At this very moment, the master and servant of the Tohsaka household were just about to head toward the Matou residence.
When Alvin reached the front gate, he extended his hand toward the girl behind him and said.
"Rin, I'll take you there. It'll be faster this way."
Although he wasn't a Rider, an existence with a Servant's body still moved far faster than an ordinary magus when it came to traveling.
However, after saying that,
Alvin realized that Tohsaka Rin hadn't reacted at all.
The girl slightly lowered her head, breathing softly.
Her cashmere scarf fluttered in the cold wind, and fine snow clung to the tips of her hair, forming crystalline frost.
"Rin…"
There was a hint of confusion in Alvin's eyes.
His black coat was whipped about by the icy wind as he suddenly lifted his gaze toward the night sky.
At the far edge of the horizon in a certain direction, a pink halo was seeping out from a crack in the clouds, spreading like a drop of blood diffusing in clear water.
Like a single droplet falling into a calm lake, in the next instant, pink pillars of light across the city rippled simultaneously with waves of mana.
"The barrier is expanding.
That direction should be the Matou house… we need to hurry."
"So it really is Sakura, then?"
Tohsaka Rin raised her head to look at Alvin, and at this moment, a snowflake happened to land gently on her eyelashes.
A trace of moisture shimmered in her deep blue eyes.
Her cherry lips parted slightly, and her clear voice carried an indescribable hint of allure. "She seems to be in quite a hurry to make herself stronger…"
The girl's slightly unusual reaction caused Alvin's gaze to shift to her instinctively.
Tohsaka Rin had already changed back into her usual school uniform not long ago.
Beneath her skirt, sheer black stockings wrapped around her long, shapely legs, revealing a band of tender white skin at her thighs.
If one looked closely, one would notice that a faint, bewitching pink haze seemed to linger within her pupils.
Seeing this, Alvin's heart stirred.
He almost immediately realized something and subconsciously turned his gaze toward the backyard.
At some unknown point in time, the pink crystal that had previously been blasted into powder had broken through the ground like creeping vines.
A stunningly alluring flower now stood there, releasing a strange, heart-stirring mist.
Alvin's pupils contracted, and his body tensed as he was about to dash toward the backyard.
Yet at that very moment, a hand suddenly grabbed his.
The soft, slightly cool touch of that small hand forcibly halted his movement.
Before he could fully react,
Tohsaka Rin's fingertips had already gently brushed against his Adam's apple. "Don't move."
Her long boots stepped across the frozen stone path as she moved half a step closer, a radiant smile hanging on her face.
Alvin didn't move, his gaze unconsciously drifting toward the backyard.
At this moment, Tohsaka Rin wasn't using a Command Spell.
That meant that if he wanted to, he might still have a chance to destroy that crystal immediately.
As long as he destroyed it and then took her away from this area at once, she should no longer be affected by the Desire Barrier.
That was what he had been thinking.
However—
"Alvin, I'm very clear about what I'm doing right now."
Tohsaka Rin tilted her head slightly and said. "Rather than that, you could say I'm just using the barrier Sakura prepared to express my true feelings."
The corner of Alvin's mouth twitched.
'Miss Tohsaka Rin, maybe you should let me destroy the barrier first.
If this keeps going, you're going to socially die…'
Even though that was what he was thinking, he still couldn't help asking, "What true feelings?"
Tohsaka Rin pressed her lips together in a smile and stepped half a step closer again.
The distance between them was now so close that Alvin could clearly see the flawless, pale face of the girl.
The girl didn't speak and simply gazed into Alvin's eyes.
After an unknown amount of time,
She finally spoke in an extremely low voice.
"Actually, what I said in the room earlier was all a lie."
"What?"
Alvin didn't understand..
To be honest, he and Merlin were busy thinking about breaking the barrier, so he didn't hear anything she and Illya talked about.
However, Tohsaka Rin didn't seem to be in the mood to talk about that.
"If possible, I really don't want to give you to Sakura."
Hearing that, Alvin couldn't help but laugh softly. "So that's what you mean? I'm your Servant to begin with. Until the Holy Grail War ends, that won't change. There's no question of giving or not giving, is there?"
After all, a Servant was not some kind of object that could be traded.
It was not as if a simple verbal transfer would make them belong to another Master.
In the end, what Tohsaka Rin did not want to interfere with was the matter of feelings between her younger sister and Alvin.
But no matter what, Alvin would still be her Servant, and that fact would never change.
After all, in the previous Holy Grail, he did not choose to side with Artoria and Morgan; instead followed Manaka to the very end, even though one was his wife and the other his lover for years.
