"At last, we're together—even if it's just in a dream," Violanda sighed, her voice a mix of contentment and lingering regret.

Though her plans had been thwarted by those meddling women, preventing her from enjoying her passionate union with Eirik in the waking world, the dreamscape had proved a successful substitute.

And according to the system's description, the effects of this dream would last much longer than she anticipated.

In simple terms, after today, whenever Eirik slept, he'd dream of scenes related to their time together—even if she wasn’t present.

That meant, even when the Rebirth Mirror's time had passed and the memories faded, Eirik would continue to have dreams of her, likely quite intimate in nature, for a long while.

Soon, he'd find himself wondering: "Why do I keep dreaming about the Master Alchemist? Could it be that I've truly fallen for her?"

It was the power of psychological suggestion. The thought of Eirik becoming so obsessed with her that he couldn’t focus on anything else made Violanda blush and giggle softly to herself.

"Ugh, you're so disgusting when you smile like that!"

Pixie couldn't hold her tongue any longer as she finally saw Violanda awaken. But instead of irritation, the Master Alchemist smiled, her expression tinged with both pride and a slight hint of embarrassment.

The others in the room exchanged uneasy glances. The tension in the air was palpable. What, exactly, had their souls been doing during that time?

"Disgusting?" Violanda's gaze was cold as she spared Pixie a glance. She wasn't in the mood to waste time with petty remarks.

It was clear. Pixie was simply jealous.

Violanda lifted her chin arrogantly, intending to take Eirik and leave, but then, she suddenly froze.

Why was her face... so sore?

She instinctively touched her cheek, finding it burning hot, as if someone had roughly grabbed her face.

Pixie's innocent gaze immediately dropped to the floor, not daring to meet the alchemist’s now-suspicious eyes. The others pretended they hadn't noticed either.

"I... I didn't grab your face!"

Liora tried to bluff, but the tension in her voice betrayed her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Violanda’s face stiffened. She quickly pieced the puzzle together and felt a surge of disgust.

"Are you children? Is this amusing to you?"

Her gaze swept over the group, and it was clear to her who was responsible. Only that "little bitch" would do something so childish.

Liora’s assumption was correct. Violanda now stood at a crossroads, unsure whether to retaliate or simply let it go.

"How tedious..." Violanda huffed and waved a hand, her face returning to its usual radiance as she magically healed the redness caused by the earlier indignity.

"This... these women are impossible to understand!" Eirik, for his part, feigned a headache, pretending to be exhausted and on the verge of sleep.

Though the others hadn't noticed anything unusual, Eirik knew better. He was awake, of course. He recalled everything—the dream, the passion of it all. The memory drain had only removed his past life’s memories, nothing more.

The others, confused, assumed he was simply suffering from exhaustion due to the overwhelming loss of his past memories.

But Eirik had a different plan. He was going to play it off, just like last time when Elvynna confessed to him.

This time, however, it had been a real dream... albeit one that was far too intense.

In that dream, for two whole hours, he and Violanda had been lost in each other, entangled in a frenzy of passion.

Meanwhile, the others hadn’t noticed the deeper implications. They believed Eirik’s "fainting" was just the result of his soul’s trauma from the memory purge.

"Wait a second..." Liora, who had been quietly observing, suddenly narrowed her eyes, as if a question was stirring in her mind.

"Exactly what did you two do while your souls were separated?" Elvynna asked sternly, drawing the conversation back to a more serious note.

"What do you think?" Violanda replied coolly, a mysterious smile curving her lips.

Her smile only unsettled everyone further.

"Definitely not anything good. You—what did you do to my husband?" Pixie’s voice was filled with urgency.

"Ha! Soon enough, he will be my husband." Violanda replied with a calm air, not bothering to explain further as she swept Eirik into her arms and began to float away.

The others hurried to follow, but Violanda was already ahead, her pace far too quick for them to catch up.

"Dammit, what does she mean by that?!" Pixie growled under her breath.

"Calm down. She’s just making a big deal out of nothing," Elvynna scoffed, though doubt lingered in her voice. The Rebirth Mirror couldn’t preserve memories; so what made Violanda so sure she'd won?

Even if their souls had... intertwined as she claimed, so what?

"Whoever wins, the outcome is still undecided."

The group followed Violanda as she led Eirik back to Aelsryel. Violanda had initially hoped to take him away, but Eirik had refused, acting as if nothing had happened and returned to Ravenshadow Manor instead.

"Ugh, let’s just keep things as they are for now," he muttered, still pretending to suffer from a headache. "This reality is such a pain... I need to get back to the simulation game."

After a good, long rest, Eirik powered up the simulator.

At first, he didn’t think much of it. But when he saw the new options available, his interest was piqued.

"‘New Beginning+’?" he read aloud, surprised.

A new option under "New Beginning"—and it was marked as "special."

A description appeared: “New Beginning+” is for players who have experienced multiple simulations. They can now select different starting identities and locations for their new run.

Eirik blinked. "So I can start from somewhere other than Aelsryel now?"

That sounded interesting. He’d been through the same old simulations too many times already. A change of scenery would be refreshing.

The others, especially those playing from other regions, were also excited about this new feature.

"New Beginning+"—this would allow them to select a different starting point for their characters! Some of them, who had always been limited to distant, outlying areas, could now choose major cities like Elaresar or even Central Lands!

The players from Central Lands were especially thrilled. They could now participate in the race for Eirik, no longer left out and helpless.

Except for Fennec, the fox-woman.

"Why would anyone want to go to that desolate place, Dawnstar Dynasty, just for a man?" she sneered. "Central Lands is the place to be for magical cultivation!"