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"Ouch! That hurts!"
In the small villa Noah bought, the shirtless white-haired young man lay on the bed. Mira, with a pained expression, applied medicine to him. "The Guild Master and the others really went all out..."
"Mira, do you even hear what you're saying?"
"When you ganged up on me, you were clearly the one smiling the happiest, alright? Look at this—this is where you kicked me."
Looking at Noah's aggrieved expression, Mira not only felt no guilt, but even laughed out loud. "When you get beaten, why don't you look for your own problems? Who told you to come up with such an outrageous plan as collusion between light and dark? If we don't hit you, who will?"
"Also, why didn't you run away? Don't tell me that with your strength, you couldn't escape."
At this, Noah became even more furious.
Just as Mira said, even when facing the combined assault of Makarov, Laxus, Erza, and Mira, Noah could have easily fled.
But there was an old, shameless tree-man who simply collapsed in front of Noah. While Noah, being a younger man, knelt down to check on him, Warrod directly grabbed his legs.
He had calculated everything, but he never expected Warrod to join the group beating and even use a shameless tactic of feigning injury. Noah truly had no way to deal with a 120-year-old elder.
So now... Noah was lying here.
He had truly learned a harsh lesson about the wickedness of society.
Listening to Noah's complaints, the smile on Mira's face did not diminish. Her right hand used Take Over: Demon Arm, condensing a ball of dark magic and offering it to Noah's mouth.
"That's enough, stop pretending. It's not like I don't know your body. What's a little beating? Just absorb some magic and recover."
"Hehe, I just wanted to be close with you, Mira."
Noah inhaled Mira's dark magic in one gulp, and all the bruises on his body instantly vanished.
Actually, Mira knew that Noah had held back during the group beating. Otherwise, if he had used his full defensive capabilities, he could have just lain there and let them hit him without taking any damage.
What a monster.
Noah pulled Mira into his arms, embracing her as they lay on the bed.
"Mira, Erza seems to like me..."
"I know."
Mira rested her head on the young man's chest. "Only someone as dense as you would just realize it now. Erza has had feelings for you for a long time."
Noah sighed. He already had Mira, and he didn't know how to face the red-haired woman who used strength as her armor and deeply hid her fragility.
Unrequited love is a very painful thing.
Noah didn't want pain to fall upon Erza again, because she already had a very painful past, and thus had always yearned to love and be loved.
It was just that Noah hadn't expected the person in Erza's heart to be himself...
Seemingly noticing Noah's dilemma, Mira gently tapped his brow. "Noah, do you know? When Erza joined the guild, she hardly interacted with anyone else, always staying quietly in a corner by herself."
"Later, I overheard Gray let it slip that he once saw Erza hiding by the river, crying alone. She was so pitiful."
"I wanted to comfort her, but you know I haven't read many books, so I changed my approach. It was the same approach Natsu and Gray used later when interacting with her."
Noah finally understood now why Erza and Mira sometimes had a very close relationship, but other times wanted nothing more than to beat each other down.
They were both best friends and rivals.
"So, Mira, you still want to help Erza now?"
Noah understood what Mira wanted to express. "But there's only one of me."
"Who said one person's love can't be split in two?"
Mira smiled slightly, placing her palm on Noah's beating heart. "As long as there's a place for me here, I'll be very content."
"Mira..."
Noah hugged the young woman tightly, moved. "My love for you will never diminish by even half."
"Oh, please, half?"
Mira pushed the person on the bed. "Aren't you going to go tell Erza how you feel? After we returned from the mission to Galuna Island last time, I told her about what we did."
"Ah, no wonder Erza was so angry that day."
Noah knew that Erza, like himself, was emotionally passive. If he didn't take the initiative, Erza would only bury her affection deep in her heart.
Kicked out of the house by Mira, Noah quickly arrived at Erza's dormitory room alone.
There was no response to his knock, but Noah found that the door was not locked. Although it was a bit impolite, he still pushed the door open and entered.
Erza often did the same to Noah in the past, so this time Noah was simply returning the favor.
Erza's room was very large, one of the most expensive in the guild dormitory. The room was quite tidy, but it was covered with all sorts of armor and clothes.
Noah even saw the maid outfit Erza wore when she fulfilled her promise to be his servant for a day after losing a bet to him.
However, that day Noah had spent the entire time playing with Erza, and he had even unilaterally declared New Year's Eve as her birthday.
It must have been from that day on that Erza started to...
"Who is it? Is it Minerva?"
A faint voice came from the bathroom. Her wet, crimson long hair draped over her chest, Erza appeared before Noah completely naked.
Noah was initially a bit embarrassed, but as his gaze shifted downward, before he could even admire the view, he received a slap from Erza.
Then, there was a brutal beating...
After her shocked anger subsided, Erza wrapped herself in a bath towel and sat on the sofa, her crossed leg resting on Noah's kneeling shoulder.
"Speak. What do you want from me?"
While massaging Erza's leg, Noah said with a half-smile, "I was just worried that you might have gotten tired from beating me up today, Erza, so I came to check on you."
"Hmph, smooth talker."
Erza crossed her arms, but she didn't notice that this action almost made the curves of her chest push out from under the bath towel.
"I'm fine. If there's nothing else, Noah, you should go back early."
Erza paused. The words "Don't let Mira down" were on the tip of her tongue, but before she could say them, Noah interrupted her.
"Erza, I have something to tell you."
Noah stepped forward, placing his hands on the back of the sofa, trapping the young woman between his arms. Normally, Erza would have already made a move.
But now, meeting Noah's gentle gaze, Erza somehow found herself unable to exert any strength.
Looking at the face so close to hers, a blush unconsciously spread across Erza's delicate face, and her breathing quickened.
Yet she still tried to calm herself, propping her hands on the young man's shoulders, not noticing the slipping bath towel. "Noah, you can't let Mira down..."
"It was Mira who sent me to you."
"Although this sounds like something a scoundrel would say, Erza..."
Noah caressed her flushed cheek, ruffled her loose long hair, and gently pushed her, who was offering no resistance, down. "Your heart is missing some kind of beautiful presence. Let me fill it with love."