But if he agreed to her, Abel felt it would put her in a dangerous position!
He had publicly rejected the royal family’s marriage proposal, and since he was essentially a wandering knight, the kingdom couldn’t do much about him.
But if right after rejecting it, he married a mere little maid?
The royal family, in their humiliated rage, who knew what they might do!
So for her safety, Abel had no choice.
Moreover, he didn’t have any special romantic feelings for Elfi—he couldn’t let her face danger.
After thinking about it, Abel had an idea.
“What I mean is, Elfi, we haven’t seen each other in years, and you don’t know what I’ve become during my time away, so…”
Facing the maid’s eager gaze, Abel’s eyes wandered a bit.
“We need to get to know each other as we are now first. Childhood impressions don’t count—if after spending time together, you think I’m a good-for-nothing jerk?”
Elfi pondered for a moment, her fair index finger pressing against her lips, then nodded.
“That’s true—we haven’t seen each other in so long, and Young Master doesn’t know what kind of person I am now either. Of course you can’t make a decision right away!”
“Please rest assured, I’ve done a lot of self-improvement these years—I absolutely won’t disappoint you, Young Master Abel!”
The maid clenched her fist, looking full of motivation.
Abel thought, you don’t have to try that hard, but the words didn’t come out.
Whatever—after a few days together, she’d disappointedly realize that the Young Master Abel from her memories was just an ordinary guy with no real charm.
Once the childhood filter wore off, she’d naturally choose to give up.
The commotion at the entrance of the marquis’s mansion came to an end, and the servants in the marquis’s household were exceptionally enthusiastic, as if the one returning home was their own son.
As expected of a powerful marquis who held real sway in the court?
Even this residence in the royal capital was built with extraordinary luxury.
After pushing open the door and entering inside, Julius called out to Abel.
“A lot happened today—take a bath, change into some clean clothes, and get some rest early. Tomorrow morning, come to my room. I have something very important to tell you.”
Eh?
Those words stunned Abel, and he immediately looked at his brother differently.
He automatically ignored the “something very important” part—he only heard “come to my room”?!
As expected, Julius was gay! His hunch wasn’t wrong—this was also the little fairies’ scriptwriters’ twisted sense of humor!
“…Big brother, no, big brother!”
Julius was baffled by Abel’s attitude, a big question mark popping up.
“Well, tonight wouldn’t be impossible either…”
“Uh, then tomorrow morning it is.”
Abel thought about it and figured morning would be safer—if Julius really had any ideas then, he could call for help.
The bathroom in the Noct Marquis Mansion was astonishingly large.
Rather than a bathroom, it was more like a small hot spring palace.
Natural hot spring water gushed out from the mouths of white jade-carved dragon heads, with steamy mist swirling and lingering under the marble dome.
Abel immersed himself in the warm water, letting out a long sigh.
He leaned against the smooth pool wall and closed his eyes.
The original story’s plotline slowly unfolded in his mind.
“Goddess Knight Order” as a “Myanmar North 2D game,” although the main storyline was torn to shreds by all those overpowered heroines, the world-building was actually quite grand.
The core conflict lay in “Divine Pollution”—those gods created by ancient humans, who gradually “corrupted” over the long river of time, would periodically fall to the mortal world, triggering large-scale disasters.
The game’s main quest was for the player to lead the knight order and extinguish these “fire points” all over the place.
But Abel didn’t want to take that path.
“It’s too slow, and it’s bound to get entangled with that group of women.” He opened his eyes, staring at the rising steam. “What if I go straight to the end?”
The final BOSS, the “Goddess of Vengeance” Ada.
She wasn’t an evil god in the traditional sense, but the source of all “Divine Pollution,” the first creator-level existence to develop a BUG.
In the original, the player went through over a dozen versions, ran across the entire continent, and collected all twelve armored angels before piecing together the route to her location, the “Sky City Fam Yazra.”
“But if I know the path in advance…” Abel’s fingers lightly traced the water surface.
In the late game of the original, players dug up hidden lore: there were actually seven secret “paths to heaven” scattered across the continent.
These were passages built by ancient humans to pay homage to the gods, forgotten after the fall of civilization.
One of them was right in—
Splash!
Water suddenly splashed right in his face.
Abel wiped his face and saw, at the other end of the hot spring, the girl with emerald-green long hair splashing around playfully.
Abel shook his head helplessly. Apparently, the servants couldn’t stop Sutis, who insisted on bathing with him, and she just charged right in.
“My knight!” Sutis swam over to his side, her emerald eyes sparkling in the mist. “Sister Sephilia said that as contractors, we need to deepen our bond—this is the fastest way to increase our synchronization rate!”
She puffed out her chest—though there wasn’t much to puff. “And among them, being completely open with each other is the quickest way to strengthen our feelings!”
Abel had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, Sutis started shifting poses in the water.
First, she assumed a dignified sitting posture with her hands folded over her chest, but she got bored after three seconds.
Then she tried to imitate the pose of some goddess statues from her memory, standing on one foot—only to slip and plop right into the water.
“Cough cough…” She surfaced, shaking her wet hair, and undeterred, switched to the next pose.
This time, she lay on her side by the pool edge, propping her chin with one hand, trying hard to make a lazy, seductive expression.
Unfortunately, with her childish face and petite build, it just looked like a kid sneaking into adult clothes.
Your Eminence the Bishop, what kind of unhealthy ideas did you instill in this child?!
He decided to ignore her and continue pondering his plan.
“My knight.” Sutis swam right in front of him and said seriously, “Why aren’t you looking at me?”
“I’m thinking about important things.”
“Sister Sephilia said that when displaying feminine charm, men should give positive responses.” She tilted her head. “Is my charm not enough? She said I’m ‘not developed yet,’ so I need to try harder…”
“You don’t need to try.”
Abel rubbed his temples.
“Really. And those things Sephilia taught you—it’s better to forget them.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Abel thought about it and had an idea. “Just be yourself—that’s fine. You don’t have to force yourself to do things you’re not used to.”
Sutis let out an “oh,” nodding as if she half-understood.
Just be myself? He prefers me staying as I am?
Angels believed in fate—from the moment of creation, they already knew where their contractor would appear, supposedly due to the church’s high-level prophecy arts.
So, from the very beginning, she believed Abel belonged to her! The little angel’s possessiveness was actually stronger than Abel imagined.
But right now, Abel was lost in thought about the path to the Sky City, so he completely missed the change in Sutis’s expression.
Click.
The bathroom door was pushed open again.
Abel subconsciously turned his head, then froze.
Standing at the door, wrapped in a white bath towel, was Elfi.
Her ink-black long hair hung wetly over her shoulders, water droplets sliding down her slender neck.
The towel was wrapped fairly securely, but the exposed shoulders and collarbones gleamed blindingly white in the steamy mist.
Her cheeks were flushed red, her hands nervously twisting together.
“Y-Young Master…”
Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “I-I’m here to serve you in your bath…”