My older sister is a villainous rich girl

Although Wayne was a little surprised by her seemingly unsurprised reaction, he didn't think much of it.

He slumped lazily onto the Geli bed, patting his side: "It's so late, aren't you going to rest?"

Ge Li's eyelids twitched.

“If you could leave right away, I might get a better rest,” she said.

"Don't be so heartless..." Wayne lay on his side on the bed, tilting his head to look at her. "Actually, I've been really tired lately, and I've encountered some unhappy things."

Ge Li sighed, casually tidied the table, and tucked the hair that had fallen across his face behind his ears as he walked over.

He lifted one leg and pressed it onto his buttocks, then hugged his waist from behind, suddenly putting all his weight on him.

Caught off guard, Wayne couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.

“Are you trying to murder your husband?” he complained.

"I wish it were true." Ge Li rubbed his face against his back.

His breathing caused the soft, warm body of the person behind him to rise and fall.

“Then tell me what’s bothering you,” she said in a muffled voice. “...In exchange, you have to listen to me tell you something that’s bothering you.”

Upon hearing this, Wayne's heavy breathing paused for a moment.

He didn't actually intend to tell Ge Li about those troubling things.

Because it's meaningless.

Geli wouldn't understand his sense of alienation from the identity of "Wayne," nor would he understand what was troubling him.

"If... I mean if, one day in the future, I am no longer a member of the Wenche family, will you still like me?"

In an instant, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Suddenly, Goethe jumped up and forcefully turned Wayne's head outward: "Such a good thing! Hurry up and sign the statement now that you will be affiliated with the Edgeworth family!"

"Wait, wait a minute, I was just assuming! I didn't say it was true!" Wayne was painfully dragged off the bed, and the two of them fell onto the carpet together.

Fortunately, her family's exquisitely crafted carpet was soft enough; otherwise, such a hard bump would have been quite uncomfortable.

Ge Li deflated immediately, burying her face in his chest with a sob in her voice: "If you know you can't keep your promise, then don't make it!"

"Why do you always give me hope again and again, only to shatter my illusions time and time again..."

Wayne felt a sharp pain in his chest from the light bump she gave him.

"sorry."

"Stop saying sorry! I hate your apologies!" Ge Li shouted.

"..." Wayne finally shut his mouth.

I said sorry only because I had nothing else to say.

He helplessly patted Ge Li's back.

If the person I like doesn't have such a stubborn and strong-willed personality, perhaps I wouldn't be facing this dilemma.

But that's exactly what she is.

Chapter 554 "Even if you're lying to me"

Finally, Ge Li managed to hold back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

It was as if as long as Wayne didn't see her face, her vulnerability wouldn't be exposed to him.

“So…” her voice was slightly hoarse, “the thing you’re unhappy about is just silently imagining what would happen if you severed ties with the Wenche family.”

"Uh, that's not how it is."

Wayne felt like she was being made to look like a melancholy young girl.

“Generally speaking, if the parents are magicians, then their children are very likely to awaken magic; but if the parents are commoners, then their children are almost impossible to awaken, right?” he said.

Ge Li didn't quite understand why he brought this up, and just gave a low "hmm".

“Where I grew up as a child… because of its remote location and inconvenient transportation, the people there didn’t even know anything about magic.” He spoke in a detached tone, his emotions unpredictable.

He had never spoken to Ge Li about things from that far back.

"Due to a conflict, I lost control of my emotions and used what they called 'magic' that they had never seen before, so they regarded me as an evil monster."

Ge Li, who was nestled in his arms, stiffened for a moment.

"But I never realized that it was a strange thing that I, who was supposed to live an ordinary and uneventful life like them, suddenly awakened to magic one day."

He thought he might be as lucky as Tasia, that his awakening of magic was simply a matter of destiny.

To put it simply, this is just a basic logic like "the setting of the work," so there's no need to think about why it's like this; you just need to accept it.

"At that time, I never thought that there might be something wrong with my understanding of the world."

"But now... I'm starting to have doubts about all of this."

It wasn't just his dislike of Norman that bothered him.

What he resisted even more was the uncontrollable plot.

It turned out that he hadn't awakened his magic by chance, and that Duke Elliott hadn't adopted him entirely out of pity...

What was initially perceived as a coincidence was actually all premeditated.

Although there was a moment when I felt slightly uneasy, I had long since deliberately ignored that slight sense of incongruity because of my natural inclination as a transmigrator.

After all, he's a time traveler—it's normal for him to have cheat codes.

However, how many more things like this are happening behind the scenes that could completely overturn one's previous understanding?

After listening quietly to the few words he revealed, Ge Li remained silent for a moment.

Feeling a bit cold, she hugged him a little tighter.

Although he still couldn't understand what exactly he was doubting, Ge Li could sense the disappointment in his tone.

"Perhaps I'm just worrying too much." Wayne closed his eyes.

