"Miss Crownguard, choose for yourself—where do you want me to draw it?"
Luke took the pen and asked with a grin.
Lux seemed like she'd already foreseen her fate. She simply closed her eyes, lifted her chin, and said, "Just make it quick!"
Luke showed absolutely no mercy. He popped the cap, and the black ink immediately marked Miss Crownguard's flawless pale cheek.
After a few strokes, Luke pulled his hand back in satisfaction. "My drawing skills are still pretty good."
A cute little turtle had appeared on Lux's right cheek.
Kahina rubbed her chin and nodded in agreement. "They really are."
Lux's eyes flew open. She hurried around looking for a mirror.
A moment later, she stared at her reflection with a despairing look in her eyes.
How was Lux supposed to face anyone like this?
Didn't she have any dignity at all?!
"Miss Crownguard, remember—you can only wipe it off tonight," Luke added smugly.
In the mirror, Lux immediately caught sight of his unbearably arrogant face.
Unforgivable!
Year 679 of the Demacian calendar: Luke Lightshield has made me lose all face. I, Lux, will remember this!
She silently clenched her fist, adding another tally mark to her grudges.
"So, I won, right?" Luke said, smiling at Moff as the boy walked back over.
"You won…" Moff replied, accepting the loss. He still couldn't quite believe it, but the truth was right in front of him.
"Then this candy is mine." Luke tore open the wrapper and, without the slightest hesitation, tossed it into his mouth. It was sweet—just like plain sugar.
Seeing that, a flash of reluctance and disappointment passed through Moff's eyes. He lowered his head and didn't say anything.
Lux, still holding the mirror, suddenly sensed something was off. She turned around and demanded, "What are you talking about? Why can't I understand any of it?"
Luke said, "It's simple. The candy may have ended up in my hand, but before that, it didn't belong to me."
Lux didn't get it at first. "What does that mean?"
Luke smiled and shot back, "You really want to know?"
Seeing him still playing coy, Lux glared at him and urged, "Spit it out!"
So Luke explained, "Moff didn't believe I could draw a turtle on your face, so he bet this candy against me. And the result is obvious—I won."
"Y-you—you…" Lux froze on the spot. It took her ages to react, her finger pointing at Luke as she got so flustered she could barely speak.
"What about me?" Luke asked innocently.
"Cheating!"
"Did the rules say I couldn't do it like that?" Luke's second question left Lux stunned again.
In just a few lines, it almost fried Miss Crownguard's brain.
Because… the rules really hadn't said he couldn't!
At the start, the condition for winning was simply getting Moff's candy. But later she'd added that extra wager—he could make any request—and the added rule was that he wasn't allowed to trick Moff.
From start to finish, Luke technically hadn't tricked Moff at all. He'd just exploited a loophole in the rules and pulled off a double win!
Once Lux figured it out, the world instantly became a far less beautiful place.
Staring at that infuriating face of his, Lux's anger exploded.
Devious!
Shameless!
She had never seen someone so devious and shameless in her life!
Kahina watched her friend's furious, defeated look and could only shake her head.
She'd basically figured it out—Lux wasn't going to outplay His Highness. Not even close.
Moff lifted his head and stared blankly at Luke. He'd more or less pieced it together as well.
He finally understood: the candy was the key to everything. Luke had used it to get a double win—and Moff had handed it over with his own two hands.
He shot Luke a resentful look, then turned around and left.
"See? Now he's mad!" Lux said, looking at Luke with disgust. "You even swindled a kid out of his candy. Fine, you got it—then you actually ate it!"
"What did I swindle him out of?" Luke chewed as he spoke, righteous as could be. "I won it with my own ability. Why shouldn't I eat it?"
"I'm not even going to talk to you," Lux snapped, rolling her eyes.
Then she looked over and saw Moff sitting alone again, those disappointed eyes fixed on the children playing in the distance.
So he did want to play.
Realizing that, Lux walked over.
Soon, she was in front of Moff again. She crouched down and put on a pleasant smile. "Moff, do you want to go play some games with me?"
Miss Crownguard had regained her confidence. With Luke as such a glaring contrast, she refused to believe Moff would reject her again!
Moff looked up at her, glanced at the turtle drawn on her face, silently scooted farther away, and shook his head. "No. My mom says I'm not allowed to play with idiots."
Lux: "???"
You're this young and you're already this good with words?!
Rejected a second time, Lux froze as if struck by lightning.
What just happened?
Who was she? Where was she?
Did she really have not even a tiny bit of charm?
Lux stood up and wandered back again, completely deflated. "Let's go back. I don't want to stay here anymore…"
"Don't lose heart. Honestly, you have a lot of good qualities," Luke tried to comfort her.
"Really?" Lux lifted her head, eyes shining. "Like what?"
"Uh… for example…" Luke choked, then immediately tossed the problem to Kahina, who'd been enjoying the show. "Kahina definitely knows."
Kahina: "…"
She couldn't think of anything either.
Seeing their reactions, Lux felt like an arrow had pierced her heart—her mentality outright collapsed.
Luke saw the resentful look in Miss Crownguard's eyes and felt that if he stayed any longer, he might actually get bitten.
So he slowly walked away—straight toward Moff.
Moff noticed him approaching, looked up once, then immediately looked away.
"Why don't you go play with them?" Luke asked.
"I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm not playing those childish games," Moff replied with a face full of disdain.
"Impressive. Then why do you keep watching?" Luke asked again.
Moff shot Luke a look and turned his head away. "I don't want to talk to you."
Luke immediately grinned. "About what happened just now—you're not convinced, are you?"
"Of course!" Moff snapped back, clearly angry. "If I'd known you two had your own wager, I never would've handed over the candy."
"There's no such thing as 'if I'd known' in this world," Luke chuckled. His words were like a knife, mercilessly stabbing right into Moff's wound. "Then let me ask you—if you'd known your parents would abandon you, what would you have done?"
Moff went rigid. He was left speechless, mouth opening and closing, but not a single word coming out.
If he'd known his parents would throw him away… what could he have done?
Cling to them before they abandoned him? Refuse to sleep?
That wouldn't work. He was just a kid—if they wanted to leave, they'd find a way, and he couldn't stay awake forever.
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