Rudy was completely confused.
And it wasn't just from the slap.
The moment Alice jumped off the carriage, many impressions struck his mind like red-hot iron rods.
Arrogant, proud, unruly, fierce.
Drooping eyes, wavy red hair.
It was a bright red—so red that it reminded him of when Allen stood in the Red Lake of Snow Valley.
Her facial features were delicate. She would definitely become a beauty in the future, but likely the kind many men would find intimidating, the kind that makes one say, "I can't handle this type at all."
Even someone with masochistic tendencies might not be able to take it.
He couldn't help but ask himself,
"Am I a masochist?"
"Definitely not."
Just as this thought crossed his mind, Rudy heard Philip's "friendly" introduction.
"Ah? Allen's biological sister? No wonder she ran to find her brother as soon as she jumped off the carriage. Come to think of it, Allen's family genes are strong—she has good facial features. Wait... no friends? That's kind of like how Allen was when we first met. Since she's his sister, she should be a nice person, right?"
"Maybe this bad first impression is just a misunderstanding. I should go over and greet her. Since she's Allen's sister, I shouldn't be rude, or Allen might not like it."
Rudy made to step forward and say hello.
Then he saw Alice, pacing around like she was inspecting her territory, and her eyes were piercing through him.
Rudy shuddered involuntarily. It felt like every cell in his body was screaming.
"Never mind! Since you're looking for Allen, I won't steal the spotlight."
The step he had just taken forward immediately changed direction midair and landed behind Allen instead. Ironically, this backward step happened to be interpreted as a "guilty move" in Alice's eyes.
And so—
This world unfolded just as Allen had expected.
Rudy was cleanly and decisively slapped.
Under Sylphy's dumbfounded gaze, he covered his face and was dazed for quite a while before finally reacting.
"Why did you hit me when you're looking for Allen? Did you mistake me for someone else? Wait—why would you even want to hit your brother? Is this about tutoring or something?"
Rudy glanced at Allen, who was covering his face with a helpless expression, and then at Philip, who also looked stunned. Anger rose in his chest.
"Why hit me?! Do I look like Allen? Sylphy is flat, sure, but it's obvious she's a girl, right?! You think that's okay to say?!"
Sylphy, who had been flustered, froze for a moment. She subconsciously glanced at Allen, her expression a little confused.
Then she remembered Roxy—and immediately felt reassured.
Rudy, still indignant, swung his hand and slapped Alice in return.
Though the slap wasn't strong, Alice's pampered skin was very delicate.
The sound was sharp and loud.
Everyone fell silent.
Paul and Zenith had just been about to step in and break it up, but upon seeing the normally calm Rudy slap Alice back, they froze in disbelief.
Philip, who had just taken his eyes off Allen's hidden smile, saw this scene—and despite being a seasoned schemer, he couldn't help but let out a soft sound of appreciation:
"Oh?"
But Alice wasn't done.
She punched Rudy hard, knocking him to the ground, demonstrating her years of training in Sword God Style.
Before Rudy could even get up, she pinned his arms down with her knees and began throwing punches left and right.
"Allen, you're too arrogant! I'll make you regret hitting me!!"
Rudy, who had been practicing with Allen all week, was no longer the same as in the original plot. He wasn't about to be easily beaten down by Alice, who had just started learning the Sword God style.
After the initial surprise, he used wind magic to stir up wind pressure in front of him, perfectly shielding himself from Alice's punches.
He bared his teeth in frustration and shouted:
"My name's not Allen!!"
"Do you think I'm that easy to fool?!"
Sylphy hurried to stop the fight, but Alice shoved her aside.
"Rudeus, don't bother me!!"
Rudy shouted in even more frustration after hearing that.
"She's not Rudeus!! She's a girl! How many times do I have to explain this?!"
"Stop fighting!"
"Huh? Sylphy, look carefully. I'm the one getting beat up here!!!"
The scene became total chaos.
And what about Allen, at the center of the storm?
He was still watching with his face covered, delighted.
He knew full well that in this new timeline, Alice couldn't beat Rudy at all. The backhand slap earlier had only provoked Rudy into defending himself with magic—probably because Philip was still present.
But that wasn't the point.
Allen looked at the three children, amazed, and exclaimed internally:
"Damn, this is so fierce. I'm actually watching Red Mama and Juvenile Eco beat Rudy at the Greyrat front door like in the original story?!"
"And White Mama is trying her best to stop the fight?!"
"Huh?"
"And this is a plot I get to watch for free?!"
—
Of course, not everyone had Allen's detached mindset as a fan of the original story—covering his face, exclaiming in awe, even turning 360 degrees to catch every angle of the scene.
Paul finally snapped out of it and jumped in to stop the fight, even unleashing his battle aura. Seeing this, Sylphy also grabbed Alice's arms with both hands—but was thrown to the ground by her.
Sylphy got up and was about to intervene again.
Then came Alice's scream, nearly splitting her eardrums:
"Get out of my way! Don't stop me!!"
"How can someone shorter than me be my swordsmanship teacher?! Ghislaine is my sword teacher! It's fine if that guy Rudeus teaches me magic, but why bring in someone else to teach me swordsmanship?!"
Sylphy blinked—and gave up trying to stop them.
Alice's words were too direct, dragging Sylphy back into the anxiety of facing a "variable" again.
That loud and powerful voice echoed in her ears.
"Rudeus is fine, but we have to add another person."
Rudeus.
And Allen.
Better education from a tutor.
Grow up happily together.
Sylphy looked down at her skirt—something she had carefully kept clean for nearly a month.
It was now completely dirty.
She subconsciously glanced at Allen, her eyes flickering.
But her gaze only landed on a blade of wild grass poking out of the coarse yellow soil at his feet.
She didn't look up to see his expression.
Philip had originally been a "variable" prepared for Allen.
But now, he had dropped a huge rock into Sylphy's heart—
One that made it hard for her to breathe.