As time went by, Ayaka overheard two men passing by their table.
"Hey hey, did you see that metal beast out there? What was it?"
Another replied.
"Idiot, can you not see that it was some kind of vehicle."
"Huh? Vehicle? Bullshit! From what angle does it look like that to you?"
"See, this is why you are an idiot."
Ayaka thought to herself.
’There indeed was a commotion outside...’
As far as she could tell, that must be something eye-catching, which had made them all confused.
Something which was not from this kingdom.
’Oh well.’
It was not hard for her to guess what it was.
Some representatives from Evana had arrived in this kingdom. So it must belong to one of them.
Ayaka thought about the banquet which would happen tonight.
’I will have to ask Leon to introduce me to one.’
Hopefully with Leon by her side, she could do some business with them.
’Yeah, that would be so great.’
As Ayaka was staring outside, enjoying the rainy view, she saw a few people walking by.
Most of them were couples, some enjoying the rain without an umbrella, while others simply holding hands under a single umbrella.
"Huh?"
Her eyes halted on a particular umbrella.
It was translucent, and she could see the person walking under it.
Ayaka straightened her posture, and blinked her eyes several times just to make sure she was not mistaken.
Under the translucent umbrella walked two people.
One of them was a girl.
Ayaka, who had spent her entire life surrounded by nobles, merchants, and the most beautiful daughters of the highest houses in Liora, had to genuinely pause for a second.
Because that girl was extremely beautiful.
It was a beauty which would make anyone pause to look at it.
It was a beauty which would make people forget the rain existed.
Her platinum hair was loosely tied back, damp strands clinging softly to the side of her neck. And her golden eyes carried a quiet mischief in them as she giggled so brightly.
And beside her, holding the umbrella above the both of them, was a boy Ayaka recognized instantly.
Leon Valentine.
It was a boy who Ayaka couldn’t read, and right now...
The same boy walking with his arm completely locked with that girl, holding all of her shopping bags in his other hand.
He was smiling too.... A genuine smile which Ayaka had never seen bloom on his face before.
The girl said something to him as they walked, then playfully bumped her shoulder against his arm. Leon rolled his eyes at her. She laughed harder at that, and pulled herself even closer against his side.
Ayaka also noticed how she kept on blushing, and how Leon did his best to make her expression that way.
Leon did not even seem to mind.
If anything, he shifted the umbrella slightly, tilting it more toward her side so that not a single drop of rain would touch her hair.
Ayaka noticed every single small gesture he made for that girl.
Ayaka understood what that meant. Afterall, she too once was a girl of that age, and she had done the same stuff to a boy before, who Tia called Dad now.
"...No way." Ayaka whispered.
Her cup of tea had stopped halfway to her lips.
"...What happened?"
Alice, hearing her, turned toward the window and followed her gaze outside.
"What are you looking a—"
Her words got stuck somewhere in her throat and her eyes widened.
The tea spoon in her hand had fallen down.
"....Huh?"
Outside the window, in the middle of the falling rain, Leon Valentine was walking arm in arm with a girl neither of them had ever seen before.
The two of them passed by the cake shop window without ever noticing the two pairs of eyes staring at them from the other side of the glass.
And then they turned the corner and disappeared into the rain.
Silence fell over the table.
Alice slowly turned to look at Ayaka.
Ayaka slowly turned to look at Alice.
Neither of them said a word for a full five seconds.
Then Alice spoke.
"...Madam Ayaka."
"Y-Yes, dear?"
"Did you also see that?"
"...I did." She replied a bit later.
"So I am not hallucinating from sleep deprivation?"
"...Unfortunately not, dear."
"...."
"...."
Alice slowly put her cup down on the table.
Then she buried her face into both of her palms.
"WHO THE HELL WAS THAT GIRL?!"
Alice stood up from her place, about to walk outside.
"H-hey Alice, what are you doing?!"
Ayaka had to hold her wrist.
"Can you not see? I am about to ask him! So, let go!"
She jerked her wrist free, and dashed out the door.
. . .
As Leon walked holding her by the arm, or more accurately, as she gripped onto him tightly, he felt Irene slightly pressing herself toward his side.
