"Did I make a mistake…?"
The words slipped out.
Flat.
Stiff.
No intonation.
No soul.
Like a doll that had just lost its strings—or perhaps a creature that had just accepted a reality far too heavy for someone as cute as me.
I—Liliane Hohenberg—stood there, clutching a scroll of paper that now felt like evidence of my failure as a human being.
"Oh, I see…" I continued, still in a robotic voice that could probably make a machine feel pity, "I had the audacity to ask the Archmage to come meet me… when I am the one who needs your help… you… you…"
I stopped.
Because—
Laughter.
It erupted.
Loud.
Clear.
And merciless.
"Hahahaha…!"
I slowly lifted my head.
Lucien.
He was laughing.
Really laughing.
Not a thin smile. Not an elegant chuckle. But a full-on laugh—one that made his shoulders shake until I could see my handsome man's straight teeth through my cute eyes.
And before I could process whether this was an insult or some strange form of affection—
His hand.
