"Claire." "..." "Claire…" "Ah yes?" Claire finally replied. After Aita 'delivered' Claire safely to Sienna, he bid them farewells and left. Since then, Claire seemed lost in her thoughts. Sienna looked at her with a hint of confusion. She couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. Something that would explain Claire and Aura's strange behavior towards Aita. She knew both Claire and Aura well. Claire would never act so casually with a stranger. Aura was a more open-minded girl, but she also acted too close to Aita. Something was amiss... But she couldn't find what it was. "Hu-Hum, Sienna." "Yes?" Claire hesitated a little but remembering about Aita's words, she opened her mouth. "I-It’s about the Lord Commander of Lunarstella. He doesn't want us to involve ourselves with Salazar Solaria anymore." "..." Sienna furrowed her brows. "Why…?" She asked while scanning Claire’s expression. "He said that he would take care of him so we shouldn't interfere in his p
"You took your time, Aita."Selena said.They were called early in the morning by the Emperor but few people came late.Aita, Laika, Aura, her friends, Claire, Sienna and a few others.“I’m not the only one. Anyway, that Emperor is still not there? He sure has the guts to call us in advance to come himself late.”“Shhhh.”Selena put her fingers on Aita’s lips to stop him from further insulting Solaria.“They will hear you.”Selena looked around her.“Indeed I heard.”“!”Selena turned around and saw a grey-eyed beauty.Again, Selena found her very beautiful, like Aura.“Anna, don’t start early in the morning…”Isabel sighed next to Anna.“Hmpf. That guy needs to get off his high horse.”Anna spat in disdain at Aita before her.“Lady Isabel, I can’t condone such words to Aita. He is the Lord Commander of our Empire and m-my fiance.”Selena furrowed her brows at Anna’s behavior.Among everyone here, she was the only one speaking her thoughts without holding back. In a sense, she was sim
“Sir Aita asked me a favor.”After the awkward silence, Helio spoke.As expected of the ruler of an Empire, his skin was very thick.Though what he said piqued everyone’s curiosity.What that young cheeky Commander would have asked?They couldn’t imagine Aita asking a favor from someone.“He would like to try the rift of our capital.”“““““!”””””People turned toward Aita in surprise.The latter’s expression deformed.He had enough of being always at the center of attention.“Can’t they refrain from turning their faces toward me? It’s cringe.”“That brat…”Dante clenched his fists.“Cough. I agree but I would like our ‘Heroes’ to also accompany the Commander in the rift.”‘That damn Emperor.’Aita frowned.It wasn’t part of what he had asked…Helio smiled and continued.“I hope our Heroes and Lunarstella can learn from each other.”“I don't have anything to learn from them though.”“...”Helio’s smile froze at Aita’s words.As for his classmates, the Heroes’ expressions turned bitter.
“What do you think, Claire? I think we should go with him. I’m sure he is hiding something.”Aura asked as she glanced at Aita.“Yeah, I agree. We also have to ask him about the space rift, he could be aware of something.”Claire nodded.“...”‘Dammit…’Aita, who could hear their not-really-whisper from where he was, cursed inwardly.He didn’t know why they were suddenly interested in the space rift and he didn’t want to know either.‘It’s better to avoid them.’He closed his eyes and thought about a solution to his predicament.“Go, Lena! Ask Austin to be in your group!”“D-Daisy! Don’t push me!”“Oh! Come on! You could be alone with Austin in the space rift! It’s a golden opportunity!”“Wh-what are you thinking?!”“...”Aita opened his eyes.He could see a blushing Elena pushed by a grinning Daisy.‘Oh…If I remember…’Aita searched in his memories.[‘Sigh...you must be the only with Austin that is clueless about Elena’s crush on him.’]He reminisced about the time when Daisy reveale
“It’s my and Lena’s room, y’know?” Daisy grinned but had a suspicious expression. Aita was the last person she would have thought of finding before her and Elena’s room. Moreover, he had a severe expression as he looked at the door. “...” “Don’t tell me you have a crush on me or Lena ?” Daisy closed her mouth with her hand, showing a surprised face. “I don’t know how to react, I mean-” “I just came to talk about something important to Lady Aura. She is the representative of the ‘Heroes’, right?” Aita cut off the fidgeting Daisy as she blabbered nonsense. He knew her very well. Without teasing Elena every day, she’d never be able to sleep well. And it seemed she could also do the same with the others… Orion had always maintained a safe distance from her because of that. “Aura? She is with everyone in the hall though. I’m sure you couldn’t miss her.” Daisy said with a thoughtful expression. “I didn’t notice.” Aita replied and walked away. “Oh, come one Mister Aita, we
“What happened, Aita?”“What?”Selena sighed seeing Aita’s grumpy face.They had gone out in the garden with the others but Aita didn’t seem to enjoy it.Well, it was normal, she would say, but he looked more grumpy than usual.“Your face.”“My face?”“Yes. You look angry.”“He is always looking angry though?”Narvi said with a teasing smile.“...”"Hii!"Aita’s stare silenced Narvi.“Nothing. I’m just tired.”Indeed, he was tired.After the discussion he had with Daisy, it was normal.After careful consideration, he accepted Daisy’s terms, but one thing was annoying.It was the condition of him helping to hook up Elena and Austin.His entire body cringed just thinking about it.From what she said, he had to play the villain and Elena would scold him, which would gain Austin’s love.When he heard that the first time, he wanted to throw Daisy out of the window as refusal but held back.More than anything, he wanted to retrieve Hephaestus's artifact.If he just had to beat up Austin for
“Daisy?”“Hm? Yeah?”In one of the numerous corridors of the palace, Elena and Daisy were walking together.The knights around would sometimes stop to look at them, as they were beautiful.Elena and Daisy were now used to this, so they didn’t mind it anymore.“There is a strange rumor going on in the palace…”Elena said with wandering eyes.It was something bothering her since the morning.She tried to ignore it as there were mere rumors and such things were common in the palace. But this time, she couldn’t ignore it as it concerned her close friend.“Y-You see, people are saying that the Lord Commander of Lunarstella and you have a s-special relationship…”Elena’s face turned red as she mouthed the words.For the innocent Elena, such topics were too much for her innocent hand to handle, but as Daisy's friend, she had to know. It took all her energy to finally say it.“Ah!”Daisy had a look of understanding as she heard Elena.Indeed, she also heard about the rumors.Well, it was real
After making Elena cry, Aita left innocently.The time had come to depart to the rift.Selena and the others were speaking about important things with the officials of Solaria.They were discussing about the truce but mainly about the threat of Ankouna and how they could ripost.So they didn’t have time to come to see Aita.Well, it wasn’t like he wanted them to see him off either…He was also too lazy to say goodbye to his comrades from Lunarstella.Selena would surely annoy me afterward with that, but he didn’t care.In the end, only Aita was present for Lunarstella.There were also a few knights of Lunarstella accompanying him but they weren’t in his group.Zara wanted to accompany Aita but the latter refused.He wasn't a child who needed someone with him.Though he repeated that many times to Zara, the latter refused and treated Aita like her little brother. It wouldn’t annoy him if the little brother she thought of wasn’t ten years old…Little by little, people gathered at the en