"?"
Faust realized his elven teacher's mind worked in strange ways, always saying things that didn't quite make sense.
The prince of Aurum frowned and asked again, "True love?"
Mistoria nodded and stood up abruptly. "Yes, please tell me, what do you think true love is? This is very important to me."
Well, if you're going to ask that, you've really got me stumped.
The prince certainly didn't mind indulging his teacher's curiosity, but this question was genuinely difficult to answer.
Faust wasn't the type to throw the word love around casually.
Even knowing the right answer and planning to become someone who valued emotion and loyalty from now on, he couldn't reverse his extremely pragmatic, utilitarian thinking from the past overnight.
More importantly, he couldn't just give some half-baked answer, because... Faust glanced at the pale gold-haired girl sitting beside him.
Viviana lowered her eyelids slightly. Steam rose from her teacup, making her long, curved lashes flutter.
Through the wavering mist, her magnificent purple eyes held a focused gaze.
She clearly wanted to hear his answer too.
Faust hadn't forgotten his promise to Viviana.
Lies would be caught, but the truth might trigger something in Viviana, and there was no guarantee she wouldn't put on the mask and let "Cinderella" take over.
Great. Just great. An unexpected soul-searching interrogation. How exciting.
Faust clenched his fist and forced a smile.
"Why bring this up all of a sudden? Do you need relationship advice? I don't know who you're interested in, but I can help you come up with a plan."
"No, I've never been in love."
Mistoria shut that down immediately, staring directly at Faust. "I simply want to know what true love means to you."
Then why are you even asking?! Wait... could this be related to the "fate" thing from the Nation of Darkfold?
With that guess in mind, Faust thought for a moment, then turned to look at Viviana, showing off his smooth deflection skills.
"I think Viviana should answer this question. What true love is... her understanding is the same as mine, but runs much deeper."
Hearing this, Viviana dutifully caught the ball the prince had tossed her. She nodded first to the elven lady.
"Miss Mistoria, my understanding of true love is this... True love is a treasure."
"A treasure?"
"Yes, a treasure of immeasurable value, worth giving everything to obtain. And once you have it, you possess all joy."
"Because of this, the moment you realize where the treasure is, the complicated, mundane world no longer matters.
Only the process of seeking that ultimate treasure is worth the hardship. Only the future of obtaining that ultimate treasure is worth looking forward to."
As the pale gold-haired girl spoke, she gradually moved closer to Faust. Quite naturally, she took the prince's hand and kissed the back of it.
"This way, you can obtain all happiness. This is the true love that His Highness and I understand, and I believe it's something most people would recognize."
Mistoria seemed to understand. "I see. This is the realm of selfless devotion, achievable only through extreme passion and focus."
Using her own path as a Sword Saint to try to draw a parallel, the elven lady could roughly grasp what Viviana meant.
She looked again at the pale gold-haired girl. Even someone as clueless and indifferent to romantic matters as herself could sense the overwhelming love radiating from her.
Mistoria couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Are you two... actually together then? Then why haven't you had sex?"
Not getting to see them have sex when they first met was one of Mistoria's deepest regrets.
It was rare to find such beautiful humans.
Could you stop obsessing over your sex thing? Seriously, elves really are...
Faust could barely keep it together. Even though elves and humans were both "children of man," there was still a considerable gap in their values.
One of those differences was the elves' extreme worship of beauty. You couldn't just call it shallow; they simply loved anything beautiful.
Even a pure martial artist like Mistoria had the desire to watch.
Not for perverted reasons... she simply thought Faust and Viviana were beautiful, so she wanted to watch. This was art. Art couldn't be viewed through a dirty lens.
Just as Faust was thinking about how to respond, Viviana continued speaking.
"We can't be called lovers yet. Strictly speaking, I'm currently pursuing Faust."
"Before this, there was a very complicated past. Some unpleasant things happened, but all that is behind us. Now we've sworn to start over."
"I know His Highness hasn't truly fallen in love with me yet, so I'm not in a hurry to make this relationship official.
I'm truly happy that His Highness has abandoned his past way of thinking and set out on the same path as me."
The corners of Viviana's mouth lifted slightly. Her gentle, delicate face seemed covered with a layer of light and shadow that resembled fanatical devotion.
"So I will spend my entire life pursuing His Highness, pursuing my treasure."
Faust suddenly felt the weight of that statement. "Your entire life?"
The pale gold-haired girl nodded firmly. "My entire life."
"..."
Fine, an entire life it is. Anyway, thinking it over carefully, Faust really couldn't do without his childhood friend anymore.
"I see. Such deep and weighty feelings transcend the desire for physical pleasure... but I see Faust having sex with other human females every night."
Mistoria's gaze passed over the two of them, looking toward the maid attendants standing behind them.
The maids serving the prince were all carefully selected beauties. The maid uniforms Faust had personally modified could no longer be called proper servant attire.
The black and white outfit wrapped their ample chests tightly, but even such substantial fabric was practically bursting, revealing an extremely forbidden yet pure, untouchable charm.
The sheer black stockings gripped their thighs tightly, displaying their softness and weight.
The custom-tailored short skirts clung to their slender figures, showing off their perfect, alluring waistlines.
And the absurdly short skirt hems constantly revealed tantalizing glimpses of snow-white skin.
After getting his ass kicked by the elven Sword Saint during the day, the prince of Aurum would build up considerable pent-up energy that needed release... just kidding, he'd build it up even without getting beaten.
The effects of mystical characteristics were obvious. Characteristics didn't just bring benefits... the side effects had to be dealt with too.
In any case, after the Sword of Damocles called [Cinderella] was temporarily set aside, Faust had returned to his old habits.
And because Mistoria's quarters were right next to his, she was essentially getting a live show every night.
She watched with an appreciative eye, sure, but her student's stamina and skill still left a deep impression on the elven lady.
Seriously, you watched and that was fine, but did you have to call him out on it?
Faust said with a straight face, "Do you really need to ask? Then I can only say I'm practicing technique. Otherwise, how am I supposed to satisfy Viviana?"
Hearing this, Viviana voiced her agreement without hesitation.
"That's right."