“Still trying to argue?! You’re saying you’re just ‘purely friends’ even though you were basically about to kiss, huh?? Brothers, get him—shut this damn traitor’s mouth up!”

“I’m saying, who the hell even spread that?! ‘Basically kissed’—what kind of nonsense is that? Calm down! If I really had that kind of relationship with Isatia, and we actually kissed, wouldn’t I be bragging so hard the whole academy would know??” Vinny shouted in a hurry.

“With Vinny bro’s personality... yeah, that does sound right.”

“Is that for real?” That actually worked, making the card players hesitate.

“Of course it’s real! This is straight-up made-up ghost-story crap. Just go ask Isatia yourselves. But when you get treated like idiot rumor-mongers, don’t blame me.” Vinny said irritably. “Besides, if I actually had someone, would I still be walking around the streets today with you big men? Wouldn’t I have found some excuse ages ago to go see my girlfriend??”

“‘Basically kissed’—pure fabrication!” Vinny straightened his messy collar, frowning as he put on a deadly serious look at the crowd of card players. “And you’re saying all this—where’s your evidence? Did you see it with your own eyes? No, right? You just heard someone say it. Tch. That little bastard who told you definitely wanted to screw me over and added a bunch of fuel to the fire!”

“Because Isatia helped me out with something big a while back, I treated her to a meal. That’s all.”

“What did she help with?” Everyone’s suspicious gaze swung back to Vinny again.

“Tutoring. I told you guys, didn’t I?” Vinny knit his brows. “You just didn’t believe me back then.”

At that, everyone fell silent again.

“Hey—hey, hey?? What are you trying to do now?!”

“No, Vinny bro, don’t move. Just let us beat you up a little, okay??” Ferdi came up and reached to pin Vinny down.

“Absolutely not! Get lost, get lost—why would I get hit for no [N O V E L I G H T] reason??”

“Because you definitely did well this time! At least better than us!” Ferdi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“No—where are you even getting that conclusion from??”

“Beauty at your side—how could you not do well?!” When Vinny looked again, he saw every card player staring at him like they’d just bitten into lemons—eyes bloodshot, all of them.

Looks like he’d stirred up public outrage.

“Yeah! If it were me, I’d do well too!”

“Damn it, damn it—aaah! Why wasn’t it me?? I want a top school beauty to study with me and tutor me too! I swear I’d even quit cards and focus on studying! Waaah!”

Looking at their faces completely falling apart, Vinny opened his mouth, then decided not to say that Isatia had been the one to come to him for tutoring. He figured if he said it, it’d just be a heavy finishing blow.

Seeing these card players pounding their chests and wailing like their hearts were being torn out, he finally got it now—what “card-player soul”?! It was just cope from not being able to find someone. If they could find someone, who would be a card player with you, who would be a comrade with you, who would talk about a card-player soul?? If you can stop being single, you stop being single—who the hell is staying friends with you??!

“AAAH! Not fair! We’re all card players, but I can’t accept this!”

“No! Vinny bro, just let us beat you up a little! Otherwise we can’t vent this grudge in our hearts!” As he spoke, the card players surged forward—only to be stopped by Shicodale.

“Yeah, Vinny bro, we’re just messing around—just a few light punches, that’s all!”

“I’m not doing it! Who knows if you mean it or not?!” Seeing that, Vinny turned and bolted.

They messed around, chasing and scrambling down the street.

“Stop running! Vinny, we’re seriously just going to lightly punch you in the chest a few times! Don’t run—it’s a waste of energy. Everyone’s tired already.”

“Get lost—‘lightly’?? Your fist is bigger than my family’s pot. Who’s going to believe you?!” They kept sprinting—Vinny running ahead, the others chasing behind.

“W-wait! You can’t hit Vinny!” Shicodale bit her lip and stepped in front of Vinny.

Even though hearing that Vinny had gone out to eat with another girl had made her feel awful for some reason... no matter what, she didn’t want Vinny to get hurt.

“Uh...” Now it got awkward.

Everyone was joking around, but it looked like only Shicodale had taken it seriously.

“Ahem. Fine. Vinny bro, you’re lucky today—Dale begged for you, so stop running.” Ferdi cleared his throat.

“By the way, where the hell did we run to?” one card player asked. “Is this still the commercial district?”

“Huh, what’s this place?” A large alchemy shop caught Shicodale’s attention. The shop was huge, and the decor was extremely ornate. Probably because Ainolin Festival was coming, it was covered with pink decorations and love-filled hearts—so girly it practically sparkled.

Come to think of it, in some legends, Ainolin even had certain connections to the Dawn Goddess. But that kind of history was basically all wild folklore—so wild it was wild even by wild-history standards.

When Vinny saw Shicodale’s reaction, he remembered Shicodale was actually a very girly girl. After all, she was a Moon Elf princess—the Moon Elf King’s precious jewel. Even though she’d lost her princess status and was fleeing, disguising herself as male... she still liked what she liked. Or maybe—because she’d suppressed her preferences for so long—she was even more drawn to things like this.

