Chapter 378: Discovered
Xarion strolled over and dropped onto the sofa opposite them.
His gaze casually swept across Vangar, who was sharing a single glass of juice with Rory using two straws.
Then his attention shifted to Aren, seated beside her.
Pulling out his communicator, he tagged Aren in the group chat.
Xarion: @Aren Aren, aren’t you a succubus? How did you let Vangar steal an opportunity like that?
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Three communicators chimed at exactly the same time.
Rory’s.
Vangar’s.
And Aren’s.
Xarion immediately sat upright and stared at Rory.
He had sent that message to the group.
Why had the Female Master’s communicator gone off?
Aren and Vangar exchanged puzzled looks before turning toward Rory as well.
Why had her communicator chimed at the same moment as theirs?
Meeting all three pairs of eyes, Rory calmly pulled out her communicator.
Nix really worked fast.
He had already added her to the group.
"Why are you all looking at me?"
Without the slightest change in expression, Rory glanced at the three men.
Then she subtly adjusted the angle of her communicator so none of them could see the screen and opened it.
The moment it loaded, she saw Xarion’s message tagging Aren.
Nix truly was efficient.
Ding.
Another notification appeared.
It was a private message from Nix.
Nix: Rory, I’ve added you to the group. To keep them from discovering you’re here, I used my administrator permissions. If you send messages in the group, it’ll appear as though I sent them.
Rory couldn’t help smiling.
Nix really was clever.
She quickly replied.
I know. Love you. jpg
After replying, she immediately muted the group.
That way, future messages wouldn’t trigger any audible notifications.
Once she was done, she closed the communicator and looked up at the three men.
"It’s just a message from Gina."
Her expression remained perfectly natural.
"She was asking when I’ll be returning to the Central District. The Festival of Ten Thousand Females is about to begin."
Vangar smiled.
"It won’t be much longer. We’ll arrive at the Central District in a few days."
Rory nodded.
Picking up the remainder of the juice, she finished it in two quick sips.
"I’m a little tired."
She stood.
"I’m going back to rest for a while. You all have fun."
With that, she headed toward her room.
The door closed behind her.
Watching it shut, Xarion collapsed back onto the sofa and patted his chest.
"That scared me to death."
"I thought I’d accidentally sent the message to the Female Master too."
Comments like that, playful teasing and occasional attempts to sabotage one another, were things they absolutely did not say in front of her.
Those conversations belonged in the group chat.
Aren glanced at him before turning toward Vangar.
He wanted to ask why Vangar thought it was acceptable to drink the Female Master’s juice.
But saying it aloud risked Rory overhearing.
So he opened the group chat instead.
Aren: I would also like to ask Marshal Vangar why he felt the need to drink the Female Master’s juice. Couldn’t you pour your own glass?
Aren: As for why I didn’t drink it, I believe it’s inappropriate to compete with the Female Master for food or drink.
Aren: And regarding my charm ability, I can use it on anyone except the Female Master.
His charm ability could influence a person’s mind.
Extended exposure could leave lasting negative effects.
When Aren had first reached Rank Eleven, there had been times when he couldn’t fully control it.
Now, however, he had complete mastery over his power.
There was no chance he would ever use it on Rory.
Inside Rory’s room.
Rory and Nix lay side by side on the bed, reading the group chat together.
When they saw Aren’s reply, Nix clicked his tongue twice and shook his head regretfully.
"Aren has such an incredible ability, and he can’t even use it."
"What a waste."
Rory nodded in complete agreement.
"It really is."
A thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.
"I’ve actually been curious about what being charmed feels like."
When Aren transformed into that pink rabbit before, she had instantly found him adorable.
But her mind had remained completely clear.
She remembered hearing that people affected by charm abilities usually became mentally disoriented.
The thought intrigued her.
After a moment, she turned toward Nix.
"Ask Aren something for me in the group."
Nix blinked.
"What?"
Rory smiled.
"Ask him if he really can’t use it even once."
"Wouldn’t that be a shame?"
Nix grinned and leaned close to Rory’s ear, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
"Rory, you can ask him yourself."
His eyes sparkled mischievously.
"You can use my account and talk in the group however you want. Just don’t let them figure out it’s actually you."
Rory’s eyes lit up.
Without hesitation, she tapped rapidly across her communicator.
Rory-as-Nix: @Aren Last time I even heard Rory say she wanted to know what being charmed feels like. If you can’t use it at all, won’t she be disappointed? Not even once?
Nix looked at the message and immediately burst into laughter.
"That sounds exactly like me."
He looked absurdly pleased.
"Rory, your imitation is perfect."
"Looks like you pay a lot of attention to me."
The thought alone made him ridiculously happy.
Ding.
A new message appeared.
Vangar: The Female Master actually has thoughts like that?
Vangar: That’s a little surprising.
Vangar: I always thought the Female Master was the shy type.
Aren: @Nix Did the Female Master really say that?
Rory-as-Nix: Yep, yep!!
In the living room, Aren stared at Nix’s reply and fell into deep thought.
The Female Master wanted to experience his charm ability.
Well...
Using it once in a while wasn’t entirely impossible.
As long as he controlled it carefully, there would be no risk of harming her.
Meanwhile, inside Vincent’s room, Yuel looked at the messages scrolling across the group chat and pressed two fingers lightly against his temple.
It was a habit that only surfaced when he was dealing with particularly complicated emotions.
Vincent immediately noticed.
"What’s wrong?"
He looked at Yuel curiously.
"That expression is rare for you."
"Did something serious happen?"
Yuel shook his head.
"Nothing major."
"I’m just a little tired these past few days."
That idiot Nix.
Had his brain been completely possessed by mech designs?
He had actually added Rory to the group.
If she had found this group, then she had almost certainly found the others too.
Which meant she had probably seen the group where he had shared all those links with everyone.
Yuel suddenly felt a headache coming on.
How exactly was he supposed to explain that he never watched any of those things himself?
Nix had asked for them.
The others had asked for them too.
He had merely helped find them.
The more he thought about it, the stronger the urge to strangle Nix became.
His reputation in Rory’s eyes had probably been completely destroyed.
At the same time, elsewhere aboard the ship—
"Achoo!"
Nix suddenly sneezed in the middle of his enthusiastic group-chat discussion with Rory.
Rory immediately looked over.
"What happened?"
"Are you cold?"
She pulled the blanket over him and tucked it around his shoulders.
"I already told you to keep yourself covered."
Nix wrapped his arms around her and pressed closer.
His firm abdomen brushed lightly against her waist.
"Rory, I’m burning up. I’m definitely not cold."
He sounded utterly confident.
"Someone’s probably talking bad about me behind my back."
Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Rory, if you’re curious about Aren’s charm ability, don’t you want me to charm you too?"
He looked genuinely aggrieved.
"Am I not charming enough?"
"Am I not attractive enough?"
Rory laughed and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"And how exactly would you charm me?"
Nix opened his mouth to answer.
Before he could speak, his communicator chimed.
Rory pointed at it.
"You should check that first."
Nix picked up the communicator and glanced at the screen.
The moment he saw the sender, his expression froze.
The message was from Yuel.
There were only three words.
Yuel: Get over here.
Nix widened his eyes.
Just reading those three words, he could practically feel Yuel’s anger through the screen.
"Yuel wants me to go see him."
Rory looked at him curiously.
"What did you do to make Yuel angry?"
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