Ada then looked away from Philip while she was still pinned to ground, and hesitantly replied "Well about that..."

But before Ada could get another word out, she and Philip locked eyes, and for a fleeting moment, everything around them seemed to slow down to a standstill, all of a sudden the atmosphere adapted to match whatever horseshit they were trying pull, the leads changed their genre from a tense action & adventure series to a cheesy romance drama, it was as if they had stepped straight into a K-drama scene—the kind where, after an awkward encounter, some sort of accident happens between the two lead, usually tumbling down a staircase together, and thus from then on forth their destinies are forever entwined, except in their case they were trying beat each other up earlier.

And now that the stage was set for Ada to start her flashback, she began inner monologuing-

[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 asked 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 said, before their surrounding completely turned to black, desperately trying to break out of the awkward position that he was stuck in together with Ada.

["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 could not retort to what Ada just said, after all her logic is perfectly sound, because it really is him who caused them to be in stuck in such a position by trying to intimidate her.

But Philip wasn't just about to give up as he continued on trying 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, Philip's 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 with her imagination running rampant.

["H-How could she have known?! T-That I've been hiding a secret identity all this time? This little girl could she actually be a spy that was sent by the empire to keep tabs of my movements? It's a good thing that I've been hiding my magic capabilities all this time, and that she misunderstood that I'm a monster, because I definitely am not, that I can assure you."] Philip said, as he nodded in agreement to what the little girl just said, riding on whatever what her imagination is spewing.

[Enough of that... now to resume to my storytelling-during the conversation between the two sisters, I wasn't actually together with them, I was 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...]

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["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

Ada then paused and stopped explaining to Philip her story, as she began imagining about what happened next, the part of the story that she deliberately not mentioned-

[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 resident of our village who is not of the human race, 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 truly deserves to be called the knight in shining armor from those fairy tales, it would be him, he had all of the noble 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 someone-

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 a mystery, and along with it, was that pale skin of his which contrasted that cold yet expressionless handsome 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 to him.]

[I was stuck in a daydream but after a couple more hours I snapped out of it, and as the reality started setting in, 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 whom I taught a lesson to, 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.]

[Then there I was lying in bed thinking] 'I know I liked him, but the question is how do I get him?'

[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]

[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 probably said something along the lines of how 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..." Ada said shyly, hesitant that it might've been just her who felt that way.

["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, someone who can be your match."] Ada said those words proudly, 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.

...