“Another Summoner?”

Chapter 44: You Love Me For Not Loving You?

Splash. Splash.

Warm water cascaded over Lisa’s bare shoulders, washing away the exhaustion and the lingering traces of the passionate night they had shared. She leaned back against Loki’s chest, letting out a soft, contented sigh as she succumbed to the uncharacteristic luxury of being thoroughly pampered.

"Hey, Loki?" Lisa murmured, her eyes tracing the steam rising from the bath. "Why did you want to sleep with me last night? I mean, we were just studying those rare books and having a good time, weren't we? Are you really just a lecherous rogue who wanted my body?"

Loki smiled, his expression softening as he ran a soapy, gentle hand along her skin, enjoying her warmth. He couldn't help but marvel at how striking she was, her voluptuous figure easily rivaling Shehuang’s as the most alluring among his lovers.

"You really are breathtaking, Lisa," Loki replied, his voice a low, comforting rumble. "But that isn't the only reason I wanted to be with you. It wasn't just a fleeting impulse or lust."

Curiosity piqued, Lisa turned around in the water, wrapping her arms around his neck to look directly into his vivid green eyes. Her full chest pressed flush against his as she searched his face, her expression a mix of challenge and earnest vulnerability.

"Did you think you needed to conquer my heart to ensure my loyalty then?" she asked softly.

Mwah. Loki leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. "In that moment, I realized I fell for you precisely because you didn't love me. We started out with friction, but building an honest friendship from those classes made everything click. I just knew at that very moment you were the woman I wanted by my side forever."

Lisa fell silent, her sharp mind meticulously dissecting his words as he gently washed her back. After a few moments, a small smile touched her lips.

"You mean... because we didn't like each other at first and fought, we had to actually learn who the other person was," she mused. "We built something substantial. And last night, under the influence of alcohol, you just decided to take a leap of faith on that bond. Right?"

Loki gazed deeply into her blue eyes, a rogueish smirk returning to his lips. "It also helps that I find you incredibly captivating. Blonde hair and blue eyes are exactly my weakness. Your thighs feel incredible to touch, your ass is gorgeous, and I love the way you react when I kiss your chest."

Smack! Lisa puckered her lips in a mock pout and playfully swatted his chest, but she froze when his teasing smirk dissolved into a genuinely soft, warm smile.

"You lying bastard!" she teased, a deep flush coloring her cheeks. "You fell for me because you love teasing me and making me angry!"

Mwah. Loki caught her lips in a lingering kiss that Lisa eagerly met. When they parted, he chuckled. "Whenever I tease you, you're just too cute when you're mad. Your Lightning nature makes you so spirited and quick to react. Even though you're incredibly brilliant, you get so flustered that you become delightfully impulsive."

Lisa stared at him, deeply moved by how well he captured her hidden emotional landscape. Her hand rose gently to cup his cheek, her fingers lightly brushing against the slight swelling around his eye where he had been struck.

"I care for you because you are an insufferable rogue and a scoundrel," she whispered, her voice softening. "But as reckless as you are, you are intelligent, self-sacrificing, and deeply caring. Even when you completely piss me off, I find myself wanting you to keep doing it... Is that strange?"

"I think you just enjoy being challenged, and I'm the guy who wants to challenge you," Loki replied, leaning into her touch. "So it makes sense, even if it shouldn't. Though honestly, my brain is starting to hurt from thinking too much. Thorin really did hit me hard today."

Lisa sat up, the water glistening on her skin as her mid-length hair dripped onto her shoulders. She smiled warmly down at him. "Last night, you looked truly happy to have me in your arms. Thank you."

Loki stood up alongside her. Lisa’s eyes instinctively flicked downward, a brief flash of playful apprehension crossing her face as she remembered the sheer, ungodly intensity of his affection from the night before. But Loki merely extended his hand with an open, inviting smile.

"Take my hand, and let me love and annoy you forever, Lisa Swallow," he murmured. "I want you to teach me everything you know, everything you like, and everything you want."

