"Hey... careful, you're going to hurt yourself," Michael said, gently cupping Liliana's hands in his own. The concern in his voice was genuine, almost desperate.
Well, there it is.
From my seat three rows back, I watched the scene unfold exactly as it shouldn't have. Michael's face showed that telltale look of someone who'd already fallen too deep to climb back out. Liliana had him wrapped around her finger, and judging by the way she leaned into his touch just slightly—calculated, practiced—she knew it too.
The thing is, this wasn't supposed to happen yet. Not by a long shot.
In the original timeline, Liliana should be working her way through lesser nobles right now, building her network systematically. The grading exams were still weeks away, and only after those should she have set her sights on Michael. This whole interaction was supposed to happen during the first major arc, not... whatever this was.
Butterfly effect, maybe? Or did I miss something?
