Chapter 178: Chapter 178
Marshall and Levy sat on opposite sides of the enormous bed, both of them were silent.
They looked less like two teenagers who had just been caught in an absurd misunderstanding and more like an old married couple who had argued themselves hoarse and been forcibly separated until they calmed down.
By now, Marshall knew that Levy had discovered his secret.
It wasn’t necessarily a catastrophic revelation, but it wasn’t trivial either.
If Erza had discovered something embarrassing about him, Marshall wouldn’t have been particularly worried.
Erza’s first instinct would be to turn bright red, become completely flustered, and then refuse to mention the subject ever again.
Levy was different.
Very different.
If Erza’s ability to deal with suggestive situations could be rated at one, then Levy’s was easily one hundred.
Marshall simply couldn’t follow her train of thought.
He had no idea what she would do next, and more importantly, he had never encountered a situation remotely like this one before.
Still, he eventually steadied himself.
Whatever happened, he would deal with it.
If soldiers came, he would send a general. If a flood came, he would build a dam.
’Come on, Levy.’
Marshall narrowed his eyes.
’Whatever move you make, I’ll counter it.’
Unfortunately for him, Levy herself hadn’t yet decided what her next move should be.
The situation was already obvious.
Marshall had known about her interests—and the less innocent thoughts she had carefully kept to herself—for far longer than she realized.
No wonder he had assigned Lust to her.
The little brat had known all along!
And the moment Levy understood that, she reached an equally important conclusion.
She absolutely could not remain passive.
If Marshall held all the embarrassing information while she held nothing over him, how was she supposed to look him in the face afterward?
Her standing in the household would collapse beyond recovery!
Levy refused to allow that.
Which was why she had come up with what she considered an extremely reasonable solution.
She needed leverage on Marshall too.
As long as the two of them possessed equally embarrassing secrets, they could return to speaking normally.
Mutually assured destruction was the foundation of a healthy relationship.
Probably.
Originally, Levy had assumed that a boy who somehow knew so much suspiciously detailed theory must have hidden a stack of questionable books somewhere.
So while everyone was distracted by Lucy’s party, she had slipped upstairs intending to find concrete evidence.
Unfortunately...
The moment she entered Marshall’s bedroom, something in her brain had apparently stopped functioning.
Her original investigation had gone completely off course.
Still!
Levy refused to admit defeat.
Everything had technically worked out!
There had been a few tiny accidents along the way, but nothing important!
Now came the decisive battle.
The two slowly turned toward each other.
For one imaginary instant, lightning seemed to crackle between their eyes.
Marshall’s expression became determined.
’Come on!’
’Make your move, Levy!’
He believed he was ready for anything.
Then Levy spoke.
"Marshall."
"Hm?"
She smiled.
"Want to do it?"
"???"
Marshall nearly slid straight off the edge of the bed.
"W-What did you just say?!"
Levy made an extremely clear little gesture, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
"I’m serious."
She leaned closer.
"Right here."
Marshall’s brain crashed.
What kind of terrifying opening move was that?!
"You—you’ve lost your mind!"
His entire face turned red.
"Do you even understand what you’re saying?!"
"Of course I do."
Levy smiled smugly.
"You already figured out that I’m the one associated with Lust, didn’t you?"
She tapped one finger against her cheek.
"I’m curious about all kinds of embarrassing things~"
"Y-You..."
"And besides—"
Levy’s smile widened.
"You’re the one who created an Apostle called Lust in the first place. You’re telling me you’re completely innocent?"
Marshall opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
His face became even redder.
Levy saw his reaction and immediately realized she had found the perfect weapon.
Her eyes lit up.
"Oh my~"
She leaned closer and lightly poked his cheek.
"So warm."
Marshall recoiled.
Levy looked delighted.
"I didn’t expect this at all. You know all kinds of suspicious things in theory, but the moment somebody actually teases you, you completely fall apart."
She grinned.
"Were you secretly much more innocent than I thought?"
"I am not!"
Marshall snapped back far too quickly.
Levy immediately caught that.
"Oh?"
She tilted her head.
"Then why are you refusing so seriously?"
Marshall’s expression stiffened.
Levy suddenly changed tactics, putting on a deliberately wounded expression.
"Could it be..."
She looked down sadly.
"Marshall doesn’t like me?"
"That’s not it!"
The answer came instantly.
Marshall realized his mistake a second too late.
Levy looked up.
He awkwardly turned his face away.
"I don’t dislike you at all."
He hesitated.
"It’s just..."
Marshall struggled to find words that wouldn’t make the situation worse.
