Sephirena looked at Liana and said seriously, “Gambling is a bad behavior.”

“...Huh?”

Liana had thought she might agree or refuse, but hadn’t expected her to say something like this.

Although this certainly wasn’t a behavior worth promoting, when Liana heard these words spoken so seriously from Sephirena’s mouth, she didn’t know what expression to use when facing Sephirena.

It wasn’t that Sephirena was particularly proper. When she was young, she had been scolded many times by Sister Tarashil for this very thing. Back then, she knew she would definitely win, so during competitions, she often used reverse psychology to get others to bet with her.

She won many delicious treats this way, but since Sephirena won through her own skill, even if others were dissatisfied, they could only endure it. Moreover, Princess Sephirena had defeated them in archery, the elves’ specialty, so naturally, they had nothing to say.

But before long, Tarashil discovered this and scolded Sephirena. As a princess of elvenkind, everything she did was watched by others. Winning was expected, because she was a princess who should be more excellent than others. But using this to gain things from others would cause gossip.

As for losing, that would be an even more serious problem. A princess who couldn’t excel beyond others? And she had previously used her specialty to gain things from others. Such behavior with no benefits was naturally stopped by Princess Tarashil.

So after that, Sephirena rarely did such things.

“I’m stronger than you, Princess Liana. This is very unfair to you. You will lose,” Sephirena said.

“Tch.”

So that was it. Liana had thought there was some special reason, but it turned out she just thought Liana was too weak and not challenging enough. “I’m not as weak as you imagine, and besides, they’re just a few snow wolves.”

Sephirena looked at the strange object in Liana’s hand. She had never seen such a thing and didn’t know what it was. “With just this?”

Sephirena could sense that Liana had indeed made obvious progress during this time, and her mana presence was much stronger than before.

She should already be at the level of a Junior Apprentice or even a Senior Apprentice, but this was still not enough for Sephirena. The reason Princess Liana was so confident was probably because of the weapon in her hand.

But what kind of thing was it ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) that could make Princess Liana so confident?

“Yes, with this. And there’s also a prerequisite: no using magic. Otherwise, it would be very unfair to me, wouldn’t it?” Liana said.

“I understand.” A bow and arrow appeared in Sephirena’s hand. The elves didn’t need to use magic when shooting arrows; they only used magic to add some power.

“So, this is a very fair thing. Won’t you bet something? This way, the opponent will be more serious, right?” Liana said.

She continued,  “You also don’t want your opponent to not use their full strength and just be perfunctory, do you? Or are you really afraid? Afraid that as an elf, you might lose in your own specialty?”

“You don’t need to use reverse psychology on me, Princess Liana.” Sephirena gripped the bow and arrow tightly, because the reverse psychology was actually working. “I am now Princess Liana’s guard, so naturally, I should obey Princess Liana’s orders. However, Princess Liana, I don’t seem to have anything I can use as a stake.”

“Yes, you do. Isn’t time the best stake?” Liana said.

“Time?”

“There are 959 days left now, right?” Liana said.

“Yes.” Sephirena nodded. She remembered this time very clearly.

“If I win, then this number of days increases by five. If I lose, this number of days decreases by five. How about it? You won’t actually give up anything, so it can’t really be called gambling, right? It’s more like a prize for the competition.” Liana said.

Five days of time?

It sounded like a good deal, and besides, she would win, which meant shortening the time and proving she would be freed sooner.

“Alright.” Sephirena agreed.

Since Princess Liana wanted to play, Sephirena would play along.

All according to plan!

Although Liana had confidence in her musket and believed it could crush a bow and arrow, an elf’s bow and arrow was completely different from an ordinary one.

Liana hadn’t expected to win this competition, after all, the opponent was Sephirena.

But Liana wasn’t just looking for trouble and increasing her difficulty. The reason for doing this was simply to make Sephirena more relaxed around her, to interact like friends.

And, Liana also wanted to see if, in this kind of competition, firearms could make up for the difference in strength.

“Well then, shall we begin?” Five arrows appeared behind Sephirena, showing great confidence in her skills.

Five snow wolves, just five arrows would be enough.

However, Sephirena didn’t move, but continued standing on the snow.

“What’s wrong? Are you giving me a handicap?”

Sephirena certainly already knew where the snow wolves were, but she wasn’t moving.

“Lady Minoga is not by Princess Liana’s side now. The only person who can ensure Princess Liana’s safety is me,” Sephirena said.