“Since we’re already here, stopping here is fate too. How about we go take a look?” Vinny glanced at the alchemy potions being sold inside. He could only say: the owner of this shop understood marketing. A holiday came, and every potion got new packaging—same wine, new bottle. But just because it got a pretty skin and an ‘Ainolin Festival limited edition’ tag, the price jumped—some of them even doubled.

Seriously. With these prices, why not just go rob people??

And it wasn’t just Vinny thinking that. Everyone else was thinking it too. The moment they saw the price tags, they all sucked in a sharp breath. Even Ferdi, who came from money, frowned.

“This is way too expensive, isn’t it? It’s basically just prettier packaging than the potions outside, and they’re selling it this high? That’s a stupidity tax.” Ferdi complained.

“Little student, you can’t say that.” Just then, an oddly enchanting female voice drifted from the counter—mysterious, with a few threads of seduction woven into it.

Everyone turned toward the sound and found that at some point, sitting at the counter was a beautiful woman wearing a crooked, pointy wizard hat.

Yeah. The curvy kind.

She instantly grabbed everyone’s attention, but what they were even more curious about was how she’d appeared there. Just a moment ago, there definitely hadn’t been anyone behind that counter.

“Vinny bro—if I remember right, wasn’t there just a hat on the counter earlier? How did a person suddenly appear??” Ferdi whispered.

Vinny didn’t answer. He just silently watched the woman in the crooked pointy hat.

“Little students, don’t casually say nonsense, okay? This shop is a small business. Our profit margins are very thin. The reason we’re a bit more expensive than the potions you buy outside is because—from low grade to high—this shop uses only the best ingredients. Fair prices for all. The effects are naturally the best as well. Our costs are higher, so our prices are higher. If we sold for the same price as those outside, this little shop would probably go bankrupt before long.” The woman’s voice rose and fell in a distinctive rhythm, full of personality.

She sat in a rocking chair with her full legs crossed, holding a long-stem pipe. With fiery red lips, she blew out a smoke ring, then lifted her gaze to Vinny. Vinny felt like the seduction in her eyes could practically turn into threads.

Yeah. Standard equipment for a bad woman who toyed with hearts.

“Besides, every product here is brewed by me personally—or by exceptionally talented alchemists that I personally approve. You can’t compare it to those mass-produced assembly-line products outside. Every bottle is my work of heart and soul.”

“Me brewing them with my own time, and the alchemist I’ve hired—those are both very expensive costs.”

“And isn’t good packaging also a kind of sincerity? Compared to those casually packaged products outside... they’re like shoddy junk whose origins you don’t even know—made by some nameless alchemist’s hands. There’s no guarantee at all when you use them.” The woman chuckled.

Exceptionally talented alchemists?

Vinny raised an eyebrow. He felt like he’d heard of this woman before—or more accurately, he’d heard of this shop. It seemed to be the most authoritative alchemy shop in all of Carillian Academy, and the quality really was top-tier.

Vinny flipped through the bottles. Sure enough. Just from the appearance alone, the quality was something the street-side shops couldn’t even compare to.

“Heehee. This quiet blue-haired young man... he looks like someone with very good taste.”

While Vinny was thinking, he suddenly realized he’d been called out.

“Hm?” Vinny looked up, meeting the woman’s captivating eyes.

“This young man... you probably know a bit about alchemy, don’t you?” The woman smiled.

“...How do you know?”

“Your eyes told me.” The woman’s words were maddeningly mysterious.

“I can roughly tell why you’ve come. You’re not actually here for these ordinary potions, are you?”

“Then why not look at some interesting holiday merchandise~? Hehe. It isn’t the day yet, but when that day comes, my shop will be packed. By then, you won’t be able to get any even if you try to抢 them.”

“Holiday merchandise? What is it?” Ferdi asked, curious. For first-year students like them, they didn’t really understand what ‘holiday merchandise’ at Carillian Academy meant.

Besides, they had no channels to learn about it.

After all... they were all single card players. Who would deliberately go learn this stuff just to make themselves miserable?

“Here—look at that pink display stand. That’s the first batch brewed this year.” The woman pointed with her pipe.

Everyone looked over—and saw that Shicodale had been staring in that direction the whole time.

“These are...?” They stared at the orange-red potions, each bottle neck tied with a ribbon. The presentation was meticulous, almost overly considerate.

“All of you are first-years, right? This is your first time hearing about this kind of potion? Hehe. This potion is called ‘love at first sight.’ As for what it does...” The woman explained with a smile. “It can make the person you like take interest in you... even love you.”

“Huh?? For real?” Ferdi hesitated.

“I won’t answer that question. People who’ve used it know.” The woman said meaningfully. “But I will say this—there is no potion in the world that can make someone instantly love you. So it depends on the person. There are many factors.”

“But you can ask your upperclassmen and seniors. They definitely know.”

“Every Ainolin Festival, they come to my shop and buy two bottles of ‘love at first sight,’ just to relive that feeling from back then.”

“Everyone... do you want to try it~?”

“Someone you like...” Shicodale murmured softly. She stared at the Love at First Sight potions on the shelf, her eyes flickering as if she was thinking about something.