Chapter 234: The Unlimited Shopping Spree

Isabel took the dress, smiling brightly. It wasn’t her usual forced smile. This one was small and real, like she was scared to believe it was for her.

"It’s gorgeous, Lynx. Let me put it on."

When she stepped out five minutes later, the entire boutique went quiet. Even Layla stopped talking mid-sentence.

The sapphire dress hugged her narrow waist and full, natural curves flawlessly, highlighting her fair skin and long blonde hair. It wasn’t tight for show, it just fit her exactly. The small crystals sewn into the waist caught the chandelier light and threw it across the room in soft blue flecks.

She looked utterly ethereal, carrying a soft, mature beauty that rivaled any noble lady in the capital. The attendant behind her actually covered her mouth.

Isabel looked down at herself, turning slightly, her hands a little bit shaky on her hips. She looked at Lynx in the mirror.

Lynx walked up to her, his eyes dark with deep admiration. He slid his arm around her waist, pulling her against him, and pressed a lingering kiss onto her lips. Not a quick peck. A real, slow kiss that made the attendants look away politely.

"Perfection," he murmured against her mouth, his voice low enough only she could hear. "You were already perfect. The dress just caught up."

Isabel blushed brightly, resting her hands on his chest, her heart overflowing with pure happiness. For the first time today, she didn’t think about sigils.

She didn’t think about being older, or about Eleanor, or about whether she was still attractive enough for him. She just felt beautiful. Wanted.

"You really think so?" she whispered.

"I know so," Lynx said. He turned her gently to face the big mirror again, his hands on her waist, chin resting on her shoulder. "Look."

Behind them, Eleanor was leaning against a pillar with her arms crossed, but she was smiling so softly her purple eyes were wet. "He’s right, Lady Isa. You look stunning. Like you walked out of a royal portrait."

Rose came up and fixed a strand of Isabel’s hair. "Keep it. That color was made for you."

Lynx bought the dress, of course. He tapped his card at the counter without even looking at the number.

The boutique staff packed it in a signature box with silk ribbon. But he didn’t buy ten more dresses. One was enough when it made her look like that.

Once that was done, Lynx looked at the group. All fourteen of them, dressed up, hair done, looking like they owned the Galleria. And bored.

"Alright. Shopping’s over," he announced. "We’re not here to buy the mall. Amira, where do people actually have fun in this place?"

Amira blinked. "Fun? Like... you mean the entertainment floor? Fifth floor. It’s loud. Arcade, karaoke, photo booths, racing sims, VR, food stalls. People don’t go there really. It’s all students and couples."

"Perfect," Lynx said. "That’s exactly where we’re going. If this is a date, we’re doing a real date."

Layla SCREAMED. Literally screamed. "ARCADE! YES! OH MY GOD I HAVEN’T BEEN TO AN ARCADE SINCE FIRST YEAR!"

The fifth floor was chaos compared to the luxury floors. Neon signs buzzing, loud pop music, kids running around with tickets, the smell of fried chicken and caramel popcorn, hundreds of game machines blinking.

The moment the group stepped off the glass escalator, the entire floor stared.

Fourteen absurdly beautiful women in high-end dresses and one guy in a black shirt who looked like he was carved by a god. People stopped playing games to stare.

It took about five seconds for the date to start for real.

Layla grabbed Lynx and Eleanor and dragged them to the basketball hoops. Four machines in a row. "Loser buys bubble tea! Let’s go!"

Layla was all trash talk, shooting with perfect form, hitting shot after shot. Lynx let her win on purpose at first, missing easy shots and acting frustrated, which made her laugh so hard she almost fell over.

On the last round he actually tried, and they went neck and neck, the crowd of kids around them cheering. Layla won by two points and jumped onto his back, screaming "QUEEN OF THE COURT! QUEEN!"

Eleanor was competitive in a quiet way. At the racing sims, she, Rose, Ophelia and Lynx took four linked seats. Eleanor gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles went white.

She kept bumping Lynx’s car on purpose, side-swiping him at corners. "Oops," she said every time, not sorry at all, with a tiny smirk.

When she beat him by half a second, she actually threw her hands up like she won a tournament. Lynx leaned over and kissed her cheek while she was still in the seat. "My queen drives like a menace."

Isabel stood a little back at first, holding her dress box, watching everyone. That old habit of feeling a little older, a little separate. Lynx saw it.

He walked over, took her hand, and pulled her gently toward the big couple’s claw machine. The one where you need two people - one stick controls left-right, the other controls forward-back. You have to coordinate.

"You take this one, I’ll take this one," he said, standing behind her, his chest against her back, his hands over hers on the sticks. "That big white bear? You want it?"

