This Time, I'll Be the Villain's Favorite Daughter novel Chapter 403

Chapter 403 Love

“You love me too, don’t you?”

Alfred was quiet.

What was love, exactly?

The question was too layered to answer cleanly.

Finisher

Poets had spent centuries writing sonnets about it without ever producing a definition that satisfied everyone.

Psychologists had broken it down into dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin until nothing was left but a cold chemical equation.

He couldn’t give her a certain answer.

But…

“Maya.” Alfred reached out and let his fingertips rest lightly against her cheek.

He looked at her for a long moment, and then said, very quietly, “I’m learning how to love you.” From the very first time we met, I’ve been learning.

Love wasn’t an instinct that came naturally, at least not for him.

It required effort and practice.

Even someone like Alfred was a genuine beginner when it came to this particular subject.

He didn’t know if he was doing it right, but he was genuinely trying from the very first time he’d seen her.

Maya felt the answer hit her somewhere she hadn’t expected, and she wrapped her arms around him without a word, pressing her face against him, the corners of her mouth curving softly. “Alfred, don’t you want to ask me anything? About what I’ve been through?”

Everything she’d experienced was far too strange for someone as sharp as him not to be curious.

Alfred paused.

Fri, Aug

Chapter 403 Love

He did want to know. How much had she carried? What did each reset cost her?

Finished

He started with the safer, stranger question first. “What are you, exactly? Some kind of spirit? A spellcaster?”

Maya shook her head.

She was something more like a walking exploit.

“Then all these times you’ve started over,” Alfred said softly, his hand finding her shoulder, fingers tightening just slightly, his tone carrying a thread of careful inquiry. “It really doesn’t hurt?”

Or were there other consequences he couldn’t see?

He genuinely didn’t believe something like this came without a price.

Maya shook her head.

The system had alr

She opened her

issuing warnings.

ng came out.

“You’re not a

re you?” Alfred murmured.

Maya n

S

e couldn’t even hint at it.

that was meant to stay between the two of them, or more accurately, only ever supposed to belong to Maya alone.

xception.

uld never be another.

nce settled.

let’s leave it there.” Maya tried to lighten the air around them, her voice coming out a ighter. “Get some sleep tonight, Alfred. It’s over now.”

ed could see exactly how

ame through in e

Can I stay outsi

austion that had nowhere left to hide.

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Chapter 403 Love

Finished

Alfred wasn’t someone who expressed things easily. The best solution he could think of was to sit outside her door and make sure she didn’t quietly disappear again in the middle of the night.

Maya went completely still.

“Absolutely not!”

Why did every one of her brothers want to stand guard outside her door the moment a loop ended?

Was that some kind of strange sibling instinct running through their family?

“You’re smart enough to think through things on your own instead of standing outside my door like that,” she told him, turning around and looking at him seriously. “It’s pointless. I’m not going anywhere.”

Alfred crouched where he

“I’m not that smart,” b

His expression wa another timeline

He tilted his

evenly:

“I’m

M

oor.”

didn’t move.

o one looking at him would ever guess what he’d done in

with something almost docile in his manner and said, completely

o intention of adopting a cat,” she said flatly. “Get some sleep already!”

a little endearing when he looked at her like that.

who cosplayed as a house cat was simply not something she could manage.

rnness in Alfred’s eyes was the kind that didn’t give up until it got what it wanted. are?”

apletely sure!”

s mind simply op

er she agree anically h

A

cy from everyone else’s.

led to do with himself outside her door

12:39 Fri, Aug 14

Chapter 403 Love

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