"Where is that woman?!" a furious female voice exclaimed, followed by the loud crash of a door being thrown open. Lucy, arms crossed and brows furrowed, stormed into Axel's room.

  "Hello, Lucy, little sister," Axel greeted with a mischievous smile, glancing at Maxwell, who looked at him nervously.

  "I'm sorry, Axel," Maxwell apologized. "She pressured me. You know how she is. She treats you well, but the rest of us? She either ignores us or outright despises us."

  "I would treat you with more respect if you acted like a responsible prince instead of a child," Lucy shot back with a sharp glare. "But moving on, what were you doing with a woman in your room?"

  "Why should I explain myself to you?" Axel retorted, shrugging. "But fine, it doesn’t matter. I met the ‘kind young lady’ in the park this afternoon. I was feeling down, and she, seeing my sad face, wanted to console me. After talking for a while, I liked her, so I proposed meeting again. Maybe she'll be my girlfriend in the future! I was very careful, making sure she left without anyone seeing her. I even called a taxi for her. Don't worry, little sister."

  "You did WHAT?!" Lucy's eyes widened in shock. "Do you have any idea that women like that are opportunists? They only seek to marry military men for life insurance and other benefits! To them, you’re nothing more than a stepping stone to security."

  Axel’s face grew serious as he thought to himself: Ironically, she’s right. Don’t worry, Lucy. I know what I’m doing.

  "I didn’t know failing the exam for the fifth time would make you fall so low that you'd let yourself be seduced by just anyone," Lucy continued, her voice laced with disappointment. "I’m done here. I don’t want to see you anymore."

  She turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Axel let out a heavy sigh and sat on the bed.

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  "I think I messed up," he muttered, looking at Maxwell.

  "A little," Maxwell admitted with a nervous smile. "But don’t worry. Lucy is very understanding. She’ll get over it."

  Axel nodded, though he didn’t seem entirely convinced. He knew how much Lucy cared about him, and he understood why she reacted the way she did. After all, he himself felt somewhat guilty.

  The next morning, Axel and Maxwell used their free time to visit Lucy in her workshop. They had been assigned to the barracks kitchen, and cooking for dozens of hungry soldiers was no easy task.

  "The bacon and bean stew we made was fantastic. I just hope we don’t end up with too many... side effects from eating all those beans," Maxwell said, rubbing his stomach.

  "Speak for yourself. You had three servings—I could never eat that much," Axel retorted. "Ah, look, we’re here."

  Upon entering the workshop, they were met with a familiar sight: five male mages sprawled on the floor, showing clear signs of extreme exhaustion from an all-nighter.

  "Mr. Axel, please help us! Your sister has kept us working nonstop all night!" one of the mages pleaded from the floor.

  "Silence, you slackers!" Lucy snapped. "We are in the middle of assembling a great invention. Trial and error is the only way to make it work properly. The government didn’t give us much funding, so we have to finish as soon as possible."

  "What do you mean ‘not much funding’? The government gave us nearly a million thalers," one of the mages mumbled from the floor. The thaler was Hirica’s official currency.

  "That’s barely anything! I want to buy more materials in bulk, and a million is just too little," Lucy huffed in frustration.

  Axel sighed and shook his head. "Once again, you're taking your frustration out on your subordinates. You really shouldn’t do that, little sister."

  "Oh, says the man who let a woman into his room, knowing full well it’s forbidden," Lucy countered.

  "Come on, little sister, if you let me explain, I’ll buy you ice cream—whatever flavor you want."

  "I’m so mad that I won’t settle for anything less than a giant ice cream sundae."

  "No problem, let’s go," Axel said as he extended his hand toward Lucy. She hesitated for a moment before grabbing his arm and holding onto him tightly.

  "Alright, big brother, I forgive you," she said with a smirk. "But first, I need to see if that woman is actually good enough to be your girlfriend."

  "Fine, let’s go," Axel replied. But as they started to leave, he suddenly paused, sniffing the air.

  "What’s that smell?" he asked, his expression twisting in disgust.

  "You filthy pig! How dare you ‘perfume’ my workshop like this?!" Lucy exclaimed, glaring at Maxwell with rage.