"I... I don’t need a toy," she said quietly.

"I know. But I want to win it for you," he murmured near her ear.

They tried twice and failed. The claw dropped the bear. On the third try, Isabel got serious, biting her lip, leaning forward. Lynx followed her movement exactly. The claw grabbed, lifted, wobbled, and dropped the giant white bear into the chute.

The machine played a stupid victory jingle. Isabel stared at the bear in the bin like she couldn’t believe it.

Lynx bent down, pulled out the huge fluffy bear, and put it in her arms. It was almost as big as her torso.

"We got it," he whispered.

She hugged it to her chest, her eyes shining, burying her face in its fur so no one would see she was getting emotional. "We got it..."

After that, it was nonstop. The photo booth - a tiny glass box that fits three people max, and they tried to cram all fifteen into it. It was a disaster.

Ophelia fell onto Lynx’s lap, Nadia’s hair covered the lens, Eira tried to stay serious while everyone else did peace signs and silly faces.

The strip that came out was crooked, blurry, half of Kira’s head cut off - and perfect. Lynx slipped it into his wallet.

The dance machine - Layla vs Kira, both actually good, crowd forming, both sweating and laughing.

The shooting game - Amira turned out to be terrifyingly good at it. The VR horror pods - Iris screamed so loud that Rhea had to take her headset off and hug her, while Lynx just stood there calmly watching the monster walk through him.

At the food stalls in the middle of the arcade, they ordered like normal couples. No private chef.

Fried chicken buckets, cheese fries, takoyaki, big cups of brown sugar bubble tea with extra pearls. They pushed four tables together and sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by students who were trying not to stare.

Lynx paid at the counter with a tap of his black card, but it was just for chicken and arcade tokens. 200 tokens. Nothing crazy.

Isabel sat next to him, her big white bear on the chair beside her, sipping her bubble tea, her sapphire dress box at her feet, laughing at Layla reenacting her basketball win.

Her leg was pressed against Lynx’s under the table. She didn’t feel older there. She felt 18 again.

Layla took out her own hPhone and snapped a selfie of the whole messy table, chicken in hand, everyone making faces.

"Posting this on Instalite right now!" Layla grinned. "’Best day ever with our King!’"

Within minutes of her posting, the picture received millions of likes and comments, with fans going wild across the entire continent over Lynx’s public outing with the Year 4 Queen and her squad. People started figuring out they were at the Galleria.

"Okay, time to move before we’re actually mobbed," Amira said, but she was laughing.

They left the arcade floor with plushies, half-eaten fries, photo strips, and Layla’s basketball champion ticket prize - a tiny rubber duck she put on Lynx’s shoulder.

After leaving the Grand Galleria, with shopping bags full and Layla still posting Instalite stories in the back seat of the red sports car, Lynx asked the group to pause before their lunch reservation.

He walked over to Amira, who was checking her hPhone near the lead black car. She was leaning against the door, scrolling through the comments on Layla’s post which had already hit 4 million likes.

"Amira, is there a reputable orphanage here in the capital? A place that takes care of normal kids who lost their parents?"

Amira blinked, surprised by the sudden question, but her expression softened warmly. She locked her hPhone. "Yeah, actually. There’s The Hope Children’s Home located on the outer edge of the southern district. It’s run by a retired couple named Timothy and Rebecca. I know them."

She blinked again then continued. "They used to work as caretakers for one of my family’s old subsidiary companies. It’s in a poorer district, so the imperial government barely allocates any funding to them. The building is falling apart. Why do you ask, god-boy?"

Lynx looked down at his hands, his eyes reflecting a quiet, distant memory. His heterochromatic eyes dimmed a little. Not with weakness, but with memory.

In his past life on Earth, before he was reincarnated into this world, he knew what it was like to suffer in poverty.

He knew what it felt like to go to sleep with an empty stomach, to have nothing, and to be ignored by wealthy people who walked past as if poor people were invisible.

He remembered cold winters with no heater. He remembered being the kid no one looked at.

Now that he held absolute power, infinite wealth, and godlike status, he had zero interest in being a cold, unfeeling tyrant toward helpless people. Power without kindness was just tyranny.

A/N: Hey guys, can I get some honest feedback? Is the English in the story still that bad or hard to read? I know the beginning was kinda maybe not kinda but still, it was bad and I’m genuinely trying to get better with each Chapter. If it’s still bad, please let me know.

And yeah, it was my birthday recently and I didn’t get any wishes or gifts from you all :( but it’s fine. Your support in reading this story is already a gift to me. Love you all, thank you. :)