"I truly apologize, I have been dealing with Emilia and Sanctuary for the past few days." Ayanokouji touched the back of his head and said.
"What's happening!" Beatrice puffed up her cheeks.
"First about the Trial, and then Emilia confessed to me." Ayanokouji said in a very calm tone.
"So that's a confession... Wait? Confession!?" Beatrice's voice rose an octave, her eyes widened, her petal-like eyes full of surprise, "Is it that kind of confession?"
"Although I don't know what's on Betty's mind, but it must be similar to what you're thinking."
"Do you agree?" Beatrice leaned forward, her eyes full of curiosity.
"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded and said very calmly, "And I also like Emilia."
"Hmph! You clearly said that Betty is the most important!" Beatrice said with a pout on her face, hands on her hips.
"Yes, this hasn't changed until now." Facing Beatrice's anger that had not been vented, Ayanokouji said expressionlessly.
"What do you mean?" Beatrice's face was filled with anger, jealousy, and more complaints.
"Even if Emilia and I are in a relationship now, it doesn't affect me prioritizing you, Betty." Ayanokouji said.
He then used his debating skills to successfully convince Beatrice, and even made Beatrice think that 'Emilia is just a girlfriend, and Betty is irreplaceable'.
Although Beatrice was completely calm now, she was still pouting and said, "Huh, even if you say that, Betty will never forgive you!"
"Tell three stories tonight?"
"You think Betty is a child! And... three stories are too few! At least five!"
"Then five. When I return to the capital, how about I take you shopping." Ayanokouji said.
"Agreed!" Beatrice's face immediately lit up with a smile, but she quickly realized that she couldn't express her joy now, so she raised her head and returned to her original expression with a hint of anger, "Humph, this time I will reluctantly forgive you!"
"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded.
The next day, Ram led the departure from Sanctuary with the native villagers of Arlam Village. The villagers' task was completed. Ayanokouji thought that they would only be a hindrance by staying here, so it was better to send them away, which could also improve their impression of Emilia.
Now that the villagers had left, Garfiel and Roswaal had surrendered to him, and Echidna had become his backup force, he only had two tasks left in Sanctuary, to help Emilia break through the trial and destroy the Great Rabbit.
Emilia needed to break through the trial because if she couldn't, she would be bound to Sanctuary, and for her mindset to develop, this trial had to be completed.
If Emilia successfully broke through the trial before the fifth day, then Ayanokouji and the others could leave Sanctuary, and even avoid the Great Rabbit before Roswaal's snow magic.
However, he was still preparing to face the Great Rabbit.
The first reason was Emilia. Although this time she was completely different from her in the last regression, it was still a matter of time for her to break all the trials before the Great Rabbit arrived.
Furthermore, Ayanokouji had learned that the Great Rabbit, White Whale, and the monster named Black Serpent were known as the Three Great Monsters. In the past few hundred years, they had caused great losses for the kingdom to retreat from the bull.
Crusch had built up quite a bit of prestige by successfully repelling the Great Rabbit a few years ago.
If Ayanokouji managed to eradicate the Great Rabbit, then his and Emilia's prestige would rise to a higher level.
Basically, after seizing the Karsten family, Emilia's faction's power had become very strong as never before. By killing the White Whale before, and if they could still eliminate the Great Rabbit, then Emilia's faction would hold an almost absolute advantage, and Priscilla and Anastasia would never be able to catch up with them. So Emilia's ascent to the throne was basically a certainty.
In the last regression, the reason Ayanokouji failed was not only because of Emilia's darkness, but also because of the intelligence gap.
He never expected the existence of the Great Rabbit, let alone that the Great Rabbit had the ability to split infinitely.
That's why many Great Rabbits were difficult to exterminate, but after mastering its characteristics, many Great Rabbits were not so frightening at all.
Moreover, Ayanokouji had learned the method to defeat the Great Rabbit from Daphne's mouth, and now he had the power of Emilia and Beatrice, as well as Roswaal's loyalty, it was not difficult to destroy the Great Rabbit.
Currently, Ayanokouji was in a room thinking about various plans for the future, and there was a light knock on the door.
"Come in." He immediately said upon hearing the sound. Judging from the frequency and strength of the knock, the person who came must be Emilia.
"Kyotaka!"
After Emilia entered the door, she saw Ayanokouji, and a happy smile immediately appeared on her face.
After returning last night, Emilia had almost not slept all night.
One of the reasons was too much sleep during the day, but the bigger reason was that after confirming her relationship with Ayanokouji, she couldn't sleep all night because of excitement and there was also the strange knowledge planted by Ram in her.
