Novels2Search

A Lifetime of Memory (10)

Philip won; he was in a dominant position, where a single strike from him could knock her out.

"Are you satisfied with the conclusion of this bout?" Philip asked Ada sarcastically to insult her as he was pinning her to the ground.

Philip's manner of speaking and action insinuated that for him, this was all just a big waste of time and to not bother him again with anything of the likes, thus proving to her that he thoroughly crushed her and that this was his complete victory.

However, Ada just ignored what Philip's words insinuated and grinned back at him, "Although it is faint you can't hide that smile on your face, that means you've enjoyed our fight, didn't you?"

Philip then blanked out and came to a sudden realization, 'S-She's right, I've enjoyed going all out and fighting with her to my limits." As he touched his mouth with his left hand, feeling whatever unconscious reaction his face was having right now, but also to cover it up.

However, in the end Philip just opted to remove the hand covering his mouth, as he felt like he really didn't have any need to hide it in front of her, "So, how exactly did you manage to make me fall for your plans?"

"Well about that..."

But before Ada got another word out of her mouth, they both had a moment where everything around them slowed down and they stared at each other's eyes deeply, kind of like in the kdramas where the male lead after an awkward meeting with the female lead accidentally stumbles upon each other.

...

It all started just like any other day, when one of the little sisters of the girl who likes to hang out around me was playing hide and seek with the neighbors' kids around her age, at that time her big sister who was my self-proclaimed follower had been tasked by their parents to watch over her little sister.

("Yeah, nope you're not starting a backstory while we're frozen in this position." Philip broke the fourth wall because he did not like the awkward position that they were stuck in, as the story transitioned from one scene to another.)

("I mean aren't you the one who caused us to be stuck in this position in the first place? and don't you enjoy pinning down such a beauty?" As Ada spoke in a flirty tone and winked at Philip to playfully tease him, also breaking the fourth wall.)

(Philip couldn't find a retort to what she just said, after all her logic is perfectly sound, it was him who caused them to be in stuck in such a position by trying to intimidate Ada to dominate her mind.)

(But Philip wasn't just about to give up as he tried to break free, however no matter what he did the force keeping him in place was just too much for him to handle, it was too strong, "Aaaaargh!")

(So, his face remained frozen, smirking, which made it look like he was actually flirting with Ada, and with that he felt defeated, it was like he had stumbled upon an unskippable cutscene in a game.)

Anyways, when the kids were taking a break from all the running around, both the little sister and big sister sat down at the tree stumps right next to each other, I don't really recall how one thing went from the other, and regardless it's not really important, but all of a sudden they found themselves arguing on who's stronger, the big sister, obviously, was vying for me, since she looks up to me and she wants her little sister to idolize me too in order to show her my greatness. (Ada narrated with her nose turning very pointy almost reaching the skies)

But her little sister was adamant, she was a big admirer of you, Philip, she was not willing to budge no matter what. She says that she likes how brutal and merciless you are, how you only use pure strength and muscles to subdue your opponent, and she even stated that, you're obviously a strong mage that's just hiding his magic powers to conceal a secret identity.

"Big brother Philip is obviously stronger; he's not even using magic but he's already on par with big sister Ada, just imagine how much stronger he could be if he uses his magic" The little girl stated in a serious and convincing tone with her facial expression matching the way she spoke.

"What?! don't you mean his magic is just too weak that he can't use it in an actual combat? For what reason would he have to hide his magical powers?" Her big sister retorted.

"Of course-He is hiding his true identity! Haven't you seen his red eyes, there's got to be something behind it, I'm sure of it! He's got to be secretly one of those monsters that roams around the village at night!!" As the little girl's eyes twinkled with stars and her imagination ran rampant.

("So, I'm a monster now? W-What the hell kind of imagination does this kid got?! My magic power is just really weak! There's no secret! There's no anything!!" Philip screamed internally; he didn't know how to deal with the misunderstanding that was just brought forth in front of him. He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding but at the same time he didn't want to crush the little girl's perception of him.)

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Anyways during the conversation between the two sisters, I was just actually at the background of it all, more specifically by the roadside helping my grandmother set up her fruit stall, but my ears were as sharp as a knight's sword when people talk about me so I accidentally eavesdropped.

At the time I was already curious about you, but their conversation about who's stronger was what drove me to the edge to find out more about you.

S-So, anyways I started following you...

("You meant you just started stalking me." Philip commentated in a sarcastic tone of voice.)

