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Chapter 55: A Joke Taken Seriously "Would you like some?" Merlin offered her his unopened bun. Margaret hesitated for a moment, but the memory of its delicious taste came back to her. Swallowing, she nodded shyly. Merlin chuckled as he shook the bun. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 "If you want it, just take it," he said casually. Without hesitation, Margaret stood up and walked over. After picking it up, she paused for a moment before whispering softly, "Thank you..." "[Ding! The heroine Margaret’s affection increased by 10 points! Current affection: 15 points! Cheer up, Master!]" The system notification echoed in his mind, making Merlin smile despite himself. ’Looks like my efforts are starting to pay off,’ he muttered with a soft chuckle. Margaret quickly turned to go back to her seat, but her steps halted when Merlin called out. "Instead of eating alone, how about you eat with me?" He patted the empty spot on his right. Margaret was silent for a moment before giving a small nod and sitting down beside him. Still, her caution was clear—she kept about forty centimeters of distance between them. Merlin didn’t mind. Getting this girl to sit beside him was already an achievement. They ate in silence, the atmosphere slightly awkward. Margaret occasionally glanced at Merlin and realized that the boy beside her was very handsome. Even the princes she had met weren’t this handsome. However, she quickly dismissed the thought and looked away with an embarrassed expression. "[Ding! The heroine Margaret’s affection increased by 5 points! Current affection: 20 points!]" Merlin was taken aback by the panel in front of him. He frowned and asked, ’System, aren’t you mistaken? Why did her affection suddenly increase?’ Gaining Margaret’s affection wasn’t difficult, but this was too fast, wasn’t it? "[Hmmm... Master, are you bragging? If so—huh! Turns out you’re a jerk!]" the system sneered. Merlin: "..." He didn’t understand anything—so why was the system angry at him? No matter how much he thought about it, Merlin couldn’t find the answer and finally decided to ignore it. "By the way," Merlin said, glancing at Margaret beside him, "how did you get kidnapped?" It still puzzled him. It was strange, almost impossible, that Margaret could be captured by those men. After all, she should have been protected by the Beethoven family soldiers. What’s more, Merlin just remembered Margaret had a loyal maid named Lisa, who possessed extraordinary strength. If he wasn’t mistaken, Lisa came from the Batrum Knight Kingdom, and her power was at the Eighth Awakening level. It’s just that, since the story hadn’t entered the main plot yet, Lisa’s power shouldn’t have reached that far—at best, it should still be at the Seventh Awakening level. Even so, that was already very powerful—on par with James, who was at the Third Spirit Core level. Margaret fell silent at his question. If her mask had come off, Merlin would have seen her face as red as a tomato. "That’s..." She hesitated, but Merlin quickly cut her off. "If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. Sorry if I was being presumptuous." "That’s not what I meant!" Margaret hurriedly clarified. But a moment later, she surprised herself. She didn’t even know this boy, so why was she acting like that? Suppressing her confusion, she looked away and whispered, "I was taking a walk in the city of Droswen to see its beauty. Then suddenly, a thin man bumped into me, and I fell. Before I could even process what happened, my head hurt and I lost consciousness. And when I opened my eyes, I was already in this prison." Having said that, she let out a long breath. Normally, she was cautious and calculating, but somehow this time she had been so careless that she ended up in such a situation. "Thin man?" Merlin raised an eyebrow. "No wonder you got caught by him—I went through the same thing." Margaret’s eyes widened. "You too?" "Yes," Merlin admitted honestly. "That bastard ran into me and knocked me out cold. Luckily, I was only kidnapped. If I had been taken far away and had my organs harvested... huh! I don’t even want to imagine it." As he spoke, a brief shiver ran through his body. In his previous world, cases of organ trafficking were common—especially in developing countries plagued by weak governments and corruption. Many children, even grown men, were kidnapped and had their organs sold. He didn’t know if something similar existed in this world, but it was still a possibility. Upon hearing his words, Margaret immediately got goosebumps. Her body stiffened, and her breathing grew quick. Without realizing it, she moved closer to Merlin, even clinging to him. "Please don’t say things like that! You’re scaring me!" She complained in protest. Yet her left arm was gripping tightly at the cloth of Merlin’s right sleeve—a clear sign that she was truly frightened. Merlin let out a small chuckle and apologized. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Like I said, I was just afraid it might happen. But the truth is, it won’t. Earlier, I overheard that these kidnappers only wanted ransom from the families backing us." "Asking for ransom?" Margaret frowned. "How did you find out?" "I happened to overhear their conversation. Besides, I’ve also memorized the layout of this house—at least enough for us to escape." "Oh!" Margaret’s eyes lit up. "Then let’s escape now!" "Ahem! Miss, you know the saying, ’There’s no free lunch in this world,’ right? Well, how about you pay me to get us out of here?" Merlin joked with a giggle. To his surprise, Margaret didn’t get angry. Instead, she nodded eagerly and said, "I knew it! My father used to repeat that saying until I got bored of it. So, tell me—how much? Two hundred thousand gold coins? Or two million? I’ll give it to you!" Merlin: "..." ’Wait a minute... What the hell is that amount? Two million gold coins? Is this how rich people have fun?’ The corner of Merlin’s mouth twitched. He had only been joking, but he hadn’t expected Margaret to take it so seriously. Come to think of it, it did make sense. This girl had grown up in an environment where every problem was solved with money. To her, money was the answer to everything—and that way of thinking could be very dangerous. After all, there were things money couldn’t buy. Letting out a long sigh, he stood up and patted the dirt off his backside. "I was just joking. I don’t need your money," Merlin said with a faint smile. "Don’t need my money?" Margaret gave him a doubtful look. Most people approached her only because of money. But why was this boy different? "Could he just be pretending?" As the thought surfaced, Margaret quickly focused on his expression. She was used to dealing with hypocrites, and she knew the signs of someone lying. But to her surprise, she didn’t find the slightest trace of falsehood on Merlin’s face—and that made her gasp in shock. ’This boy is really... strange...’