Chapter 121: Get Out
With what little patience he had left, Zac pulled the blanket over Armani and made sure she wasn’t about to roll off the bed.
Then he turned and walked out of the room. "I’m burning these clothes."
The moment the door closed behind him, Armani’s unfocused expression vanished.
Her golden eyes opened fully, clear and alert, without the slightest trace of drunkenness. She sat upright, switched on her VSB, and tapped through several options.
A moment later, Martha’s holographic image appeared above the device, looking at her expectantly.
"Well?" Martha asked. "Did the plan work?"
Armani’s expression faltered. "Kind of."
Martha narrowed her eyes. "Why does that sound like a complete flop?"
"It wasn’t a complete failure. He came here, and I did exactly what you told me to do. And..."
Armani looked away. "I still couldn’t say what I wanted to say."
Martha stared at her for several seconds. "You’re an idiot, Kitty."
"I know."
"I still can’t believe you’re such a coward when it comes to your feelings."
"It isn’t about feelings. It’s just..."
Armani lowered her gaze, looking unusually embarrassed. "I was going to say it. I really was. But when he sat there and looked at me, everything just vanished from my head."
"So what are you going to do next?"
"I’ll figure something out."
"No, you won’t," Martha replied immediately. "You’ll only make things worse than they already are."
"Come on. I’m not that bad."
"Try saying that while looking at yourself in a mirror."
Before Armani could respond, a faint sound came from outside the room. Her eyes widened. "I think he’s coming back. I’ll call you later."
She ended the call before Martha could reply, threw herself back onto the pillow, and hurriedly pulled the blanket into the same position it had been in when Zac left.
A second later, the bedroom door opened.
Zac stood in the doorway wearing a fresh set of clothes, his hair still damp from washing. "I could’ve sworn I heard someone talking."
He studied the sleeping Armani for several seconds before shaking his head. "Maybe I really am becoming overly cautious."
[See? That’s what I’ve been telling you all along.]
Ignoring the system, Zac quietly closed the door and returned to the living room.
Nearly four hours later, Armani finally emerged from her bedroom, fully dressed and looking every bit like her usual domineering self.
The loose nightgown had been replaced by an immaculate outfit, and the drunken haze was nowhere to be seen.
Her golden eyes were steady, her expression composed, and every trace of vulnerability had been locked away.
She stepped into the living room and found Zac still sitting on the long sofa, looking thoroughly defeated by life.
Armani raised an eyebrow. "Why are you sitting there as though every ship you owned just sank?"
Zac immediately looked up. Seeing her familiar commanding expression and clear golden eyes, he released a quiet breath of relief.
"So you finally sobered up."
"When was I ever drunk enough to need sobering up?" Armani asked.
Zac gave her a strange look.
Armani crossed the room and sat opposite him, casually resting one leg over the other. "Now tell me. Why did you come all the way here to see me?"
Zac hesitated before answering. "Before that, you said there was something you wanted to tell me."
Armani’s expression did not change, though her gaze lingered on him for a fraction of a second.
"When did I say that?"
"A few hours ago," Zac replied, staring at her in disbelief. "When you were completely drunk and surrounded by enough bottles to open your own bar."
Armani tilted her head. "You must have imagined it."
Zac blinked. Her confidence was so absolute that, for a brief moment, he almost began questioning his own memory.
"What’s the last thing you remember before falling asleep?" he asked cautiously.
Armani leaned back against the sofa and pretended to think. "I was enjoying a private party when you barged into my house like a wild boar and ruined the atmosphere."
"And?"
"You said you wanted something from me. Since I had consumed a little alcohol, I told you I needed to rest first. Then I went to my room, slept for a while, and came back out."
She looked directly into his eyes. "Isn’t that what happened?"
Zac nodded at once. "Yes. Absolutely. That is exactly what happened."
[Why are you lying?]
"Because I don’t want her to remember what she did."
[Which part? Falling on top of you or vomiting all over your clothes?]
"All of it." Zac kept his expression as neutral as possible. "What if she gets embarrassed and takes it out on me?"
[Embarrassment is certainly possible. Murder is less likely, considering her relationship with your mother.]
"Less likely isn’t the same as impossible."
"Hey." Armani’s voice pulled him out of the conversation. "Stop zoning out in front of me and tell me why you came."
"Right." Zac straightened his posture and gathered his thoughts. "You know about Mana Coating, don’t you?"
Armani stared at him with a completely deadpan expression.
Zac immediately realized how ridiculous the question sounded. "Actually, forget I asked that."
He cleared his throat.
"Matilda taught our class the fundamentals of Mana Coating and gave us two months to master it. I’ve managed to get the basic technique working, and I can maintain a full-body coating for a short period."
Armani listened without interrupting.
"The problem is that something feels wrong. It’s as though I’m missing something crucial."
"The coating looks stable, and whenever I inspect it, everything appears to be working properly. But every time I activate it, I still get the feeling that it’s incomplete."
"So that’s why you came to me?"
"Yes."
A faint smile appeared on Armani’s face, but there was nothing friendly about it. "Why didn’t you ask your little girlfriend?"
"My what?" Zac frowned. "I don’t have a girlfriend."
"Do you honestly think I don’t know about that red-haired girl?"
Zac was briefly surprised, but after remembering who Armani was, the feeling quickly vanished.
"Anyway," she continued, "why didn’t you ask her? The two of you seem close enough."
Zac remained silent.
