Kiana stared at Elysia in utter shock, completely unable to believe Elysia would even entertain the thought of trying to win over Noldrei.
"Are you serious, Elysia? You know you'll get your ass kicked for trying something like that, right?" Kiana warned her, dead serious. This was no joke.
In a world built on the principle of Proliferationism, achieving that kind of absolute, one-on-one emotional bond required establishing an incredibly intense marital contract.
The kind where "I have power over you, and you have power over me."
Kiana understood the core of it at a glance. It was the ultimate one-to-one balance of power and responsibility! And based on that balance, a complete exchange of authority.
Tesla had given up on forming such a marital bond with Noldrei, settling for the kind of relationship standard in modern industrial society.
She knew such a connection couldn't truly bind Noldrei, so she wisely never brought it up again.
Kiana had mentioned it once, and she got thoroughly hammered for it.
And now Elysia wanted to find someone to romance Noldrei?
Was she insane? Did she have a death wish?
Elysia realized Kiana had misunderstood her.
She quickly explained, "It's not about marrying him. I was just thinking… you know, if there's a way to make him fall for someone. Or rather, to make him feel that sense of possessiveness that's unique to lovers. Or, as we usually call it, that feeling of being struck by love."
Kiana found Elysia's proposal ridiculous and shot back, "And what do you want him to feel that for?"
Elysia said, "That way, he'll naturally experience the feeling of having someone who is uniquely his. He won't be the same kind of existence he is now."
Twirling a lock of hair, Elysia elaborated, "Noldrei's current state is a result of his future, a place where having someone, or rather, experiencing an emotional bond with someone, is incredibly cheap. The value of human connection doesn't come from it being difficult to forge; on the contrary, because it's too easy to form collectives and connections, people become easily replaceable. That, in turn, makes having a 'lover' a difficult thing."
"So, before we reach that era, we need to quickly make Noldrei feel how important the budding of this emotion is—that precious feeling of 'a rare possession.'"
Kiana wasn't surprised by this reasoning. She nodded, accepting the logic. But she didn't believe Elysia could actually find someone capable of winning Noldrei over.
Just as Elysia said, emotions can blossom in a crisis, but what kind of crisis could Noldrei possibly face?
Was she dreaming? What crisis hadn't Noldrei's future world already seen?
Did she really think a mere crisis would spark feelings for someone in him? He'd probably just be confused as to why anyone would even consider it a crisis in the first place.
"Are you serious? I mean… he actually likes being the way he is."
As Kiana spoke, she melted into a pink, jelly-like blob. To be fair, Kiana's information was a little outdated; the pink color was just a personal preference of hers.
"Ah, this…?!" Elysia hadn't expected the very first step of her plan to run into such a critical roadblock.
A wide mouth grinned on the surface of the pink jelly. "See? Step one is already a failure, isn't it? If you let Rita or someone else get close to him, there's a good chance Noldrei will take it upon himself to… 'cleanse' their bodies for them."
"As a superior being from the future, my body stays perfectly clean without ever needing to bathe. But that brings up a problem: what kind of incredible willpower would you need to make him accept someone so… dirty?"
"It's not like me, where I can just pretend something doesn't exist if I don't see it. Noldrei has been able to see everything since the moment he arrived."
Kiana reverted to her human form and grumbled, "If he could be won over, I would've done it ages ago. Did you really think I'd wait for you to bring it up now? Besides, it's not like he can't read people's minds. What if you explain your plan to the person you choose to approach him?"
"Wouldn't that just expose your intentions right away? You'd probably just cause unnecessary trouble."
Elysia was genuinely surprised. "I didn't realize you knew so much," she said, looking at Kiana in amazement. "Where did you learn all this?"
"Are you kidding me? It's not like I can't see the will left behind in the Stigma when people use the Kaslana Stigma. It's easy to figure this stuff out if you just pay a little attention. I'm not a real idiot, you know. I'm just too lazy to think that hard about most things."
Kiana felt that these people must have the wrong impression of her.
She was the type who simply didn't care about things that didn't interest her. Since she had entertained similar ideas before, of course she had looked into it.
It was just that Noldrei's later actions had left Kiana feeling a little intimidated.
And now, even Elysia was proposing a similar idea.
'Hmph, and they call you someone from the Previous Era? You're just like me, aren't you? This is the best little plan you could come up with, too.'
Kiana felt a swell of pride, thinking that they were all on the same wavelength.
Elysia had to admit she had underestimated the difficulty of romancing Noldrei. She hadn't expected Kiana to have reached a completely different conclusion. Kiana's idea was more akin to finding a comrade-in-arms with a shared goal; love and romance were secondary.
"You're not wrong, but…" Elysia felt something was off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
"Kiana, think about it… If everyone just focuses on his future, that ideal world Noldrei is striving for, doesn't that mean no one will ever truly form that irreplaceable bond with him? I'm afraid by the time that happens, we'll just be right back in the future he came from. Shouldn't we, you know, symbolically slow down a little?"
"It would be beneficial for both his plan to change the world and his search for that irreplaceable person in his heart."
"Most importantly, think about it, Kiana… In that future, he couldn't change things. If our world develops too quickly and becomes just like that future, doesn't that mean he'll fail to change things here, too? Of course we need to delay the arrival of that era!"
Elysia's words were like the sun breaking through the clouds for Kiana.
"You're absolutely right!" Kiana exclaimed, a look of sudden realization on her face. "In that case, this great responsibility falls to me! Don't you dare mention this to anyone after you leave, especially not Bronya!"
Elysia was so shocked she felt like her hair might fall out.
She had just finished explaining her reasoning, and Kiana was already plotting to abuse her power for personal gain?