“That’s right!”
Alicia said, attempting to pull the derailed plot back to its original course.
“Indeed!”
Vivian added, her face cold as she took a step forward.
“Where shall your sword and your glory lie? This is what you should be contemplating!”
The two of them worked in tandem, trying to drive Lynn back into a corner.
Lynn looked at them, a look of sudden realization dawning on his face.
“Oh! I get it!”
He clapped his hands together, his expression incredibly sincere.
“You mean that a trivial matter like washing socks shouldn’t trouble a noble Princess. You’re right, you’re absolutely right!”
He pounded his chest with an air of deep distress.
“I was so superficial! To think I was only worrying about my own socks! I should be thinking about much grander issues!”
Alicia and Vivian’s expressions softened slightly.
It seemed he had finally come to his senses.
Lynn walked to the center of the stage with a solemn face and announced loudly to the audience below.
“After the guidance of these two Princesses, I have suddenly seen the light! Romantic entanglements will only slow down the speed at which I draw my sword! The future of the Kingdom is the top priority!”
He turned to Alicia, his eyes filled with reverence.
“Saint Princess, your holy radiance is like the sun in the sky! Therefore, please exert your divine power to bless our Kingdom with favorable weather and a bountiful harvest this year!”
After saying this, he took a step back and bowed deeply to Alicia.
Alicia: “…”
The long speech she had prepared regarding “God-given Love” was stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t utter a single word.
He wanted her to pray for a harvest? She was the Saintess, not the Goddess of Agriculture!
Before Alicia could organize her thoughts, Lynn turned to Vivian, his eyes brimming with admiration.
“Knight Princess, your bravery is the Kingdom’s strongest shield! Therefore, please deal with those thugs who have been extorting and oppressing the people in the West of the City recently!”
After finishing, he took another step back and performed a standard knight’s salute to Vivian.
Vivian: “…”
She was holding her sword because she was prepared for a Martial Arts Tournament for Marriage against Alicia on stage, not to go handle some street thugs!
At this point, the audience could no longer contain themselves.
“Hahaha! What kind of play is this?”
“The Prince is sending the Saintess to farm and the Knight Commander to catch thieves? Is this a comedy?”
“So talented! Who wrote this script?”
Laughter flooded the entire square like a tide.
The Student Director had already collapsed backstage, eyes vacant, muttering, “My tragedy… My art…”
Both Alicia and Vivian’s faces turned dark.
They looked at the laughing audience and then at the “righteous” Lynn.
For the first time, they felt what it was like to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“What could they do in front of the entire school?”
Call him out for talking nonsense?
That would make them look petty.
“Fight? “
That would only prove they were using their positions to bully others.
They could only swallow their anger, maintaining their character roles.
“Blessing the harvest… is my duty,” Alicia squeezed out the words through gritted teeth.
“Those thugs… are not even worth mentioning.”
Vivian’s face was colder than her armor.
“Wonderful!” Lynn clenched his fists in excitement.
“I knew the two Princesses were reasonable and cared for the world! In that case, why are we still acting here? Quickly, go make your contributions to the Kingdom!”
He grabbed Alicia’s hand, intending to push her toward the edge of the stage.
“Your Highness, the farmers are waiting for you!”
Then he reached for Vivian’s arm.
“Your Highness, the people need you!”
The two girls were completely bewildered by his maneuvers. This was not in the script at all!
“Wait!” Alicia shook off his hand. She had to seize back the initiative.
“Prince, before you dedicate yourself to the Kingdom, you must make a choice! To whom does your heart belong?”
She decided to skip all the build-up and go straight to the final climax!
“Exactly! Today, you must give us an answer!”
Vivian also drew her sword, pointing the tip directly at Lynn, her aura overbearing.
The atmosphere on stage instantly became tense again.
The audience’s laughter stopped, and everyone held their breath, watching this dramatic scene.
Being pointed at with a sword, Lynn’s scalp tingled.
He knew this was the final ultimatum.
He looked at the murderous Princesses on his left and right, and then at his sister below the stage, who was smiling with pure delight.
A crazy idea formed in his mind.
“My heart…” Lynn muttered to himself.
He slowly backed away, his expression shifting from confusion to horror, and finally to grief.
“My heart… has long since ceased to belong to me!”
He roared, his voice filled with despair.
“What?”
Alicia and Vivian were both stunned.
“Why do you think I don’t want to make a choice?”
Lynn covered his face, his body trembling.
“Because… because I fell in love with someone I shouldn’t have!”
This development caught everyone off guard.
“Who is it?”
Vivian asked sharply.
“Could it be…”
Alicia’s eyes changed as well.
Lynn’s hand trembled as he pointed toward a corner of the stage.
There, a minor actor playing “the third tree” was holding a prop tree trunk, looking completely lost.
“It’s him!”
Lynn pointed at the boy, tears streaming down his face.
“We meet in the garden every day. Although he never speaks and only stands there silently, I can feel it! His thick trunk and lush leaves all speak of a deep love for me!”
“Oh, my dear tree! I cannot live without you!”
While crying out, Lynn rushed over and hugged the boy’s… prop tree trunk.
The entire place turned to stone.
The boy playing the tree almost dropped the prop.
He looked at the Prince, who was sobbing while hugging his prop, and felt his mind go blank.
“Pfft—”
Lilith finally couldn’t hold it back and let out a laugh.
She laughed so hard she bent over, tears pricking her eyes.
After three seconds of their brains stalling, the audience erupted into the most frantic laughter and applause in the school’s history.
“A masterpiece! This is an absolute masterpiece!”
“The Prince fell in love with a tree! Hahaha!”
“The best tragic drama of the year!”
Alicia and Vivian stood in the center of the stage, watching Lynn as he refused to let go of the tree.
Their faces turned various shades of blue and white.
They had lost.
Lost completely and utterly.
In a ridiculous farce, everything they had carefully prepared had become a joke.
*Clang—*
The Student Director struck the closing gong with tears in his eyes.
The heavy curtain slowly fell.
Lynn let out a long sigh of relief.
He had finally survived.
He released the “Brother Tree,” who he had almost strangled to death, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and prepared to slip away.
As he turned, he ran into a wall.
“No, it was three walls.”
Alicia, Vivian, and Lilith.
The three of them stood side by side, blocking all his paths of escape.
They were all smiling.
Alicia’s smile was holy.
Vivian’s smile was icy.
Lilith’s smile was innocent.
“Brother,” Lilith spoke first, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“That performance just now was truly wonderful.”
“Now, the stage play is over.”
“It should be our turn to talk business, shouldn’t it?”