Chapter 233: Best Friends for Life!

The video continued playing.

The moment Steven heard Elaria’s evaluation, an incredibly bright smile spread across his face.

He immediately turned toward Wallace.

"Wallace! Did you hear that?! Even my dear niece Elaria said it was good!"

Wallace was still sitting on the floor against the shelf with one hand covering his face, no one knowing what was going through his mind.

"Uncle Wallace!"

Elaria waved at him.

"Are you okay?"

Wallace slowly lowered his hand, revealing a face filled with utter exhaustion.

He looked at Elaria’s sparkling golden eyes.

Then he looked at Steven, who was smugly adjusting his cone-shaped hairstyle beside her.

Finally, he took a deep breath.

"...I’m fine. It’s just that, for a brief moment, I saw my entire life flash before my eyes. And every single scene had Steven’s face in it."

"That does sound pretty scary."

Hoopa covered its face with both little hands, expressing its deepest sympathy.

Steven completely ignored Wallace’s complaint.

He pulled the makeup brushes out of his pocket again.

"By the way, Wallace, while I was chasing you earlier, I thought of a few more looks. One is a purple afro with star-shaped glitter, and another one is—"

"Steven."

Wallace stood up and interrupted him in an incredibly calm voice.

"If you come within three meters of me again, I will destroy your collection room at any cost."

"I mean it."

Steven froze.

He and Wallace stared deeply into each other’s eyes for three whole seconds.

After confirming that Wallace was absolutely not joking—

Steven turned around and walked away.

"...We’ll end today’s artistic discussion here. I’m going to check whether Groudon has memorized its lines yet."

Steven strode toward the exit.

Once his figure completely disappeared through the doorway, peace finally returned to the film set.

Diantha walked over and gently patted her daughter on the shoulder.

"Elaria, go pour Aunt Cynthia a cappuccino, and bring her the script while you’re at it."

Cynthia turned toward Diantha.

"No need for coffee—but if you have ice cream..."

Before she could finish—

Diantha somehow produced an insulated bag from behind her like a magician.

She unzipped it.

Inside were six neatly arranged tubs of ice cream in different flavors, each one still giving off cold air.

They had clearly just been taken out of a freezer.

"I already prepared it."

Diantha placed the insulated bag on the folding table in front of Cynthia.

"I had Gardevoir go buy them while you were on your way here. The mixed Berry flavor was the last one they had today. Gardevoir barely managed to get it."

Cynthia’s eyes immediately lit up.

She tore off the lid, scooped up a spoonful, and put it into her mouth.

As the fresh fruit flavor spread across her tongue, Cynthia narrowed her eyes into thin crescents and let out an incredibly satisfied sigh.

"Mmm... Delicious. Thank you, Diantha."

"As long as you like it."

Diantha waved a hand.

"Special treatment for my best friend. No thanks needed."

"What about the script?"

Cynthia still had a mouthful of ice cream, making her voice slightly muffled, but her tone remained serious.

"Since I agreed to make a cameo, I should at least know what role I’m playing."

Diantha took a beautifully bound script from Lillie, flipped to a page around the middle, and handed it over.

Cynthia lowered her head and read while eating her ice cream.

After about half a minute—

Her spoon stopped in midair.

"...I’m playing an archaeologist?"

"Yep."

Diantha raised her coffee cup, the corners of her lips curling upward.

"You’re basically playing yourself. You just need to act naturally in front of the camera."

"See? I’m taking pretty good care of you, aren’t I?"

Cynthia fell silent for a moment.

Then she scooped up a large spoonful of ice cream and put it into her mouth.

"Fine."

Her answer came out slightly muffled.

Diantha patted Cynthia on the shoulder before turning toward Elaria.

"Elaria, Mommy is going to take Aunt Cynthia to the dressing room next door to try on her costume and go through the script."

"It’ll probably take about an hour. For that hour, I’m leaving the film set in your hands. Can you manage everyone?"

Elaria blinked her golden eyes.

Then she nodded firmly.

"No problem! Elaria will make sure everyone behaves."

"That’s my girl. Do your best."

Diantha gently kissed her daughter on the forehead.

Then she and Cynthia headed toward the dressing room together.

[VIP Chat Group]

[Valerie]: Miss Diantha and Miss Cynthia really are close. They even know each other’s preferences well enough to take care of every little detail.

[Diantha]: Of course! Cynthia and I are best friends in every world!

[Skyla]: But... don’t any of you feel like, even though this is a really wholesome interaction between best friends, Cynthia somehow has this indescribable "losing heroine" aura around her?

[Skyla]: Sorry. I know Cynthia in this world might not even like Asher, but after everything we’ve already seen, it’s really hard not to interpret it that way.

[Elesa]: ...I was actually thinking the same thing just now, but I was too embarrassed to say it.

[Viola]: Exactly! Especially when Diantha said, "I’m taking pretty good care of you, aren’t I?" Once you look at it from that perspective, it really does feel a little...

[Daisy]: More importantly, Cynthia looks way too adorably absentminded when she’s eating ice cream. If this were a romance drama, she’d absolutely have that "I’m satisfied as long as he’s just a little nice to me" losing-heroine character archetype.

[Cynthia]: ...I just like eating ice cream.

[Gary]: How did any of you even arrive at that conclusion? I didn’t see anything like that at all...

[Daisy]: Of course you don’t understand! It’s a woman’s intuition!

The video continued playing.

While everyone around the film set was busily carrying out their work in an orderly fashion—

A figure appeared at the entrance.

It was Asher.

He walked over carrying two bags of desserts, looking as relaxed as ever.

"Daddy!"

Elaria’s eyes lit up.

She immediately ran toward him.

Asher bent down slightly and opened his arms.

Elaria threw herself straight into his embrace.

"Daddy, why are you here?"

"I came to see how my daughter’s movie is going."

Asher bent down and ruffled Elaria’s hair.

"And also—to tell you some good news."

"Good news?"

Elaria tilted her head, her large golden eyes blinking curiously.

"What good news?"

"I just went and prepared a huge surprise that’ll make your new movie even more popular."

Asher raised one finger.

"Don’t worry. It’ll definitely be explosive enough to blow everyone’s minds."

Elaria blinked.

"Um... Daddy, didn’t you have to work at the League today? Weren’t you supposed to attend several cross-regional meetings?"

"Meetings?"

Asher raised an eyebrow.

Then he casually waved a hand.

"For something like that, I just need to give Lance a heads-up."

...

TL: Sorry everyone, I had a busy weekend