Chapter 107: Wishing She was Her
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’I lost again...’
Lily felt a bit disappointed, but it didn’t last long. She’s used to it by now, which is weird because she doesn’t take loss easily, but for some reason, she got used to losing to [Marek] pretty fast.
She doesn’t know this became a nightly routine. She goes on about her daily life as usual, but come nighttime, something has changed recently.
Before she knew it, she started looking forward to diving into the VR world. Not just to escape her disappointing reality, but also to accept or send a duel challenge to [Marek].
She never won a match.
The first few times, she was upset by it. She thought that the reason why she accepted his friend invitation was because she wanted a direct way to challenge him. Had Marek not liked that, she couldn’t have blocked her instead, but she didn’t.
She told herself that once she got used to his fighting style, she’d be able to defeat him. But even after dozens of challenges at this point, she’s still yet to win a match.
Was Marek strong? Yes. He is strong. But after fighting him dozens of times, Lily learned that he doesn’t win out of sheer overwhelming force.
Sure, Marek got spades of raw strength, but he had just as much skill, if not more.
It wasn’t just her who was trying to figure him out. The other party was also studying her. Hell, he actually memorized her already while Lily has yet to see Marek going all out in their duels.
Marek showed her what real skill and mastery are supposed to look like. Every technique he used, mostly basics, by the way, was used with such skillful mastery that it left her in awe and speechlessness.
The things that others looked down upon, he perfectly mastered and used as if they were just another part of his instincts.
Every punch, dodge, and kick, every execution of skill—he does it so superbly that nobody would dare to criticize it.
Lily was learning a lot from him. Heaven knows how much he helped her at this point. Though his way of teaching was somewhat painful, it works.
Marek points out her flaws by exploiting them until she’s nearly in tears. He wasn’t shy about it either. He ruthlessly tore apart the beauty that conceals the ugliness and imperfections of her skills and shoved her face in it.
It felt awful at first, but it worked. Because Lily would be so upset that she would rectify the flaw immediately and obsessively so that he could never target it again.
This is how he helped her fix her bad habits and repaired the instability of her skill mastery. And it did help a lot. Lily was much stronger and more skillful than before.
She still has a long way to go to completely eliminate her flaws, and it will take even longer for her to perfect the skills she learned from him, but eventually, she will do it.
This is why she always challenged him or accepted his duel invitation every night that it had turned into a routine...at least that’s what she thought.
But deep down, there’s something more.
Marek was harsh, yes. He beats her ruthlessly during fights, yes. But so far, he’s the only one who didn’t treat her as some fragile flower that needed to be protected.
From the very start, he saw her as a martial artist, not some damsel in distress. He didn’t hit on her; he didn’t make any perverted comments. His eyes were locked into hers, not tracing the curves of her body.
He saw her as a fighter, a capable one. And although he’s a bit harsh on her, he was genuinely helping her.
The two of them never shared more than ten words whenever they fight. At most, they’d just greet each other with ’good evening,’ and that’s that. They talk through fighting, not words.
Luna wouldn’t say this out loud, but she does find this refreshing. The visuals of her online avatar were far from what she actually looks like in real life, but she’s still Lily.
If she weren’t being stared at because of her looks or hearing people talking about her badly behind her back, she would stay back and be forced to sit still and look pretty.
To most people, her family included, she’s just a pretty face lucky to be born with a good talent. They see her as a lady waiting for the right man to marry so that she can be a mother and do her ’true calling.’
That notion disgusts her; she hated it whole-heartedly. But such is the environment she grew up in. She doubts that even if she becomes a martial god overnight, she still wouldn’t be able to silence them.
But Marek was different. He doesn’t care about their difference; he doesn’t know about the things that she’s running away from; he has no idea how bad it was for her.
All he cared about was reminding her that she still has a long way to go before she reaches his level, and he’d help her using his harsh means because that’s the quickest way she learns.
Somehow, Marek reminds her of Sieg.
She even dreamt once that Marek was Sieg, just trying to keep his real identity a secret so that he could help her.
The idea that Sieg was Marek sounded somewhat tempting to her, because if this were the case, then he’d certainly be going behind Aria’s back. And Sieg was helping her this way; it meant that her place in his heart was greater than Aria’s.
But of course, that’s just a dream. There’s no way it could be real.
Because first of all, Sieg was poor. He’s practically a penniless orphan. With his current living conditions, he’d never be able to buy a VR cabin, not even a VR helmet.
Sieg barely has money to cover his daily expenses; he still couldn’t go to dungeons since he’s only a Foundation Strength practitioner; he could only earn some credits by accepting local menial tasks that other practitioners disdained to do.
There was no way Sieg would accept a VR Cabin from either her or Aria. He’s too proud for that. He always has been.
He says that he appreciates sentimental value more than credits, but anybody who listens to him knows that that’s a lie.
Sieg’s pride won’t entertain the idea of living off the graces of another, especially a woman. He sees himself as a provider, not a sugar baby.
He’d rather suffer alone rather than let his friends give him some assistance. That’s just how it is.
Besides, Sieg wouldn’t hide behind a monicker or a fake face like her.
With all the things that made him suffer lately, Sieg is in dire need of a win, a break, to replenish his confidence so that he can keep going. He wouldn’t hide the fact that it was him who was having a good time in the VR world. Somehow, he’d find a chance to tell somebody about it to gauge their reaction.
Again, he needs a win. And he’d take whatever’s available. That’s how far life had been pushing him since the initiation ceremony.
Lily knows this; that’s why she’s trying to help him as best as she could, too. Unfortunately, she’s not having as much success as Aria in this matter.
Aria could coerce him into accepting her help using their childhood friendship as a reason; Lily cannot.
This was something that Lily couldn’t compete against Aria. She will always win this portion because she has an unfair advantage, and she surely wouldn’t be shy to use that.
Besides, Lily was constantly under surveillance. Everything she does is inspected under a microscope. It’s too stifling; that’s why she often flees to the VR world to escape.
Last but not least, there’s no way Sieg could use clumsiness to hide his talent. He can’t hide behind that from her or Aria.
Lily has watched Sieg practicing multiple times already; she knows his habits and his tendencies. She could tell his skill level after a period of observation.
Sieg can’t act or pretend even if his life depended on it.
All of this was enough to remind her that no, Marek isn’t Sieg. He won’t and will never be, even if Sieg wishes it so.
Realizing this made Lily feel downcast. She couldn’t help but lament over Sieg’s fate.
He was fine before the initiation ceremony happened. He fell from his standing in heaven down to hell in a single moment.
Now, the man she liked became the laughing stock of the whole city. He could never go anywhere without hearing people talking behind his back, insulting him and pointing fingers at him.
Sieg pretends that it doesn’t bother him, but Lily knows. She’s known him for a while and knows that all of it does bother him. They bother him so much that they force him to delude himself into thinking that they don’t bother him.
If only she could do more...
If only she were Aria, maybe Sieg wouldn’t be in so much pain and misery.
