Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

As for why the emperor is being groaned and begging for mercy by the young lady while Alice is pinching his cheeks, poking his nose, and kicking his calves, don't ask.

The saying goes, "When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will first test their strength and make them suffer."

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Thanks to `Ervian` for the unexpected help, and thank you for your support!

Thanks to Shi Lie `Li Zheng` for the fourth phantom god, Chestnut Dragon, for the gift!

221. The Witch Trial is for judging witches, not for you to build a harem.

"So... what should we do now?"

Beside the woods, Chang Rong knelt on the ground, dressed in tattered clothes, and quietly inquired of the two veterans before him. His tone was extremely respectful, and all traces of his previous boastful words, "How many witch trials have you participated in! I've defeated more prospective witches than you've eaten meals!" were gone, replaced by a gentle demeanor.

Although here 'the degree of willpower equals the strength', it's clear that Alice and Li Hua's 'willpower' in some aspects far exceeds their own strength...

On the other side, although Leia and Meruru were not in any immediate danger after arriving here, they remained unconscious. Chang Rong was unsure of the specific reason for their unconsciousness.

"Their will is not as firm as yours, Father, and they are not just remnants of the past. So, being suddenly pulled into this place from the crack, they have probably already fallen into the cruel aspects of their own consciousness that they do not want to recall."

Alice stood beside the two of them and spoke softly.

"What should we do then...?" Chang Rong asked anxiously. Although this place was a 'tea room' where witches would pass away, neither she nor Meruru Leia had any plans to commit suicide.

“…Perhaps using obsession to stimulate them would be effective? Since the remains in this place are all moving by ‘obsession,’ does that mean that giving them some stimulation of obsession will awaken them?” The young lady, Gao Yuanlihua, suggested from the side.

"Miss..."

"What, what are you doing! Are you going to say again that I'm not as good as that commoner rich girl who likes to add some weird 'desuwa' to the end of her sentences? Well, that weird tone is already outdated—well, okay, there seems to be someone richer than me who still uses that weird verbal tic...?"

"You're a genius! This method might actually work!"

"Whoa...! You suddenly got so close... You jumpy little thing..."

She was just about to make some lighthearted jokes, but when Chang Rong actually came closer, the young lady blushed and looked away.

After receiving the young lady's advice, Chang Rong immediately leaned close to the two of them and whispered something in their ear.

"Leah-sama... wake up... you're about to perform at the Budokan..."

"Meruru... wake up... the Great Witch said she's going to tell you a story..."

"——" "——"

The two people leaning against the wall remained motionless and did not respond.

"It still...it still doesn't work..." Seeing this, the young lady looked even more disappointed. She had finally thought it was working, but it turned out to be a waste of time.

"Is this really their most pressing 'obsession'?" Alice tilted her head and asked Chang Rong.

"Well, this... well, to say whether it's the deepest, theoretically it should be, but... anyway, I'll try again!"

When Alice asked him this, Chang Rong looked a little embarrassed. He shook his head and leaned close to their ears again.

"Leah-sama... wake up and join us in performing in the stage play..."

"Meruru...I've come to ask you to go on a picnic and enjoy the spring scenery..."

"Hmm..." "Uh..."

"It's working—tsk, what's with this subtle, unpleasant feeling..." "...Just as I expected."

Unlike before, Meruru and Leia reacted subtly this time. Gao Yuanlihua and Alice, who were watching from the side, also sensed something and took a step forward, getting even closer to Chang Rong.

“Just increase the intensity, Dad. What they really crave, what they want, their deepest obsession—” Alice looked at Chang Rong with empty eyes, her tone more like an order to ‘open the wardrobe and let me see what’s hidden inside’ than a suggestion.

"Well, it's not impossible, but... um, could you please not get so close, Miss Alice...?"

Chang Rong wiped his sweat and tried to put on a friendly smile as he spoke to the two of them.

"Don't worry about me, Dad." "As the eldest daughter of the Gao Yuan family, my rights are limitless! I can stand wherever I want!"

