Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

Regarding the connection between Iris and Alexia, the former once gave a brief explanation to Ernest, but it seems that she only told part of it at the time.

Based on her unintentional behavior and the information she revealed during her conversation with him at the Sophie Magic Academy restaurant, it is clear that she knows Alexia far better than Ernest imagined.

The answers to some questions are becoming clearer at this moment.

When Alexia was younger, she knocked out more than a dozen classmates at school because they mocked her for having an ugly doll that she always carried with her.

What's puzzling is that none of the dozen or so victims could explain how Alexia took them down.

Ernest suspected that this elusive method was related to Iris—the only variable in his process of raising Alexia.

Recalling the characteristics of the doll that was mocked, he became even more certain of his guess—the doll had almost white hair and blue eyes, so who else could the prototype be but Iris?

While cutting the food, Ernest told Iris about it, and she simply nodded indifferently.

"Judging from your description, she used a kind of magic potion that I created. It was specifically developed to kill people without leaving a trace. It is colorless and odorless, and all traces will disappear immediately after use. She diluted it with water, which is why those people did not die."

"..."

Ernest paused for a moment, then asked cautiously:

"Did you teach her how to make that potion, or did you just give it to her?"

Under the other person's solemn gaze, Iris smiled slightly and said, "Yes, I have everything." Then, still looking down with a nonchalant expression, she continued to deal with the food on her plate.

Ernest felt a little suffocated at that moment.

What exactly did she teach Alexia?! Besides this, there must have been other things she taught him that he doesn't yet know about!

And how can you just give a murder potion to a child?!

The words he wanted to say were swallowed back down his throat. What should he say? Should he advise her to pay more attention to her parenting style? But wasn't he himself the most direct person responsible for Alexia's education? From what standpoint could he instruct Iris to change her parenting style towards her own sister?

Furthermore, the relationship between Iris and Alexia is mostly one of friendship, so it would be inaccurate and impolite to say that one of them "educated" the other.

In the end, he chose to remain silent and quietly finished his food, just like her.

A facade of peace remained around the dining table, while the world outside was in turmoil.

No one expected that the champion of the first round of the exchange competition would not be any of the well-known star players before the competition, but a completely unknown figure. The media, who had been following the competition closely, were like vultures smelling carrion, digging deep for information about her even before the competition ended. As a result, everyone quickly learned:

This dark horse was actually just a student at St. Ferguson who had only been enrolled for a year!

Besides, not long after the match ended, rumors about Esilia began to circulate: she had ambiguous relationships with two major families in the Kingdom of Aaron, and her mental state was suspected to have been driven to the brink of collapse by one of the families...

After the competition, Sophie Magic Academy provided training rooms and dormitories for some contestants free of charge. As expected, after dinner, Iris was taken to a luxurious single room by the staff. Next to it was a high-end training room that was no less large than the Ramirez family's training room, and the facilities inside were extremely complete.

Only a few players live on this floor. At the end of the corridor are a common lounge and a restaurant that is only open to players on this floor.

Breath verification is required to go up and down the floors, and non-participants are not allowed to enter, so it is quiet most of the time.

At 11 p.m., Iris walked out of the training room and met Salist, who had just opened the door from the opposite room. This was the first time the two had met outside the competition venue.

Celeste's long, light blue hair was braided into a loose but not messy braid, a dark green cloak was neatly draped over her body, and a navy blue long dress with a clean cut and sharp pleats hung straight down.

It's so late, they look like they're about to go out.

The blue-haired mage glanced at the training room door that had just closed behind Iris, slightly surprised: "The competition just ended today, aren't you going to rest or celebrate?"

Iris, carrying her water bottle, thought for a moment and replied, "I have other plans."

Celeste was a few years older and taller than her. Upon hearing this, she lowered her eyes and stared at her in silence for a long while, thinking to herself that this person was even crazier than herself. No wonder she could get first place. On her face, she naturally showed a calm and friendly expression.

"If you're not too tired yet, why don't you come out with me? I've invited a few players to have some late-night snacks. If no one had been able to contact you after the competition, you would have been called over long ago."

In Iris's view, this eldest daughter of the Wilmington family is easygoing, open-minded, and unpretentious, yet meticulous in many details, making her the perfect example of combining rigor with agility.

"Thank you, but I'm planning to rest now. I'll definitely take a break next time."

She responded with a smile. Dealing with such a person wouldn't put her under much pressure, because she understood that someone with such a broad and open mind would least stoop to doing dirty tricks in the shadows—especially since, compared to Ernest, Celeste's upbringing seemed very healthy, and she didn't possess any of the ghostly aura that Ernest had.

More importantly, they have no conflict of interest off the field. And Celeste isn't the type to bring her on-field issues off the field.

Salis nodded, politely said goodbye, and then walked away gracefully.

You can tell she's in a good mood.

Iris silently withdrew her gaze, opened the door to her room, and closed it behind her with her back to Celeste.

After taking a bath, she felt much more relaxed and lay motionless on the soft bed, only occasionally swiping her fingers across the screen in front of her.

Various social media platforms have been flooded with the results of the first round of the competition. Photos of her, including front-facing, side-facing, and back-facing pictures, have been circulating online for most of the day, and the hype hasn't died down at all.

She opened several specialized software programs to check public opinion data, then calmly switched pages back to the most active social media platform. After scrolling down for a while, she saw Ernest's photo—

To be precise, it's the photo of her aiming an arrow at Ernest mid-air and eliminating him instantly.

In this post, immediately following this photo is a picture of her and Ernest sitting opposite each other in a restaurant, getting along peacefully.

The next image shows Olivia shielding her from an attack on the field and instantly leaving the arena.