“...Thank you,” Liana said.

So this person hadn’t left because she wanted to ensure Liana’s safety.

However, these words of thanks reminded Sephirena of some unpleasant memories.

It happened last night, and it was somewhat strange. Why did those two kiss whenever they said thank you, one kiss for each thank you?

This made Sephirena lower her head, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and Liana noticed this.

‘No way, is Sephirena’s defense this low? Just saying thank you makes her this embarrassed?’

Liana had no idea that the instigator who made Sephirena like this was herself.

Liana pulled her legs from the snow, and before sinking again, walked toward the sound of the snow wolves.

Snow wolves walked on snow as if on flat ground, unaffected by the harsh winter environment, but their food was. Due to hunger, they had no choice but to target Liana.

If they could hunt down one human, they could feast well. Similar incidents happened every winter.

Liana reached out her hand and walked through the bushes covered with snow. Although she couldn’t see the snow wolves, her instinct told her something was watching her.

The snow wolves’ fur color could effectively camouflage them, preventing them from being discovered, of course, provided the other party couldn’t use magic.

Without using magic, Liana was somewhat like a blind person, looking at the vast whiteness around her, feeling her eyes blur.

Not to mention, some snow wolves could also use magic to conceal themselves, which was the most dangerous thing. Being targeted by such a snow wolf would be very dangerous.

At this moment, however, Sephirena had already drawn her bowstring fully. The elves’ unique ability allowed her to easily distinguish everything in the snow. She could easily tell which part was snow and which part was wolf.

“Sorry, Princess Liana, I’ll take the first point.” Sephirena released the bowstring.

With a “whoosh” sound.

The arrow shot out extremely fast, several times faster than when Liana had drawn a bow before.

However.

With a ‘bang’ sound of gunfire.

The muzzle spewed flames, a gemstone bullet flying at supersonic speed toward the direction Sephirena had shot, hitting the snow wolf a second before Sephirena’s arrow would have hit.

“It seems you need more practice, Sephirena.” Liana smiled.

Liana herself knew very well that this point was completely stolen, taking advantage of Sephirena’s relaxed vigilance and lack of seriousness.

The arrow Sephirena had just fired was indeed fast, but this wasn’t her serious state, nor her full strength. It was just an arrow casually shot after she determined Liana hadn’t discovered the snow wolf.

But even so, the bullet Liana fired almost couldn’t keep up with Sephirena’s arrow.

The gap seemed quite large. Liana couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed this gun could still be improved. After all, the gun body was made of magical gems, so it was durable.

Sephirena looked at the snow in the distance. The originally pure white snow had been dyed red with blood. She knew very well that Liana had hit the snow wolf first.

She turned around and looked at the weapon in Liana’s hand. The muzzle was now emitting white smoke. “What is this?”

“It’s called Truth. How about it? Impressive, right?” Liana said proudly.

“It’s indeed impressive.” Sephirena gripped her bow tightly. It seemed she needed to get a bit more serious.

“Eh.” Liana saw the other’s reaction, so calm, and felt a bit dejected.

It seemed only Mephilia would praise her.

Sephirena had already locked onto the position of the next snow wolf. She looked at Liana. “Princess Liana, without using magic, it’s difficult to find snow wolves, isn’t it?”

“What else can I do? I don’t have you elves’ abnormal abilities. I’m just an ordinary human.” Liana shrugged. She could only roughly judge the snow wolves’ positions based on Sephirena’s reactions.

This made Liana, who was already at a disadvantage, even more disadvantaged.

“This is indeed very unfair for Princess Liana, so, Princess Liana, you can use mana to search for the snow wolves’ positions,” Sephirena said. “Otherwise, it would be too boring.”

Liana also felt the other was getting serious, and she didn’t refuse this point, because Liana had already clearly realized that relying solely on this musket, she absolutely could not beat Sephirena.

Seemingly having smelled the blood, the other snow wolves became more alert, their figures becoming harder to detect.

But in Sephirena’s eyes, this was futile. Sephirena could see every snow wolf’s footprints as clearly as if she had X-ray vision. She drew her bow and shot.

Although Liana had reacted very quickly, how could she be a match for Sephirena who had become serious? The arrow Sephirena fired was much faster than Liana’s bullet, directly piercing through the snow wolf’s body.

“It seems Princess Liana needs more practice,” Sephirena said.

