Ragnar's attention was caught by the voice that echoed across the hallway. The voice was so familiar that he could recognize it even if he was asleep.
As much as he told himself that he wanted nothing to do with the owner of the voice, his conscience wouldn't let him ignore it. Besides, he'd just check and make sure that it wasn't her, then go back to Roz immediately.
Ragnar silently prayed that he was just mistaken, but the closer he got, the clearer the voice was. He shut his eyes tight upon knowing that it was indeed . . . Silvia.
Silvia was alone for some reason, and she was facing another group called Dark Python — the group of her archenemy, Trixie, and her boyfriend. They were ganging up on her.
Ragnar didn't want anything to do with the situation.
He just wanted to confirm where the voice was coming from, and now that he had confirmed that it was indeed coming from his fiancée, he was out of there.
However, before he could turn back, Silvia noticed a big greenish body lurking beside the bookshelves, and her face brightened upon seeing the name on top of the player's head.
"Ragnar!" Silvia yelled, not considering whether others would recognize Ragnar. Nothing else mattered as long as she was saved.
Ragnar closed his eyes tight. The others would surely notice that it was him the moment that he answered Silvia's call.
Silvia might die, but she wouldn't suffer any penalty. As for him, his private life was in jeopardy.
So the best course of action this time was to . . . make a dash for it!
Ragnar swiftly ran for his life without looking back, leaving Silvia to defend herself.
"Ah! Ragnar!" Silvia gaped and couldn't believe that Ragnar would leave her alone.
No! She should have expected that from her cold fiancé.
Ragnar would rather escape from trouble than help her if it would bring him a little inconvenience.
Despite knowing that there was no love between them, still . . . he should have at least thought about the years that they had known each other!
Silvia stomped her feet and growled. "Come back here!"
She ran after Ragnar at full speed, leaving Trixie and her group dumbfounded and clueless as to what had just happened.
But that didn't matter. They wouldn't let Silvia get away — not when they had finally cornered her and could finally exact their revenge.
"After her!" Trixie ordered, and the situation immediately turned from horror, thriller, and action into a game of chase.
"Ragnar, help me!" Silvia yelled, eyes bloodshot as the wind splashed across her face from how fast she was running. However, she couldn't seem to close their distance.
Ragnar briefly glanced over his shoulder and gasped when Silvia and a group of players were onto him.
"Leave me alone. Why are you following me?" Ragnar hollered back.
"Stop right there and help me!" Silvia yelled in return.
"Don't pull me into your problems. Just log in to another server and leave me alone."
"I can't log in. That would make me a coward!"
"What kind of logic is that? Forget your pride and log in to another server, woman!"
Silvia couldn't log in to another server. Their group had just arrived on this server and hadn't even accumulated enough candy points.
It just so happened that they got separated along the way. It also just happened that she had shitty luck today and stumbled upon Trixie's group.
Silvia gritted her teeth, and her eyes were burning Ragnar's back. She took a deep breath. [Estoc] in hand and with a casual twist of her wrist, a series of invisible forces sliced through the air, aimed at Ragnar.
No damage was done since Ragnar's DEF was so high, but Silvia's skill had a knockback effect. Ragnar was pushed forward and lost his footing. He fell to the ground, face first.
"Ha! Got you!" Silvia said in glee, and before Ragnar could recover, she quickly leaped forward, landing on Ragnar's back and grappling him to the ground.
Silvia's soft breasts pressed against Ragnar's back, but the softness of her body didn't affect him one bit. If anything, he was annoyed and wanted to throw Silvia off his back.
But the woman's hand was tightly wrapped around his neck, while her legs were wrapped around his waist.
"Get off me!"
"Help me first!"
"Get off me, or I'll throw you to the ground!"
"Is that how you talk to your fiancée?"
Ragnar was about to retort, but Trixie and her group caught up.
Panting, Trixie laughed. "It's the end of the line Silvia. Come down there and fight me."
Silvia grinned, sweat trickling at the side of her cheek.
"Sure, I'll fight you. But one on one."
Trixie laughed and elegantly gave a half-shrug. "It's not my fault that you lost your team."
"You. The Orc there," Robert called. "If you don't want to get beaten, hand that woman over."
Ragnar would love to, but Silvia's hold on his neck tightened.
"Wait . . ." Trixie's eyes squinted, and she asked, "Are you . . . Ragnar Axis?"
At the mention of his name, the others murmured.
They took a good look at the Orc. It was hard to tell because of the maw on his mouth.
". . ."
Before Ragnar could deny anything, Silvia leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"They still have doubts. Help me get rid of them, or I'll tell them that it's really you."
"Y-you . . ."
"Help me just this once, and I won't bother you for a day," Silvia bargained.
Ragnar took a deep breath. "Don't bother me for one week. No messages, no calls, no dates."
"Do you hate me that much?"
"You're annoying and needy, and I'm tired of hearing your problems about how you can't get that perfect hair or that perfect nail color."
Silvia smacked Ragnar's head.
If someone saw her just now, they would think that she was a fraud. Silvia was a graceful and elegant woman who would never grapple an Orc.
"Fine," Silvia agreed. Ragnar would miss her presence anyway. It had always been like that. He would call and ask her out for dinner soon enough.
"Can you let go of me now?"
Silvia released him and faced Dark Python with a satisfied smirk on her face.
"This is Ragnar, one of my loyal fans who's head over heels on me." Silvia ignored Ragnar's pointed glare. "Be warned. He is strong."
( . . . continuation on NOTES)