Chapter 1622: A Gallery of Him ( 1622 )

"Just tell me, Lyzia~ We’re friends, aren’t we?"

Felicia, Delya, and Gracelle turned their heads toward the voice.

Lyzia was walking toward them, her steps stiff and hurried. Celine followed closely beside her, one hand wrapped around Lyzia’s arm. Celine leaned in, her voice soft and persistent, a teasing smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"There’s no need to hide it from me~ We’re best friends, aren’t we? Best friends tell each other everything~"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"You know exactly what I’m talking about." Celine leaned in closer. "That photo. The one Big Sister Liana showed to your sisters. The one you snatched back so fast. The one that made your whole face turn red in front of everyone."

Lyzia’s face flushed. She turned her head away sharply.

"I told you, it’s nothing. It’s just... it’s just a picture of me. Nothing important."

"A picture of you~?"

Celine tilted her head, giving Lyzia a sideways glance, her smile widening.

"Really~?"

"Yes. Now stop pestering me with your nonsense."

Celine gave her a long, knowing look, her smile never fading.

"Hmm~ Suspicious~" She tilted her head further. "If it’s not important~ Then why did you panic? Why did you snatch it back so fast~?"

Lyzia’s face reddened further. She huffed.

"Because it’s my picture! Wearing that bikini! I don’t want anyone else looking at it!"

Celine gave her another look, one brow rising slightly.

"If it were just a picture of the beach, you wouldn’t be hiding it like that. And Big Sister Liana wouldn’t have shown it to your sisters with that smile on her face. If it was just you in a bikini, that wouldn’t embarrass you at all. You walked around in one all day. So what’s really in that photo, Lyzia~?"

Lyzia’s cheeks burned.

"Oh, hush, Celine. Let’s just go join the others."

She quickened her pace, dragging Celine along with her toward the table where Felicia, Delya, and Gracelle sat.

Felicia smiled, watching them approach the table. The hall had grown livelier. Music drifted from the corner, couples pairing off, spinning across the floor in graceful partner dances, skirts and robes flowing with the melody.

She murmured toward Delya, her voice low and amused.

"I wonder what that’s all about."

Delya kept her dreamy smile as she lifted another chocolate dessert to her lips. She glanced toward where Lyzia and Celine were approaching.

"I don’t know~" she murmured, her voice drifting. "They look like they’re having fun, though~"

Gracelle smiled, scooping her fruit parfait and resting her palm against her cheek.

"Mm~ This fruit parfait is so delicious~"

Felicia chuckled softly, her tail swaying.

"These two~"

Lyzia arrived with Celine and dropped into the seat beside her, her voice sharp.

"Just focus on eating the dessert and stop asking me questions already."

Celine leaned over, resting her cheek on Lyzia’s shoulder with a sweet smile.

"I just want to see your phone~ Pleasee~"

Felicia smiled.

"What are you two talking about?"

Celine sat up properly and glanced at Felicia.

"Big Sister Liana called Lyzia over earlier. She took Lyzia’s phone and showed it to her sisters. And Lyzia snatched it back in such a hurry." She smiled sweetly. "So I want to know what’s in it."

Felicia smiled and shook her head, about to say something.

"Speaking of pictures~"

Delya cut in, her dreamy smile never fading. She took out her mana phone and tapped the screen, opening her gallery. She turned it toward Felicia.

On the display was a photo of Javier sleeping on a beach chair, his upper body bare, every muscle sculpted and defined, the sunlight tracing the lines of his chest and stomach.

"Danna-sama is so handsome~" she murmured. "So sexy~"

She set her mana phone down and tapped the screen. A small holographic display appeared above it, just big enough for the girls to see, and she began to scroll through her gallery slowly.

A picture of Delya and Javier together on his bed, her cheek pressed against his chest, both of them smiling.

A pose outside the building, Javier standing with both hands on his hips, looking like he was scolding Buddy, one finger raised and pointed.

A photo of everyone in bikinis. Liana scooping food onto a plate, Gloria laughing, Felicia with a book in hand, Mimi mid-jump, Gracelle and Celine waving, all of them caught in the middle of enjoying the island.

Delya kept scrolling, her dreamy smile never fading.

Lyzia’s eyes stayed fixed on every picture that appeared. Every time Javier’s face crossed the holographic display, her gaze locked on it. Her cheeks were faintly pink, her lips slightly parted, her fingers curled tightly around the edge of the table.

Felicia’s tail swayed slowly behind her. She reached for her own mana phone, tapped the screen, and a video began to play on the holographic display.

The video showed the first day of the vacation. Fransesca had just arrived in her bikini, her golden-brown hair flowing in the sea breeze. She was dragging Javier by the wrist, his other hand clutching desperately at his trunks as they slipped down his hip.

Delya smiled at the video.

"Danna-sama was being dragged by Lady Mother. It was so funny. He kept trying to hold his trunks up with one hand while she pulled him across the sand like a stubborn child."

Gracelle, still with her spoon between her teeth, glanced at the two holograms hovering over the table, then back at the girls.

"Eh? Mana phones can take pictures and videos?"

Everyone turned to look at her in confusion.

"Yes." They all answered in unison.

"Eeeehhhh!?"

Gracelle dropped her spoon onto the table with a clatter.

"Why didn’t I know!?"

Felicia’s finger hovered above her mana phone. She tilted her head.

"You really didn’t know? You have one too, don’t you?"

"I thought it was only for group chats! Video calls! Communication! Nobody told me it could do anything else!"

Felicia let out a soft exhale and shook her head.

"The mana phone has so many other functions. You can take pictures, record videos, read books, write notes, video call, messaging, maps of the estate, and navigation should you ever need it." She paused, her tone flattening. "Though Mimi only uses hers for playing games. Especially the games Husband built specifically for it."

"Eh? There are games we can play on this thing?"

Celine pulled out her mana phone and raised it, staring at it as if seeing it for the first time.

"No wonder sometimes Mimi is so focused on her phone. Biting her lower lip, her tongue sticking out to the side, her tail swaying..." She mimicked the look, tilting her head, her expression tightening into a serious stare. "I always wondered what she was doing."

Felicia nodded.

"She’s playing a game Husband built and taught her how to play. Big Sister Liana scolded her once for spending too long on the screen and not paying attention to her surroundings. Mimi promised to be more careful. But then, a few hours later, she was playing again, hiding behind a couch with her tail wrapped around her leg so no one would catch her."

She shook her head slowly.

"That girl..."

( End Of Chapter )