Damn, Liana realized Sephirena was quite vindictive.

Although Liana was already trying her best to use magic to locate the snow wolves’ positions, she discovered another problem: snow wolves weren’t stupid. Once they clearly sensed you using magic to search for them, they would naturally hide.

So at most, it could only serve as a warning function. Using it to track others would easily be exposed.

Liana closed her eyes. Sephirena wouldn’t take the initiative to attack, which was a good thing for Liana. She slowly sensed the snow wolves’ traces, trying to not frighten them.

But it was difficult. Liana hadn’t yet mastered this high-level technique. However, Liana did get some good news: after detecting Liana’s mana, the snow wolf didn’t choose to flee.

You damn wolf, instead of running away, you’re facing me directly? That’s a good attitude!

But Liana soon discovered why the other didn’t run: because there was another snow wolf beside it.

This was very advantageous for Liana. Sephirena’s bow and arrow was indeed formidable, but when facing two targets, she would definitely need to aim a second time.

She just needed to pull the trigger, while Sephirena would have to redraw her bow. Liana just needed to target the wolf that Sephirena wasn’t aiming at.

Liana stepped forward. Sephirena also seemed to detect that there were two snow wolves in front of her. She drew her bow, aimed at one, and fired.

Liana seized the opportunity and pulled the trigger at the other one.

However, during the bullet’s flight, an arrow directly split Liana’s bullet in half, then steadily hit that snow wolf.

In an instant, Sephirena had taken out two snow wolves.

Damn, she’s cheating! Motherf*cker! Someone’s using cheats!

Rapid-fire trigger + hard lock targeting, how could anyone compete against that?

“Good idea, Princess Liana, but it’s useless.” Liana seemed to see a smug expression on Sephirena’s face, like a victor declaring her strength.

Child! Immature brat!

“That’s amazing.” Liana praised sincerely. Except for the beginning when she stole a point while the other was relaxed and off guard, Liana had almost no chance to resist. The gap was still too large.

Moreover, the snow was getting heavier now. Liana’s mana wasn’t very strong, and using it to resist the cold and perform simple searches was already quite taxing, not to mention the heavy snow now interfering, making Liana’s actions even more difficult.

“A blizzard is coming soon, Princess Liana. Let’s go back first.” To ensure Liana’s safety, Sephirena reminded her.

“It’s not over yet.” Liana said.

“There were only five snow wolves, and now it’s 3-1. Princess Liana, you’ve already lost.” Sephirena said.

Liana naturally knew the competition was over, and she had lost. She was no match for Sephirena at all. But what Liana was saying now had nothing to do with the competition.

“Snow wolves aren’t good creatures, otherwise I wouldn’t have used them for this competition.”

Liana wouldn’t senselessly kill innocents. Even with animals, she wouldn’t do that. The reason she chose snow wolves was because snow wolves posed a significant threat to humans in winter, even without entering the forest.

When hungry, they would travel some distance to hunt, not to mention the incident of a snow wolf attacking a little girl a few days ago. So, if possible, Liana still hoped to resolve all these fellows to prevent similar incidents from happening.

“Even if there’s only one left, it can’t be spared. They are savage by nature and difficult to tame. There have been attempts to train them as battle mounts, but even after decades of training, they remained savage. Recently, incidents of snow wolves harming people have increased. Leaving it would only endanger passersby.

“If they were stronger than us, do you think they would spare us? We’d be eaten with not even bones left.”

Sephirena understood Liana’s meaning, but when a blizzard comes, the human body is still too fragile. “I’ll go. Princess Liana, you should go back first.”

“That won’t do.” Liana objected. “Didn’t you say you’re also afraid of the cold? Staying out in this weather for too long would be uncomfortable, right?”

Is Princess Liana concerned about me?

She had indeed said such things, but this definition of cold wasn’t defined by human standards. When elves felt cold, humans would have long frozen to death.

“No need to argue anymore.” Oliphia’s voice came. She was now wearing that familiar iron armor again, as it was really too cold, and this armor could effectively maintain her body temperature.

Oliphia was holding a snow wolf’s head in her hand and walking toward them. “With such heavy snow falling, even if I want Princess Liana to adapt to the winter environment, it would be on the premise of ensuring safety.”

After discovering such bad weather at the forest cabin, and seeing that the two hadn’t returned, Oliphia had gone out to look for them. On the way, she encountered a fleeing snow wolf and dealt with it.

