"Leon…" Lia suddenly mumbled his name in a weak voice.
"Sorry, but I am not Leon. I am Leo. You have the wrong person." Leo shook his head.
Lia remained silent, nor did she move even after three seconds had passed.
"Your time is up. Don't blame me for this." Leo sighed.
He pointed his wand at her and unleashed a Flame Tempest right on her.
The Flame Tempest swallowed her small body and spun her around in the air for a few circles before spitting her out, sending her flying off the stage.
"Lady Scarlet! Are you okay?!" Her classmates and uncle immediately rushed to her side.
"Stay away from me." Lia suddenly spoke in a cold voice, halting their movements.
Lia slowly stood up and started walking back to the stage.
"Lia… The match is already over…" Her uncle said to her.
However, she ignored him and continued approaching the stage.
When Leo saw this, he remained on the stage and waited to see what she wanted to achieve.
Lia returned to the stage a moment later, stopping only when she was before Leo again.
"What do you want?" Leo asked her.
"That should be my question. You won the match, and according to our bet, as the loser, I am now yours. What do you want from me?"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"You're seriously going to take that seriously? I don't want you, so you can just forget about the bet. Though, I would appreciate it if you stop bothering me from now on." Leo said in a solemn voice.
Lia's body trembled when she heard his words, and she felt a prickling sensation in her heart, almost as though someone had poked it with a needle.
"Why…?" Lia suddenly mumbled in a weak voice.
"Why don't you want me…? Did I do something wrong?"
"Eh?" Leo was taken aback when he noticed a droplet of tear had suddenly formed in the corner of Lia's eyes.
'She's crying…?' He was truly shocked, as he didn't even think she was capable of producing tears.
"Wow! You actually made her cry!" Lilith hovered right beside him and stared at Lia's face together with him.
"I must say, Leo, you were a little too harsh just now. How can you tell a girl that you don't want her? You will be single for the rest of your life at this rate!" Lilith continued to speak.
"Shut up… I don't actually hate her. I just don't want to deal with the Scarlet Family and her stupid butler, and this is the best way I can think of that will distance us." He sighed.
"I'm sure there are other ways to go about this— ways that don't require you to make a girl cry." Lilith shook her head.
Leo rubbed his eyes and sighed.
He then said, "Alright, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said just now. I'm not really good with words, especially during these kinds of situations. Anyways, it's not that I don't want you. It's just that we live in two different worlds. You see, I am a commoner who is currently hated by the whole world and you're the Young Lady of the Scarlet Family. There's no way I can make you mine because your family will kill me if I do such a thing. If you understand, then—"
In the midst of his sentence, Lia suddenly moved.
She grabbed his collar and pulled him into her, connecting their lips together.
"WHAT?!"
The audience exclaimed out loud when they realized what Lia had just done.
"L-Lady Scarlet?!" Her teammates were so shocked that they fell on their buttocks.
As for her uncle, his eyes were popping out of its sockets.
"No way…" Valery and the others were also baffled.
"What a sudden turn of events…" Eve shook her head with a bittersweet smile on her face.
A few seconds later, Lia released Leo and spoke, "I don't care about that. If you cannot be mine, then I will be yours. It is as simple as that."
"..."
Leo was speechless. This was his first time kissing a girl, and he didn't know how to react.
Should he smile? Should he cry? What should he do?
"Umm… I'm sorry to disturb you lovebirds, but we're still in the middle of a tournament…" Thalia eventually broke the silence.
Leo snapped out of his daze when he heard Thalia's voice, and he quickly stepped away from Lia.
"Y-You heard her," he said in a trembling voice.
"This is not over yet, Leon. Once the tournament is over, I will come find you again." Lia said to him before turning around and walking off the stage.
"Once again, I am Leo, not Leon…" He sighed.
"I can't believe she actually kissed you." Lilith said with an amused smile on her face.
"How did it feel? Was that your first time kissing a woman?"
Leo completely ignored her.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSometime later, a group of people approached the stage to fix the destruction caused by Leo and Lia's fight.
While that happened, the people there talked about what happened between Leo and Lia nonstop.
"Fucking hell! Leo and Lia Scarlet were lovers?! Since when?!"
"I didn't even know Lia Scarlet could be capable of loving another human being!"
"Out of everything that has happened during this tournament, that was the most shocking part!"
"You little brat. How did you dominate the Scarlet Princess' heart?" Eve said to him when he returned to her side.
"There's nothing between us. She kissed me out of the blue." Leo sighed.
"Is it just me or are you blushing right now?" Eve continued to tease him.
This would continue until the stage was repaired.
"Do you still want to continue?" Eve asked him.
"I do." He nodded.
"Alright."
Leo approached the stage shortly after..
The audience were surprised to see him return to the stage.
"He's still going to fight after that crazy fight with Lia Scarlet? He should be out of mana by now!"
Leo's opponent entered the stage a moment later, but there was something off about this person.
His face was flushed with redness, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"You bastard… How dare you defile Lady Scarlet's innocent lips! I will fucking kill you, Leo Magnus!"
"Seriously…?" Leo was utterly speechless.