However, that did have another reason, after all, that girl was a Yandere in love...and who knows what she would've done if he had left her side, knowing that she only cared about him, and no one else.
So, strictly speaking, he would not leave Rin's side, no matter the circumstances.
"You know, I'm not talking about the master–servant contract."
Rin suddenly said, and Alvin was taken aback.
Looking at the girl, who lightly stamped her foot, looking somewhat irritated, her long boots making a crisp sound as they struck the ground as she said. "That's why I said it already. Even if she's my dear sister. I don't want to give you to Sakura...or anyone else."
Alvin was still confused.
Well, it's not that he didn't understand the meaning behind her words, but rather, that he could not quite imagine such words coming out of Tohsaka Rin's mouth.
After all, a Tsundere sending such a direct ball was something he had never imagined.
At that moment, he heard the girl's voice soften noticeably.
"You said you're my Servant, didn't you?"
"Yes…"
Tohsaka Rin lifted her gaze and stared straight into Alvin's eyes.
"Then will you protect me?"
"That's only natural. Why are you suddenly asking something like that?"
Alvin could not help but say.
"I'm not doubting you, Alvin."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Rin's lips as she. "I just wanted to hear you say it yourself."
She paused for a moment, then slowly tightened her grip on Alvin's hand, interlacing her fingers with his.
As she moved closer, the young man instinctively stepped back, his back pressing against the iron-gray wall.
Tohsaka Rin raised her other hand and hooked her fingers under the edge of his hood, pulling it back to reveal his rather handsome face.
"I'm not just talking about this Holy Grail. I'm asking you, Alvin,
Will you protect me forever?"
She gazed into his eyes and asked with a bright smile.
By now, the distance between them was close enough to touch.
When she spoke, her breath carried a sweet, rose-like fragrance.
Cool snowflakes fell against his face, yet Alvin felt no cold at all.
A Servant would not feel cold to begin with.
And at this moment, the soft warmth of the girl's body in his arms seemed to dispel any remaining chill.
Thump. Thump.
The pink crystal in the backyard emitted a dull sound like a beating heart.
Desire-filled magical energy surged up from the cracks in the ground, as if filling the entire street in an instant.
The girl wrapped both arms around Alvin's neck, and her lips finally pressed gently against his.
The kiss carried the faint chill of snow and a sweet taste. And along with it came a trace of blood.
She had bitten through Alvin's lower lip.
The wind and snow on the long street continued to fall, while the scene between Master and Servant seemed frozen in that moment.
In the air, it felt as though one could faintly hear a sound that made the heart race.
What did a kiss feel like?
If someone had asked Tohsaka Rin that before, she probably would have brushed it off in various ways or even responded with disdain.
After all, it was nothing more than two pieces of flesh touching, using that contact to feel each other's warmth.
Although she had never felt what it felt like, hearing it described that way, it did not seem like much.
But now, after she had forcibly kissed Alvin, the one she liked, no matter how she denied it, the moment she kissed him, her heart trembled uncontrollably, as if the blood in her body were rushing backward in excitement.
Alvin's warmth seemed to fill her entire being at that moment.
The uniquely masculine scent that clung to him made her sink into it without resistance.
So wonderful...
Making her want to sink into the warmth forever.
The desire barrier amplified the fantasies hidden deep within a person's heart, but it did not create them out of nothing.
Tohsaka Rin knew this was her own deepest, most carefully hidden feeling.
When it came to Matou Sakura, she had always had this hidden guilt and pity...because of what happened in the past.
That's why, no matter what, she had always yielded to her younger sister.
Everything Sakura wanted, she'd give it to her.
But now, now, when it came to Alvin, she did not want to yield.
But if Sakura found out, she would surely be heartbroken.
After all, her own sister had not only summoned the Servant she longed for, but had also gone behind her back and shared physical intimacy with him.
Yet in the end, Sakura herself was the same.
That night, when Sakura had secretly made a move on her Servant.
If Rin had not happened to catch her then, her sister probably would have already crossed the line, right?
So why couldn't she do the same?
Even though Sakura had known him earlier than her, when it came to their feelings, Rin's feelings towards the young man were no less than hers.
Whether to escape from those thoughts or simply to immerse herself in the moment, the girl tightly closed her eyes and continued to demand more from Alvin, making his blood boil.
At first, she took the initiative.
But soon after, it became Alvin who actively pulled Rin into his arms, biting and sucking on her soft lips, savoring the rose-like fragrance that seeped between their breaths.
.
.
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