“Understood.” Liana nodded and returned to the forest cabin.

Liana stood at the entrance, patting off the snow on her body—a thick layer. If not properly handled, upon entering, it would quickly melt from the magic stone’s temperature, making her clothes wet and easily causing a cold.

“Good work, Princess Liana.” After Liana entered, she found Minoga had already returned.

“Is Mephilia already at the academy?” Liana asked.

“Yes, I have safely escorted Princess Mephilia. Please rest assured, Princess Liana.” Minoga handed Liana a cup of hot tea. “You’ve worked hard training, Princess Liana.”

“It was just ordinary training.” Liana gently blew on the tea.

“Princess Liana really is afraid of heat. How was today’s training? Was it smooth?” Minoga asked.

“I suppose it was relatively smooth?” At least, Liana could clearly feel that Sephirena had changed. Although it cost her five days, Liana felt it was worth it.

“But today’s snow is really heavy.” Mephilia looked at the window. Snowflakes continuously hit the window, with howling winds outside.

“Well,  Venus Territory is in the north after all, so every year at this time, there’s a heavy snowfall.”

“Snow wolves have been appearing very frequently lately.” Whether it was due to human factors or the harsh weather causing a lack of food, requiring them to hunt outside, in any case, Liana staying in this forest without someone protecting her would be very dangerous.

“It should get better after a while.” Minoga seemed to have something else to say.

Liana looked toward Sephirena. “How’s the little girl I saved a few days ago?”

“Her name is Coco, a tailor’s daughter. Her family only has her mother as an elder. The mother and daughter depend on each other. They encountered problems when collecting their wage, so they didn’t have enough for the winter. Additionally, when winter began, her mother accidentally fell and had to rest in bed. She had no choice but to risk entering the forest to look for food,” Oliphia said.

“And then?” Upon hearing what Oliphia said, Liana’s fist hardened. How could there be such beasts everywhere?

“Thanks to Princess Liana’s food and fur, they can get through this winter smoothly. After I sent her back, I also treated her mother. Before leaving, I placed some gold coins on her table.”

“Did you use your excellent magic to treat her?” Liana said.

“...” Oliphia’s face hardened. Oliphia’s fist also hardened. Princess Liana was really asking for a beating.

“I can use some magic, at least. Treating injury from a fall isn’t a problem ” Oliphia said.

“Well done.” Oliphia was impeccable in this regard.

“Who is the person who withheld someone else’s wages?” Liana disliked such people the most. She would raid their place when passing by.

“Count Ige.” Oliphia answered.

“Never heard of him.” Liana had no impression of this name at all. He probably never appeared in the main storyline, or was directly kicked to death by the protagonist. Anyway, he definitely wasn’t a good person. If he were a good person, he would have been mentioned at least, and he wouldn’t have done such a thing.

“Who does he support?” Liana asked. This point was quite important. If he supported Mephilia or Erinna, then she would teach him a severe lesson. The support of such a person was worse than no support.

If he didn’t support Mephilia and Erinna, then there was even more reason to deal with him. Such people deserved to die.

“I’m not very clear about this matter, but his attitude toward Lady Erinna is obviously not very good. He doesn’t seem to like Lady Erinna,” Oliphia said.

OK, sufficient reason. Now she had no choice but to raid.

“I understand.” Liana nodded.

One week later, with 947 days left until the agreed time, and about a month and a half until the fake death plan.

The weather had noticeably improved. Although there were still some snowflakes, it was much better than the blizzard of a few days ago.

Liana walked out of the forest cabin. Due to the blizzard during this period, they had hardly gone out to train, only staying in the room and using magic stones for some simple magic training.

“We need to make a trip away. Oliphia, you should return to the Lisat Royal Capital first.” Liana said.

“Hm? Why?” Oliphia was confused. “I’ll just wait here for you to return. It’s also good to have someone to clean up this place.”

“Well...” Liana didn’t know what excuse to use to make the other leave. Saying it directly would seem like she was driving her away.

But at this moment, Minoga appeared to help Liana out of this predicament. “Because of me, Princess Mephilia temporarily cannot leave Ibett Magic Academy at any time. You should be very clear about this, right?”

“Yes!” Oliphia nodded.

“Because she cannot leave Ibett Magic Academy herself, Princess Mephilia often needs some items and needs others to help fetch them. So, Princess Mephilia thought of you. Princess Mephilia trusts you very much, so she plans to give this task to you,” Minoga said.

