The two of them were finally alone once again.

Aster strode towards where Keira was situated. Her wounds have long dried out and were clearly visible as she hadn't had the chance to even clean them.

Aster crouched down and his eyes showed a hint of sadness as he looked at Keira who was covered in bruises and open wounds. He carefully traces the wounds with his fingers causing Keira to wince in pain. Aster didn't react as he had expected that response. His hands then emitted a soft golden glow. The fresh wound that Aster traced disappeared within a blink of an eye.

Keira was not surprised however as she too has healing powers of her own. She carefully peeked at Aster's expression, but he only has an amicable expression on as though to hide his true intentions. Keira knows that Aster was already suspicious of her identity. Through Aster's capabilities, it was not surprising if he did a background check on her. With the way she recently behaved, it would truly arouse questions. But Keira knew Aster doesn't have any evidence to back his claim she was indeed the Saintess Keira so it could only remain an assumption.

Aster continued to heal her visible wounds and Keira felt better in the process. He then proceeded to heal her bruises but he didn't heal one thing.

'Why is this man not healing my ankle?! HIs clearly avoiding it!'

After everything else excluding her now purplish ankle was healed, Aster finally looked up and peered at Keira's face. Keira wanted to break his gaze but it was simply captivating. WIthout breaking any eye contact, Aster asked with his usual eye blinding smile,

"My lady Mapajoke, what brings you here out of town?"

Keira replied while still in a trance, "I... uh, wanted to travel to Berrick Valley."

"Is that so? But why do you want to go to that deserted place?" Aster spoke in a soft tone. Even his voice is bewitching. Lost in her own thoughts, Keira replied.

"In order to retrieve the Mapa- I mean I was simply curious about the remnants of the war, so I wanted to check that place out."

Keira thought, 'The power of the male lead is too powerful alright?! I almost spilled the truth with just a few probings from Aster!' Thankfully she managed to stop herself in time.

As Aster noticed that Keira managed to hold herself back, his face darkened for a split second before returning to his usual radiant smile.

System 999 noticed this quick change and thought to itself 'It's amazing how he could switch faces at a very fast degree. It was not even visible for the normal human eyes, that's why this system is the only one who noticed while its Host is dumb enough to almost let their objective slip out her tongue.'

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"By the way my lady."

"Y-yes?!"

"You attended the ball right? What esteemed family do you belong to? How come they left their daughter alone with two strangers in a carriage heading towards Berrick Valley?" At the mention of the two strangers, Aster's eyes flickered.

"I--uh."

With Aster's continuous barrage of questions, Keira found it even harder to come up with lies on the spot. She hadn't thought this far yet. She thought that she wouldn't encounter the male lead again. Knowing she couldn't come up with a flawless lie, she decided to tell the truth.

"I'm sorry your royal highness, I have lied. I don't belong to any family and am just a nameless traveler. I sneaked in the party last time because I was curious about how one would look and feel."

"Hmm… but that would mean you trespassed the palace grounds?" Aster raised a brow as he looked at Keira who is dumbfounded.

Keira was once again at a loss for words. How could she argue with the king? That would be treason and asking for death! Thankfully before she could embarrass herself again, Aster began laughing.

Keira was stupefied. She hadn't seen the male lead heartily laugh after such a long time. She was enamored by the male lead once more.

"Hahaha! Sorry, I just found your expression really cute. Don't worry, I won't charge you for treason. You already stated your reason anyway and you didn't do any harm. I am not heartless as to not let this pass by." Aster grinned and Keira felt his sincerity.

'Maybe the male lead hadn't changed even her death after all.'

Keira returned Aster's smile which resulted in now, instead of Keira being awestruck it was now Aster's turn.

"Your highness, thank you for pardoning this subject's wrongdoings." Keira expressed a small bow, similar to a nod.

"No need for the formalities, you can call me Aster." Aster earnestly said.

Keira at first wanted to reject Aster's offer but after thinking about it, Keira thought it would be tiring to keep up with the formalities. So in the end, Keira agreed readily.

"Then, you may also call me by my name." At Keira's agreement, Aster felt ecstatic and he even let it show on his face.

"So Mapajoke." At the call of her alias, Keira felt her lips twitch. She had forgotten this name. Now that she was calm and could clearly hear the male lead utter her fake name. It just now sounded bad in her ears.

'A handsome male lead calling her 'Mapajoke' is just not right.'

"Just call me Kei." Keira inwardly nodded to herself as she said her nickname.

System 999: [What are you doing Host? Why are you exposing your real name to the male lead already? I thought you were going to keep it hidden?]

Keira: [Don't worry my Elly, although it is my nickname, Keira and 'Kei' are still different!]

Keira: 'Haa, my pure Elly is still stupid as ever.'

System 999 felt that its Host's brain was deteriorating.

System 999: 'Maybe after hopping to different worlds, she lost a bunch of her brain cells.' System 999 felt satisfied with her conclusion.

One Host and one system thought the same thing but is referring to the other person. Both coming up with their own conclusions.

The corner of Aster's lips rose even higher from his usual smile as he heard Keira's name come out of her own mouth.

"Then miss Kei, what are you planning on doing now?" He looked at Keira and he continued to act ignorant as though it was his first time hearing this name.

"I still plan on going to Berrick Valley." Keira persisted.