Lance’s Number One Fan

As Ignos Fire dreaded the day his incompetence would be publicly discussed, Chiaki zoned out at this sudden intrusion.

It took only a split second to recall who the lady was from her memory, and when she found out, she sighed internally.

Sister, if only you knew that I didn't want this marriage. But I made my choice to participate in the Dome project, and I don't want to go back prematurely, so . . .

"What do you want?"

Coming out from her lips laced with the aura of the Path of Indifference's practitioner, it sounded harsh and cold, despite Chiaki having not intended it that way.

"Ah," Janice sashayed to her; the dancer's hips swayed salaciously. "General Spring is like a piece of peerless crystal. Pretty to look at, but pointy to hold and cool to the touch. You live up to your title, indeed."

Chiaki frowned her forehead. "It's because the crystal is my power source."

The Wymark lady jutted her lower lip like a pouty child. "Did that go over your head? You should measure your indifference when talking to friends and family –"

"It didn't go over my head. I was just confused about your point and why you had to come here. My officer mentioned something to be delivered to me?"

Chiaki's efficient attitude got on Janice's nerve, she was forced to follow along with the hostess' style of communication. Janice hated directness sometimes, as it left no room for seduction and ambiguous talk. Words were her weapon of choice for her plan to break the newlyweds apart, and straightforwardness was her enemy.

Her bejewelled fingers produced an invitation printed on a thick, sage-coloured paper. At a glance, Chiaki assumed it was a wedding invitation. Not another political-based wedding, please. But, after a proper reading, it was a party invitation.

A competition party, to be precise. A musical competition party.

Chiaki was allergic to music practice. She skipped it a lot, skiving off the mandatory musical classes at junior high simply because she felt helpless every time the teacher gave the students musical sheets to fill in or read from. She couldn't understand the musical notes, beats, or rhythm properly, and her teacher made learning music more terrifying than how it was.

But as a person, she deserved an irony, too. She had a decent speaking and singing voice, crystal clear in her public speaking but dulcet in her singing. Humming to specific tunes of songs was not a big deal; she wasn't tone-deaf. She only didn't know how to read the notes and play instruments.

So what was this about? The Wymarks expecting her to press on random white and black keys like an aloof baboon in a public setting? Hell, no. Could she blast this invitation into ash?

"As we're welcoming autumn in a few weeks, the West Guardian will hold a customary banquet on our musical tradition: a musical competition," Janice explained for the benefit of Commander Fire because Chiaki sensed she was expected to know about this already.

"I know General Spring never participated in the competition as she has no aptitude in music," spoken plainly without an inch of condescending tone, but Chiaki was insecure enough to take it personally, "but she always attended for the sake of her friendship with my brother."

Or, as Chiaki recalled the scenes that made her cringed vividly in her mind, to advance her strength and agility by doing the deed with him as an after-party activity.

She would always blame the buggy System for altering the setting like this.

"But this year, sister Chiaki has a plus one already. And we know the lord has a talent for the musical beauty."

He does? System, my husband can play music?

Wait, this is the actual music, isn't it? Not like a rhythm and press game where the player presses the key as the dropping musical notes hit the line indicator?

[It is a competition on actual musical instruments.]

Wow, I didn't know that; thanks.

Therefore, would you both please come to our humble West Manor?

"We will. Lady Wymark doesn't need to worry," Lance's deep voice answered.

Upon hearing it, a faint blush crept up Janice's face, the tint visible in Chiaki's view. She stopped herself from rolling her eyes when realising what had happened. Janice Wymark was head over heels for this man, and Chiaki couldn't see why.

How could two different Guardians' family members she met show vastly different responses about Lance Hua? Gin Burtenshaw was about to stab him with his sword while Janice Wymark annoyed her with the blatant seduction.

"If Lord Hua says so," she murmured coquettishly and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear; her beautiful doe eyes gleamed with adoration.