("I-I guess? if that's how you want to word it ahahaha..." Ada hesitantly answered, embarrassed as she has been caught red-handed)

***

Although I have heard about Philip for a long time, because our peers had always compared both of us and they also see us as equals, but I haven't actually seen his face during that time.

The only thing that I know is the fact that he was not a human, but apparently from the rumors that I heard, his entire body was similar to a human, although there are some distinct features that clearly shows the difference between him and us.

So, I sneaked into the part of the village near where he lived, with the thinking, that if he was the only not human who lives in our village, it would probably be really easy to find him, as he apparently just brazenly walks out without any disguise, because for the most part, the adults had already accepted him as one of their own, it's just that some of the kids are the problem.

...

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Chatter! Chatter! #*$)(#*!)*@%&*$*$($()*)9##@#$()*%^%♣A↑...

From there, in front of the townsfolks, I saw him, after all, who wouldn't notice, he sticked out like a sore thumb, but despite that no one paid any mind.

'How could they?' I thought to myself.

Even from afar, I could tell, if there was someone that deserves to be called a noble, it would be him, he had all of the features that were depicted in those story books that I read as a kid.

Then as he walked by me, my heart wouldn't calm down, it had beaten faster than any of the times I exerted myself when I fought.

Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!

'How can someone so good looking exist? S-So handsome!' I thought to myself as my whole body froze...

He didn't even take a glance at me, but the way those ruby eyes of his captivated me was an enigma, and along with it, was that pale skin of his which contrasted that cold yet expressionless face he held were all stuck in my mind.

Even the first time that we crossed paths, it kept replaying throughout the night, it was as if it was destined to happen, I couldn't sleep, I was infatuated by him.

There I was lying in bed thinking, 'I knew I liked him, but the question is how do I get him?'

Then after a couple of hours of thoughts, I came to a shocking realization, I realized that I never really knew how to socialize, how to start a conversation, after all everyone that followed me, everyone that looked up to me, are all either those who tried to look down on me but got put in their place, or those who naturally followed me after I built up my reputation as a leader, as a queen.

Alright maybe being a queen is pushing it.

So, I followed the only way that I knew and did what I would normally do, it felt comfortable, it was how things always went.

Step one: Challenge him to a fight

Step two: Win and Subdue him

Step three: Turn him into my lackey so that he will follow everything that I say

(New!) Step four: ???

(But of course, she left out and changed some parts when telling this story to Philip, she just thought up of the most logical reason on why she challenged him. She said that she caught him doing those superhuman feats even without the help of mana, and that she too became curious on who is stronger, so she couldn't help but want to go in a full-on war with him.)

***

So, in the next morning I followed you to gather more information, but the first time that I did so, I was almost caught, because your senses were unusually sharp-

("You mean you stalked me even more." Philip again commentated but this time in a monotonous voice.)

'Huh? I thought there was someone tailing me, must've just been the wind' As Philip delivered this line that even he couldn't believe that he said that, like there was an invisible force that compelled him to do so.

So, in the following days, I changed up my way of observing you-

On the first day, I was just a passerby that needed to buy something in that part of town.

...

On the second day, I was helping some peddlers set up their stalls in exchange for some coins.

...

On the third day, I was now the assistant of those peddlers that I helped set up shop, and so on...

As you can probably guess, I just blended in naturally that's why you weren't able to catch me.

But the more I observed you, the more I realized how bored you were at life, you were cold, distant and aloof. You didn't seem to actually enjoy the company of those around you, or those who were under you.

So, in a sense I related to you...

And that is when I decided to become acquainted because I too was bored and had nothing to do, so I decided to challenge you because I wanted us to become rivals, and maybe you might see the world in a different light, if you had that someone on the same level as you.

(She said those words, even though she was actually the same, and yep, she definitely did not have any other ulterior motives.)

But I knew that if I challenged you outright, you would just reject me, so together I cooked up a plan with the big sister and little sister.

***

Philip started gritting his teeth, "hehehe I see, so you were all in on it..."

"There was no fight to begin with! That girl that you said you had trouble with was the big sister. Isn't that, right? TONY!!!" Philip said in a furious tone, but as much as he was mad at them, he was also infuriated at himself for falling for such obvious tricks.

So, he reminded himself of this day, the day he suffered his first ever loss and to remind himself when his arrogance was getting the best of him, so that he may not repeat the same mistake.

With tears falling in his eyes Tony screamed, "I'm SORRRRYYYYY!!!" as he ran away from Philip.

Meanwhile Ada was just lying there on the ground, thinking that things may not have gone according to plan, but in some way, she felt like she had gained something more important from Philip.

...