Upon reflection, he realized that the person's attitude did seem a bit off.

When the two first met at the circus, Norman Laird kept giving him and Chris meaningful looks.

The two were clearly enemies, yet he repeatedly let him escape without knowing that he possessed hidden strength.

...If he had acted sooner, I might not be having to think about this troublesome problem now.

"A man of Qi worrying about the sky falling?" Ge Li suddenly asked. "What do you mean?"

“An anecdote, from historical research documents of an unknown small country.”

After giving her a few perfunctory words, Wayne carried her from the carpet back to the bed: "Let's get some rest. Don't think about those messy things, or you'll have insomnia."

Ge Li's eyes widened suddenly. "Didn't we agree that you would listen to me finish telling you something that made me unhappy?"

"Strictly speaking, these few seemingly random words of mine can't really be considered as telling you what's making me unhappy..."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Wayne's thick skin finally gave way under Goethe's silent gaze. "Alright, alright, go ahead and say it!"

With an expression of resignation to his fate, he lay down beside Ge Li.

Ge Li was furious at his shamelessness and, in a fit of rage, flipped over and sat on him, ready to hit him.

Wayne couldn't help but laugh as he locked her hands in his arms and tightened his legs around her, saying, "Calm down! Calm down, darling!"

"I've had enough of you! All you do is bully me!"

Realizing that she could never escape his control, Ge Li felt extremely aggrieved.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood, cough..." Wayne straightened his posture, "Then, I wonder if I might have the honor of helping Miss Ge Li solve her problem?"

Ge Li was held tightly in his arms, her brows furrowed and her breath coming in ragged gasps.

After a short while, she said in a cold voice, "Of course you're lucky, because the thing that made me unhappy is related to you!"

—I knew it!

Wayne had long anticipated that Gollie's request was aimed at him, so he wasn't surprised.

He nodded calmly: "Please go ahead."

"What exactly do you like about Chris?" She squinted, scrutinizing his expression as he stood so close to her.

“…All of them,” Wayne replied without changing his expression.

"Do you prefer someone who just drifts along or someone with ambition?"

Ge Li remained expressionless and, without giving him any time to think, immediately threw out the next question.

“I like them all.” Wayne remained steadfast in his stance.

"Don't say you like them all!" Ge Li wanted to punch him again.

Therefore, people often crave sincerity, but no one wants to hear the truth.

"I like you, I like you the most! Okay?"

After saying that, Wayne silently added in his mind, "[One of them.]"

The girl in my arms finally calmed down and stopped struggling.

“I know you’re lying to me,” she said. “But even if you are lying to me… from now on, you are only allowed to say that.”

Upon hearing this, Wayne felt a pang of discomfort.

……

weekend.

After making sure Chris didn't follow him out, Wayne returned to Seiki Academy under the pretext of helping Professor Conley test the new gadgets.

It wasn't that he was so diligent that he studied hard even on weekends, but rather that he had made an appointment with Tasia to meet her at the academy on the weekend.

The reason he kept it from Chris was simply so that she wouldn't suspect anything.

If Chris discovers something is amiss and tries to get to the bottom of it, it will be too difficult for me to explain.

Walking down the empty corridor, passing by locked classrooms, Wayne felt a mix of emotions.

Cheonggye Academy has a large area and many vacant classrooms.

Although most of them are allocated to teachers or clubs to provide venues for their activities, it is not difficult to borrow them temporarily if the relationship between the two parties is good enough.

Chapter 555 "Dream" is a Reminder

Today, Tasia is temporarily using an empty classroom belonging to a teacher with whom she has a good relationship.

Given that Tasia is undoubtedly an excellent student, the teacher would probably only assume that she was temporarily borrowing the student to better learn magical knowledge.

When he arrived at the classroom door, Wayne gently knocked.

"Please come in," came Tasia's voice from inside.

Wayne took a deep breath before resolutely pushing the door open and entering.

The classroom was brightly lit, and the temperature was noticeably higher than outside. There was some clutter piled up in the corner that hadn't been cleaned in a long time, but thankfully the floor was relatively clean.

By the window, Tasia was laying a clean blanket on a long sofa.

"Sorry, I just cleaned up... those miscellaneous items belong to other people, so I couldn't touch them. I had to do the tidying up here," she explained apologetically.

"It's okay. I should have left a little earlier and come to clean with you."

Wayne closed the door and came in, glancing at the blanket she had laid out.

"What should we do next?"

Wayne could only guess that Tasia wanted to find the dark magic within her; he really didn't know how Tasia planned to deal with it.

Could it be that he sold himself to the church and they'll storm in and arrest him?

Even though he knew it was unlikely, Wayne couldn't help but let his mind wander.

“Wayne, all you need to do is relax, lie on the sofa and get a good night’s sleep,” Tasia’s simple request dispelled his doubts.