“This is only based on my rational judgment, that’s all. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Ariel took a deep breath. Her expression was serious, and her tone was utterly sincere—so sincere that it made people feel she truly meant it, that this was genuinely what she thought, and not the kind of stubborn pride Celicia put on.

But that kind of truth was not what Muen wanted to hear right now.

“It seems my greeting just now wasn’t quite right.”

Muen shifted slightly in his seat. His hands were still laced together, but now his clean-shaven chin rested lightly on them. With the lake’s reflected light behind him, the handsome features inherited from the Campbell family’s excellent bloodline stood out even more clearly.

“Let me try that again.”

Muen smiled and said:

“You look beautiful today, Miss Ariel Bugaard.”

“...”

The entire garden fell silent.

It seemed that even the birds in the trees, embarrassed by such a direct and utterly unforced compliment from Muen, tucked their heads beneath their wings.

Ariel’s eyes gradually widened. Her pink lips—made especially glossy by the lipstick that had been applied—parted slightly, and her whole face went blank in a way that made her look almost adorably dazed.

“What... what kind of madness are you spouting now?”

Ariel suddenly crossed her arms tightly over herself, goosebumps visibly rising one by one across her pale skin.

“Did some Evil God pollute your mind or something? Why are you suddenly saying such disgusting, creepy things?”

“You’ve used the word disgusting twice today, but I truly don’t understand what part of this qualifies as disgusting. I’m only telling the truth.”

Muen adjusted his bow tie. His smile was so perfectly measured it looked as if it had been calibrated by the finest instrument, and he seemed almost like he was about to step onto a stage and recite a beautiful sonnet.

“The you standing here now is just that beautiful, Miss Ariel Bugaard. Your long hair, your face, those eyes of yours—deep and brilliant as stars—and this white dress that suits you so well... Right now, you’re practically the embodiment of the Goddess of Beauty herself. The word beautiful might as well have been invented for you. Even the underwear trimmed with those cute little bows is beautiful enough to—”

“That’s enough!”

Ariel’s eyes were no longer merely wide—they were blazing now as she snapped and cut Muen off.

She looked furious at his nauseating praise, but at the same time, a bright, burning blush rolled up from her swan-like neck, spreading until her entire face had turned scarlet.

It was true that she had never been praised like this before... no, more precisely, she had never been praised like this for her appearance.

“Take... take back all that fake nonsense right now!”

“Really? I spent quite a while preparing that speech in my head.”

Muen looked puzzled.

“From what I could tell, you seemed to like hearing it.”

After all, if she didn’t like it, why would she be blushing?

Still, that expression—disgusted on one side, shy on the other—really was unexpectedly adorable.

Muen suddenly wanted very much to reach out and rub Ariel’s cheek. But sadly, with Ariel’s personality, even if she had no strength at all right now, if he reached out, she would definitely bite him.

What was the best way to describe it?

Like a little Shiba barking with its teeth bared?

“Who liked it? I’m about to throw up last night’s dinner, okay?”

Ariel gave a cold snort. She also seemed to realize that her current expression lacked a certain persuasive force, so she immediately pursed her lips and turned away.

“I’m not wasting any more time on this useless nonsense. I’m leaving.”

“You’re leaving already? We haven’t even reached the main point yet.”

“I don’t feel like talking to you right now. When you stop acting this fake and disgusting, then come talk to me again.”

Ariel’s face was set with determination as she turned and walked away without the slightest reluctance.

“What a pity.”

Muen made no move to stop her. He only let out a faint sigh of regret.

“I actually put quite a bit of effort into preparing this lunch.”

“Whatever effort you put in has nothing to do with me. I’m not planning to fall for your tricks anyway.”

“Is that so?”

Muen clapped his hands.

In an instant, the maids—who knew where they had been hiding before—appeared in orderly fashion, each pushing a serving cart topped with silver domes that reflected the sunlight.

The covers had not even been lifted yet, and already the intoxicating aroma coming from beneath them had overwhelmed the fragrance of the flowers in the garden.

“First course: pan-seared Teresa foie gras with black currant sauce.”

The first to lift a silver dome was, as expected, Noah. It clearly wasn’t her cooking, but she was obviously full of confidence in the duke’s household kitchen. Excitement colored the end of her words.

“Foie gras? Hah.”

Ariel curled her lip in disdain.

