Irene blinked at him, still stunned to stumble into him here.
Leon had seen Irene countless times across countless iterations. But every single time, it still caught him off guard.
Perhaps some things were simply meant to leave you breathless, no matter how many times you saw them.
"Are you going to keep staring at me?"
Irene slightly smiled and asked him straight.
This made Leon snap out of it. His eyes fell to her shoulders, and then behind her he saw that she was all alone.
"...You are soaked."
Leon stepped out of her way and ordered Hibuki.
"Bring me a dry towel."
Hibuki did not tease him this time.
Instead, she quietly studied Leon’s face for a brief second, and then a small knowing look flickered behind her eyes.
She could tell that this girl was someone important to her master. And teasing him about someone important would be crossing a line, even for her.
So she simply nodded and signaled Hiki to bring the towel instead.
Soon, Hiki came back and handed Irene a soft dry towel.
Leon was about to step out to give her some space.
But for some reason, Irene just stood there right in the middle of the hall.
Then she began drying herself, she first loosened her platinum hair, tied it back up into a quick bun, and gently dried the back of her nape with the towel. Then she dabbed the dry towel softly over her face and along her arms.
"Ahem..."
Irene coughed lightly when she noticed that Leon had been staring at her the entire time.
A slight blush spread across her face, but there was also a small smirk hidden beneath it, one that seemed to silently ask him.
’Are you enjoying the view?’
Leon immediately looked the other way.
After she was done, Hibuki turned to Leon this time and asked.
"Should I also bring her a pair of dry clothes for her, Master?"
"Hm? oh. Yeah, do that." He answered.
Hibuki only smiled back politely. It was not a teasing smile, it looked genuine.
Maybe she had seen something rare on her master’s face just now.
"Did you come here alone?"
Leon asked Irene, changing the subject.
Irene took off her damp jacket, as she did, her wet white shirt made Leon mind almost short circuit.
"No... Xuo was with me. But he returned back to the castle as soon as he got a call from Vivy."
’So, Vivy is here too—’
"Wait? Vivy is here too?!"
"Mhm. Of course she would be, Lillian needed her as her personal bodyguard."
Leon quietly wondered how the heck the kingdom had allowed a half demon and half dragon to walk in through their gates in the first place.
Irene, reading Leon’s expression, deduced his thoughts and answered.
"No worries though. She will be fine, actually, you would be surprised to see her."
Leon wondered what she could possibly mean by that.
"Here, Mistress."
Hibuki returned, handing Irene a new dry coat and a matching white shirt similar to the one she was wearing.
"You can go over there, that room is empty, you can change inside it."
She gestured toward the room at the left corner of the hall.
Irene first paused at being called ’Mistress’ out of the blue.
The first thought that came to her mind was that if this woman called Leon ’Master’ and her ’Mistress’, then perhaps this woman worked directly under Leon.
But then she remembered.
Leon had never once told her that his house Valentine owned a perfume or any kind of shop, or that he even had one in the first place.
That meant this woman who called Leon her master purely out of respect and loyalty.
’She was not just an ordinary shopkeeper.’ She added in her mind.
As the pieces clicked into place inside her mind, a whole network of information roots started connecting at a rapid speed.
Then Irene wore a soft smile, took the clothes from the woman, and told her.
"Thank you for your hard work, Miss. It is nice to meet one of Leon’s informants."
"....oh" Hibuki’s eyes widened at that.
And so did Hiki’s.
Leon, however, had no reaction to it at all. Because knowing this detective for over many decades now, this much deduction was practically nothing to her.
’Hibuki... you need to step up your game here.’
Irene read her like an open book in a matter of 10 seconds.
Irene walked toward the room, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her, leaving the three of them standing alone in the hall.
Hibuki slowly turned to Leon.
"She is beautiful, Master. You have quite good eyes when it comes to choosing the right women."
Leon did not reply.
