Chapter 172 No one sleeps tonight

Chapter 172 No one sleeps tonight

Chapter 172 No one sleeps tonight
"Sorry, I seem to be eating in a hurry."

After noticing Anna's suspicious look, Princess Veronica did not panic because of her exposure. Instead, she took the initiative to speak frankly, a little embarrassed:
"A lot of unexpected things happened today. First, your brother suddenly proposed to me, and then I was attacked by the rebels. As a result, I haven't eaten anything since this morning. I just couldn't help myself and made you laugh."

I see……

Seeing the princess who admitted without hesitation that she was "eating and drinking for free", and remembering her elegant demeanor even though she was a little hasty, Anna's suspicion faded a little, and then she was attracted by the new topic she brought up, and asked with some concern:

"So...how is Leon? You were together today, right? Since you were attacked by the mob, was he injured?"

"Don't worry, although he ran into a little trouble and his shoulder was hit by... a small stone, the wound is probably healed now."

After answering about Leon's situation, looking at the sickly girl in front of her who was obviously relieved, Princess Veronica couldn't help but smile, then took Anna's hand and said in a friendly manner:
"To be honest, I was really scared when I saw you just now."

"what?"

After hearing what her "sister-in-law" said, the sickly girl couldn't help but tremble slightly, as if her hidden thoughts were seen through, and she forced a smile and said:
"Why... why?"

"Of course it's because of you."

The princess, who had no food to eat and no place to live, was in urgent need of a place to stay. She used her communication skills in the political world to praise with a smile:

“Although Leon told me that he has a sister who is about his age, he never told me that you are so beautiful.”

Looking at the frail girl beside her who lowered her head somewhat shyly due to the praise, even in a simple white dress, she still couldn't hide her beauty, Princess Veronica couldn't help but try to hug her slender waist, then she sighed with three parts of flattery and seven parts of sincerity:
“Really… You’re so beautiful that I’m a little jealous, especially your waist… Oh, really… When Leon and I get married, you must be my bridesmaid!
But you have to promise me not to dress too pretty, otherwise the guests won’t even look at me, their eyes will just be glued to you, and I’ll be so embarrassed.”

"It's not that exaggerated..."

Anna felt a little embarrassed by what Princess Veronica said, and two blushes appeared on her fair cheeks. She waved her hands repeatedly to show that she was not as good as she said.

After suppressing the bitterness in her heart, Anna sighed quietly in her heart as she looked at the beautiful, graceful, well-built, and sweet-spoken woman in front of her. She then held the princess' hand and said,
"Sister... Sister, you are really beautiful, and you have such a... good figure. Even if I dress nicely, everyone's attention will definitely be attracted by you... By the way, how old are you this year, sister?"

How old am I...

After hearing Anna's question, the princess's expression froze slightly, and then she forced a smile and said vaguely:
"As for me, I'm a little bit older than your brother..."

A little bit older? My brother is sixteen this year, a little bit older is... seventeen or eighteen? Eighteen or nineteen?

After hearing this, Anna thought about it, looked at the mature and charming plump beauty in front of her, and finally said a little more broadly, tentatively:

"Sister, are you... already twenty years old?"

What I mean is... do I look like someone who is not even twenty years old?

After hearing Anna's question, the princess, who was a beauty of 28 years, couldn't help but feel happy, and the smile on her face became more than a hundred times more sincere.

Leon’s sister is not only beautiful and gentle, but also speaks so sweetly and cooks deliciously. Oh, it’s really... I came to the right place today!
"Yeah, that's about right!"

After shamelessly agreeing to Anna's guess, the smiling princess pulled her aside and continued chatting. As both sides were interested in making friends with each other, the topic seemed to have no end, and they continued chatting until late at night.

……

"Oops, I was having so much fun chatting that I accidentally forgot the time!"

The princess had been glancing out the window with the corner of her eye. Seeing that most of the street lights had gone out and estimating that the last public carriage had left, she immediately stood up with a look of annoyance on her face and said:
"I just wanted to come and see you, but I didn't expect to bother you for so long. I'm so sorry. I should go now!"

Is it already so late?
Seeing the street turned dark because most of the street lights were turned off, Anna quickly stood up and stopped them:

"No, no, it's already so late, sister, why don't you just stay here today!"

"Why is this so embarrassing?"

"What's the big deal? You're going to get married sooner or later. You're just staying here for one night."

"But Leon and I haven't really gotten married yet. Isn't it a bit too much to stay overnight now..."