This made Emilia toss and turn under the blanket all night, blushing when thinking about the love knowledge Ram taught her, and how happy she was when she thought that she and Ayanokouji were now a couple.
After struggling for a few hours, Emilia fell asleep and dreamed of various future date scenes with Ayanokouji. Upon waking up, she couldn't help but reminisce about it.
But when she thought that she was now Ayanokouji's girlfriend, Emilia unconsciously equated herself with his 'wife'. The most important thing as a wife was to share the burden with her 'husband', and then remembering the words she heard from Ram yesterday, "To capture a man, first you must capture his stomach." So Emilia came to the kitchen early in the morning and tried to trouble Ayanokouji.
"Kyotaka, I made lunch for you myself!" Emilia smiled and placed the basket, "Does Betty want to eat it too?"
"I'm not hungry!" Beatrice heard Emilia calling Ayanokouji's name, and her face immediately turned unhappy.
She turned her face, puffed up her cheeks, and deliberately looked away, even humming loudly.
However, Emilia was completely focused on Ayanokouji at the moment and didn't notice Beatrice's change in expression.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lia." Ayanokouji nodded. He looked at the food Emilia made. To the naked eye, it seemed delicious enough to try.
Suddenly, his eyebrows moved slightly.
He looked down at the food in front of him. Without a doubt, it didn't taste like this. This dish should be salty, but it was sweet, and not just a little sweet, but very sweet to the point of being hard to swallow.
Emilia's cooking skills surprised him. It wasn't easy to cook a dish to this level.
'Should I tell her the truth? Or should I pretend it's good and eat it all?'
Ayanokouji felt that he was facing a big problem. If he finished all the food, it might affect his physical condition.
However, if he spoke the truth from his own mouth, would it lower Emilia's fondness for him? If possible, it would be better to let someone else handle such matters.
"By the way, Otto, you haven't eaten, do you want to eat?" Ayanokouji raised his head and said to the door. At the moment, Otto was cleaning outside the residence.
"Thank you, Ayanokouji-sama!" Otto felt honored to be invited to dinner with his superior. He immediately approached Ayanokouji and took his food into his mouth.
The next moment, Otto spat out all the food in his mouth.
"What is this? Is this poison?! Not to mention how it tastes, did the person who made this dish mix sugar and salt?! And this is too much! People will die after eating it! Ugh..."
Otto criticized the food in front of him mercilessly.
"Otto, Lia did this." Ayanokouji reminded.
"...Ah! I think it's delicious! I want another bowl! Ugh!" Otto shouted as he put food into his mouth, but he couldn't help but make a vomiting sound.
"Otto, stop forcing yourself!" Emilia finally realized the problem and immediately stopped Otto.
After careful consideration, she seemed to be really confused between sugar and salt, and she added a lot based on her feelings.
"Emilia-sama... I apologize for being rude... But after you finished cooking, didn't you try it yourself?" Otto lay on the dining table as if he felt relieved.
"No... I wanted to give it to Kiyotaka as soon as possible..." Emilia's face was filled with a awkward smile. "I was very satisfied with my cooking skills because of Puck's praise before saying that my cooking skills were very good, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this."
"What did Puck say before?" Ayanokouji asked.
"He said I did a very good job, but please don't do it again next time, or Ram and Rem will lose their jobs..."
"Emilia-sama, do you really not understand the meaning of those words?" Otto's face was filled with helplessness.
"I didn't eat it at that time..." Emilia lowered her head in embarrassment, but she also wondered if the food she cooked was really that bad. So she took a bite herself.
"Vomit..."
❀❀❀
"Puck, was my cooking really that bad?"
Emilia widened her eyes, her gaze filled with disbelief.
"Who said that? Lia's cooking is really delicious! It's just that they lack observation." Puck put on a awkward smile.
"Then let me go and cook food for Puck now?"
"Sorry Lia, I'm not very hungry right now."
❰❱SKY SCREEN❰❱
Night soon arrived, and Ayanokouji and the others went to the trial ruins again.
Emilia was holding Ayanokouji's right hand, their fingers intertwined, looking very intimate, and she had a bright smile on her face.
Beatrice saw this scene, she was also pouting, and immediately held Ayanokouji's other hand – not holding hands too tightly, but holding Ayanokouji's hand in her embrace, like a treasure she didn't want to let go of.
Behind the three of them, Otto followed silently, talking to the insects in the air from time to time.
In a short time, everyone arrived in front of the ruins.
"Kyotaka, I'm going, I will definitely succeed this time!" Emilia said. She was a little afraid of the previous trial, but now her eyes were very determined.
"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded, letting go of her hand, and Emilia stepped towards the ruins.
At this moment, he reached out and grasped the black crystal on his chest.