‘[Virtue +80].’

‘[Current Virtue: 2624].’

Today’s Virtue gains were huge, but Vinny couldn’t be happy at all.

“Alright, alright! Calm down first—stop crying. You’re not going to become elf crystal!” Vinny could only say to Milian.

What he couldn’t handle most was girls’ tears. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“Sniff... really?” Milian heard him while she was crying and actually stopped. With watery, tear-filled big eyes, she looked at Vinny all wronged, like she was grasping at straws in an emergency. She didn’t even consider whether the person she was asking was professional, or whether he even understood elves.

“Really. Truer than pearls. You won’t crystallize. I said it—nobody can override it.” Vinny pressed his lips together and reached a hand out to Milian. “Alright, hurry up and get up. Squatting here crying nonstop makes it look like I bullied a girl.”

“But my imperial sister told me that if I fall in love with a human, I’ll turn into a clump of elf crystal...” Milian said, sobbing.

“Hold on—what you just said has way too many things to complain about. Let me sort it out first.” Vinny frowned.

“First, I don’t know whether elves falling in love with humans really becomes crystal, because I’m human. I don’t understand elves, and I don’t understand elven body structure. Second, who did you fall in love with? You fell in love with me? Don’t do this. You just drank a bottle of festival special drink and then looked at me once, and you think you fell in love with me. In your eyes, is love really something that shallow??”

“So you’re already looking for an excuse to abandon me?” Milian pressed her lips together, her eyes red from crying, looking pitiful and delicate.

‘[Virtue +60].’

‘[Current Virtue: 2684].’

“Classmate Milian, with how good you are at drilling into dead ends, you might as well come back to my village and drill wells. That’s where you’ll really shine.” Vinny rolled his eyes at Milian. “You’re getting addicted, huh? Today it’s gotta be ‘you absolutely must love this young master,’ huh?? Sure, this young master admits his charm is enormous, but there are tons of girls who like this young master—one whole field wouldn’t even fit them. This young master is already refusing secret admirers now.”

“Narcissist.” Milian went quiet for a moment, then muttered softly.

“Right, I am a narcissist. You’re a proud Golden Elf—there’s no way you’d fall in love with a human narcissist, right?” Vinny bent down.

“Get up. It’s no big deal. This young master says you’re fine, so you’re fine.” Vinny held his hand out to Milian.

“Mm...” Comforted like this, Milian felt a lot better. She lifted her eyes to look at Vinny again, and for some reason, this guy suddenly looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.

‘[Virtue +60].’

‘[Current Virtue: 2744].’

Milian reached out. The moment she touched Vinny’s hand, she didn’t know what was wrong with her—she jolted like she’d been electrocuted, and her body went numb for an instant.

‘[Virtue +80].’

‘[Current Virtue: 2824].’

“What now? Jumping at everything—are you okay?” Vinny saw the Virtue change and had no idea what Milian did again.

“N-no, it’s nothing.” Milian shook her head, carefully glanced at Vinny, and then stopped talking.

The two of them went to a bench in the park and sat down. Milian lowered her head, hands on her knees, not saying a word.

Hm? Hm? Something feels off.

Vinny noticed something strange. Sitting together like this, with Milian reacting like she was shy, it made the two of them look like some ambiguous little couple in the flirting stage.

No, what the hell is this? If some bored people saw this, who knows what kind of gossip they’d start again.

But what else could he do? He couldn’t exactly ditch this girl and just leave.

Vinny looked at the Golden Elf girl who’d been crying just a moment ago. Her eyes were still a little red, and she looked so pitiful that he could only let out a long sigh inside.

Tch. Just his bad luck, alright??

“Right—who told you that thing about elves falling in love with humans turning into crystal? Your sister?” Vinny shifted the topic.

Milian’s sister was naturally the current Elf Queen, Selivlin Chenfen, and at the same time, one of the fate heroines of Carillian Citrus.

“Mm.”

“I don’t understand elves, but a childish little story that sounds like it’s meant to fool kids—you really believed it?” Vinny asked, confused.

“You don’t understand elves, and you still swore up and down that I won’t become crystal.” Milian pressed her lips together.

