The reason Isaac was putting Alice over Catherine right now was simple.
Alice was his wife, and Catherine was not.
Alice was Isaac’s responsibility.
He had no intention of calling her his wife and then running away from the responsibilities that came with it.
He cared for her too much to act like an irresponsible person.
"Alice?" he called out softly.
She remained silent.
Isaac watched her for a moment, feeling the weight of her quiet stare.
He could tell she had a lot she wanted to say, but she was holding it back.
She eventually shifted, stood up from the bathtub, and reached for the towel hanging nearby.
The sound of water dripping onto the floor echoed through the bathroom, but she didn’t speak. She dried herself slowly, and Isaac waited without pushing her.
After she finished, she finally turned toward him.
"Okay," she said. "But I want to talk with Professor Catherine first."
Isaac nodded, accepting the decision.
Alice left the bathroom, and Isaac let out a small sigh as the door closed behind her.
"I guess I should be happy she took the news better than last time," he muttered with a wry smile.
He shook his head at his own words and finished washing up before stepping out.
He dressed quickly and went downstairs for breakfast. The house felt calm, but Isaac could tell the atmosphere was slightly tense. It wasn’t surprising.
After he finished eating, Professor Catherine approached him with a bright smile.
That damned smile.
It made Isaac grind his teeth a little. Especially after what happened last night.
"Did you have a good sleep last night?" she asked casually.
"Yes," Isaac replied, trying not to sound irritated.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Leora watching them closely. Her eyes were narrowed, almost suspicious, like she was trying to figure out what happened while they were sleeping.
But since Isaac was alive and not bruised or anything, she didn’t say anything.
"The Overlord of Fortified City 22 has come to meet you," Professor Catherine finally said. The smile remained, but her tone became more serious.
"It’s about the Sinkhole Worms, right?" Isaac asked.
"Yes."
"Just as we thought. They approached us first."
Professor Catherine nodded slightly.
"They must think we have a lot of Verdant Baitseeds because the Florathi Princess is here. In their eyes, we can deal with the problem easily while they are the ones in danger," she said.
Isaac understood the reasoning. He didn’t blame them for coming.
He headed toward the living room where Overlord Aurora was waiting.
Aurora looked younger than he expected. Her half-lidded eyes made her seem like she was minutes away from falling asleep. But her appearance didn’t hide her beauty, which was soft and almost disarming.
Even so, Isaac could see the frustration behind her relaxed expression.
She had every reason to be frustrated.
He had already started attracting a lot of customers in her city. If he stopped selling there and moved everything to his own city, races from other places would come to him instead.
Fortified City 22 would lose a huge chunk of business.
And on top of that, the Sinkhole Worm problem had shown up.
"Hello, Archmage," Isaac greeted politely. Archmage was her official title.
"It’s nice to meet you too," Aurora said with a slow smile. "I apologize for not coming to greet you when you visited my city. I was injured due to a contract backlash."
"It’s fine. Don’t worry about it."
They took their seats on opposite sofas to begin the negotiation.
The calm air around Aurora shifted slightly, showing she was more serious than she looked.
...
Alice POV
Alice walked toward the study room with steady footsteps.
She paused at the door for a second before opening it.
Inside, she found Professor Catherine sitting behind the desk, reading a thick book. The soft light from the small lamp beside her made the scene feel calm, almost too calm for the conversation they were about to have.
When Catherine noticed her, she closed the book gently and looked up.
"You’re here," she said. "I was wondering when you would come."
Alice didn’t move from the doorway at first. She stood still and stared at Catherine without speaking.
"Don’t just stand there. Come sit," Catherine said with a small smile.
Alice walked to the chair across from her and sat down quietly.
"So," Catherine began, "Isaac told you about us?"
"He did," Alice answered.
She looked Catherine directly in the eyes.
"Do... you love him?"
Alice’s own voice surprised her. She could hear the small hope in her tone, a hope she didn’t want to admit was there. A hope that wanted Catherine to say no.
Catherine only smiled at the question.
If this had happened weeks ago, Alice would have been furious at the idea of another woman loving Isaac.
But now she was trying to understand. She was trying to adjust.
It was hard. But she was trying.
"Yes, I do," Catherine replied calmly. "Don’t tell him, of course. It’s more fun to tease him."
Alice’s fingers curled slowly into fists on her lap.
"Why...?" she whispered. "Why did you let me and Emily meet him?"
Catherine didn’t look surprised.
She probably expected the question.
"You’re asking why I let him get close to other women if I loved him?" she asked.
"Yes." Alice swallowed. "I don’t understand you. You love him so much that you would die for him. So why? Why did you let him go to others when you could have kept him for yourself? Don’t you hate it when he looks at someone else with love?"
Catherine watched her quietly.
It was clear that question wasn’t directed at Catherine alone.
Alice was asking herself the same thing.
For the first time in this conversation, Catherine let the playful mask drop.
"I... thought I would never be with him," she said softly.
Alice listened without interrupting.
"When I lived with Mother, my future was already decided. I would be raised as a weapon and then handed over to some unknown Lord. That was the only path I saw. Train, grow stronger, and then serve someone chosen for me."
She paused for a moment.
"Then Master saved me. Because of her, I could come back to the city. But... I still couldn’t be with Isaac."
Her voice was steady, but there was a quiet ache under it.
"I was already at Champion rank. And with my physique, I couldn’t even kiss him without risking his life. The gap was too big. The only way was to wait for him to get stronger, strong enough to stand beside me. But..."
A hollow laugh escaped her.
"That was impossible. My talent is... high. Even though I need ten times more EXP to level up, I’m still ahead of people my age.
"So what were the chances Isaac could reach me? He was just a human with less than a one percent chance to awaken anything above a C-rank talent."
Her eyes lowered for a second.
"No matter how I looked at it, being together with him was impossible."
Alice didn’t speak.
Catherine continued in a quieter tone.
"But I didn’t want Isaac to be alone. That’s why I let him get close to you. You had power, money, a strong family, people around you. If he could be with you, he would be safe. He would be happy."
Alice felt her chest tighten, but she didn’t interrupt.
"That’s also why I pushed him toward Emily. She could give him things I couldn’t. She could stay beside him without hurting him. She could hold his hand. She could be there."
Catherine breathed out slowly.
"I just wanted him to live a good life... even if that life wasn’t with me."