She placed her hand firmly in his. "Focus more on the 'love' and less on the 'annoy,' if you please," she countered with a mature, knowing smile.

With a swift incantation, Loki used <Minor Air Utility> magic to conjure a warm breeze, drying them both instantly before they dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Later that morning, a grand carriage traveled through the city toward the estate of Marquee Sky for lunch and Loki's scheduled brewery work. Sylvia, Shade, Ayala, and Lisa accompanied him, while the rest of the household stayed behind to rest or train.

Ayala and Shade accompanied Loki to the cellars to oversee the mundane brewing process—one observing for the pure "art of drinking," and the other simply because she loved him too much to leave his side. Meanwhile, up in the drawing-room, Sylvia and Lisa reviewed the strategic intelligence regarding the North, Castle Albion, and Thorin’s sudden appointment to the royal family's guard.

"Marquee Sky wanted to issue a full pardon to Count Swallow," Sylvia noted quietly.

Lisa shook her head firmly. "We shouldn't. It is better to let Queen Angelica believe she still holds leverage over everyone. If she feels cornered, she will panic and do something unpredictable. Let her think she has the upper hand."

When the business concluded, the group split up. They dropped Sylvia and Shade off at the secure "Post-office" storefront to be transported home, and then dropped Lisa off at her academy apartment. Alone in the carriage on the final leg of the journey, Loki pulled Ayala into his arms, holding her tight against him.

"Loki, cuddling an Amazon doesn't really do anything for me, you know?" Ayala murmured, her voice even.

"But I like it," Loki replied simply.

Ayala was silent for a long moment. Then, she leaned her weight fully into his chest. "I guess it doesn't bother me. Do what you want."

Loki smiled inwardly. She secretly adored the affection; she simply didn't know how to initiate tenderness on her own. Mwah. He leaned down and slowly kissed her, letting his hands wander just enough to remind her that he was a devil who always got his way.

Meanwhile, inside the private living quarters of Castle Albion, the atmosphere was thick with tension.

"I hate her, Mother... I hate them all!"

Queen Leandra Breeze watched her eighteen-year-old daughter with a heavy, aching heart. In all of Lana’s life, the half-elf princess had never once used the word "hate"—not even when she was being openly blackmailed and manipulated by the court.

"Is there anything I can do, Lana?" Leandra asked softly.

"Can you go back in time and stop them from humiliating him just to control me?" Lana cried, tears falling faster than her mother could wipe them away. "He got hurt and betrayed because of our secret. I hate our secret, Mother! The person I like was struck right in front of me, and I couldn't say a word, do a thing, or even comfort him. I just hate them."

Leandra sighed, wishing she could make Queen Angelica vanish into thin air, though she knew it was a fantasy. "Are you certain you truly like this boy, Lana? You haven't known him very long. Could it be a simple crush? You used to feel this way about Thorin, too."

Lana pouted deeply at her mother, her half-elf heritage causing her emotions to fluctuate with an intensity humans rarely understood.

"Both Auntie Ayala and now even Lisa are his lovers, so why is it strange that I like him? I did like Thorin before, but that was before I actually knew either of them," Lana argued defensively. "Thorin is talented, strong, and handsome. He would look good as a husband on paper, but he is riddled with flaws. He is deeply jealous of his brother, driven by lust, and he literally struck Loki just to keep him away from the woman he considers his prize. Thorin loves my title and my looks. He thinks I'm property he deserves."

Lana paused, her expression shifting to one of profound awe. "But Loki... Loki would rather break his own heart and give up on love than hurt his family. He doesn't want me for my position or my appearance. He doesn't think he owns me. He treats me like a free, commoner girl that he just wants to protect and pamper like a little sister... yet I know in his soul he wants to be my husband for the right reasons. I know I should technically hate him, but seeing how purely good he is makes me want him completely."

Leandra knew her daughter possessed a rare spiritual sensitivity; Lana could read the deep currents of a person's soul and even catch the faint, lingering echoes of past lives.