“Alright, alright. I don’t understand elves, but you won’t have anything happen to you. Look—aren’t you fine right now?” Seeing Milian look like she might start crying again, Vinny curled his lips. “What does that prove? It proves you didn’t fall in love with me at all. It’s all just your delusion.”

“If you really fell in love, then by your sister’s statement, wouldn’t you have already turned into crystal? You’d still be perfectly fine sitting here talking to me? Or what—am I talking to a clump of crystal right now??” Vinny rolled his eyes at Milian.

“But what if I really did fall in love with you—what am I supposed to do?” Milian looked blank and dejected. “I... I wasn’t ready to like a human...??”

“Why is your question so weird?? Silly kid, don’t just believe whatever someone says, okay? When your sister told you that, were you still little? Then she was probably telling you a fairy tale. And whether your sister was trying to scare you, I’m not even getting into that—how can you be so sure this bottle of magic potion brings love??” Vinny really didn’t know how to respond to Milian anymore.

“No, you don’t understand. The effect of this potion has to be real, because it was a magic potion developed and brewed by the [Precious-Gold Witch], Christine Melorin.” Milian lowered her ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ little head and shook it.

“What? What gold what witch? Never heard of it.” Vinny raised a brow. “So the owner of that ‘Crucible Grand Furnace’ is named Christine? What, is that auntie famous?”

“You’ve never heard of her?”

“I’ve heard of her shop. The reputation seems pretty good? Other than that, I haven’t heard anything.” Vinny spread his hands.

“[Precious-Gold Witch] Christine Melorin—she is one of the most influential alchemists today, the unquestioned grandmaster-level figure and leader of the alchemy world.” Milian said slowly. “A potion she brews—there’s absolutely no way the effect is fake.”

“Huh??” Vinny looked stunned. “No—did you recognize the wrong person? That auntie who can’t find a boyfriend and gets instantly triggered when you mention it is actually the leader of the alchemy world? Isn’t something messed up here??”

“No mistake. She really is Christine Melorin.” Milian said with certainty. “My sister knows her and told me about her. She said she’s already in a semi-retired state now. She opened an alchemy potion shop called ‘Crucible Grand Furnace’ right inside Carillian Academy.”

“Are you sure you didn’t get the wrong person? I think ‘Crucible Grand Furnace’ is a pretty common name. What if someone else used that name? That name isn’t exclusive to Christine. Once something gets famous, people copy it, right?” Vinny thought it over.

“No. Her appearance and the way she dresses match exactly what my sister described.” Milian shook her head.

“Then... maybe someone is cosplaying her, trying to make business boom and sell more potions.” Vinny kept forcing an explanation.

“No. In Carillian Academy, only her alchemy potion shop is called ‘Crucible Grand Furnace.’” Milian denied it. “I asked. There’s only this one. And her potions are extremely high quality—that’s common knowledge. Basically, those rich nobles with money in their pockets only come to her to buy potions.”

“Even though she isn’t as famous as she used to be, and fewer and fewer academy students know her name now, she really is that Christine Melorin.” Milian affirmed.

“So something like this really exists...?”

“So I’m finished.” Milian lowered her head even more like an ostrich. “I definitely, definitely already... like you!”

“Can you not just casually hand yourself that kind of verdict?!” Vinny was going numb just listening. “How many times have I told you—there’s no such thing as a potion that brings love in this world. They’re all fake!”

“But I can feel it, I—mm!” Like the next words were too scorching to say, Milian couldn’t get them out. She got stuck.

“Feel what?”

“Feel... looking at you isn’t the same as before.” Milian stammered and squeezed out the sentence in a tiny voice.

“Delusion. All delusion!” Vinny crossed his arms and declared it.

“N-no, it’s not. It’s not a delusion. It’s really similar to the feeling my sister described. It definitely isn’t a delusion...” Milian sobbed, and as she spoke, it looked like the faucet was about to turn on again.

