Looking at the travel-worn girl, who seemed to have been rushing about for an entire afternoon and night, the boy who was about to prepare breakfast spoke before she could even open her mouth.
"You haven't rested or eaten all night, have you?"
"So, whatever it is, let's put it off for now."
"This isn't the time to rest—"
"Captain, I have something very important to ask you!"
The girl, who was clearly facing a life-altering dilemma, spoke anxiously and without hesitation. The conflict between the tragedy at the Tower of Babel and the future full of possibilities was not unavoidable. It was just that she lacked the wisdom to resolve it.
So, she had returned. She needed a proper answer from her intelligent captain.
"No matter how important it is, that's no reason to neglect your body," the boy, whose way of expressing care had always been self-centered, said very seriously as he looked at the youthful-looking Dull Goose. "I won't help you unless you get some rest."
With the line drawn, Miss Dull Goose fell silent. She obediently followed her captain to the living room, sat down, and watched him walk into the kitchen.
Watching the very self-willed boy, Durandal's expression was complicated. Ever since the Herrscher Sirin had awakened and shouted "cheating cat," she had been avoiding him.
Her captain was a super-playboy. Anyone who was even remotely familiar with him knew this. He had scooped up all the test subjects from the Artificial Herrscher experiment in one go, and he had even managed to拐 away Rita to be his maid.
And… they had probably slept together.
Durandal, who had once, on a whim, helped her best friend with laundry while Rita was in the shower, recalled the strange sticky residue and dried stains on Rita's stockings and underwear. Her expression grew even more rigid.
The relationship between him and Rita had definitely crossed the line.
If Rita, the maid, had already been slept with, then the other girls with whom he had a clear romantic relationship had surely been eaten clean.
Durandal could recall the faces of many girls who had been passionately in love with him with just a moment's thought.
Theoretically, a person like that should have a reputation so foul it could kill flies.
But, this guy's reputation…
"The Captain is a perfect lover."
That was the answer she had gotten after repeatedly pressing Rita for information.
A guy whose life was practically a cycle of handling experiments and chasing women was a perfect lover? Upon hearing that, the Dull Goose had been convinced her best friend had lost her mind.
But Rita's next words had left her stunned.
"That man is very handsome, incredibly capable, and extremely smart. Aside from being a bit rough after getting a hotel room, he's always very gentle. He's perfect as a lover."
...
The Dull Goose had been silent then.
Li Zihan was indeed an exceptional person. His combat power was off the charts, his intelligence was sky-high, he was a master strategist, and his status was also extremely high. He was so well-rounded he was close to being omnipotent.
But being capable didn't change the fact that he was a scumbag! In a single twenty-four-hour day, he probably got involved with more than a dozen girls!
Hey, hey, hey, even if that guy completely gave up on sleep, the time he could spend with any single lover couldn't possibly exceed three hours, right? What kind of damn lover offers that level of companionship?
Durandal, never one to mince words, had stated her opinion bluntly. The foundation of love should be mutual support and companionship. A guy who, at best, could see you for three or four hours a day was a perfect lover, her ass.
And then, her worldview had nearly exploded.
"Lord Captain is actually quite clingy."
The Scummy Maid, who in Durandal's perception spent no more than three hours a day with a certain scumbag, had made this seemingly troubled statement.
"Although it's nice to chat, drink tea, and discuss cooking and tea ceremonies with Lord Captain, if I'm with him all the time, it's hard for me to find time to go see Lady Luna Kindred."
Less than three hours a day is 'clingy'? You must be crazy from your loli-obsession!
Durandal felt that, in every sense of the word, a certain scummy maid needed to be sent to a hospital for a thorough head examination.
But then, Miss Rita had said something truly unbelievable.
"Lord Captain's situation is very special. For him, the world is not absolute."
"A day can be twenty-four hours, or it can be forty-eight hours, or it can even be two hundred and forty hours. Every day, he carves out a great deal of his own time to spend with me."
The maid, who was always perfect in her expressions of affection, explained her perspective while adjusting the proportions of her pastry.
"This is probably why, despite his philandering, the girls who are close to him only get a little jealous and it never escalates into a bigger conflict. Because no matter how many people he flirts with, in each of those girls' worlds, he is a slightly clingy boyfriend."
Imagine it: a lover so well-rounded he feels omnipotent, revolving his world around you all day long…
Durandal seemed to finally understand why his harem hadn't exploded in flames yet. If you just ignored certain eye-sores, their love lives were actually incredibly fulfilling.
So, was this also the reason her future self had been a "freebie"?
The girl, who had learned from Sirin that she had given herself away, had a complex look in her azure eyes.
The boy was standing in the kitchen, slicing vegetables with extreme concentration. He was just preparing a simple breakfast, yet he gave off the impression of an artisan crafting a masterpiece.
He was just like Rita.
Durandal, who had previously been nearly inseparable from the maid named Rita, inexplicably had a phantom vision. She felt as if she wasn't looking at the scumbag she once idolized, but at a certain girl who liked to cover one eye with her bangs.
The same seriousness, the same skill, the same pursuit of perfection… They were so alike.
She felt that, in the future, he would be standing in the kitchen every morning before she woke up, quietly preparing everything. Then, after she finished her morning workout, he would hand her a towel to wipe her sweat and ask, "Good morning." And then, they would repeat this monotonous but warm life day after day.
That seems… nice.
The girl who had lived with Rita for years inexplicably had this thought.
N-no. That's not right.
Then, as if waking from a dream, the Dull Goose shut her eyes and slapped her cheeks hard. She shook her head, her long golden hair dancing as if the motion could fling all the strange thoughts away.
Hey, hey, hey, even if this guy is practically a gender-bent Rita, he's the scummy version! What kind of crazy person would think about living with him?!
The future can be changed.
That was something her captain had said. As long as she had temporal resistance, she would no longer be affected by the time loop and could reverse the future where she becomes a freebie.
So, I'll start working hard right now! World Bubble, get my temporal resistance up!
Before the World Bubble could respond to her efforts, a figure emerged from the kitchen. He was carrying a sumptuous breakfast, which he placed in front of the Dull Goose.
Just like Rita, he smiled faintly.
"Let's eat and talk."
---o---
Author's Note: A whole day of photography class (spitting blood)