"It's okay. He's not at home. Besides, it's so late now. Maybe the last bus has already left. What if you encounter danger on the way?"

"Then...okay..."

Unable to resist the kind invitation of her future sister-in-law, the "reserved" princess was taken to Lyon's house to stay after reluctantly agreeing to stay overnight.

After comparing her own clothes with hers and finding that her sister-in-law would definitely not be able to wear them, Anna thoughtfully found a few of Lyon's old clothes and placed them at the head of the bed in the room.

After picking up the old clothes and comparing them, and finding that the size was just right, Princess Veronica smiled and thanked them:

"Thank you, I'm sorry to bother you today."

"You're welcome. After all, you are... um... it seems a little late."

Looking at the princess who yawned quietly and had droopy eyelids, Anna smiled and said:
"Sister, you've been tired all day, so I won't disturb you to rest. My room is next door, so you can call me if you need anything."

"Okay, please."

After sending Anna out of the room, taking off her ill-fitting skirt and changing into Leon's old clothes, the sleepiness on the princess's face suddenly disappeared.

After silently pulling open the quilt and crawling in, she, who had just looked tired, sighed softly, lay on her back on Leon's small bed, and stared fixedly at the slightly shabby ceiling above her head.

It is of course impossible to fall asleep. The original princess has already gathered all the conditions and is only one step away from fulfilling her dream.

But in the blink of an eye, he inexplicably disappeared from everyone's memory. He couldn't even go home, and had to rely on the intelligence he had about Leon to get food and shelter so as not to end up on the streets.

Now she needs enough time to think, to ponder her future, and to find ways to get back everything she has lost. For Princess Veronica, tonight is probably destined to be a sleepless night.

However, she was not the only one who was destined to be unable to sleep tonight. Anna next door was the same.

……

My brother is really getting married...

Lying on the bed without any sleepiness, staring at the ceiling above her head for a while, the sickly girl couldn't help but turn her head and look in the direction of Leon's room.

The sudden appearance of this beautiful "sister-in-law" completely broke the fact that Anna was most reluctant to face... Leon would get married sooner or later.

Once Leon has his own family, with his own wife and children, even if he still recognizes his sister who has no blood relationship with him, they are destined not to be as close as they are now.

At that time, Leon would probably move out, and the woman who would keep meals for him and wait for him to come back under the lights every day would become another woman, no longer herself...

Besides that, there is also that strange man who looks like he is crying!
Thinking back to the mysterious man who had "visited" her a few days ago, Anna felt a chill all over her body. She couldn't help but shrink into the quilt, and then looked at the next room with a very complicated expression. If that man really took the "photo" and made Leon forget everything, the original self could still try to find him and see if he could become a family with him again in another way.

But now, my brother has found someone to marry, so...can I still stay with him? Will my family...still exist?

With a heart full of melancholy and worry, after staring at Leon's room for a while, Anna thought of the woman who was so perfect that she had no way to deal with her, and couldn't even hate her. Some extremely strong and strange thoughts vaguely emerged in her troubled thoughts.

If...if I were her...how great would that be?
……

"Zi..."

A somewhat strange sound came from the small mirror that Leon used to store things, and Youha, who was secretly grinding his teeth on the barrel of a sniper rifle, was startled.

"Woof?!"

(What the hell?!)
After releasing the sniper barrel in his mouth, Youha shook the little golden hair on his head, turned around and looked at the pile of debris thrown in by Leon. He carefully stretched out his paws and dug around, and found the thing that was making the strange noise.

"Wangwu?"

(This photo... is a little weird, right?)

Looking at the strange photo in which the ground was shaking slightly and the figures on it changed into three people and then into one person, Youha tilted his head in surprise and felt that he should tell Leon about this.

“Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

(Leon! Something happened, Leon! Take the mirror out of your pocket!)

However, Leon didn't know what was going on. Youha kept calling out to the outside world in the small mirror for a long time, and even stretched out his head to nudge him, but still didn't get any response.

After turning around a few times, the somewhat anxious Youha sniffed his shiny black nose, smelled the scent on Leon's body, and moved along the edge of the constantly changing mirror world, and finally found an exit that was relatively close to Leon.

"Woof woo... woof woo..."

(So ​​he was drunk... Humans are really unreliable...)
The dog's head poked out from the whiskey bottle, and after taking a look at Leon, who was lying on the table with a dazed look, Youha couldn't help but curl his lips speechlessly, and then he was ready to try to wake him up by biting him, and tell Leon that the photo he put into the mirror world had undergone strange changes, but...

