Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough?

Chapter 21 Dreams are always good, but reality isn't.

Rod was very familiar with Felicity's room.

After all, he was the one who cleaned when she wasn't around.

When the dim light was turned on, the two people standing in the small room became particularly conspicuous.

At least, their shadows were stretched very long and overlapped.

"Luo, go to sleep, I'm going to change my clothes." Felicity walked to the wardrobe, opened it herself, and took out a clean and normal soft nightgown.

The nightgown didn't reveal anything, since she was used to wearing it in the living room as well. So it was just a simple light blue long dress with lace trim and a cute little cat embroidered on the hem.

She didn't even care whether Rod was watching her, and directly reached her fingertips behind her back to untie the belt that was tightly binding her waist, and her skirt fell down as a result.

"Hiss..." Rhodes really wanted to teach her a lesson, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had said the same thing.

Teaching Felicity was like casting pearls before swine, so he had no choice but to walk to the other side of the bed, take off his shoes, and lie down under the covers.

There's no way around it. No matter what, Rod is still a man. It's impossible for him not to react to a very pretty girl, right?

But Rhodes still complained that this guy was neurotic; it was one thing to treat him, but how could he handle anyone else...?

but.

After thinking about this, his eyes lowered again.

Felicity's future is filled with struggle and despair, so she doesn't really have the chance to do the same to others.

All of this is like a sharp blade hanging over one's head.

It's a very simple principle—

Three months.

His attempt to save the Linlank Empire in three months was akin to ascending to heaven by stepping on his own foot.

He failed on his first try.

He slunk away with what little he could take, along with Lilith and Felicity—the last heir to the royal family—leaving the Linlank Empire to engage in a thorny struggle for the throne in her country.

Can……

In other words.

In the end, although they briefly saved Phillips City from Cecilia's clutches, their efforts were in vain three months later.

During the war, Phillips was still subjected to a bloody massacre, everything was reduced to ashes, and even the name of the city was no more.

And the imperial capital of the empire was even more so, with power shifts, madness, strife, and invasions from foreign countries, leaving bloodshed and corpses scattered for miles.

The entire Linlank Empire was destroyed after the truth about the fall of the Star Goddess Lilith was revealed.

Countless people attempted to seize the position of the Star God, which had been hidden by the Dragon God, while eleven kingdoms greedily coveted this fertile land without divine protection.

The story has reached a dead end.

And the one who bore the heaviest burden of all this was not Rhodes, nor Lilith, but that simple and naive girl, Felicity.

Almost all of her relatives were wiped out. As the sole survivor of the Star God's faith, the "Chosen Family," she must take up the mantle and resolve all the changes that need to be made.

She naturally had no time to understand what "love" was, because all that remained in her eyes was "hatred".

My thoughts are wandering.

Rhodes felt some pressure about how to change the overall situation.

Three months to get him to a point where he can rival the power of the state... It's difficult, really difficult.

But... this time, I'll give it a try.

"What are you thinking about?"

Before she knew it, Felicity had already changed her clothes and crawled into bed.

She lay down, her body supporting herself on Rhodes, a warm, intimate sensation washing over her. She gently poked Rhodes' cheek with a finger.

"Ah...some troublesome things."

"Oh, okay." Felicity didn't ask any more questions; she was very good at handling things. Instead, she changed the subject, saying, "Lo, as a reward for our long-awaited reunion, here's a gift for you."

"Hmm?" Rod sat up and took the "gift" Felicity handed him.

"Thank you," Rod replied politely.

It's rare to see a child who knows how to give gifts.

Rod felt a touch of tenderness, like watching a child grow up, but as he squeezed the hand, something felt off—

It's made of fabric? But why does it feel so hot...?

He withdrew his kind expression, his eyes fixed intently as he stretched out his hands to unfold the folded square cloth, then his face stiffened.

This is……

"I didn't know what gift to give you, and then Bella said that nothing would make His Majesty Rhodes like you more than this." Felicity was still leaning against Rhodes. "So, does Rhodes like it?"

"...Don't listen to that damned maid anymore, get back to your original clothes right now!"

Rod's eyelids twitched as he handed the light pink panties back to Felicity.

That's right.

These are underwear!

"Ah, Rod, Rod, he's angry..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you didn't like it..." Felicity felt extremely wronged, lowered her head, and pursed her lips.