He waited for Irene to come out, and once she did, he took her out of the shop to somewhere where no one who knew them would find them.
Leon had borrowed two umbrellas from Hibuki before he left.
One he gave to Irene, and the other he kept for himself.
They walked under the rain, the roads were damp with each of their steps rippling small puddles beneath them.
The sky had been fully covered with dark clouds, and there were very few people out on the roads now.
He did not say anything to her as he walked.
"Where are we going?"
Irene asked, walking beside him.
"Uh..."
Leon paused.
Actually, he had not thought of anything yet.
He did not know where to take her. It was just that he wanted her to be out of the Fragrance Shop before Irene could find out that Hibuki worked in the red light district.
That would have been a disaster.
Even though, knowing Irene’s deduction skills, she would have eventually reached the actual answer anyway.
Irene glanced at him, then let out a small sigh.
"I am not disturbing you, am I?"
"No, no. My work here is done anyways. I was about to return back to my dorm."
"From your informants? That woman from the Fragrance store right? Huh... you have quite the solid network here, you know. I actually visited that place because someone told me to reach out to a person named Hibuki for intel."
"Intel on what?"
"Your kingdom, what else? It is for security purposes. Well, with Vivy and me here, we would not really be needing it. But still, better safe than sorry. Oh well, its good thing I get to meet you there."
They chatted about the usual things after that.
Neither of them asked anything about the other’s personal life.
Leon wondered to him if Irene thought he did not want others overhearing them talk about anything too personal to each other.
Because somehow, he actually does.
As they reached the next crossing, Irene paused, and told him quietly.
"I will... uh, go now?" She asked it like a question.
Irene was about to part ways with him.
She had definitely assumed that Leon did not want to be seen with her here.
To Irene, as she had deduced, the reason was because this place was close to Eclipse. And that people would come to know about it, and later ask him all sorts of questions that would only trouble him.
"Bye bye."
She waved at him quietly, and turned to leave.
But as Irene took a few steps ahead Leon frowned to himself.
’No. This is not how it should go, right?’
Irene had spent decades across timelines and countless loops wishing for even a single quiet moment with Leon.
And now that she was standing right here, real and warm and close, he was about to let her walk away into the rain over something as small as being seen.
’How silly of me.’
He had crossed the boundaries of time itself just to keep her alive.
Some moments do not wait for you to be ready. They simply pass by, quiet as this rainfall, and will never return the same way twice.
As Irene walked a little further ahead, Leon called out to her.
Well, he practically shouted, without getting bothered that everyone will hear him.
"Hey, Irene!"
"...!"
Irene stopped in her tracks.
She gripped her fists tightly around the handles of her bags, a quiet expectation blooming inside her chest as she slowly turned back toward him.
"Are you free right now?" He asked.
Irene felt as if her heart had been struck by lightning. It was beating so fast that even the cold rain could not keep her face cool.
Hot.
She felt hot all over.
She nodded gently. "Mhm."
"Then, how about you join me for lunch?" Leon said.
A few people who walked past had heard him, and glanced at the two of them interacting.
Some of them even whispered among themselves at the sight of the Duke’s son, Leon Valentine himself, openly asking a girl out in the middle of the street.
But Leon did not seem to mind them at all and if that was truly the case. Then this meant so much more to Irene than she could ever wish for.
"...I would love to." She said, and walked back over to him.
As she reached Leon, he took all of her shopping bags into one hand, and with the other, he held the umbrella above the both of them.
Irene bravely closed her own umbrella, stepped inside his, and gently locked her arms around his.
"L-let us go now."
She said, hiding her flushed face to the side.
Leon caught the sight of her heat-rushed face anyway.
And for the first time all day, his own heart had finally calmed down.
All the tension of raiding the King tonight, all the weight of everything he had been carrying, washed away the very moment Irene pressed herself against his side.
[A/N: Every 100 Golden Tickets - 2 extra Chapters]