When Chang Rong asked for help, the two of them didn't back down; instead, they moved even closer. Their eyes were fixed on Chang Rong, both looking at her with an expression that said, "Let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

"I care about it a lot...!" Chang Rong muttered under her breath, but it was all in vain.

After all, dragging this out wasn't a solution, and judging from their reactions just now, the action was indeed effective, only the dosage wasn't enough to wake them up. Therefore, Chang Rong could only grit her teeth and stomp her foot, whispering in their ears a third time:

"Reya-sama... if you don't get up soon, I'm going to put a collar and dog ears and a tail on you and take you for a walk..."

"Meruru... if you don't wake up soon, I'm going to grab you by the neck and give you a good kiss while pounding your stomach..."

"Woof!? Want, want to go for a walk?!" "Woof woof woof... Please, please push harder—"

As Chang Rong whispered, the two who were trapped in the nightmare instantly woke up, drooling.

When the two opened their eyes, the first thing they saw was:

"You perverted commoner! Isn't that guy part of the conspiracy?! You're really going all out with the conspiracy, aren't you?! What were you even doing at the Witch's Trial? Just to satisfy your chaotic, sadistic fantasies?! You bastard!!!"

"Dad is such an idiot... He keeps human pets and all that...! No wonder he's with that nobody mom, he's the biggest idiot of all...!!"

The young lady choked Chang Rong, using forbidden techniques on him while loudly complaining. Even Alice, who was always quiet, well-behaved, and sleepy, was now imitating Chang Rong, kicking his shin and occasionally biting his hand.

"Waaaaah, Chang Rong is going to be eaten—wait, wait a minute, what does 'Dad' mean!?"

Hasumi Ryoya hurriedly drew her sword, then froze on the spot due to the keywords her brain automatically captured, causing her computer to crash and restart.

"Eh—Miss Alice, Miss Lihua—Ugh, woo-wa, ah-ba-ah-ba-ba—"

As for Ice Meluru, after recognizing the two veterans in front of her, she also froze on the spot, and [Jellyfish Brain.exe] stopped running.

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After waking up from a coma, and going through a somewhat chaotic and disorganized period, Chang Rong finally managed to silently bear all the turmoil. At this moment, the group of people sat around the lake and were finally able to calm down and start analyzing the current situation.

"So 'Dad' is just a title, right... Hmm, I almost thought you, Chang Rong, were really some kind of widower who had lost his wife... Well, sometimes you really do give off that vibe—cough cough cough! Anyway, in that case, Ms. Misawa, you're my senior, right? I'm the current idol, Hasumi Ryoa, nice to meet you!"

Leia smiled and spoke to the blonde Lolita-dress girl sitting in Chang Rong's lap.

"...Hmm." When facing strangers, Alice put on her initial indifferent and aloof demeanor, simply nodding slightly.

"Also—Miss Misawa, could you perhaps move aside a little? Although you're a veteran, when it comes to being patted on the head, I'm confident I can't lose to anyone!"

"How can you compete with actions like being patted on the head...?" Chang Rong muttered to herself.

“…You succumb to lust, stay away from Daddy.” As for Alice, she seemed to be consolidating her dominance, deliberately snuggling tighter into Chang Rong’s arms, while giving Hasumi Ryoya a cold response.

"Hmph, as long as it provides unparalleled companionship, this level of discomfort is negligible! Besides, I really need Romeo to soothe my heart, which is being disturbed by nightmares, so—waaaaah!!"

Ryota Hasumi approached Alice, and just as she was about to touch Alice, her eyes suddenly flashed with a dazzling seven-colored light.

"This is just a warning—"

"Wow, that's so cool! That's amazing, how did you do that! If I suddenly did something like that during my performance on stage, it would definitely blow the whole audience away!!"

"Waaaaah...?"

Having experienced Alice's magic, Rhea felt no nausea at all. Instead, she became even more excited and grabbed Alice's hands. Alice's cold, sleep-deprived expression vanished, replaced by a cute, age-appropriate look of panic.

"Please, please become my stage lighting technician!"

"Alice, no, no... How could there be such a person..."