Rhodes' face stiffened, his purple eyes filled with despair.

Damn it...

He took a deep breath, folded the strip of cloth neatly, and placed it on the bedside table.

"...No, I really like it, but you can't just give this to anyone, you understand? This is very important. Don't give it away carelessly again."

When he said this insincere thing, he felt as if thousands of ants were crawling all over him.

"Huh?" Felicity's dejected, shimmering eyes vanished instantly. After blinking blankly for a moment, a childlike smile appeared on her face, her eyes crinkling like the moon. "I know, it's only for you, I won't give it to just anyone."

"So, are you really happy?"

"..." Rhodes remained silent.

If that's ruled out, Felicity will probably have to stay by his side all night, looking at him with a pitiful expression until dawn.

"Hmm." In the end, he could only utter a simple word helplessly and numbly.

"Okay, that's good, hehe." Felicity received a satisfactory response. After saying that, she happily turned around, lay down in her spot, and pinched the corner of the blanket tightly with her fingers, covering herself with it.

Goodnight, Luo.

"Um."

The two people weren't touching; there seemed to be a natural line between them.

This was something Rod warned Felicity about when she was a child—

If you want to sleep together, you have to follow this rule, otherwise I won't let you sleep with me.

Felicity always remembered, always remembered, and so she continued to do so.

When she was little, she loved to stick close to Rhodes, after all, Rhodes was her only friend in the palace.

As an illegitimate child from an imperial family, and having only been found in the countryside at the age of seven, she faced discrimination from everyone, including adults and elders.

The only person who was kind to her was her older brother, who was always at war, but he was almost never in the palace.

Meanwhile, her father, Emperor Linlank the Great, was busy with affairs, so for Felicity, her childhood was filled with nothing but strange looks around her.

But one day, a monster appeared—

[Isn't that the heir to the Melanie Empire? Why would he come to our country... to steal knowledge, or...?]

[You don't know? That child isn't normal... He's mentally abnormal; even the Soul God's realm, which can "peep into minds," can't understand the thinking of their heir...]

The labels of "weird" and "special" were attached to the boy who was always holding a book, but in Felicity's eyes, these labels meant that he was one of her kind.

Therefore, Rhodes, the foreign future emperor who fell from the sky and showed her no discrimination, naturally became her spiritual leader.

Wherever he went, Felicity followed.

Even Emperor Linlank would always jokingly tease the two of them when they were young, saying, "You will definitely be happy in the future."

pity.

But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Everything is like a long corridor of time, becoming blurred as the story passes.

When did she stop being able to look at Rhodes?

It was from the moment she lost everything.

At that moment, she became incapable of caring about love, completely abandoning all her naivety and turning her back on hatred.

Is this what she was thinking...?

She also wanted to be like an ordinary girl, even if she was initially naive. But with the guidance of this male lover, she gradually matured.

It is not about being swept along by the tide and forced to progress, only to realize the truth in regret at the end.

Felicity's eyes unconsciously welled up with tears, but thankfully—

Because I was going to sleep, I closed my eyes tightly, so no one could see me.

Loneliness is always one's own...

And also.

Rod is right here beside me.

Once she understood this, her feelings of disappointment gradually subsided.

After all, the thought of Lilith sleeping alone in Rhodes' room while she could sleep with Rhodes filled her with excitement and satisfaction.

Is this considered adultery?

That's not right... After all, it belonged to her from the beginning.

Quietly, her fingers involuntarily crossed the line and gently poked Rod's waist.

"Hmm?" Rhodes had just closed his eyes when he was forced to open them again.

"Are you asleep?"

"No, how could I fall asleep in a minute?"

"It's been so long since we slept together, Luo." Felicity's words didn't contain the innocent and naive feelings of a young boy and girl sharing a blanket, but there was a hint of relief hidden in them.

"Ah...it wasn't that long ago, actually. A year ago during the academy assessment, didn't we sleep together in a tent? Under the strange looks from those students."

Rod paused for a moment after saying this, then continued:

"But actually, it's true, our situation is really weird, isn't it? Or rather, you're the weirdest one. You have to understand, gender, um..."

"Okay, okay, stop telling me to teach you. You're my only friend, so I don't care about those things."

"..." Rhodes remained silent.

Here we go again. Every time, Felicity interrupts his attempts to shape her "view of emotions" with this very sentence.

Because it is truly flawless.

Ugh……