"Some things should wait until everyone’s older and things actually make sense."
Levy blinked.
Then smiled.
That was the answer she had wanted.
She reached over and pinched Marshall’s cheek.
"So you’d rather restrain yourself than take advantage of the girls around you?"
Her smile became genuinely warm beneath the teasing.
"My Marshall is actually quite the gentleman."
Marshall weakly muttered,
"That’s not what I meant..."
Levy didn’t care.
As far as she was concerned, she had won.
Completely!
Her mood soared.
’Perfect.’
A dangerous amount of confidence filled her mind.
’The others are all patiently waiting for Marshall to grow up while treating him like some innocent little brother.’
Levy nearly laughed aloud.
’Idiots.’
’He understands way more than they think.’
Her competitive instincts immediately began running wild.
’Fine, then.’
’If everyone else wants to sit around waiting, I’ll make sure I’m the one he thinks of first.’
The thought became increasingly smug.
’I’ll get ahead of Mira and the others before they even realize there’s a race.’
’Once I take the first step, I can slowly make myself the person Marshall relies on most.’
’By the time those girls finally react—’
Levy’s smile became terrifyingly pleased.
’Too late!’
In her imagination, she had already achieved complete victory.
Marshall, unfortunately, could hear her increasingly clear thoughts.
Sweat appeared on his forehead.
’Levy is dangerous too!’
He had apparently underestimated her by an enormous margin.
"Fine, then~"
Levy happily rocked back on her hands.
"We’ll do things Marshall’s way."
Her eyes curved into crescents.
"I’ll look forward to seeing how embarrassed you are in the future."
Marshall felt increasingly uneasy.
Then Levy unexpectedly leaned over and hugged him.
"Marshall~"
Her voice softened.
"I actually understand that someone your age is going to get curious about all kinds of things."
Marshall stiffened.
"But keeping every embarrassing question and worry locked inside your head isn’t good either."
She patted him.
"Now that Big Sister knows your secret, you don’t need to run around acting like you understand absolutely nothing."
Marshall’s danger instincts screamed.
"If something is bothering you, come talk to me first, okay?"
’Oh no.’
Marshall’s face went pale.
’This is bad.’
Had Levy interpreted his earlier reaction as proof that he possessed plenty of theoretical knowledge but was emotionally completely innocent?
If she ever discovered the full truth behind his reincarnation...
Would she kill him?
Marshall suddenly felt that giving her some advance warning might be wise.
He opened his mouth.
Then Levy pulled something out.
Marshall froze.
It was one of the spatially enchanted pieces of clothing she had stolen from his wardrobe earlier.
Levy held it up with the expression of a scholar who had discovered an ancient magical artifact.
"Marshall really is a genius."
"...Give that back."
"To think you came up with this kind of Spatial Magic formula for dealing with inconvenient little everyday problems."
"Levy."
Marshall reached for it.
She immediately pulled it away.
"Nope."
Then her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"But I checked the formula earlier."
Marshall stopped.
Levy smiled.
"There are traces of modifications."
His expression changed slightly.
"It looks like the connected spaces used to operate differently."
Marshall stared.
"How can you even tell that?"
Levy puffed out her chest.
"Hmph! Don’t underestimate me."
She tapped the magical formula proudly.
"I studied it very carefully."
Marshall stared at her.
’?’
That answer somehow made the situation worse.
Levy continued examining the formula.
"But you know..."
Her smile gradually became suspicious again.
"I don’t think you actually needed to change this part."
Marshall swallowed.
He knew that expression.
Nothing good followed that expression.
"What do you mean?"
Levy leaned closer.
"Didn’t I just tell you?"
Her voice dropped conspiratorially.
"Big Sis is willing to help when Marshall runs into embarrassing problems."
"..."
"So if we adjust this Spatial Magic formula a little—"
She moved close to his ear and quietly explained a series of proposed modifications.
Her explanation remained entirely technical.
The implications were not.
Marshall’s eyes widened more and more with every sentence.
By the time Levy finished, he stared at her as though he had just encountered some terrifying ancient being masquerading as a tiny bookworm.
When it came to this particular kind of scheming...
Marshall was willing to acknowledge Levy as the undisputed strongest.
The explanation he had been preparing died silently in his throat.
Somewhere inside his mind, a tiny angel tried to object.
But a demon immediately murdered it.
Marshall hesitated.
Then, despite himself, glanced toward the magical formula again.
"Well..."
Levy smiled.
Marshall’s resolve began collapsing.
"Maybe I could test the modified spell."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter