After the knock on the door, George opened the door with a stiff expression on his face.
"Hey Dad," Alice greeted him with a smile on her face. "I brought your coffee."
Alice handed the mug to George and stood by the door to get his reaction. However, upon receiving no words from him, she chuckled nervously and asked,
"Were you busy?"
"No, I was not. Why would I be busy at this hour?" he replied.
George moved the bug from his right hand to the left and asked, "And why have you… applied makeup? Are you going somewhere?"
"Uhm… yes…" she nodded in response.
George raised his brow and asked, "Don't tell me you are hanging out with Rudy again. You have been staying out a lot as of lately. Is it because I have stopped monitoring you?"
"No, no." Alice rocked her head, seemingly to convince George of her denial.
"Then where are you going?" George raised the other brow. "You don't have friends other than Rudy, do you?"
"I am going with Rudy, but we are not going anywhere."
"What does that even mean?"
"Well, as you know, now that the school's sports tournament has ended, we have our finals coming up soon. So Rudy, me, and some of our other classmates have decided to go to the library to study.
Uhm… it's like an extra class… uhh… a group session among students." Alice gulped down nervously. "And we will also study about the special exam that would allow the students to skip grades and enter university since we are over the required age."
"Hmm. I understand. But why does that require you to get dolled up like this?? Are you trying to get the boy's attention?"
"The other girls also wear makeup."
"And?"
"Every girl of my age wears makeup. It's normal."
George furrowed his brows and said, "You don't tell me what's normal. I decide the rules."
"..."
George glared at Alice for a while and said, "Alright you can go. But be back before your curfew or I won't allow you to leave the house next time."
"Thank you, Dad."
George closed the door, while Alice rushed upstairs. She looked at her phone to check the time and saw a message from Rudy.
"It's from three minutes ago."
She opened the message and replied to him.
'I should have asked Rudy to come to my room and teleport me away. Dad never comes to check my room anyway, so he wouldn't have realized even if I had gone without telling him.
I can't wait to live in the castle. But obviously, Dad won't allow me to do that. But if I pass the special exam and enroll in the university with Rudy, I can use that reason as an excuse and move away from this town!'
Alice grabbed her schoolbag and left the house. And George watched the live footage on his screen as he had installed cameras outside the house.
George then changed his screen to the group chat and continued chatting with U.A and J.J.
Meanwhile, Alice met up with Rudy and asked him to teleport near Janet's house.
Rudy glanced at Alice's bag and asked, "So? You were going to tell me something about the bag."
"Don't mention it…" Alice let out a weary sigh and continued, "I told Dad that I am going to the library with you and other classmates to study since our finals are next door."
"Why would you need to lie about it?" Rudy asked with a confused look on his face. "You could have just said that we were going to the water park."
"Yes, I could have. But I am not sure he would have allowed me to. He might not have given me permission, and I didn't want to take any risk… especially today. I have to make my status known in your harem."
"Don't worry about something so trivial. You shouldn't let others decide your status. Only you can decide."
Alice and Rudy looked to their side to see Janet standing in a cool pose, wearing sunglasses.
Rudy squinted his eyes and said, "I don't think you get to say anything about being judged, since you have dolled yourself up more than Alice has."
"Oh? This is how I usually look when I am not at school. It's my casual look."
"Heh. Makeup queen," Rudy scoffed softly, but it was audible enough to Alice and Janet as they were standing next to him.
Janet's face twitched as she heard Rudy call her makeup queen, as he had caught her buying beauty kits from the store more than once.
She kicked Rudy on the back of his thighs and said, "Makeup is a girl's weapon."
"Then why use your legs to kick me… use your makeup…"
"How are we going? Are we taking a bus?" Alice asked curiously, checking the time on her wristwatch. "I think the next bus will arrive in 20 minutes."
"We are teleporting to Reina's office," Rudy responded and glanced at Janet to see her response.
Janet shrugged her hands and said, "If it's safe, then I don't mind."
"Good."
Rudy grabbed Alice's hand and turned to Janet, staring at her.
"Listen, I am letting you do whatever you want. If I wasn't okay with this, I wouldn't be allowing you to meet my harem or talk with them… especially a harem-related topic. You are a smart girl and I trust you, so choose your words carefully in front of them."
"..."
"And try to be understanding. And don't worry, they will be honest too. They will never lie."
"That… sounded more like a threat than advice…"
"Let's call it a friendly threat," he smiled at her.
Janet held Rudy's hand and said, "I hope that I won't be eaten alive by the vampires."
Rudy teleported to Reina's office, where she was busy searching in the drawer of her desk.
"Reina," Rudy called out to her.
"Perfect!" Reina turned to Rudy in excitement and opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped when she noticed Alice and Janet.
"Hmm?"