The smile on Armani’s face grew steadily more unsettling as she watched his reaction. "You contacted her first, didn’t you?"
Zac’s silence told her everything she needed to know.
Armani’s golden eyes narrowed. "You tried to reach her, but she didn’t answer. Since your first choice wasn’t available, you came running to me instead."
"That isn’t exactly how it happened."
"Then enlighten me."
"I only called her because she was the first person who came to mind."
The moment the words left his mouth, Zac realized he had somehow chosen the worst possible explanation.
Armani’s smile vanished.
"Get out."
Zac blinked. "What?"
"I said get out,"
"Wait. At least hear me out first."
Armani rose slowly from the sofa.
"Do I look like some second-hand option you can turn to whenever the woman you actually wanted isn’t available?"
"That isn’t what I meant."
"You called another woman first, failed to reach her, and then decided I would make an acceptable replacement."
"No, that’s not what happened."
"I said get the hell out of my house!"
A suffocating pressure crashed down across the room, and Zac’s expression changed instantly.
Armani’s aura bore down on him like an invisible mountain. Combined with the doubled gravity already imposed by the bronze bracelet, the weight overwhelmed him before he could brace himself.
His knees struck the floor, followed almost immediately by his palms.
Zac gritted his teeth and tried to push himself upright, but the difference in power was far too great. Even breathing became a struggle beneath Armani’s crushing presence.
"Let me... at least explain," Zac forced out.
"Why are you still inside my house?"
Before she could increase the pressure, a melodic ringing sound came from her VSB. Armani glanced at the screen and saw the caller’s name was displayed simply as Sister.
The crushing aura vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
Zac drew in a deep breath and pushed himself back to his feet. He looked at Armani for a moment, but she had already turned her attention towards the incoming call.
Without another word, Zac slowly walked towards the front door.
After opening it, he turned back once more.
"Sorry."
Then he quietly left the cottage.
Armani remained motionless for several seconds before answering the call.
A holographic projection appeared in front of her, revealing Martha’s face. One look at Armani’s expression was enough to make her narrow her eyes.
"What did you do?"
Armani looked away. "Why are you assuming I did something?"
"Because you’re wearing the exact expression you always have after turning a perfectly good opportunity into a disaster."
"I didn’t ruin anything."
Armani maintained her composure for another two seconds before clicking her tongue.
"Fine. Something happened."
Martha sighed. "Of course it did. Somehow, you could trip over a straight line."
"It wasn’t my fault, all right? He came here asking for help with Mana Coating."
"That’s a good thing," Martha replied. "You could have used the opportunity to spend more time with him."
"But I wasn’t his first choice. He contacted Lima before coming here and only turned to me because she wasn’t available."
Armani folded her arms. "So I threw him out."
"Kitty..."
"No. Don’t start, Sister. He practically admitted I was his second choice."
"Did he actually say that?"
"Does he need to? Actions speak louder than words. He said she was the first person who came to mind, not me."
Martha studied her carefully. "What exactly did you do?"
"I already told you. I threw him out."
"Was that all?"
Armani hesitated. "I..."
"You did something else, didn’t you?"
"Why are you taking his side?" Armani demanded. "He came to me after trying someone else first. Wasn’t that wrong?"
"Kitty, you already know what kind of relationship those two have. Of course he trusts Lima and thinks of her when he needs help."
Martha’s expression softened slightly. "Isn’t the whole point of this plan to earn his trust in the first place?"
"I’m not jealous."
"I didn’t say you were. If you let your anger get the better of you, you’ll never earn that trust."
Armani fell silent.
"Think about it," Martha continued. "If you become someone he can rely on, then next time, he’ll have a reason to come to you first."
"You need to show him that he can trust you. But do it without insulting Lima, competing with her, or trying to damage the relationship they already have."
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"That’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself."
"Very helpful, Sister."
"I’m not finished."
Martha’s tone became firmer.
"Don’t change who you are just to make him accept you. You may need to rein in your temper and learn how to communicate like a functional human being, but don’t create an entirely false version of yourself just to please him."
"If you want whatever grows between the two of you to last, Zac has to accept you as you truly are."
Armani stared at her sister for several seconds. "You’re his mother and my sister, yet you’re sitting there trying to matchmake us?"
The corner of Martha’s lips curved upwards. "So you admit this is matchmaking?"
"Please don’t start again, Sister."
"Fine, fine." Martha’s amusement gradually faded. "I simply want my son to be happy. I believe he could be happy with you, and I believe you could be happy with him."
Her voice softened. "Nothing matters more to me than that."
Despite her best efforts to hide it, Armani’s expression softened as well.
"Now stop sulking, go after him, and fix what you did."
Armani released a reluctant sigh. "Fine."
Meanwhile, Zac was making his way down the cliffside path with an irritated expression.
The doubled gravity weighed heavily on every step, but his confusion felt far more burdensome than the bracelet around his wrist.
"What just happened? Why did she suddenly get so angry?"
[You need to learn what should and shouldn’t be said to women.]
"I don’t think I said anything wrong."
[That is precisely the problem.]
"Could you be a little more specific?"
[Making a woman believe she is your second choice is a very large red flag.]
"But that isn’t what happened."
[Perhaps not, but that is certainly how it sounded.]
Zac frowned. "Wouldn’t that only matter if both of them were interested in me? You know, in that way?"
The system fell silent for a moment.
[Are you genuinely that oblivious to what is happening around you?]
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
Before the System could answer, another voice echoed directly inside his mind.
[Come back.]