Havel raised his head and met the purple gaze of Cragar's son.

There was a moment of silence, during which the demigods were too stunned to speak.

Havel Granbish, leader of the Equinox Flowers, representative of the children of Sidal, the most powerful demigod in the Lilies Park, had just been defeated without too much difficulty.

The crowd of spectators burst into applause, while whistles and shouts were aimed at both contenders. Marina, Ada and Elaine immediately reached the two demigods to make sure that neither of them had suffered any harm.

Havel was still lying on the ground, unable to utter a single word. He had released his grip on his weapons and stopped pumping mana into his body.

He stared motionless at Shirei, whose expression remained indecipherable.

Marina ran up to their position and, without thinking, wrapped her hands around his cold forearms, “Hollow! Are you okay?”

Cragar's son simply nodded, but did not break physical contact.

“That's better.” She breathed a sigh of relief, “Congratulations on the victory!”

The two looked at each other for a moment, then the crowd attacked them. Marina lost her grip on the boy and more demigods passed her, eager to speak to the park's new champion.

Shirei almost widened his eyes and backed away, but by now he had fallen into the cyclone of the crowd.

“You are very strong!”

“What strength!” A demigod punched him on the shoulder and smiled, “I thought you were a ghost when the shots went through you!”

Some demigods, daughters of Ognia judging by their makeup, looked at Shirei with doe eyes, “You did great, really. Our hearts were beating so fast.”

The boy scratched his cheek with his index finger, “You have to be careful, too high a frequency can cause tachycardia and cardiac arrest in serious cases.”

“Wow!” The girls said in unison, “You're also super-smart!”

No! Not this too!

Marina complained in her head. She had no intention of putting up with either the daughters of the goddess of beauty or the rumors they would spread in a few hours.

Shirei backed away again, but the circle of crowd followed him.

“A classic,” Ada commented with a grimace.

Rutia's daughter looked down on Havel as she sighed. Elaine knelt beside him, mana condensing on her fingers as light green magic.

“I'm not hurt,” his companion absently said.

“He gave you a good beating,” added the dark-haired girl.

“And he's not even nineteen, his particle isn't mature yet. How annoying.”

Those words from Sidal's son awakened fear in Ada for what she had seen. This wasn't the time to talk about it, but it needed to be done as soon as possible.

Aena absolutely should have given her answers, both about the boy and Darryl's mysterious disappearance.

Rutia's daughter was about to help the boy up, when some demigods approached them with bad intentions.

“What a braggart!” One of them said.

“They finally put you in your place.”

“Are you the strongest demigod in the Lilies Park? Don't make me laugh,” another jeered, “You let yourself be defeated by a nobody.”

Stolen novel; please report.

The boys continued to pile up and, almost, a kick missed the body of Sidal's son. Havel didn't respond, keeping his head down and taking the blow.

Ada reached out and waved her blade in front of the boys, “Not another word.”

Some retreated, but the boldest puffed out their chests.

Hypocrites, thought Ada, you accuse one person and then do the same.

“What do you think you're doing?” A son of Corgi looked at her, “You are probably weak like him. We should be the ones going on the mission.”

“Suit yourself.”

Ada breathed. She had to stay calm.

“You're free to do so if you're so desperate for death,” then she turned to Marina, “It's time to leave!”

Shirei heard the voice of Rutia's daughter and, with relief, prepared to disappear into thin air.

“We'll meet at Lyceum’s office!” Ada added.

Marina nodded, “Understood!”

The daughter of Ien quickly made her way forward and took the hand of the son of Cragar, just as the darkness enveloped him.

Damn… she muttered as the landscape around her changed into a greenish ocean.

They were back in the Interworld.

Marina closed her eyes and bent over waiting for that annoying sensation to end. Her head began to spin and her stomach did somersaults to avoid bringing back the meal she had interrupted earlier.

She wondered what would happen if she vomited in the Interworld. Would it have stayed there? Would it reappear with them in the Otherworld? That weren't questions she needed to worry about right now, but her damned curiosity pushed her to open her mouth.

When she finally did, the strange feeling of the Interworld was gone.

“What are you doing?” Shirei asked.

Marina opened her eyes with her mouth still open and her tongue hanging out. Her torso was tilted forward and just inches from Cragar's son's abdomen.

Marina opened her eyelids in amazement and threw herself backwards. Her hand was still tight on Shirei's, but she realized it too late, ending up falling to the floor and hitting her head on a mattress. She didn't need to look in the mirror to know that she had turned completely red with embarrassment.

She buried her face in her hands and kicked her feet slightly, worrying Cragar's son even more.

“Everything is fine?”

Breathe. He doesn't understand the situation. You are friends. There's nothing wrong.

She inhaled and opened her fingers to peer ahead. Shirei was kneeling next to her and staring at her with raised eyebrows. He looked worried, but Ien's daughter didn't fail to notice his slightly pink cheeks.

A scream arose in her head and spread into every recess of her skull. He had not remained indifferent, he too had thought wrongly.

He's still a boy, Marina. What do you expect?

Shirei remained silent and stared at her, until the blonde decided to remove her hands from her face.

“Y-yes,” she lied as convincingly as possible, “A moment of nausea from the spectral travel.”

“I understand.”

Marina looked around to see where they were. They had just reappeared at the thirteenth house. The wooden floor creaked under her weight. Silence enveloped the room like a heavy blanket, interrupted only by occasional sounds or a hiss coming from outside.

There were no traces of Dalia and this only made her worry further, too much time had passed since the last time she had seen her.

After focusing on the demigod again, she looked down.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to follow you. I was just trying to get you out of there.”

Shirei narrowed her eyelids, “You knew I could do it with a spectral travel.”

“Yes,” she laughed awkwardly, “It just slipped my mind.”

Silence. Shirei was obviously thinking about something, but wasn't sure whether to say it or not.

“What's up?”

“I thought you remembered, it's not difficult…”

Marina froze for a moment and then stared at him. He'd paraphrased the thought, but she'd gotten to the point, “Are you calling me stupid? Me!?”

A daughter of Ien, goddess of wisdom, who was called stupid. It was the first time for her too.

“Coming from the guy who doesn't understand jokes,” she snorted, “What am I listening to you for?”

Marina stood up. She was still red, but no longer from embarrassment, but from anger. Shirei took a step towards her, although she didn't seem to fully understand the reason for her anger. The blonde took one last look at the trapdoor, hoping to see Dalia suddenly emerge, but nothing.

Finally, she decided to head for the door, “Show yourself when you understand how to treat the people who care about you, idiot!” She huffed before closing the door behind her.

She knew she had overreacted, after all she was a person who immediately thought about her actions, but she didn't accept being insulted by him.

All her time living in the mortal world, not so much since she was only sixteen, she had been under the thumb of her damned family and their mean attitude. Her stepmother had always treated her with cruelty ever since she discovered that she was not her real parent. She had made her suffer the pains of the Underworld when she was just a child without any guilt other than that of existing.

She would never again agree to remain silent after being insulted by someone she cared about.

It was the promise she had made to the little girl who was hiding under the bed.

The same one who closed her eyes when she heard the sound of footsteps outside her room.

Shirei did it innocently, unlike her stepmother, but maybe that hurt her even more.

The thought that he actually believed it, the person she…

She stopped.

The person I… maybe… no, that's not possible, she shook her head and started walking again, I care about him because he seems like a good person, but our relationship is due to the assignment given by Aena. I'm not…

Without realizing it, Marina walked straight into a demigod. She almost fell to the ground and was forced to hold on to his arm.

... in love.