“Classmate Milian, with how good you are at arguing, come to the construction site with me tomorrow. You’ll get a meal!” Vinny said irritably. “I’ve said it so many times—the potion is fake, but you keep grabbing onto this issue and won’t let go. How am I supposed to explain it to you? How do I explain it until it gets through??”

“That potion is pure idiot tax. Only idiots would believe its effect is real. After you drink it, you won’t fall in love with anyone—won’t, won’t, won’t. Fake, fake, fake! Important things said three times! Do you understand?!” If there were a table in front of him, it probably would’ve gotten stabbed a few times by Vinny by now.

“Y-you’re the idiot! Idiot idiot idiot! I hate you!” Milian seemed frightened by Vinny’s tone. She shrank back, her eyes even redder.

Vinny wiped his face.

“Alright. Classmate Milian, my tone was too harsh just now. But I’m telling you, the potion’s effect is fake. Don’t believe it, okay?” Seeing Milian like this, Vinny really couldn’t say anything harsh. Even though he didn’t like this little golden-haired brat that much, he still softened his tone and soothed her emotions.

“Mmm... but the feeling just now really was like what my sister described.” Milian still refused to accept it.

“What did your sister describe to you? Love?” Vinny frowned.

In Vinny’s impression, in the original story, Selivlin had basically zero relationship experience. For her to teach her little sister love experience was basically like one clueless girl teaching another clueless girl how to date—one dared to teach, one dared to believe.

“Yes... it is.” Talking about this topic seemed to make Milian even more embarrassed and restrained. “That kind of... heartbeat speeding up. That kind of... pounding so hard it won’t stop. Exactly the same.”

“Same my ass. Don’t just believe everything your sister says. Has your sister even been in love?” Vinny lifted his chin.

“Of course she has.”

“Then have you ever heard her talk about how she dated, who she dated? Making stuff up out of nowhere, huh?” Vinny pressed.

“Uh...” That question really did stump Milian.

In her memory... it really seemed like there wasn’t any??

“This is cracking me up. Your sister probably hasn’t even tasted meat herself, and she’s talking to you about how it felt.” Vinny hooked the corner of his mouth, amused.

“Alright. In any case, stop dwelling on this. It’s all just your own psychological effect.” Vinny said with complete certainty.

“Then... what should I do?” Milian still looked lost.

“What do you mean what should you do? Do what you always do. Whatever you were like normally, keep being that way now. Just treat today like it never happened.” Vinny said casually. As he spoke, he stood up, ready to leave. “Alright. If you don’t have anything else, hurry back. I won’t mention this to Dale. I’m leaving.”

“W-wait, you—this princess says wait!” Milian didn’t know why, but she didn’t really want Vinny to leave just like that. She ran up and—like a chick hugging its mom—grabbed the hem of Vinny’s clothes.

“Classmate Milian, can you not do this?” Vinny was helpless. “What else is it?”

“I... I...” Milian grabbed him, but honestly, even she herself didn’t know why. She didn’t know what she wanted to do.

Right now, she felt like a rootless duckweed. If she didn’t grab onto something, she would get blown everywhere by the wind.

That feeling made her unbearably ashamed and at a loss. She wanted to stop what she was doing, but she absolutely couldn’t.

“So what is it, exactly?”

“Y-you... anyway, don’t go yet.” Milian’s voice got smaller and smaller, like even she didn’t know what she was doing or what she was saying.

Vinny folded his arms and stared at Milian with a scrutinizing look.

“W-why are you looking at this princess like that?” Milian said awkwardly, all twisted up.

“Alright, alright, enough. Classmate Milian—how about this. I’ll take you home.” Vinny pondered for a moment, and in the end, that was what he said.

He didn’t know what was going on, but he was finding it harder and harder to watch a kid standing on the street with red-rimmed eyes, at a complete loss—especially when that kid was still gripping his clothes, looking like she was confused and didn’t know what to do.

Milian wasn’t really a kid anymore, but she looked like one, her logic acted like one, and in Vinny’s cognition, she was a kid.

“Y-you... mm.”

“Alright. Are you coming or not?” Vinny lifted his foot to start walking. And Milian, still clutching his clothes, followed behind him silently like some ridiculous hawk-catching-chick scene.