System vs Rebirth

"Huh? A bet?" Noel widened his eyes. She said she didn't have time for a bet, but he soon realized the bet wouldn't be small. "I see… Let me hear it first."

Anna smiled and pointed at him.

"I am sure that both of us have secrets. The Sword Saint has banned me from asking you about it, but it doesn't state that I can't know the secret."

"Hmm? Are you planning to make me tell you the secret voluntarily?" Noel frowned. On the one hand, Anna was a trusted person. On the other hand, their relationship wasn't at the level where he could openly share the secret about the system.

"Yeah. I know about that. That's why I want to make this little bet between us. We will see who will be the one to tell their secret to the others." Anna smiled.

"!!!" Noel widened his eyes in surprise. "Huh? This bet is weird. Are you saying that you want me to force you to reveal your secret?"

"Don't say it like you have won." Anna pouted before she continued, "But I don't think it's a bad deal, right?

"I'm sure you have been curious about my secrets. Why can I know the future and have extensive knowledge…" Anna made a cheeky smile.

Noel couldn't deny it. If he understood Anna's secret and knew how much she knew, he might be able to plan for the future better than anyone else. In fact, he might become invisible. With her secret and his brain, they would truly be unbeatable.

However, if he lost this challenge, he had to let her know about Ardagan.

For Anna, the knowledge about the future was useful, but she might not be able to utilize it completely with her alone. And with how much the future had changed due to her actions, the past events might not be relevant anymore. So, she tried to take advantage of it by betting on it. Even if she lost, she planned to give this information to Noel since his brain might be able to find out something missing from his past life.

For Noel, his system was extremely useful. But it was useless for Anna. The only way to obtain this power was to marry him and let their child wield Ardagan. But their relationship wasn't at that level, so it would be useless. So, the only way to take advantage of it was to kill him, causing the Ardagan lineage to end him.

Anna never killed him in the past despite having so many chances, so the latter wouldn't happen. In that case, the knowledge would be useless for Anna.

That was why it might be a good thing to wager it. After all, Anna's secret was more useful.

After some consideration, Noel nodded his head. "Sure. Let's have a bet. Though, the method is not specified, right?"

"Of course. I have a big disadvantage, you know." Anna smirked. "But I'm not planning to lose. You're going to tell me your secret."

"Hahaha. You sure love talking big. In a mind battle, have you ever won against me?" Noel snorted while crossing his arms.

"This might be the first victory I will get."

"Alright then. I'm looking forward to it. Though, I don't have high hopes." Noel nodded. Now that he had sealed the deal, Ardagan appeared.

[Mission: Anna's Secret]

[Description: Make Anna tell you her secret by any means necessary.]

[Reward: Anna's Secret and ???]

[Penalty: None.]

'Hmm? Another '???' reward?' Noel was surprised that he would get another reward like this. The last time he got it, it was a very lucrative reward. So, he couldn't help but look forward to it.

Though, there was one thing he was confused about the sudden bet.

"Before I tell you about the information, do you mind if I ask you something?" Noel asked carefully. Anna looked weirdly calm this whole time as if she had prepared some traps for this bet, so he couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious.

Anna nodded without hesitation. "Sure."

"Why do you suddenly suggest something like this? I don't see any reasons for this bet to happen… to be honest."

"There are two reasons. The first reason is simple. Do you know I have been observing you for the past two weeks? Just say that the result of my observation has led me to this…"

Noel thought for a moment. A lot of things had happened. He even gained Dimitri's loyalty and Milfa's agreement. Although he didn't know what made her suggest this bet, he could somehow understand if this expedition had made her like this.

"Then, what about the second reason?" Noel asked while tilting his head.

"As for the second reason…" Anna walked closer to him with a gentle smile.

Noel felt a bit weird and took a step back, but Anna didn't mind since she also took another step forward.

They were only separated by a few centimeters.

"Anna?" Noel was confused. He didn't know why Anna acted like this.

"This is the second reason…" Anna suddenly made a swift movement as if she was trying to launch a sneak attack. Noel's instinct took over as he immediately raised both hands to push her away.

But his body suddenly froze when Anna took the most abrupt sneak attack.

"!!!" Noel widened his eyes in shock. He was too shocked to the point he couldn't react. After all, her face was right before his eyes and her lips were already planted on his cheek.

'Wha—' Noel wanted to think about what had just happened, but his brain couldn't come up with anything.

In fact, he still couldn't believe what was happening.

There were so many questions that couldn't be answered. But one thing was for sure, their relationship had just taken a weird turn.

It seemed that the battle between the system and the rebirth had yet to end. Could Anna use her knowledge and memory from her past life to make Noel willingly share the secret of his system? Or could Noel use the overwhelming from his system to force Anna to reveal the secret about her rebirth?

Though, there was only one question in Noel's head.

'What in the world is currently happening?'