She had heard of Teresa foie gras before. Apparently it came from some mutated goose-type magical beast, rich with fat and melting the moment it touched your tongue. It was considered a top-tier delicacy favored by many great nobles.

But Ariel had never cared for it. She had seen other people eat foie gras before. A single tiny piece wasn’t even enough to get stuck between her teeth. To her, no matter how good something tasted, if it couldn’t fill her stomach, it was meaningless.

Rather than foie gras, she’d rather have a few more chicken legs.

Still... considering how good it smelled, Ariel secretly glanced back.

And after that one glance...

she froze.

Foie gras was, of course, still foie gras. Even if it came from a goose-type magical beast, it wasn’t that much bigger than normal foie gras.

But now, on that oversized platter, dozens upon dozens of slices had been arranged together in a masterful composition. Whether in sheer volume or visual appeal, the whole thing was shamelessly seducing Ariel’s appetite.

And Noah, just to make it worse, gave her a mischievous little wink.

“It’s an extra-large portion.”

“...Gulp.”

Ariel swallowed.

Extra-large?

That was too underhanded.

If a single serving wasn’t enough, then they’d just piled dozens of servings together. In that case, could it still even be called a rare ingredient? Weren’t those high-end restaurants charging so much precisely because the portions were so absurdly small?

Still, just that alone...

“Second course: grilled Arlen sea beast with lemongrass salad.”

A second maid stepped forward. She looked delicate, but her arm strength was astonishing—the platter she carried was practically bigger than she was.

The dome, large enough to cover a person, was lifted away, revealing an enormous slab of sea beast meat under the sun. Fat crackled in the lingering heat, and the so-called lemongrass salad was nothing more than a few green leaves laid across the top of the mountain of meat.

“...Gulp.”

It was only grilled sea beast. It wasn’t like she’d never eaten it before.

“Third course: pan-seared snowmarble steak, medium.”

They called it steak, but what they actually brought out looked like an entire cow. The crisp, fragrant exterior was enough to make anyone’s appetite flare. And yet once the cut was opened, the color inside was undeniably the perfect medium, the pale marbling running through it like veins in polished stone.

“...Gulp.”

B-beef is ordinary too!

“Fourth course... Fifth course...”

Who knew how many dishes kept coming out. Ariel finally understood why this lunch had to be held in such a spacious garden.

It was not because Muen Campbell had become so oily and insufferable that he wanted to stand there swirling a glass of red wine and telling her her eyes resembled the lake.

No, it was because to lay out this many dishes, each one so outrageously large, even the duke’s dining table would have been under considerable strain.

But Ariel held firm.

She wiped the sweat off her brow. Though she had no idea how many times she had swallowed by now, her gaze remained resolute.

Her unbending spirit and iron will would never—

“Dessert after the meal: Panini cake, specially made by a royal pastry chef!”

“Talk.”

Ariel sat down across from Muen with complete seriousness.

“What exactly is your goal here?”

“...”

Muen couldn’t help laughing.

“So you’re not leaving anymore?”

“Hmph. I am leaving.”

Ariel lifted her white little chin.

“But considering how much you prepared, I can temporarily hear out whatever it is you want to say. Also, you still haven’t given me back my ring, and you haven’t undone the restriction.”

Her ancient ring, the thing she relied on most, had been taken away. Her teacher wasn’t by her side. All her strength had been sealed.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been the most urgent, dangerous situation imaginable for Ariel.

And after everything strange that had been done to her on the way here, if this were her usual self, she would probably already be thinking about how to get her things back and go full unstoppable stealth rampage right here.

No—actually, she had been thinking about it the whole time. Giving in to those maids had only ever been a temporary compromise. It definitely wasn’t because she had been conquered by some cute little dress.

But what surprised even her was that from the moment she saw Muen Campbell, she had suddenly felt at ease.

As though, deep in the very bottom of her heart, she already understood that this man named Muen Campbell would not really do anything excessive to her.

Maybe it was because they had supported each other between life and death before. Or maybe it was because this guy had quietly changed over time in ways she hadn’t fully noticed. In any case...

just as Muen Campbell had said, she really did trust him.

But only trust.

That’s right. Not anything else.

Just trust.

“Hurry up and say it. I don’t have that much time to waste on you.”

Now that she had decided to hear him out a little, Ariel stopped being polite to him altogether. She grabbed her knife and fork and started feasting in earnest. Anyway, he owed her a hundred million. Eating this much didn’t even count as collecting interest.

