Chapter 144: Who Are You?
"Alen..."
Alen’s eyes widened in shock after hearing his own name fall from her lips. He didn’t expect the mysterious figure to know his name at all. No one in this entire Spire had called his real name except for her, which meant she was someone who actually knew him—not just a projection from this altered dimension, but someone from the real world. But who could the person standing in front of him possibly be?
Before he could open his mouth to ask who she was, she suddenly fell forward onto him. Not unconsciously, but deliberately. Her head rested softly against his chest, seeking warmth from him.
Alen opened his mouth to say something, promptly closed it in confusion, and then opened it again.
"Miss... I think you have some terrible misunderstanding. I think you are looking for someone else. I am not the ’Alen’ you are looking for! It is the first time I have ever seen you..."
For a second, she remained perfectly still. Her body flushed warmly against him, and then she raised her head to look up at him, still without separating their bodies.
"You have even slept with me. How can you forget?..."
Alen’s face instantly turned bright red at her mention that he had ’slept’ with her. Now Alen felt both suspicious and intensely annoyed as she tested his purity. He had never slept with any girl in his entire life; he was still underage, at least from the perspective of the world he had originally come from. There was no doubt he had never slept with a girl since he transmigrated here. That left only two options remaining: one was that the girl in front of him was a manipulative fraud trying to trick him, or the second was that she had lost her mind to babble such crazy words.
"Sorry, miss, I think you have genuinely misunderstood! I am just a pure guy who... who has never slept with a girl, trust me...."
She buried her face deep into his chest and clung to him tightly. She forced him to stay in place by holding him, not letting him find any escape route.
"Liar..."
Alen felt entirely helpless. He didn’t know what he should do to convince her anymore. She stubbornly held her ground, clinging to him as if her very life depended on it.
’Sigh... It seems she is not going to back down. As expected of the boss of this floor, she is incredibly good at manipulation. She even confused me just by acting innocent! But even so, she might be the only person who can help me find the way out of here, so it seems I have to play along with her game. I have to use hard words to push her away.... From where should I start then?... Hmmm.. ah—okay, let’s start...’
"So, if you know me, and if you are so sure that I slept with you, then who are you and why can’t I remember you?..."
"..."
For a few seconds, heavy silence remained. She didn’t open her mouth to speak and just stayed pressed against him. As time passed, Alen remained patient, waiting to hear her answer.
"...Because I lied to you..."
Alen paused, trying to consider her words. ’Lied to him?’ But he had never met her in the first place to know about her lies.
"Lied to me? What did you lie to me about?"
Another silent second passed before she opened her mouth and replied.
"I lied to you..."
"About what?..."
"I lied to you?"
"Yes, yes, you lied to me! But about what?!"
"I lied to you..."
Alen held his head, desperately trying to calm down his rising anger in order to take things slowly. She wasn’t answering him; in contrast, she was making him even more irritated than before.
Before his rising temper could finally explode, the Crimson Essence suddenly started to release from his body. It took the shape of another stubborn child who was seemingly born just to annoy him to death.
As Ravena appeared, she couldn’t help but giggle after seeing his hilarious situation. The mysterious girl with the veil was clinging to him like he was her only lifeline.
"Hey, shitty kid! Do something to help me before I beat you up and take revenge for your earlier disagreement to use your power!"
"Hmph... I am not a kid. And by the way, you really did sleep with this girl..."
Alen felt genuinely surprised at her casual words. Was he in a state of drunkenness when he slept with her? But he didn’t remember ever drinking any wine... Why was he the only clueless person here?
"Shut up! I never slept with anyone! Don’t judge my purity..."
"Hmph... What purity? You are just a greedy schemer. Calling yourself pure would even belittle the actual saints who are pure people."
"Just shut up and help me out here first!"
The girl with the veil looked over at Ravena from his chest, as if she instantly recognized who she was.
"Ravena?..."
Ravena smiled in an excited tone.
"Yeah, that’s me."
Now Alen felt entirely hopeless. He was sure that he had somehow forgotten most of his memories. He was sure that he had lost his mind while traveling through these trials. He was sure the sanity he had just lost was the result of amnesia, only he was not remembering anything.
He pushed her away gently but firmly, backing away and putting some safe distance between them as he looked at her.
"Now tell me who you are without playing dumb with me?! The drama is over..."
Her eyes widened in shock behind the veil as she lost the comforting warmth surrounding her. She stayed just like that for a few seconds before reaching for the edge of the fabric. She discarded the veil, letting it fall down to the floor. What was revealed was the stunning, delicate face of a beautiful girl. Her raven-black hair flowed long down her back, and her violet eyes stared at him with both sharpness and deep mystery.
She looked ethereal, but her beauty was not what attracted Alen’s attention. It was her eyes and her hair, which were definitely similar to someone he knew... As he took her look into careful consideration, his eyes widened in sudden recognition.
Now the missing puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. He looked at her with dawning realization.
"You! You are—are you L’s sister?!"
"..."
"..."
Both Ravena and the girl stared at him with blank faces, not knowing what reasoning should be given to this clueless guy. He was acting even more insane now than he was on the previous floors.
"Are you alright, Alen? Is your mind okay? You seem to have lost your brain... Did you always have such a shit-filled mind?" Ravena sighed.
Alen looked at them blankly, feeling offended by their words.
"What are you saying? She looks exactly similar to him! The only difference is she is a girl and... well, much more beautiful than him."
Alen looked genuinely curious now. It wasn’t that he had lost his mind or that his thinking ability was lessened; it was just genuinely not possible for any normal person to know that there was a hidden gender disguise at play here. It was difficult for him to actually differentiate that the ’L’ who he had spent his time with for a week was actually a girl posing as a boy.
He couldn’t see through her disguise back then, and he hadn’t seen her with his naked eyes without the disguise until now, so it was impossible for him to jump to that conclusion.
Lyris stared at him. Her haze-filled eyes looked at him as she stood there, acting like she was actually in a vivid dream, barely conscious of the real world.
Ravena looked at her and finally understood why she was behaving like that. She was trapped in some dream-like state, caught in an illusion which made her feel vulnerable. That was exactly why she was acting so clingy to him.
Without wasting any time, Ravena floated in the air with the help of the Crimson Essence. She tapped her finger, which was slightly emitting the crimson energy, directly onto Lyris’s forehead.
Just as the touch took effect, Lyris’s haze-filled eyes cleared up immediately. She blinked rapidly and looked around, taking a moment to calm down as she struggled to interpret if she was still in a dream or back in reality.
Finally, her gaze fell on Ravena, who floated down onto the floor, and then on the silver-haired boy who stood looking at her with his arms folded and an expressionless face.
It didn’t take her long to realize her embarrassing situation. As the fresh memories of their earlier clinging conversation quickly flooded into her mind, it completely cleared her remaining doubts.
Her face instantly turned bright red. She looked down at the floor, acting as if she wanted to dig a hole in the floor and bury herself right there.
"I—I am sorry for what just happened..."
Alen just narrowed his eyes. He asked her one last time with every ounce of patience he could muster up, speaking sharply with a clear warning filling his voice.
"Now, will you tell me who you really are, or do we have to finish this with a fight?!"
She stayed still for a few seconds as she nodded involuntarily.
"I—I am.... I am Lyris Veyra."