How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game

Chapter 760: Liyana’s Complexion

In the middle of the night, a young woman sat quietly atop one of the academy’s rooftops.

The night breeze passed through her long white hair, causing the strands to sway gently beneath the moonlight.

Her pale complexion almost seemed to glow beneath the silver light of the moon, making her appearance look almost otherworldly.

Yet her crimson eyes were anything but peaceful.

They were fixed upon a church in the distance.

More specifically, they were staring directly at the radiant light surrounding it.

Liyana narrowed her eyes.

"How secretive of you, Darling~"

Her voice carried a faint trace of annoyance.

The church was surrounded by a sacred radiance that wasn’t truly visible to ordinary people. It was a protective barrier woven from divine power, one strong enough to interfere with even her perception.

That alone was unusual.

Liyana’s clairvoyance was powerful enough to pierce through most barriers.

Walls.

Magic.

Spatial distortions.

Even certain forms of concealment that would normally hide someone from ordinary observation were meaningless before her eyes.

Yet the church had become strangely difficult to observe.

She couldn’t see what was happening inside.

And that irritated her.

Not because she was particularly interested in the church itself.

No.

Her interest was in the person currently inside it.

Riley.

Liyana’s lips curled into a faint smile.

"I know you’re rather favorable toward women, Darling..."

Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

"But it still surprises me how favorable you are toward the gods as well."

She leaned back slightly, resting one hand against the rooftop behind her.

"Not only is that little vixen made of black goo interested in you..."

Her expression became slightly more annoyed.

"...but there’s even that golden one."

Liyana clicked her tongue softly.

"Truly troublesome."

She remembered the strange beings surrounding Riley.

Liyana could tolerate ordinary rivals.

But gods were different.

They existed outside the rules that governed ordinary life.

And Riley was somehow becoming involved with them.

That was what bothered her.

For a brief moment, her thoughts drifted back toward their childhood.

Back then, things had been so much simpler.

Riley had always been there.

He had been her convenient shield whenever unwanted marriage proposals came her way, and she had never thought particularly deeply about it.

He was simply Riley.

Her childhood companion.

Her future husband.

Someone who had always been there.

She hadn’t realized how much that simple certainty had meant to her.

Not until it was threatened.

Now everything was different.

The feelings that had once been buried beneath childhood familiarity had grown into something much stronger.

Something she could no longer ignore.

Something that had become almost impossible to separate from her own identity.

Liyana slowly brought a hand to her chest.

Her heart still belonged to Riley.

It wasn’t beating yes but... it did one time and it did beat rapidly in another reality.

That much had never changed.

And if anything...

Her desire to keep him had only become stronger.

After all, Riley belonged to her.

Didn’t he?

Her smile slowly returned.

"I can tolerate the sisters to an extent..."

Snow.

Alice.

Rose.

Seo.

Liyana had already become aware of their existence and their relationship with Riley.

To her, they weren’t particularly threatening.

At least, not yet.

They were simply women who had become attached to Riley.

Perhaps temporary companions.

Perhaps concubines.

Perhaps something more.

But Liyana wasn’t particularly bothered.

She could tolerate them.

They were still beings who belonged to this world.

She could understand them.

She could compete with them.

And if necessary, she could simply remind them of where they stood.

But gods?

That was different.

Liyana’s crimson eyes returned to the church.

Her smile disappeared.

"...But involving beings that don’t belong to this world..."

Her voice became quieter.

"...is starting to cross one of my lines, Darling."

There was no anger in her voice.

That almost made it more unsettling.

It was simply a statement.

A boundary.

Liyana had always been possessive.

But as a dragon, there was something deeper behind that possessiveness.

Dragons coveted what they considered precious.

They treasured what belonged to them.

And once a dragon decided that something was theirs, sharing it was never an instinct that came naturally.

Riley was no exception.

If anything, he was the greatest treasure Liyana had ever decided to claim.

She had tolerated the others because she believed she could afford to.

But these goddesses were different.

They could give Riley things she couldn’t.

Power.

Divinity.

Knowledge.

A connection to realms beyond the natural order.

And worst of all...

They could reach parts of Riley that Liyana herself couldn’t.

That thought irritated her more than she wanted to admit.

Her crimson eyes narrowed.

"I wonder..."

She tilted her head.

"What exactly did you receive from that goddess tonight, Darling?"

The golden goddess.

Eris.

Liyana’s expression became slightly more serious as she continued staring at the distant church.

If Riley truly intended to develop his Divine powers, then there was a possibility that Eris could give him exactly what he needed to interfere with the natural order surrounding Liyana.

After all...

Liyana was fated to devour this world.

That was the future written into her existence.

The conclusion of her Authority.

The destiny that had been assigned to her long before she ever understood what it meant.