And so, the moment the soft, sweet Panini cake was placed into that cherry-like little mouth of hers, Ariel seemed to unfurl like a flower blooming in spring, the joy between her brows and eyes overflowing instantly.

She rarely gave off such a gentle softness.

If the usual Ariel was a sharp sword, then right now, that sword had started to wobble like a rubber toy sword in a child’s hands.

Muen watched her like this, and the formal smile he had worn earlier naturally loosened into something calmer and more genuine.

Ariel ate quickly. Not just the Panini cake—the food around her was visibly disappearing at an astonishing rate. Yet strangely, her movements weren’t crude at all. Even the way she ate was like her swordsmanship: sharp and swift.

Even though Ariel kept urging him, Muen still waited a little while longer. Only when she had eaten enough did he finally speak.

“Do you remember what happened before?”

“...”

Ariel’s hand paused slightly.

“You mean before I lost consciousness?”

“That’s right.”

“I couldn’t remember at first. But after seeing you, I started remembering a little.”

Ariel’s voice softened.

When she had woken up on the big bed in the duke’s mansion, her mind and memory had both been a complete mess. But even then, she had already sensed that something about the situation was completely unreasonable.

For example...

why had her power been sealed so thoroughly?

And it was only after seeing Muen that some of the hazy fragments in her mind had gradually begun to clear.

“At that time... I attacked you, didn’t I?”

Ariel’s tone was complicated.

“Mm.”

“The one who was polluted by an Evil God wasn’t you. It was me, right?”

“Mm.”

More and more fragments surfaced in her mind, and with each question and answer, Ariel was finally able to connect all the things she had forgotten.

She remembered the voice asking, Are you really willing to accept this?

She remembered the version of herself in the mirror, smiling in that strange, twisted way.

And most importantly, she remembered the reason all of this had started...

Miss Muse.

“Sealing my power completely wasn’t to imprison me. It was to... keep me from being controlled by the Love God again and doing something dangerous, right?”

“Yes.”

Muen said, “There is already a seed of the Love God sprouting deep inside your heart. Even though your teacher has thoroughly protected your soul, you’re still in danger, because no one knows when your mind might be invaded again.”

“Reasonable. Impossible to argue with... So then what? You did all this—changed my clothes, fed me all this food—just so you could mock me?”

Ariel lowered her head, making her expression impossible to read.

But her hands suddenly clenched tight.

“Mock me for being so thoroughly fooled by one of your fake identities?”

Ariel had always considered herself strong-willed, strong-hearted, the kind of person who could never be crushed by any hardship or setback.

She firmly believed she would keep singing her way forward, carving through every obstacle until she reached the place she dreamed of—until that crystal palace shone beneath the sunlight.

But before any of that could be completed, she had already been defeated.

Defeated by someone who didn’t even exist in the world.

By someone fake.

So [N O V E L I G H T] much for being some master of love. It was pathetic enough to make you unable to look at it directly.

“Mock you?”

Muen tilted his head slightly and asked back,

“What do you think? Do you really think I’d mock you?”

“...No.”

Ariel murmured softly,

“If it’s the you now, then no.”

If it had been the Muen Campbell from her memories—the hateful one she used to despise—then he definitely would have mocked her viciously right through his nostrils.

But the Muen Campbell standing here now absolutely would not.

Even if she refused to admit it, he had long since ceased to be merely “that bastard” or “that damned guy.”

He was someone qualified to fight shoulder to shoulder with her.

He had the kind of personal charisma that made countless beautiful girls throw themselves at him.

He was the kind of person who wouldn’t even allow her to think he carried any intent to mock her.

“Then why are you doing this?”

Ariel looked down at the white dress she was wearing. It seemed to suggest something already, but she deliberately refused to think in that direction.

“Can’t you tell? I’m not here to mock you. Quite the opposite. The one who should be apologizing is me. I’m the one who caused you to end up like this, and I need to take responsibility, so...”

Muen suddenly took Ariel’s soft little hand and said with complete sincerity:

“May I invite you on a date, beautiful Miss Ariel Bugaard?”

“A date?” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Ariel froze slightly, then asked in confusion:

“But Miss Muse is gone.”

“No. Not Miss Muse.”

Muen said, “The one inviting you now is not Miss Muse—the person who never existed in this world to begin with. It’s Muen Campbell. Ariel, the one inviting you now is not that false identity, but the real man standing right in front of you.”

“I’m the one inviting you.”