"You said you should hate him," Leandra noted carefully. "Do you think you and Loki were enemies in a past life?"

Lana placed a hand over her racing heart and nodded. "It feels like he betrayed me long ago. He had his virtues, but my soul remembers being furious with him. Yet in this life, he is different. He makes me want to love him instead. He's a troublemaker and a trickster, but he changes. He gives me the advice I need to survive the vipers in this court without asking for a single thank you or trying to make me indebted to him."

Lana’s voice hitched. "He wants to save me, but he knows he doesn't have the strength yet, so he pushes me away to force me to grow stronger. It makes me angry, but he's right. Those dirty politicians would kill him to get to me. Today... I could feel Loki’s soul crying on the inside."

"Why was his soul crying?" Leandra asked.

Lana closed her eyes, trying to translate the metaphysical weights she felt. "Because he is trapped. If Loki loves me, his brother will suffer. If Loki doesn't love me, he will suffer. And if I love Loki, he suffers worst of all because he won't be able to resist me. He is a moth, and my affection is the fire... but his soul is missing its fire."

Leandra stiffened slightly, recognizing the dangerous weight of a prophecy unfolding in her daughter's words. Like most prophecies, acting on it directly usually only made things worse.

"So what will you do?" Leandra asked quietly. "Will you let him go to save him from that fate, or will you make him suffer more for your own selfishness?"

Lana puffed out her chest and her cheeks, her posture suddenly shifting into an arrogant, regal stance. "If he wronged me in a past life, then I will make him pay for it in this one! I am going to burn him in my fire. I won't stop loving him, even if it brings him suffering. Humph!"

"Then that isn't love, Lana. That's just selfishness."

"No, that is love—pursuing exactly what you want!" Lana declared fiercely. "In this life, Loki Sky is going to look at me and tell me he loves me. Every single morning!"

Leandra blinked, slightly bewildered. "Why specifically every morning?"

Lana looked at her mother as if the Queen were being intentionally dense. After all, Lana had frequently heard the inappropriate, passionate noises coming from her parents' chambers when they thought the castle walls were thick enough to hide her father's dynamic affection.

Leandra cleared her throat, breaking the sudden awkward silence to ask the burning question she had held back. "You mentioned my student, Lisa, was with Loki. How could you possibly know that?"

Lana blushed, a wicked, knowing grin spreading across her face. "How could I not sense the shift in Electricity magic between you, me, and her? Besides, I saw the magic ring you gave Lisa right as she was grabbing her panties this morning. I can see the spiritual marks, Mother. I know she gave her virginity to Loki. I saw it!"

Leandra winced. Only a tight inner circle knew that she herself had missed consummating her own marriage on her wedding night due to an untimely cycle and her core formation, only for her husband to be killed shortly thereafter before they ever had another chance.

"Sigh... Lana, dear, what am I going to do with you?"

"Let me marry Loki!"

Queen Leandra wanted to shake some sense into her stubborn daughter, but looking at her tear-stained, resolute face, she felt a wave of maternal defeat. "The absolute best I can do for you right now is ensure you aren't forced to marry someone you despise. Is that enough?"

"Loki!" Lana insisted.

"Your mother is in a severe political bind right now, Lana."

"Loki!"

Leandra let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Fine. In my heart, I will consider Loki my future son-in-law. For now, just let time pass, dear."

Lana nodded decisively. "Okay... Time has now passed. Loki!"

Leandra groaned, rubbing her temples. "Did Loki really mess with your soul that badly in a past life?"

"My heart tells me that back then, he pulled up his pants and just walked away," Lana said, her jaw setting. "He won't get the chance to do that in this life!"

Leandra’s eyes widened in horror. "Who on Myst taught you such a disgusting phrase?!"

"Thorin!" Lana cheered.

Far across the kingdom, Thorin suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine, entirely unaware of how thoroughly he had just been ruined in the eyes of the Milf Queen.

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