With the two girls left alone in the room, the atmosphere became tense.

  Cir's mind soon began rag with questions.

  'Why did they leave me aloh her? What does she want to talk abht now? It's already embarrassing enough that she heard and saw all that, how much more of this I ehese thoughts swirled in Cir's head.

  Vasiliki, sensing her disfestured to the open chair at her bedside and said, "Isn't it unfortable standing up? Take a seat." she offered.

  Cir hesitated briefly but then took the offered seat after a moment of ption.

  "So why did you suddenly fess to Draii? Why did you feel the o rush things? And did you really do all those weird things with his clothes?" Vasiliki questioned, her tone dired her gaze unnerving.

  early choked upon hearing such blunt questions, her heart rag as she pondered whether she should answer.

  "Do I really have to ahose questions?" Cir asked, her eyes studying Vasiliki's expression, searg for any hint of jest or pyfulness.

  "Well, you choose not to answer me, but you will eventually have to talk to someone about this if you want to feel any sembnce of normal again. So, 't that person be me?" Vasiliki replied, her voice soft and uanding.

  Cir couldn't help but sch her face after hearing Vasiliki's reply.

  "Do you not know..." she was about to say, but Vasiliki cut her off.

  "Have I ever joked around during serious situations?" Vasiliki suddenly asked, her expression serious.

  "No..." Cir replied after pting for a while.

  "Then do I currently have an expression that says I'm not taking this seriously?" Vasiliki asked, her gaze locked onto Cir's.

  Cir observed Vasiliki's expression for a while, searg for any falsehood, but found none.

  "No," she replied.

  "Look, I know that I tease and mess around with you all a lot, but it's irely always for fun. There are times I do it for a reason, and right now isn't a time to be pyful. So, open up and talk to me," Vasiliki said, her words weighted with siy.

  Cir was hesitant for a bit, but after seeing how serious Vasiliki looked, she decided to trust her and speak.

  Seeing that Cir was willing to open up, Vasiliki began speaking again.

  "Do you think you tell me everything from the beginning?" she asked.

  "Sigh, okay," Cir replied, taking a deep breath.

  She closed her eyes, arrangihoughts before speaking.

  Then, she began narrating the events that transpired after Vasiliki had fallen unscious in the dungeon.

  Cir's story started with her outburst in the dungeon, when she realized that Draco had beeing her differently, but not for the reasons she had wanted.

  She had thought it was because he found her special, but that didn't turn out to be the case.

  To him, she was just family.

  She then transitiohe story to after they had returned from the dungeon.

  She had said things she didn't mean, and she wao apologize to everyone, but she was scared of their rea.

  She narrated the questions she had asked herself then and the emotions that followed as she even began doubting the authenticity of her love for Draco.

  Then she reached the part where she met their goddess Bahamut early in the m of the day i.

  Bahamut had offered her advid givehe ce to make amends with the rest of the familia, but ter around noon the same day, Bahamut had revealed her love fession to Draco the previous day.

  At that time, Cir felt a sense of numbness wash over her, repeatedly questioning herself.

  When she finally arrived at an answer, she immediately made her own love fession to Drabsp;

  Perhaps she felt a bit pressured because Bahamut had fessed first, and she didn't want to lose out.

  Or perhaps it was another reason, but at that moment, her mind was a jumbled mess, struggling to make sense of the swirliions.

  The st part was about Draco rejeg her, and the rest Vasiliki already knew about.

  After her detailed narration of the events, Cir just stared at the ground, tears welling in her eyes once again.

  Just then, Vasiliki ed her hands around Cir, gently patting her back to provide fort.

  As Cir's g turned into sobs, Vasiliki raised her fad looked into her eyes.

  "Look here, beied isn't the end of the world. We may have experienced a lot pared to other children e, but we are far from experieng all that the world has to offer," Vasiliki said, her voice soothing and reassuring.

  "Draii may not be your mister right, but it doesn't mean that one does out there," Vasiliki soled.

  "Then what would you have done in my situation?" Cir asked, her voice trembliween sobs.

  "Hmm, that's a hard question," Vasiliki muttered, gently stroking Cir's firm furry ears in a f gesture.