Chiaki thought Janice could register to join Lance Hua's fandom. Form open at Commander Fire's booth over there, thank you.

After the girl and the fan club president left, Chiaki turned the invitation card over again. Lance Hua had left the room to play at the Crystal Garden; he tweaked the vortex and crystal combination at his makeshift study. Chiaki let him as he technically didn't disturb the normal process of the officials and officers. She was also glad to have some me-time without his commentary. Or without feeling significantly dumber in his presence.

But her opinionated reason for the invitation was supposedly sound. What normal reason could Janice have had to bring the card herself when it was something that could be sent by email?

She shook her head and sneered. Even affection, the slightest or earliest form of love, made Janice Wymark look overbearing and stupid. Chiaki was on the right track to practise this path. She wouldn't ridicule herself for falling for a worthless man.

[Unlocking new story path: The Sea is Not as Deep as My Heart.]

What cheesy item is this, System?

No answer.

Pardon my words. May I receive the honour to ascertain what this means, System?

[An otome game is allowed to have multiple endings with a specific character. Your choices thus far have led you up to this point where your growth as the heroine here is affected.]

But what did I do differently? I only practise the Path of Indifference. I avoid romantic entanglement like the plague.

[Path of Indifference handbook, a key point of Chapter 3.]

Chiaki recited it: To understand the self, one must unify the enemies. To unify the enemies, one must understand each individually. The mind and the heart.

So, this is a story path to ensure I can keep my duties as a Guardian while staying civil with Lance Hua, right? Isn't it the same as what I've been doing?

The pop-up dialogue box disappeared. Huh, what a flickery entity.

~*~

An uneventful week passed by. Chiaki noticed how often Lance Hua watched the crystal pyramid longingly. Every time it shot the light beam upwards twice at night, Lance looked up the vast starry skies, neck craning to gaze at the perpendicular opaque layer that formed on the point of contact, which then dispersed to blend into the darkness.

At first, Chiaki thought he was going to observe the parameter changes on the monitors and holographic screens.

Later on, she suspected that it was not the case. Lance Hua never bothered to check the difference in the skies before and after the beam-shooting. His gaze was back at the pyramid as if something integral to his soul was hidden there.

Chiaki had this idea to ask him about the pyramid, probably she could glean some information about his past, too. But every time she was about to launch one or two questions, she remembered his vulnerable looks towards the object, and she felt she might be too nosy. If Lance Hua didn't want her to be privy to his past, then it was his right to keep it that way.

System, what is inside the pyramid other than what I understood from General Spring's memory? It's wide enough to host five people sitting cross-legged together to join their consciousness. The pyramid shape allegedly enhances the fusion and better points the force to the skies.

[Your understanding is correct.]

Chiaki racked her brain again. There was no limitation on who could be allowed to enter other than one had to be a family member of the current South Guardian or people the Guardian brought with her or him. Consequently, in four years of Chiaki Spring being the Guardian, only Gin Burtenshaw could enter alone during his holiday here to practise. The other officers or the commander had to go together with Chiaki on several nights per year; at times, the electromagnetic field had to be renewed like a subscription.

She swallowed her question before walking over to the evil lord who still lingered in her house, showing no sign of packing to return to the Northern region. As long as he didn't make an insensible request to force her to leave here to live in the north, she would be okay hosting this so-called husband.

"My lord." Oh, how long had she been used to calling him this way? She was under no obligation to show respect address to him, but what started as a thinly veiled insult now grew easier to roll off her tongue.

She didn't want to call her 'Lance'. Beside being too casual, she was in no way in an intimate relationship with him. Calling his title was a way to show herself and everyone else, including the man himself, that there was a distance between them.

"Please have some rest. You can watch the pyramid again after we're back from the West Manor. Let's get ready for tomorrow."

If other people disturbed him while he was doing his hobby, she thought they might be sucked alive into his vortex. But if it were just her, only a glare was thrown at her face. This revelation suddenly lifted her mood. Living with this evil felt less annoying.