Chapter 1257 Late

When Zijing finally used his power to rush back to St. Freya Academy and arrived at the door of the carefully decorated small activity room where Xilin and her friends were, the sounds of girls laughing and playing could already be heard from inside, mixed with the sweet aroma of cake. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door with a hint of apology.

However, the expected cheers of "Brother, you're here!" didn't materialize. The room fell silent, and several eyes simultaneously turned to him. Agata folded her arms and snorted. Aurora looked away, expressionless. Bella puffed her cheeks, but her eyes were filled with dismay. Galina timidly hid behind Celine, her eyes etched with a look of grievance. Celine, the birthday girl, placed her hands on her hips and glared at him with narrowed eyes, a faint reversion to her former queen self.

"Brother, you are late."

Zijing was stunned and quickly raised her wrist to check the time. She asked in confusion, "Uh, are we late? Wasn't it agreed to start at 7pm? It's exactly 7pm now."

Hearing this, Xilin stamped her feet in anger, took out her phone, and poked the screen: "Look! I clearly sent another message at noon, saying that because everyone was so excited, the meeting would start early at 6:30! Brother, you must not have checked your phone!"

Zijing suddenly realized it and quickly took out his personal terminal. Sure enough, he saw an unread message lying there quietly. It was sent when he and Ying were taking pictures on the mountaintop. He was completely immersed in... uh, the scenery, and didn't pay any attention.

"Sorry, sorry, it's my fault." Zijing quickly clasped her hands together and apologized sincerely, "I was busy outside and didn't check the news in time. I kept you waiting for a long time. Can you punish me by making me eat an extra piece of cake later?"

After hearing Zijing's apology and seeing his somewhat embarrassed appearance, Xilin and her friends' expressions finally eased a little. But Xilin still stared at him suspiciously: "Brother, where were you just now? You forgot such an important thing..."

At this moment, a voice with a smile, so familiar that it made Zijing's scalp tingle, came from the activity room:

"Yeah, it's obviously such an important birthday for my sister, what on earth was delayed?"

Alicia came out from behind the gift table, smiling, carrying a small plate with a delicate cake on it. She was wearing a lovely pink dress today, looking harmless, even... a little too normal.

Zijing looked at her in surprise: "Allysia? How could you..." He clearly remembered that Xilin had repeatedly told him to keep it a secret, and the other party should not have known that the birthday would be brought forward.

Alicia blinked, looking innocent and matter-of-fact: "Me? Of course I'm so happy for our little Xilin, so I couldn't wait to come here to celebrate her birthday early! Look, I even brought a gift!?" She pointed to a beautifully wrapped gift box with a huge bow on the table next to her.

This explanation sounded reasonable, and under normal circumstances, Amethyst might have been skeptical. But perhaps having been tricked so many times by Alicia that she had developed a resistance, Amethyst instantly saw through the cunning beneath her innocent expression.

"to be honest."

"Alright, alright~" She shook the cake plate in her hand and confessed in a tone that said, "This isn't my fault." "It was your own carelessness~ I've always left a little 'backdoor' in your communicator, okay? So when Xilin messaged you about starting early, I also 'incidentally' knew about it!"

Zijing: "..." He was speechless for a moment, holding his forehead. Even if you're on guard, you can't prevent a thief from within your own home. He should have realized that with Alicia's... or rather, Wilvi's, tampering with his equipment would be a piece of cake.

However, what struck Zijing as even more bizarre was the atmosphere. Given Alicia's personality, how could this birthday party be so... well-organized, considering she'd arrived early and appeared to have been there for a while? No strange decorations, no signs of mischief. Besides resentment at his lateness, Xilin and her companions didn't seem to be experiencing any other "torture"? This was so un-Alisa.

While Alicia was getting some drinks, Zijing quietly pulled Xilin and the other four girls to a corner and asked in a low voice, "She didn't... do anything to you, did she? Like... give you some weird gifts? Or... suggest playing any 'special' games?"

The girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

Agata whispered, "No, after Sister Alicia came, she just helped us decorate the balloons and brought delicious cakes and snacks."

Aurora added: "She even praised my new hairpin."

Bella nodded: "The snacks she brought are really delicious."

Galina also said softly, "She...she really seemed to be here to celebrate her birthday normally."

Amethyst nodded slightly. Since these children said so, it meant that Alicia might really have done nothing... at least not now.

His expression seemed to be accurately captured by Alicia, who was not far away. She slowly walked over with a glass of juice in hand, her eyes swept over Zijing, her tone as usual but with a hint of meaning:

"Really, Zijing, what kind of girl do you take me for?" She swung the cup gently and complained, but then a sly smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. "But, I did prepare a super interesting 'big surprise'.

I want to give it to Xilin and everyone else?

"But then I thought, after all, a certain 'good brother' was out 'dating' another cute girl right before his sister's birthday, so engrossed in it that he even forgot to check his phone messages... I suddenly felt like there wasn't much point in it."

Her words fell as lightly as a feather, but Amethyst instantly understood the reason behind this unusual tranquility - it seemed that this pink fairy lady had temporarily lost interest in playing pranks because of his "inattention"?

Looking at Alicia's expression of "I'm very generous but I won't tell", and then looking at Xilin who finally figured out the reason for her brother's lateness and whose eyes became more dangerous, and the friends who had a look of "so that's it", Zijing suddenly felt overwhelmed.

"Ahem...Okay, let's eat cake."

"We've already eaten, and we've been waiting for you, brother, who's late."

"...I'm indeed a little hungry, Xilin, can you help me get the tableware?"

"Humph!"

“…I’ll get it myself.”

"You can't just run away as if it were natural. Just accept your fate and tell us everything about your date with that cute girl today. Everyone's curious~"