I got out of the bathroom and bent my body to check if he hid under my bed. My wardrobe creaked, but the figure of the Duke wasn’t there. A shadow resembled a human figure which made me unhinged, turned to be shadows of a coat and hat hanging on the coat rack near vanity table. Heavy tread of someone’s boots outside my room gave me false hope only to find those belonged to the maids.

“Your Grace, please tell me where you are!” 

This endless pursuit needed to stop. I sat on my bed while rubbing a cotton towel onto my damp Rapunzel length hair that would take a lot of time to dry.

“I’m still in Larson when I met a mage and told me a secret about the gift. I couldn’t believe it at first because Empire’s archives didn’t have any scripts mentioning the extra perks, so I gave it a shot and Voilà!”

“Wow!”

Phew! An image of a twisted man hidden in the bushes holding binoculars crossed my mind. Now, it made sense why my head crumbled into pieces and my ears were ready to jump out whenever I heard his high-pitched voice.

If that’s the case, then I’ll be at a disadvantage! 

“What’s with your lame reaction? Isn’t this exclusive communication deepened our relationship?” 

I mused, following his silly question about our relationship. What factors did he consider arriving in the conclusion?

“Hey, have you become deaf and mute?”

I couldn’t fathom why the system didn’t give warnings before I received his blessings. Miss Heart emphasized that section from the contract. Was there a system error? 

“Even though we communicate using our minds, the only things that I can hear are the things you want to share with me. If you can hear me, let me hear your sweet voice.” 

His explanation prevented me from having perplexed thoughts which may lead to sleepless nights.

So, it is telepathy but in half-duplex mode, a walkie talkie where he could only hear me when I press the “push to talk button”.

The Duke rambled on about how an inscrutable force wrenched every inch of his being when he tried to read my mind.

This man won’t win against those men in the control room.

“Guess who requested an audience with me for tomorrow?” 

“Your Grace, the person in question tested me earlier using poisoned arrows.” 

“I never thought Marquess Grimaldi heeded my advice to become a risk-taker?”

My analysis didn’t fail even once!

I spent the rest of my night combing my hair as I discussed various topics with the Duke. When I got tired, my solution was to preserve my voice.

“My alluring lady is already in dreamland. Sweet dreams and don’t forget to dream of me, Beth.” 

This was the second time I had called by my real nickname, then why was the effect different with Miurella? This warm sensation that boosted my spirits up? 

Achievement: Duke Frederick gave you a nickname!

XP Points: +1000

Dynastic Points: 200

Relationship Meter: 20%

What was this metric called relationship meter? They told me they won’t make bigger changes until they haven’t read my report. I mean, it’s their game they have a right to do so, I wished they left a note for me explaining about an additional feature. Another thing to mention was my unnotified task achievements. 

“GUI ON!” 

I navigated the menu for seconds—haven’t found a message about minor changes in the UI and UX. As a result, I tapped the ‘RL’ tab, which contained information about the new metric.

As Cupid made efforts in giving the sweet future of the protagonists, she had to build relationships around her/him to prevent death. 

Even without the relationship metric, my anticipation combined with knowledge about this world would save me from the demise. 

******

The next morning, I proceeded with my plans. We spotted them chilling out while enjoying their cup of hot tea at the library of this hotel. The perfect timing came to meet Miuerella and have the “lukso ng dugo” experience.

Author’s Note: When I wrote this part, I can’t decide whether I’ll keep the original Filipino word or I’ll translate this idiom to “affinity” because that is the closest translation for me, but here we are. Lukso ng Dugo is a Filipino term used to describe an emotion where you have this sense of familiarity towards the person you’ve just met hence, you suspect that your missing relative was that person. 

Hearing their laughter and Duke Klein’s childhood story, this first line of the program I’ve written didn’t have any errors or bugs after I executed it.

“Uncle, Ella was such a beautiful flower! I also noticed that she has the same eye color as the Duke!” I said.

“If you are a Jasmine because your parents prayed for you, she is a Gladiolus because...” 

I scowled as I didn’t squeeze out any answers from the Duke. If it weren’t for the Duchess, the four of us would stare blankly at each other. 

We thanked the couple for the precious time they spent with us. Miuerella asked if I could go to her assigned room, and I agreed.

At first, she tapped her feet and made grand hand gestures while narrating how nice the Duke and Duchess were. As the story got longer, she slouched and looked down as if the bed was her listener.

“I am your friend, vent your frustrations on me anytime, anywhere.”

What causes the drama? The flower analogy that I brought up earlier, also why did the Duke stopped in the middle of his speech. If things would be like this, I zipped my mouth.

“If you want to achieve something in life, you must take an initiative to make it happen.”

Duke Klein was right about her daughter being a Gladiolus.

To uplift her spirits, I told her that when the time comes, she’ll know his reasons someday. 

After breakfast, I wanted to ride books and Nora said there was a library here so I rushed there, but after I turned the knob, I heard voices having a discussion.

“Were you sure about the paternity test?”