"Why? Do you want to try one too?"

Stretching out his red nails painted with carmine, he pinched the skin on the back of Youha's neck and lifted him out of the bottle of whiskey. Then, the drunken red-haired director chuckled, and ignoring Youha's terrified expression, he picked up a bottle of wine and drank it.

"You're welcome. It's my treat today! Whether you're a human or a dog, I'll make sure you all drink to your heart's content!"

"Wang! Wang Wang Wang!"

(Me! I don't @#￥%!)
"Zi..."

Just when the unlucky Youha ran into the hands of the red-haired director and was forced to replace Leon as the drinking companion Xiao Wang, the photos that kept making strange noises in the mirror world finally gradually quieted down.

When the last strange twisting stopped, the family portrait in the photo completely disappeared, replaced by a plump and pretty young woman who looked exactly like Princess Veronica.

……

"drop!"

Just as the family portrait in the photo turned into the smiling Princess Veronica, a somewhat harsh noise suddenly rang out, waking up the drowsy old man in the recliner next to him.

This is? !
Following the shrill noise, he looked down at the watch on his wrist, and found that all six hands had moved. The old man, who had curved eyebrows, a kind face and a natural smile, suddenly widened his eyes in surprise.

All right! The last condition is also met!

He raised his wrist to look at the last pointer that had just moved, and found that the number that appeared was 0006. The smiling old man... or the Aquarius director, was slightly startled.

0006? Didn’t this fail?
Director Aquarius stood up from the recliner with a suspicious look on his face, walked to the table and sat down. Then he opened the drawer of the table, took out a thick notebook with "Full number record of test products" labeled on it, and began to flip through it quickly.

“0006…0006…got it!”

After taking a quick look at the records and confirming that it was the thing he knew, Director Aquarius frowned and thought for a while. He picked up the pen and wrote a few lines. Then he tore off the page about Test Product No. 6, turned the notebook to the back cover, and put this page of records together with the other five.

……

No.: 0006
Name: Anna Lane

Form: Photo
Grant level: Highest

Target ability: Replace identity, modify the past

Test details: Using the test subject's desire for a happy family, induce him to have the idea of ​​replacing someone else, and choose the carrier as a photo representing the past, memories, and experiences, so as to cultivate functional anomalies with the ability of "replacing identity" and "modifying the past".

Record 1: Failed.

After learning of her parents' death, the subject developed an extreme desire for family. However, after being guided to see a large number of happy families, she did not develop the urge to replace the other party's children. Instead, she was more eager to find her own parents.

Note: Because the test subject's family environment is relatively happy, he is not envious of other people's lives, but that they have real families. It is recommended to give up cultivating the "substitution" ability and instead induce him to resist reality and have the idea of ​​changing the past.

Record 2: Failed.

Even after witnessing the process of his parents' pension being embezzled and being kicked out of the house where he had lived since childhood, the test subject still had no thoughts of resisting reality, and did not seem to hope that his parents could really be resurrected.

Note: The induction failed because although the test subject was very young, he had a strong will and had understood the meaning of death. He did not believe that his parents could be resurrected. He was also naturally kind and had not been completely disappointed in human nature.

Record 3: Failed.

The test subject activated the anomaly, but the effect was completely inconsistent with the target's ability, and it went from replacing identities and modifying the past to regaining his family.

Note: The experiment is temporarily sealed. After the test subject reaches adulthood and his/her mental state is completely stable and unchanged, we will try to recover him/her and find another test subject with similar qualities.

Record 4: Total failure!
After a return visit, I found that although the test subject's spirit had not yet completely stabilized, he had destroyed the anomaly he created with his own hands and denied the meaning of the anomaly's existence from the bottom of his heart. After being repeatedly stimulated intentionally by me, his state did not show any new changes, and the experiment had almost no chance of success.

Note: Because the test subject's "family" accidentally joined the Cleanup Bureau's Virgin Branch, the photo anomalies created by the test subject were controlled by Blood-Haired Princess, making it extremely difficult to retrieve them.

Record 5: Success?
When he was about to fall asleep at night, the [Dream Watch] was suddenly activated, and the suspected test subject's spirit was greatly shocked. His desires changed, causing corresponding changes in the anomaly, and the new abilities just met the "replacement" and "modification" standards.

Note: To be verified.

(End of this chapter)