He drew close to Flora Bloom and knelt beside her, taking her still-trembling hand in his.

"Flora, believe it or not, what just happened... that wasn’t what I wanted."

Flora Bloom glanced at Lex Cross’s unnaturally pale face. Recalling the two clashing energies within him, understanding dawned on her.

’But isn’t this the perfect chance to make Lex stay away from me?’

So, she guided Lex Cross’s hand, slowly pressing it against her lower abdomen. The warmth of his palm seeped through her clothes, a comforting heat spreading through her.

A moment ago, while Lex Cross was tormented by the clashing energies, his usual concealment had dropped. Flora Bloom had clearly sensed his Superpower Level: Level 3, just a hair’s breadth from breaking through to the Middle Level.

’But in the end, he’s still only Level 3.’

A faint, weak smile touched her pale lips. Seeing her like this, Lex Cross felt an indescribable mix of unfamiliarity and anxiety.

It was a smile, yet it felt more like a dismissal—warm, but distant.

Her body was so frail, yet her belly was slightly rounded and felt somewhat firm to the touch. Combined with her two strange bouts of vomiting, Lex Cross felt a tension so thick he could barely breathe.

"I’m pregnant."

"The baby isn’t yours."

The hope in his heart crumbled away. Lex Cross suddenly slumped onto the edge of Flora Bloom’s bed, feeling utterly drained.

’Pregnant? She’s actually pregnant? And the child... it isn’t mine!’

His deep-set eyes regained their hawk-like sharpness, boring into Flora Bloom’s, demanding she meet his gaze.

"I had a boyfriend before, someone who loved me very much. That night with you... I was drugged. It was an accident. That’s why I told you that you don’t need to take any responsibility for me."

Flora Bloom’s words pierced Lex Cross’s heart like a thorn, drawing a self-mocking laugh from him.

"So that’s what you meant by ’no need to take responsibility’." Lex Cross’s eyes, bloodshot and filled with suppressed emotion, met Flora Bloom’s glittering gaze. "Then why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

"I thought you were just acting on a whim. I assumed you’d forget about it over time."

At her words, a cold, humorless smile twisted Lex Cross’s lips. He stared at her, his eyes so bloodshot it made Flora Bloom’s heart hammer in her chest.

"Just a whim, huh!"

"Huh?"

"Mmph!"

The initial cold of his lips became a searing, almost bloodthirsty heat. Just as she braced herself for what might come next, a sharp pain flared on her lip. A salty, metallic taste filled her mouth, mingling between their lips.

"Lex Cross, are you insane!"

Flora Bloom shoved Lex Cross away with all her strength. She saw his face, ghostly pale, etched with loss and defeat. A trickle of her blood stained the corner of his mouth.

He looked up, his eyes filled with a complex storm of emotions. As he rose to his feet, he glanced at Flora Bloom, his voice a murmur that was both an answer and a whisper to himself.

"I really am crazy!"

With a single long stride, he was gone. The surrounding darkness dissipated, and Lex Cross vanished from Flora Bloom’s bedroom.

’It was my plan to make him stay away. Now he’s finally gone, and by the looks of it, he won’t be back to bother me again.’

’But why is there this strange sense of loss in my heart? It feels like I’ve lost something important. Why does the fierce clenching of my heart right now feel even worse than the retching of morning sickness?’

After Lex Cross left, Jade and Cynthia Grant entered one after the other. Seeing the tear stains on Flora Bloom’s face, they assumed the two had fought.

"Flora, tell Mom, did you two get into a fight? Did Young Cross bully you?"

"Yeah! What happened? Why are you crying so hard?" Cynthia Grant said, pinching her nose as she eyed the vomit beside the bed. She added pointedly, "Are you, uh... feeling sick to your stomach again?"

Flora Bloom gave a pale, weak smile. "Mom, please don’t go looking for Lex Cross. This has nothing to do with him. It’s my problem."

At that moment, a thought struck Cynthia Grant. Could their fight be related to Flora Bloom’s pregnancy?

’It’s just like Flora said. Those two really are a doomed romance!’

Flora Bloom’s room reeked of a mixture of vomit and alcohol; it was completely uninhabitable. Worried that Flora Bloom would be left alone, Jade accepted Cynthia Grant’s offer to help. So, Flora Bloom and Cynthia moved into a guest room on the ground floor.

The guest room only had a single, relatively spacious tatami mat. Flora Bloom added a thick quilt to serve as a mattress, and then she and Cynthia Grant lay down. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Cynthia Grant didn’t ask about what had happened with Lex Cross. Seeing Flora Bloom’s gloomy expression, she tried to cheer her up by telling jokes, but she ended up exhausting herself and falling asleep first.

After crying, vomiting, and breaking out in a cold sweat from her confrontation with Lex Cross, Flora Bloom slipped into her pocket dimension for a shower. She had another bite to eat before reappearing beside Cynthia Grant. It wasn’t long before she, too, fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, well into the morning, she was awakened by the bees through her psychic link.

"Master, Master, an intruder!"

"Master, someone broke in!"

"Master, Master."

...

Flora Bloom slowly opened her eyes. After a quick mental exchange with Little Bee, she shot out of bed in alarm and rushed toward the gate in the quarantine wall.

When Flora Bloom emerged from her room, the villa was empty. She caught her reflection in a mirror and was startled by what she saw: her eyes were red and swollen, her face ghostly pale.

She drank a glass of spiritual water. In the kitchen, just as she’d expected, a meal and some soup had been left out for her. After a quick bite, she hurried to the quarantine wall’s gate to investigate.

She had given the bee swarm here a standing order: only people she personally authorized could enter. Any stranger attempting to intrude would be attacked without question. Even if an authorized person brought a stranger with them, that stranger would still be targeted.

There, on the gravel path between two patches of lawn, lay a woman dressed in a white t-shirt and denim shorts. Her exposed arms and legs were covered not only in swollen welts from bee stings, but also in several faint whip marks.

Flora Bloom rolled the woman over and was shocked to see it was Azure Leroy—the Level 3 Water Ability User she had seen with Morgan Sterling the other day.

Even though she was pregnant, for a Level 3 User, carrying someone was still an easy task. Flora Bloom supported Azure Leroy by the wrist and shoulder and helped her into one of the empty villas.

Her first thought was to use royal jelly to neutralize the venom. But as Flora Bloom stared at Azure Leroy’s fair, unblemished face, a sense of unease grew.

’Do the bees care about how pretty someone is? Her whole body is covered in stings, so why is her face completely untouched?’

’Little Bee and his swarm wouldn’t avoid her face just because she’s pretty.’

’Her face is so clean... she must have protected it beforehand. Looks like she came fully prepared!’

Flora Bloom watched Azure Leroy on the sofa from a nearby lounge chair. She began to speak aloud, her voice laced with meaning. "Wow, the venom from these bees is surprisingly potent. It makes the skin swell up and fill with fluid, and the wounds are already festering! If these aren’t treated properly, they’ll definitely leave scars. With stings all over her body, she’s going to be covered in them, isn’t she?"

"Sigh... It’s so ugly for a girl to be covered in scars. What a shame. Such delicate skin... it would be a pity to see it scarred."

"Oh, right. Morgan Sterling probably doesn’t know she’s here. I should go get him so he can come take her away."

The moment the words left Flora Bloom’s mouth, a soft "Ngh..." sound came from the sofa. Azure Leroy’s eyes slowly opened. Her expression was one of pure terror as she looked at Flora Bloom and pleaded, "Flora Bloom, please, don’t hand me over to Morgan Sterling!"

"Morgan Sterling... he’s not even human!"