Leon noticed that it might be because she was still getting wet from the rain.
Could be possible, after all, this umbrella was so damn small.
He tilted the umbrella a little more to her side, and in doing so, his own shoulder got completely soaked.
’That Hibuki deliberately gave us a transparent umbrella.’
Leon could feel the people staring at him.
Which in actuality, no one was.
It was just his own consciousness making him feel that way.
Anyways, Leon had thought of taking her to a coffee shop which he had heard from some students was quite famous around here.
’It has been long since I had some nice coffee.’
Leon missed his Iced Americano so much.
It was too bad that none of the coffee shops here knew what that even was. And even if Leon guided them on how to make one, they somehow managed to fuck it up completely.
"...and then Anise named her Eri."
"Mmmm. Hey Leon, are you even hearing what I am saying?"
Irene lightly bumped him with her shoulder.
"Oh, yeah. I do."
"Heh. You cannot fool me, my mind runs faster than my Volstreak, you know."
"Yeah yeah..."
Leon knew that she had an S+ Intelligence.
Well, now that he thought about it, Irene was now one of those very few people in this world who had reached the White Core.
’That is seriously impressive.’
She was a character Leon had never even heard of when the game was being developed. He could not believe that someone who was practically an NPC would reach this level of strength.
Although, calling her an NPC would be weird now.
After everything that had happened, she was part of the main cast, even more valuable than most of them.
"Oh, that reminds me, Leon."
"Hm?"
"How about I visit your Eclipse tomorrow?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Just because. I want to see what the outsiders study. I am quite interested, because after seeing what you can do, I want to see what they teach their children here."
"...R-right."
Leon’s eye twitched.
She would be surprised though.
’I am the only genius there, Irene. Heh.’
"Sure, you can visit. But I cannot let you into my dorm room, or any of the classrooms. Those are off limits."
"I am totally fine with that. I just want to meet with Alice."
Leon paused as he took a turn at the corner.
"...What?"
He asked slowly.
Irene smiled at him brightly.
"Mhm. I just want to see Alice... a-and your other friends."
"...."
’Is it because of what Cyan had been telling her? Fuck you idiot, don’t tell her about that weird rumors.’
That being said...
’Alice huh...?’
Leon could not even imagine how Alice would react to this.
He had never told her about Irene.
Would she be angry?
’I mean, I did read somewhere that girls do not like it when their friends hide secrets from them.’
No no.
It was not like she would start cussing him out right?
Right?!
’Yeah, right.’
Knowing Alice, she absolutely might do exactly that.
Leon felt a cold shiver run down his spine that had nothing to do with the rain.
Irene giggled.
"I am just kidding. Do not worry about it."
Leon added. "Alright then, I will ask Alice. I will tell her to come."
"Wait, really? You do not have to. Sorry, I was just teasing you."
Leon replied calmly. "Nah. You said you wanted to meet my friends, right? Well, she was the very first friend I made here."
It was true in every sense.
"O-oh. Alright."
Irene gulped, because somehow that answer had calmed her down.
Irene did not know a single bit about Leon or his personal life, except about his elder sister.
Everything she did know about him was what Cyan had told her.
"You cannot blame me though..." She unconsciously muttered under her breath.
Then she immediately covered her mouth with her palm.
Leon heard it.
"Sigh..."
"Wait no. Forget what I said. Let us just go, it is raining."
She said that, brushing the topic aside, because to her it felt like Leon would think she was doubting him.
She could not help it though.
It was just that there was this cold feeling sitting inside her chest which simply could not be washed away.
As she was pulling Leon forward, Leon did the opposite.
He gently pulled her back into an embrace, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, the umbrella still held above the both of them.
Irene froze completely against his chest.
"...!"
Before Leon could able to say a word—-
"GOD DAMN, YOU SNEAKY LITTLE BASTARD!!!"
[A/N: Hello readers, first of all, I am sorry for the delay.
But I am finally settled in, in my own apartment, alone. It’s my first time living in such a big city, away from home. It’s still unbelievable how fast all of this happened in my life at once.
Updates for both books will start from today.
Thank you for your patience.]