Lucina was frowning at the pile of letters sent by the crown prince. It was strange for her. He wasn't like that in her memory. Did something change? Or did she fail acting like before? What happened in the past did left her with some deep damage. She wasn't a good person far from it, she did ruin the live of some people. But she don't think she warranted so much pain. She tried to act like when she first met him. But was her need to avoid him that obvious?
She remembered the tactic Olivia used to seduce him. She loved acting oblivious around him. She wasn't outrightly accepting nor refusing his advance. She was putting a "challenge" for him by building his frustration. She remembered hearing her boast about it back in the academy. So she decided to try the other way to be rejected.
Did she unknowingly become a challenge for the prince? Her plan back fired, it didn't please her at all.
Sighing for the ninth time, she opened his letter.
Dear Lady Valentine,
I dreamt of you yesterday. You looked so pretty in the royal garden, just like last time.
"_I also dream of my sister, every day even. But I don't need to write about it."
The young girl glanced at Claude. The boy looked sour like he swallowed a barrel of lemon. Lucina bit her lips knowing she couldn't ignore the prince forever. She started to read the rest.
You were wearing a beautiful gown with the necklace I sent you in the last letter I sent you last time. Speaking of letters, it seems that you didn't receive them since I didn't get an answer to them. I'm afraid that it was lost or intercepted on the way. If there is no response, I see that it's delivered to you MYSELF.
The young girl paled as she read the letter. The prince? Coming here? She didn't want that, absolutely not. Even Claude looked grim.
The prince knew she didn't want to answer. And seeing how she had been receiving invitations from other families, the news she became his fiance must have reached nobility. She took out some paper and decided to respond finally. To make it simple, she said she was busy and didn't have time to answer.
Translation: It was on purpose, stop messaging me.
Claude standing behind her chair smiled with satisfaction. Alexander was known to be generous, he was sure he would stop.
Even so, he couldn't help the nagging feeling, that he wasn't going to give up.
Little did he know, his gut was right.
***
Alexander laughed as he read it. He was completely rejected. He didn't know who took hold of his fiance's heart but he was pretty fearless. Lucina Valentine was HIS fiance after all. He could feel jealousy creeping inside his heart.
"_Are you going to let her go~? Hufufu~."
Alexander turned around alarmed, goosebumps trailed down his back. There was no one but him in the study, but he heard a little girl's voice near his ears. Before he could try to search for it, a knock was heard on the door. Olivia appeared with a tray in her hand and a sweet smile on her lips. Her light green hair was styled carefully to give her a cute and innocent look.
"_I'm sorry to disturb your work, I thought you would like some cookies. Taking some rest is important after all.
_Thank you, but You should have given that to Felix. You and I aren't even close enough to be called friends.
_Huh? But-!
_Also it's forbidden to give a member of the imperial family food that was not verified and tested for poisoning. Everyone knows that.
_I'm sorry, I didn't know...
_Really?"
The prince put his pen down and glared at the girl in front of her. He wasn't stupid, he knew what she was doing. He felt bad for Felix who had a crush on her and was forced to watch her trying to become intimate with him.
"_If that is true, then I wonder how did you convince the young lord of the Sol duchy to take you here. In fact, how could he get interested in such an ignorant girl like you? Or are you doing that on purpose?
_N... no I...
_Whatever it is, you do know that I have a fiance right? Please learn some manner, Lady Grandel!!"
Olivia left out of shame, tears in her eyes as a small child-like mocking laugh resonated in the hallway. The girl stopped in her tracks wondering what was happening. This was way more difficult than before. Olivia sighed before calming herself, maybe she should lower the difficulty level.
"_What? That's strange. Why can't I summon the system window? I could before."
All she could see was the error message floating in the air. Could it be the anomaly that happened in the previous game? Whatever, she already reset it so it shouldn't be there anymore, right?
"_See, I told you it would be more interesting Uriel.
_Still, I don't think it was a good idea. He is too unstable Lucifer."
Sitting on the roof, a little girl laughed while looking at the green-haired girl panicking. Her long white hair floated in the wind and her red eyes shone with mischief. She held a red parasol just like her dress. Behind her, a blond boy with jewel-like eyes looked meekly at the situation before eyeing her with worry. He didn't like it when she was this manic, it never ended well. He would have done something if it wasn't their best plan to stop that thing.
The little girl got up from the edge and took the boy's hand. Still giggling without a care, she danced with him on the roof of the castle. This game was just starting and they were ready to make it the last one.
"_I will cover this world with blood and fire if I must, but this bitch will not win this time.
_Samael wouldn't be happy to hear this.
_It's just a joke, relax."
He knew she was serious, there were a few millennial-old now. He knew her by heart now. He just hoped that the girl they chose to stop Olivia would succeed this time. Well, she almost did it. She even created an error in the helper of that girl. Maybe they will win this time, he sure hoped for it.
A few days after the last letter, Lucina, and Claude stood next to each other with an annoyed face. Alexander welcomed them with a broad smile. She could refuse to answer his letter, but she couldn't refuse an invitation from the imperial family. So he did just that.
Claude wanted just one thing right now, commit treason.
"_Prince Alexander! Is she your fiance? Wow~ she is so pretty!"
The two Valentine's children stiffened a bit. The start of their problems came earlier than expected. Both could recognize her and her disgusting act. Lucina's rival and reason for her demise, Olivia Grandel.