Thank you, Minoga.

“So that’s it...” Oliphia felt valued and was very happy. After all, she had voluntarily followed Mephilia, and being recognized by Mephilia was definitely a cause for joy.

“But what about Princess Liana’s training?” Oliphia asked.

“With Sephirena here, she can help me a lot, and she can also provide some assistance with magic,” Liana said. “Besides, don’t worry about me. Right now, the one who should be helped is Mephilia, isn’t it?”

With Minoga’s assistance, persuading Oliphia became very simple. As for Mephilia’s side, she just needed to say a word.

And what Minoga said made sense. Mephilia currently had many inconveniences. Having someone run errands would make things much easier.

“Alright.” Since this was Princess Mephilia’s order, Oliphia didn’t insist for long and agreed.

“Have you packed everything?” Liana asked.

“Yes, I’ve already put everything we need in the carriage.” Sephirena came down from the carriage at this moment.

Liana turned to Oliphia, formally thanking and bidding her farewell. “During this time, thank you for your care and guidance. Over this past month or more, you’ve helped me greatly, making my body no longer so weak.

“Thank you for your guidance and protection of Loraviel. Without you, Loraviel would certainly not have been so comfortable at Venus Manor.

“I’m also very sorry for the many things I did that made you angry. It’s a miracle you could hold back from hitting me.”

Oliphia was moved. She had indeed been very angry, but this was all because Princess Liana was pretending for more important matters, and she had misunderstood her for so long.

“This is just what I should do. Rather, I’ve been misunderstanding Princess Liana all along.” Oliphia looked at Liana. “Princess Liana, you sound like we’ll never see each other again.”

Eheh... at least, they indeed wouldn’t see each other again for some time.

After saying goodbye, Liana boarded the carriage.

This trip away was mainly to deal with several matters: one was that beast called Count Ige, another was Tari’s situation, as her own actions had more or less put Tari in a dangerous position.

Plus, she was about to fake her death, and after “dying,” the supply would be cut off. The Angus Commerce Guild would definitely not easily let Tari go.

Liana didn’t want others to be implicated because of her, especially since Tari had helped conceal her identity.

The last matter was to steal—no, borrow—her mother’s books!

Liana found that her mother’s books was really fantastic, a treasure trove recording various kinds of magic and medicines. She might even find some useful things.

However, before dealing with these matters, Liana had one very important thing to do: to clearly explain to Sephirena what she wanted to do.

Telling Sephirena clearly meant putting a handle in Sephirena’s hands, just like now, when she only followed Liana because Liana had agreed to kill her.

If she told Sephirena about the fake death, would Sephirena possibly use this to threaten her?

If she didn’t kill her, she would reveal this matter, and everything Liana had done would be in vain.

But Liana also knew very well that when she thought of this plan and brought Sephirena over, she had already made this choice.

“Sephirena.” Liana’s gaze turned to Sephirena, who was currently looking at the scenery outside the window.

“What is it, Princess Liana?” Sephirena moved her gaze from the window to Liana.

When others were present, Sephirena’s expression was obviously different from when she was alone with Liana, appearing somewhat colder.

“There’s something I need to explain clearly to you. I’m afraid you might have some misunderstandings later,” Liana said.

“Is it about our trip away? Don’t worry, Princess Liana. I won’t expose my ears, and others cannot judge whether I am an elf based on my mana,” Sephirena said.

“No, no, no, it’s not about that, but another matter.” Liana shook her head. “About me.”

“Is there some task you need me to complete?” Sephirena continued to ask.

“Not exactly. I just want to tell you something,” Liana said.

Sephirena felt a sense of unease. She looked at Liana. “Princess Liana, this carriage isn’t heading to the Elf Forest, is it?

If it really was, even if Sephirena didn’t want to use violent means, that would be the only option.

Liana shook her head. “It has nothing to do with the Elf Forest. I won’t break our agreement. What I want to say is, in a little over a month, I will die.”

“Huh?” Sephirena looked at Liana with confusion. “Princess Liana, are you suffering from some serious illness? If you don’t want to kill me, there’s no need to find such an absurd excuse, is there?”

Liana didn’t look sick at all. If she were really sick, given Princess Mephilia’s love for Liana, how could she not have a priest follow her?

As for being killed by someone, that was even more impossible. With a Judge by her side, who could do such a thing? Who would dare?