Noel raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Who knows? There are a lot of problems I have to take care of right now like finding my parents, rebuilding my family, and investigating the Third Prince. I can't give you an answer before doing all that."
"That's true. I also have to solve the misunderstanding between us and our families, regain the control of my family over the kingdom, and investigate the Royal Family. We have a lot of things to do."
"Yeah." Noel nodded in agreement. "That's why we have to solve all our problems first…such as our betting game this time."
"Right." Anna chuckled. "Your information gave me an idea, Noel. I have a letter from the Royal Family asking a Count to make me submit to the Royal Family. That one letter alone can't do much, but if I can gather a lot of them and spread it among nobles, I should be able to gain some allies to resist the Royal Family.
"When you pressure them so much, the Royal Family might need to show all their hands, including their relationship with the Supreme Devil Organization if they have any."
Noel widened his eyes in shock before closing his eyes, falling into deep thought. It felt like he was considering that plan since it was a bit reckless, but it turned out Noel was thinking of another problem.
He suddenly raised his hands and said, "I lost."
"Huh?" Anna dropped her jaws to the ground as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Noel was a sore loser. If he had anything that could be used to win, he wouldn't hesitate to do it. Yet, the same Noel actually gave up.
"I don't have any more information that I can offer." Noel shook his head helplessly.
"Yes, I heard it all right. It's just… seriously?"
"Don't look at me with those eyes…" Noel's eyebrows twitched. He sighed, "I might be a sore loser, but I'll admit defeat if I lose. I'm not going to be petty to the point I'll have to resort to everything just to either win or make it draw."
"…" Anna was still too shocked that she couldn't say anything.
Meanwhile, Noel asked, "So, how should I do this? Do you want me to massage your shoulders now? Or we can go to an inn to massage your feet since you said you were tired earlier…"
Anna scratched the back of her head and thought for a moment. "Well, we should also talk about our missions here. Maybe it is related to each other?"
"I see. I guess we should get room to do that. Though, next time, I'm not going to lose." Noel harrumphed. Even though he had admitted defeat, his expression was completely unwilling as if she defeated him by luck.
"Haha, alright. We're done here anyway. You should know some inns in this town, right?"
"Yeah." Noel nodded and immediately led Anna to a different inn from the one he stayed at. After all, he didn't want anyone from the squad to meet her.
As soon as they reached their room, Anna leaped onto the bed while yawning, "Aaahhh… This is tiring. I haven't gotten enough sleep these days since I've been completing one mission after another."
Noel pulled the chair to the bed without saying anything. There were already a lot of tasks in Anna's hands. On top of what she said earlier, Noel still asked her to come to meet him and even became his errand girl.
At the very least, he could be a bit gentle on her this time.
"So, which one?" Noel asked.
Anna hurriedly took off her shoes and laid down on her stomach. "Of course, my legs. Don't worry, I washed myself before our meeting."
"I know. That's why you didn't sweat at all when we met."
"…" Anna had expected him to say those words, so she just rolled her eyes. From their conversation earlier, she also knew why the runes were spread in her past life. The only difference was the fact she was the one spreading it, while in the past life, someone else did it.
"Mhm…" Anna let out a soft moan when Noel began massaging her calf. It seemed Noel knew how much strength he had to put in.
"I thought you would be a sore loser and massage me with all your strength… And here I'm prepared to release my Spiritual Energy to increase my defense…" Anna chuckled, teasing Noel.
"Well, I know how hard you're working right now. Since I've lost, might as well give you some service so that you can work harder." Noel answered without a change of expression as if it came from the bottom of his heart.
"…" Anna was startled, not knowing why Noel became so gentle. She wondered what had happened to him in the past three months.
However, her heart felt warm. She couldn't help but imagine what would happen if there had been no conflict between them since the beginning.
While burying her head in the pillow, Anna said, "I saw your future."
"…" Noel glanced at her, interested.
"I don't know what was happening, but both of us were already on the ground, in dying breath. I didn't know you, but you knew me. At the last moment, you gave me your name."
"Hmm?" Noel frowned, not understanding what she was talking about. But after mulling it over, he realized Anna must be talking about the reason why she came to the Demon Banner Army. The rumor about her and her actual personality was completely different as if she had changed.
It might be due to her seeing that future that she chose to work together with him instead of fighting him.
"I see…" Noel closed his eyes for a moment. "Thank you for revealing it to me…"
Anna embarrassedly looked away. She had changed, but it felt like she only changed because of that vision instead of him. She didn't want Noel to think something weird after knowing about it.
But when she was thinking of Noel's reaction, she suddenly blushed as she turned around out of reflex, finding Noel had raised both his hands. "Hey. Where did you massage me earlier?"
Noel couldn't help but smile after hearing Anna's secret. It showed how much Anna trusted him. However, he soon regained calm and said with a gentle expression. "I'm simply planning to thank you for telling the truth."
"And how are you planning to thank me?"
"Of course…" Noel's turned into an evil smirk as if he had a great scheme in mind. "Full body massage. Don't worry. You will feel refreshed after this!"
"You bastard. You are going to take advantage of my body! I'm going to cut you down right now!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Kh… Sore loser." Anna gritted her teeth. She knew Noel was just using all kinds of excuses to make her suffer. He truly didn't like losing because he was a sore loser.
