and your family, that is not the kind of service the Innkeeper seeks. In fact, if the workers of the Inn began to form such utilitarian connections with others, it would distort the sincerity and spirit of the mission of the Inn.

"Thus, the Innkeeper has always encouraged us to follow our hearts, and not be burdened by unnecessary thoughts. If you and I had met under different circumstances, maybe things would have ended up differently. But unfortunately, that is not the case."

Z felt like he’d given a pretty solid excuse to get out of this situation without hurting the other party, and it helped a lot that most of what he had said was true. He’d just left out the part where he was secretly looking forward to a certain someone waking up from her sleep.