  "Holy, I would have waited till I heard Draii's reply to Bahamut's love fession first," Vasiliki answered, her words thoughtful and measured.

  "Why?" Cir asked, her curiosity piqued through the remnants of her tears.

  "Because two simultaneous love fessions would put him on the spot, and he would feel as though he had to choose one or the other, even worse make a decision in a short amount of time," Vasiliki expined.

  "Additionally, from the annou he made after rejeg you, it's easy to tell how flicted he was." she added.

  "Then if I had waited like you said, would he have accepted my fession?" Cir asked, hope flickering in her eyes.

  "Truthfully, it was unlikely," Vasiliki replied, her voice steady.

  "You hadn't yet turned his perception of you from just family to potential lover." she expined.

  "The you going to face the same situation like I did as his step-sister?" Cir asked, her brow furrowed in thought.

  "Well, I don't know, but I wasn't pnning to make any sort of move until I at least came of age," Vasiliki responded.

  "And why is that?" Cir inquired, her curiosity piqued once more.

  "It's quite simple. Think of it from Draii's perspective. We are simply too young. Think of Draii as an adult, even though he is just 12, ag as the adult in our lives, our parent and role model. Do you think an adult would to be romantically involved with a child?" Vasiliki asked.

  Vasiliki reed ba her bed, a pensive expressioched upon her features, she uood the plex dynamics at py.

  "You see, Draii views himself as an adult, while he sees us as mere children. That's why a romantic retionship was doomed from the start. One would o find a way to make him see them as an adult first, to even be oarting line." She paused, carefully Cir's rea.

  Cir furrowed her brows, mulling over Vasiliki's insight.

  "So you're saying Bahamut-sama had an advantage because she had already been perceived as an adult?" she inquired, a hint of hope g her tone.

  "That's likely part of it," Vasiliki replied. "And Draii's preferences seem to factor in as well." she added.

  Cir's expressihtened with a glimmer of hope.

  'Perhaps I still have a ce,' she thought.

  this, Vasiliki reached out and pinched Cir's ear, elig a yelp of pain.

  "Ouch! Why did you do that?" Cir asked, rubbing her sore ear.

  "Don't get any ideas, silly girl. I'm not telling you this to give you hope," Vasiliki chided.

  "I was just letting you know why you ood a ce from the beginning." she said bluntly.

  "But who's to say things won't work out for me iure, when I've bee an adult in his eyes?" she retorted uerred.

  Vasiliki sighed, shaking her head.

  "And what if he rejects you again, even then?" she challenged.

  "Then I'll ha wheime es," Cir replied resolutely.

  'Ugh, this wasn't supposed to happen,' Vasiliki thought, realizing her words had iently fuelled Cir's determination.

  "You do know that Draii might form a harem, right?" she asked, trying a different approach.

  Cir's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Why would he do that?" she excimed.

  "Tsk, have you fotten that he is the st of his species?" Vasiliki said, her tone ced with exasperation.

  Cir's expression shifted as she sidered this.

  "But that still doesn't mean he will," Cir tered.

  "Besides, doesn't the same apply to you and Vasileios? I remember hearing from Grandpa Marcus that your species is extremely rare too." she added.

  Vasiliki's gaze narrowed and her jaw tightened, realizing she had painted herself into a er.

  “Just why are y so hard to stop me from tinuing my pursuit of Draco” Cir finally asked.

  'Tsk, so it’s e to this huh?, I didn't want to py this card, but I guess that I have no choiow,' she thought.

  Vasiliki didn’t really mind Cir tinuing her pursuit of Draco, but whehought of Michalis, she wao push Cir towards him instead.

  In her perspective, she had judged that Cir wasn’t someone who would be willing to share Draco with anyone else.

  Leaning in close, Vasiliki whispered into Cir's ear, a devious grin spreading across her fabsp;

  "It's because Michalis is in love with you." she said.

  Cir's eyes widened in shock, a shiver running down her spine.

  "What did you just say?" she stammered, her voice ced with disbelief.

  Vasiliki sat back, her expression unreadable.

  "You heard me, Cir. Michalis has feelings for you," she stated matter-of-factly.

  The revetion hung in the air, leaving Cir grappling with a myriad of emotions as she tried to process Vasiliki's ued disclosure.