Alice was truly at her wit's end. The rejection tactics that had always worked on her before were now actually piquing her interest.

—Could it be that, in some way, Rhea is actually the nemesis of this 'Noah-type'? Coco-chan said that in the first timeline, Rhea was also Noah's strictest father.

"Pfft...!"

"No, you're not allowed to think about anyone else, you stupid dad, especially that daughter who's a thief...!"

"What kind of profession is that...?"

Chang Rong covered her mouth, which had just been hit by Alice's rocket headbutt, and rubbed it while muttering complaints.

Alice wasn't like this before! She wasn't even like this twenty minutes ago!

Damn it, what's going on...? Do Xiaoxue and I really have no talent for taking care of children...?

Looking at the way the little girl in his arms was launching a magnificent betrayal of her father, Chang Rong thought to himself with tears welling up in his eyes.

Meanwhile, on the other side, upon seeing the young lady in front of her, Ice Meluru transformed into a jellyfish and pounced on her.

"Waaaaah... Miss Gao Yuan... Yes, I'm sorry... Really—slurp—I'm so sorry... I, I did something unforgivable to you back then...slurp—"

"Are you apologizing or just using me as a handkerchief to wipe your nose?!"

Gao Yuanlihua instantly lost her temper. Originally, she didn't have that much resentment towards Meruru, but the way this girl rushed up to her and blew her nose as soon as they met made the young lady extremely angry.

"Yes, I'm sorry...! I'm so sorry, *sniff*"

"Alright! Listen up, you idiot, don't be so arrogant!"

Seeing that Meruru's snot was endless and her clean cloth was disappearing every moment, Gao Yuanlihua quickly pushed Meruru away from the ice and then put on a fierce expression to look at her.

"I've been through countless times of this kind of low-level tactic of whispering in someone's ear! Do you think this is your achievement? Hmph... I've received no shortage of gossip since I was born, and your words are not even worthy of being spoken in public! Don't underestimate the young lady of the Gaoyuan family!"

Gao Yuanlihua put one hand on her hip and pointed at the ice rink with the other, speaking loudly.

"It was only because I lost hope, gave up the struggle, and acted cowardly in a way that was completely unbecoming of a young lady that I ended up like this..."

"Huh, the 'Gaoyuan's' house...?"

The young lady lowered her head, revealing a somewhat sorrowful expression. But before she could wallow in self-pity, Rhea, whose eyes had transformed into RGB and who was still vying with Alice for the position of Chang Rong's hair-grooming, heard some keywords and curiously came over.

"Could it be the Gao Yuan family? — Wait, aren't you Miss Lihua?!"

Ryota Hasumi, who had come closer, stared wide-eyed. Now that she roughly understood what had happened and that she and everyone else had temporarily arrived at this border transit station because their consciousness had been swallowed by the rift, she was able to relax a little. At the same time, she had the time to observe the two incredible girls who had once been Chang Rong's companions.

This observation caused Hasumi Ryoya to show a shocked expression.

"Huh...?" The young lady blinked, somewhat confused by the greeting from the tall, blond, short-haired idol in front of her.

"Um, do you remember? Back then, I wanted to enter the idol industry, but I didn't know how to get started. At that time, your family happened to be investing in and supporting the establishment of a related agency. They said it was because it was very popular for big conglomerates to create girl bands. The TGW Group next door did it, and we couldn't be left behind—"

Hasumi Ryoga approached the young lady, speaking with a hint of excitement.

"Well, when I first joined the agency, I always had a hard time showing that 'cuteness' because of my height and personality, and I was almost fired... But one time during a rehearsal, you happened to come and visit. I still remember that you suggested to me, 'Why don't you go for a cool look?' That was a revelation!"

"Ah, you're that idol trainee who's so awkward at dancing, but for some reason I just can't take my eyes off you!"

At this point, the young lady finally remembered that there was such a thing, even though it was only a few months before she was taken to the prison island.

"Can't take your eyes off it? That's because—puuuuu...!"

Meruru wanted to say something, but Chang Rong quickly covered her mouth, saying, "Okay, don't say anything more."