And yet, even within that future, there had always been one thing she wanted.

Riley.

Even if the world ended.

Even if the heavens fell.

Even if the plans of the Grand Creator and the Architect, or the countless laws governing causality and providence, demanded that she become the destroyer of everything...

None of it mattered to her.

If the world had to end, then so be it.

If fate told her that she could never be with Riley, then she would simply reject fate itself.

She had already seen realities where she and Riley were happy together.

Those worlds might have been temporary.

They might have been impossible.

They might have been nothing more than fleeting possibilities among countless branches of causality.

But to Liyana, they were proof.

Proof that there was a future in which she could remain beside him.

And if fate itself stood between her and that future...

Then fate could be discarded.

She would cut it away herself.

Liyana had never been particularly concerned with what the world wanted.

She only cared about what she wanted.

And what she wanted was Riley.

But now...

Her crimson eyes narrowed.

Things had become considerably more complicated.

Riley had surrounded himself with more and more people.

For the first time in a very long time, Liyana genuinely felt threatened by the women surrounding him.

It wasn’t simply jealousy.

There was something more fundamental behind it.

Her relationship with Riley had become tangled with his fate.

With her own fate.

With the Authority she possessed.

With the future in which she would eventually devour the world.

Those things were still connected to him.

But if Riley continued growing stronger...

If he continued developing his own Divinity and Authority...

What would happen if someone helped him sever those connections?

What would happen if the golden goddess gave him the means to escape the fate that had always tied them together?

Liyana’s smile faded.

For the first time in a long while, the thought genuinely unsettled her.

Of course...

She could simply eliminate the women around him.

It would be easy.

At least, some of them.

She could remove the obstacles one by one before they became serious problems.

But then she imagined Riley’s expression.

His eyes.

His voice.

The hatred he would direct toward her if he discovered that she had deliberately harmed the people he cared about.

Liyana’s expression twitched.

"...No."

She shook her head.

That wasn’t an option.

Not because she couldn’t do it.

But because Riley would hate her.

And that was something she couldn’t accept.

Years ago, she wouldn’t have even considered such a thing.

If someone stood between her and what she wanted, she would have simply removed them.

Simple.

But Riley had changed that part of her.

Or perhaps...

She had changed because of Riley.

Liyana sighed.

"This feeling really is complicated..."

She swung her legs gently over the edge of the rooftop before pushing herself away from it.

"And you’re making things really difficult, Darling~"

She slowly rose into the air.

Her white hair drifted behind her as she floated above the academy, her crimson eyes once again glancing toward the distant church.

For now, however, she wouldn’t interfere.

Not yet.

From what she could tell, Riley was currently focused on developing his Divine powers.

If that was what he wanted to do, she could afford to let him.

In fact...

It was convenient for her as well.

The stronger Riley became, the better.

If he could truly transcend the limitations placed upon him by his mortal existence, then eventually he might become strong enough to stand beside her.

Perhaps strong enough to survive what was coming.

Perhaps strong enough to reach those happy futures she had once seen.

"Well..."

Liyana turned away from the church.

"For now, I’ll let you play with your new powers."

She smiled faintly.

"I won’t interfere too much."

She already knew that Riley had transcended his mortal soul.

He had become something beyond an ordinary human.

A god with an Authority of his own.

That alone was enough to make Liyana curious.

So when she discovered that he had been interacting with Eris, the Goddess of Light, it hadn’t exactly surprised her.

It had simply annoyed her.

Of all the beings Riley could have become involved with...

Why did it have to be another goddess?

Still, she couldn’t deny that Eris’s involvement could ultimately benefit Riley.

And Riley becoming stronger was something Liyana wanted.

As long as that strength eventually brought him closer to her.

"Uhn~"

Liyana stretched lazily in midair.

Then her expression changed slightly.

"Speaking of getting stronger..."

She glanced at her own hands.

There were still restrictions placed upon her.

Seals.

Layers of limitations that prevented her from freely accessing the entirety of her true power.

Liyana had deliberately left them in place for quite some time.

But now..

She was beginning to reconsider.

"I really should release these seals on my soul soon."

Her crimson eyes narrowed.

"If I don’t..."

A faint, dangerous smile appeared on her lips.

"...dealing with that black goo around Darling might become troublesome."

But she wasn’t going to act yet.

There was no need to rush.

For now, Riley was growing stronger.

And so was she.

Eventually, their paths would cross again.

Liyana looked toward the moonlit sky.

"Just wait for me, Darling."

Her smile softened.

"I’ll make sure we have plenty of time together... there’s also that strange boy as well... oh well~"

With those final words, her presence disappeared from the rooftop.

The night became silent once more.

Only the distant church remained illuminated beneath the moon, completely unaware of the dragon who had been watching it from afar.