After Katerea left, Rod could clearly feel that more eyes had turned toward him.
Azazel was one of them. Michael and Gabriel were also looking at him rather intently, and Sirzechs was much the same.
But the one that surprised Rod the most was Grayfia, who was still looking at him with a faint trace of hostility.
"?"
No, seriously.
I really didn't do anything to you, did I?
Or was it just that his casual personality felt far too unrestrained to someone as meticulous as Grayfia?
After all, Grayfia was one of the Underworld's administrators.
Wait.
Administrator?
Rod suddenly recalled a not-so-obvious keyword from what Katerea had just said.
Since when had Grayfia become one of the Underworld's administrators?
Wasn't she supposed to be Sirzechs's wife and his Queen?
"Forget it. Lavinia, let's just head back after this."
Rod shook his head.
He was curious, but it would be better to ask about it in private later.
"Okay, but can I ask Va-kun a lot of questions first?"
"Then let's wait a bit longer."
Rod nodded.
He was always rather tolerant toward Lavinia.
Especially now that he knew he hadn't been cheated on, and that it was just this bizarre kind of situation instead, he cared even less.
How was it that he had somehow gained a son for no reason?
"But Va-kun still hasn't woken up. Can I take him back with me to ask him there?"
Lavinia said this with a smile.
"I'm afraid not. White Dragon Emperor was one of the masterminds behind this attack. Although he didn't really cause any actual damage, still... he can't simply be taken away."
Azazel was the one who spoke up.
But underneath the words, he was clearly protecting Vali.
After hearing Azazel say that, Michael and Sirzechs found it hard to add anything more.
The crime Vali had committed was a serious one, attacking the upper echelons of the Three Factions. But right now was the crucial moment for the Three Factions' peace talks, and White Dragon Emperor had not actually attacked any of them directly. After declaring himself a member of the Khaos Brigade, he had run outside to watch the fight, and then once he challenged Rod, he was thoroughly beaten and spun around like a top.
In a way, his crime could be treated as either light or severe.
Still, the formal process had to be followed.
"Eh? I can't?"
Lavinia looked troubled.
Sirzechs and Gabriel both knew that Lavinia and Rod were very close, and they had wanted to do them a favor.
For example, by temporarily locking Vali up somewhere in Kuoh Academy and interrogating him the next day.
But what Lavinia said next completely broke everyone's composure.
"It's just so late already. I'm getting sleepy."
Everyone: So she wasn't troubled because she couldn't take White Dragon Emperor away, she was troubled because she was sleepy?
"Lavinia, Vali actually woke up a long time ago. He's only pretending to be unconscious right now."
Rod suddenly said.
Although the hand sanitizer had no effect on mental damage, it could instantly heal any internal and external injuries. Its effect was comparable to the Underworld's Phoenix Tears.
"Eh? Really?"
Hearing that, Lavinia immediately crouched down and carefully examined Vali's face, but she couldn't spot anything unusual.
Still, she believed Rod's words completely.
A few seconds later, her eyes lit up, and she suddenly thought of a good idea.
"I've got it!"
As soon as she said that, Lavinia tapped lightly at the air with her finger, and an old notebook appeared out of nowhere.
"Va-kun, I really don't want to do this, but if you won't talk to me properly, then I'm going to read out the contents of the Book of Heart."
"What's the Book of Heart?"
Rod was rather curious.
He genuinely didn't know about this.
"It's one of the three notebooks Va-kun wrote back then. They were the Book of Heart, the Book of Techniques, and the Book of Arts. But when we parted ways back then, he took the Book of Techniques back with him. I still have the original copies of the Book of Heart and the Book of Arts, though, and I've kept them safe all this time!"
Lavinia explained with a smile.
"The Book of Arts contains a lot of unique theories Va-kun developed regarding magic and magical power. It's a very important secret manual."
Rod understood.
"As for the Book of Techniques, it contains Va-kun's self-created finishing moves. There are lots of them. Oh, right, the kicking technique you used earlier seems to be recorded in there too, but since it didn't really suit him, I never saw Va-kun use it."
"And the Book of Heart is also a secret manual created by Va-kun. It records a lot of cool lines!"
"For example: 'At this level, trying to make me surrender is far too naïve!'"
"'Take this~'"
Lavinia flipped through the notebook and read the lines out with perfect sincerity, while Rod noticed that Vali's expression was already on the verge of breaking down.
By the time she reached the fifth line, Vali finally couldn't take it anymore.
With his face burning red from embarrassment, he opened his eyes and stood up under Lavinia's delighted gaze.
But unlike Vali's usual cold attitude, his entire face was flushed red, and when facing Lavinia, he seemed deeply at a loss. He stammered, "La-Lavinia, please... stop reading. And... give those two notebooks back to me."
Seeing this, Azazel was utterly stunned.
Under normal circumstances, Vali should've been cold and impossible to move by now.
So why, when facing Lavinia, was he acting like an overgrown child?
Could it be... that Vali had really taken Lavinia as his mother?
The moment that thought struck him, Azazel became utterly dispirited.
He had adopted Vali a long time ago and had always taken care of him wholeheartedly. But seeing the contrast between how Vali treated him and how he treated Lavinia, Azazel suddenly felt that all those years of care had gone to waste.
When Lavinia saw that Vali had finally woken up on his own, an extremely bright smile appeared on her face.
Her expression looked exactly like that of someone whose adorable little brother had run away from home and finally returned.
"Va-kun, you're finally willing to talk to me again. Then let's have some tea while we-"
"No, I have no such intention. I want you to return those two notebooks to me. I only want to deal with them immediately. I'm not the same person I was back then anymore, Lavinia. I've grown up."
Vali straightened his attitude and put on an extremely serious expression.
But Lavinia tilted her head and looked troubled.
"Sigh, I can't help it. Since Va-kun says so, I'll return the notebooks to you."
Hearing that, Vali let out a sigh of relief.
If Lavinia kept going, he really might die. Socially.
Though, to be fair, he already had no dignity left to keep standing here.
But just as Lavinia was about to hand over the notebooks, she drew them back again and said, "But in exchange, Va-kun, you have to properly apologize to the Three Factions and to Rod! What you did before was wrong!"
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