Chapter 18: THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS LOVE LETTER

Vael would rather fight another Hero than write a love letter.

The System did not care.

[ROMANTIC COMMUNICATION QUEST]

[Write one sincere letter expressing appreciation to Lyria.]

[Reward: Biological Age -2 Years]

Vael sat at a desk for forty minutes.

The page remained blank.

Morrigan stood behind him like a military adviser.

"Begin with her strategic value."

"No."

"Bloodline quality?"

"No."

"Potential heirs?"

Vael snapped the quill.

"Leave."

Morrigan left.

Seraphina arrived five minutes later.

"Need help?"

"No."

"I have access to courtship letters from the Third Dynasty."

"No."

"One duke compared his beloved’s eyes to twin siege engines."

Vael looked interested despite himself.

"Effective?"

"She poisoned him."

"Leave."

Finally alone, Vael wrote.

Lyria,

Your continued presence has become strategically important to my daily existence.

He stopped.

The System appeared.

[Romance Detection: 3%.]

Vael glared.

He continued.

Your combat ability is reliable. Your judgment is usually acceptable. Your habit of arriving late is operationally inefficient, but increasingly predictable.

[Romance Detection: 1%.]

"How did it go down?"

[You insulted her punctuality.]

"It is objectively poor."

[Write with your heart.]

"I have a heart. It pumps blood."

[This may take a while.]

Vael crumpled the page.

He started again.

This time he did not think like a king.

He thought about the road.

The puppet show.

The picnic.

The way Lyria had looked at him with curiosity before suspicion became unavoidable.

The way she treated his increasingly impossible excuses as annoying puzzles rather than reasons to fear him.

He wrote slowly.

Lyria,

I had forgotten that traveling could be something other than moving between battles.

You reminded me.

I had forgotten that meals could matter because of who sits across the table.

You reminded me of that too.

You are loud, late, reckless, and irritating.

But when you are absent, I notice.

I do not know whether that is appreciation or a medical condition.

For now, I will call it appreciation.

—Vale

The System remained silent for several seconds.

Then:

[Romance Detection: 89%.]

Vael was horrified.

"Eighty-nine?"

[You did well.]

"I need to destroy this."

[Deliver it.]

He considered burning it.

Failure penalty appeared.

[Failure Penalty: Cat ears, 48 hours.]

Vael stood immediately.

"Blackmail."

[Motivation.]

Lyria received the letter that evening.

She read it outside the inn.

Vael stood ten meters away pretending to inspect a wall.

When she reached the end, she laughed softly.

Then folded it very carefully.

"You’re terrible at this," she said.

"I know."

"But..."

Her cheeks reddened slightly.

"I like it."

DING.

[QUEST COMPLETE.]

[Reward: Biological Age -2 Years]

Vael became thirty-eight.

The shift was impossible to ignore now.

His shoulders had the strength of his prime years. Most of his hair was black. His face was the face Seraphina had seen in old portraits.

Lyria stared.

Then pointed at him.

"No. We’re discussing that eventually."

Vael nodded.

"Eventually."

She folded the letter again.

"I’m keeping this."

"Why?"

"Evidence."

"Of what?"

"That the terrifying mysterious old man can write something almost sweet."

Vael looked away.

The System displayed:

[Host is pleased.]

"I am not."

Lyria smiled.

"You’re doing the wall thing again."

Behind an upstairs curtain, Morrigan whispered to Seraphina,

"The bloodline integration operation advances."

Seraphina scribbled furiously.

Lyria threw a pebble through the open window.

It hit Morrigan between the eyes.

"OW!"

"Stop spying!"

Vael almost smiled.

Then his gaze fell on the folded letter in Lyria’s hand.

For the first time, he wondered what would happen when she learned the name he had not signed.