Then comes a lengthy explanation, focusing on how bizarre the relationship between the three is—the Noviro family and the Ramirez family have been escalating their conflicts and frictions in recent days, while Iris has just eliminated the heir of the Ramirez family in the arena, and afterwards she can have a peaceful meal with him, while Olivia, as the representative of the Noviro family, actively chose to sacrifice herself for her in the arena, and afterwards she remained silent about her harmonious relationship with the Ramirez family, and so on.

This series of actions not only confused the audience, but also seemed to leave both the Novello and Ramirez families bewildered.

No one can be sure of her attitude now, because she has repeated this behavior of expressing friendliness one second and firmly "defecting" the next countless times.

And that's exactly what Iris wanted—to make everyone hesitant, so that she could buy enough time to put her plan into practice.

Time, time, and more time.

For some time now, she has felt that she doesn't have enough time. It's as if an alarm clock is constantly ticking away in her ear, and a tiny butterfly or something else is fluttering its wings incessantly in her heart, causing waves of subtle yet intense tingling pain.

It was as if fate was giving her a warning that her time was coming.

*

The Novello family.

Olivia Noviro had been alone in her dimly lit bedroom for a long time, clutching the blood-stained clown mask in her hand.

Her fingertips occasionally brushed against the surface of the mask, her gaze deep and dark as she looked into it.

On the dark smart screen beside her, a few pop-up messages would occasionally light up, and when Olivia unlocked the screen, the first thing she saw was the page she hadn't exited yet—a photo of Iris and Ernest sitting across from each other in a restaurant.

Some doubts from the family's higher-ups came into her view through the smart network. She closed her eyes, her silver hair framing her fair ears, making her clean face appear holy and pure.

After a long while, a soft sigh was heard.

"What can I do with the little bird that refuses to go into the cage..."

*

Late at night, the lights of the Ramirez family's house were still on.

The restaurant photo and the series of problems it triggered kept piling up in Ernest's face. At the same time, he also had to worry about Gracia Ramirez, who might cause trouble at any time. The trouble caused by his mistake of being eliminated by a single arrow on the field was also giving him a huge headache. So much so that he didn't even have time to savor his defeat, feel frustrated and regretful.

Although he had dealt with some family matters before entering the arena, many new issues arose during the competition that he needed to catch up on now. Among these new issues, the fact that Alexia was chosen as the background for the first round of the competition was the most troubling for him...

Just as Ernest was about to see a double image of someone in extreme distress before his eyes, his subordinate gently knocked on the door and entered to report to him in a low voice:

"Miss Alexia is asleep in the tree again."

Anyone who tries to lift her down from the tree at this moment will wake her up, except Ernest.

Ernest simply tossed aside the pen and the stack of papers, stood up, and swiftly left.

It's as if there's some monstrous beast on the table behind me.

The subordinate locked the study door again, then sent a message to Lucius from outside the door: "The young master has left the study to see Miss Alexia. He should be resting soon, so don't worry too much."

The garden was so quiet at night that the sound of the wind was crystal clear.

The rustling sound of the dense leaves being blown by the wind effectively calmed one's restless heart. Ernest had already put all his troubles behind him on this stretch of road, and then stood under the tree quietly watching the girl sleeping peacefully in the tree.

No one knows how she learned to climb trees, and no one knows why she can sleep peacefully in a tree—he didn't know the answers to these questions in the past either, but now he does.

It's obvious she learned to climb trees from Iris, and sleeping in trees must have been taught to her by Iris as well. Maybe Iris would even let her sleep peacefully in the tree and watch over her—she's definitely capable of doing such a thing.

The long-hidden moon parted the clouds and mist, casting its soft light on the girl's face in the tree, revealing the dirt that had somehow gotten on her small face.

She really does look like a little witch belonging to the moon.

In the calm, gentle evening breeze, in the shadows cast by the intertwined branches and leaves, ethereal figures appeared and disappeared in his imagination—two kittens, one curled up on the sleeping Alexia's belly, named Zhuzhu, and the other nestled in the arms of Eseria, who was leaning against Alexia, named Lulu.

Zhuzhu's fur and eye color still shimmered clearly in his memory, displaying vibrant and lively colors in his imagined scene, while the kitten named Lulu was just a blurry black and white blob in this scene—because he had never seen the kitten named Lulu.

Alexia may have seen her before?

He pondered these "meaningless" and irrelevant questions, and carried Alexia down from the tree back to the room.

The next morning.

Alexia sat up in bed, stretched, rubbed her eyes, and then, still half-asleep, groped around with her hands for a while without finding what she was looking for. She let out a slightly puzzled "Eh," and opened her eyes wider, carefully looking around—the headboard, the bed frame, the pillow, the wall…

nothing.

Where did her doll go?

This is a very serious matter.

The temperature was a little low in the morning, and the girl felt a bit cold, but she didn't have the patience to put on her coat. She just grabbed a pillow, hugged it to her chest, and hurriedly ran out barefoot.

Opening the door reveals the outer corridor, and on the other side of the corridor lies the garden, where a light drizzle is still falling.

Leaning against the wall, facing the rainy garden, Ernest's black robe was soaked at the edges, but the doll on his lap was clean and dry.

He was looking down, intently mending the slightly damaged doll.

Alexia walked up to him, took the now-new Iris doll, and after examining it for a few moments, heard Ernest ask her:

Why did you run out without putting on your shoes?

It's cool today, so put on your socks and shoes before you go to breakfast.

Her brother's words before he left lingered in her ears, like flies that she couldn't shake off.

Alexia, clutching the doll, silently returned to her room, found her socks, sat down, put them on, walked to the shoe rack, put on her shoes, and went out.

The doll that had accompanied her out was also dressed in a pair of small, exquisite shoes, with sparkling crystal butterflies on the toes that shone brightly in the post-rain sunshine.