Leon quietly cut a piece of the pastry with his fork and shoved it into his mouth.
’Uhh? Coffee?’
He paused mid-chew.
The cake was coffee flavored.
And it was actually delicious, the aroma alone was enough to make him consider ordering three more of them right now.
Bump.
Irene hit him with her shoulder from beside him.
"Hey. Stop eating will ya?"
She muttered under her breath.
Leon slowly raised his gaze from the cake to the two people sitting across the table.
Ayaka was smiling at him.
But it was a strange smile, the kind of smile someone gave you right before they attended your funeral.
She almost looked genuinely sorry for him.
Leon did not know why.
Beside her, Alice sat with her eyes narrowed.
But she was staring at Irene the whole time.
’Hey now, just talk and be done with it. It’s getting late.’
Leon said this in his mind, knowing full well that saying it out loud will give her more excuses, to cuss at him.
"...Who are you to him?"
That was the first thing she asked Irene.
When Alice interrupted their moment outside, Ayaka came running behind her and dragged her together with Leon inside this cake shop.
Now, Leon could have refused to tag along, but Ayaka said that she had ordered a cake for him.
To her words Leon slightly saw sparks in Irene’s eyes.
Irene has a sweet tooth, and Leon thought she wanted to taste some of Liora’s popular cakes.
And that’s how he was here.
Irene did not flinch at Alice’s question.
She simply picked up her cup of tea, took a slow sip from it, and then placed it back down onto the saucer with practiced manner.
She met Alice’s narrowed gaze directly and spoke in a soft polite way.
"The name is Irene Adler, and I am Leon’s girlfriend."
"...."
Alice’s eyes widened at that, not because of the answer itself.
"...h-his girlfriend?" Alice repeated and then turned to Leon who was still focusing on his cake.
"Hey. Is she telling the truth?"
Her raised voice made the piece of coffee cake on Leon’s fork drop right back onto the plate.
"Uh..."
He was about to savour that bite.
Leon peeked a glance at Alice.
She looked completely serious right now.
’...it’s not that big of a deal. I just returned from a Evana too, for your information.’
Leon would have told her sooner, given enough time.
Maybe.... Probably... Eventually—
Alright, fine, maybe not.
"Leon." Irene bumped him again.
Leon slowly set his fork down onto the plate, mourning the loss of his coffee cake for a brief second.
Then he sighed. "...Yeah. She is telling the truth."
He admitted plainly.
"Irene is my girlfriend."
"...."
"...."
"WHEN DID YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!"
Her voice rang out so loud that half of the cake shop turned their heads toward their table.
A few nearby customers paused mid-bite, and a waitress carrying a tray flinched.
"Alice, can you keep it down? People are staring." Leon looked around him.
"LIKE I GIVE A FUC— Sigh....?!"
She heaved a sigh controlling her anger.
The reason was not that Leon had a girl, the reason for her anger was something else entirely.
"You disappear for days, and come back acting all mysterious, and... and refuse to tell me anything about your trip, and now I find out you have a whole entire girlfriend that you never once mentioned to me?!"
"...When you put it like that, it does sound bad." It was Irene who said this.
"IT IS BAD!" Alice acknowledged her.
Beside her, Ayaka quietly picked up her own teacup and took a sip, watching the entire scene unfold with a calm face.
’I have no involvement in it.’ She added in her head. ’Yeah, it’s common between youngsters—Wait! What if Tia had a boyfriend and what if she didn’t tell me yet?! NO NO NO NO.’
Ayaka was going through her own self proclaimed imaginary problem.
Irene, on the other hand, covered her mouth.
"You really did not tell her about me?"
"...I did not get the chance." Leon replied to Irene.
Which was in a sense true.
He was fed up with Astral Matter, and preparing a report for Eula of what had happened at Evana.
And on top of that, he had to attend his classes.
Leon gazed at Alice after that.
And to his surprise, she had crossed her arms, turned her face away to the side, and was pouting quietly. As if openly displaying that she did not like what she was doing right now.
’Now she is making ’me’ feel bad.’
Leon sighed.
"Look, Alice. I understand. But listen to me first about why I did not want to tell you this any sooner."
"And what the hell was that reason supposed to be, huh?" Alice snapped without even facing him. "Is she some princess of a kingdom or what, that you were hiding her from me? That revealing it would somehow turn the whole thing into a diplomatic matter?"
"...."
Leon blinked stunned at her words because of how dangerously close to accurate she was.
Irene was not a princess, but she was a representative of Evana.
A kingdom that every other kingdom in this world was currently trying to court. A kingdom that would be formally recognized at the royal banquet happening tonight.
If word got out that a Duke’s son from Liora was romantically involved with an Evana representative, then the political implications would be enormous.
Leon glanced toward Ayaka, and Ayaka instantly understood what that single glance meant.
’Wait. Really?! Is this really what she just said?!’ Ayaka asked him inside her head, her eyes going wide.
Leon was asking Ayaka for help. That single glance from Leon meant for her to react.
She coughed once, asking for everyone’s attention at the table.
Ayaka had decided to end this conversation right here, before the people around them started listening in any more closely than they already were.
"Ahem. Alice, how about we all chat somewhere else instead?"
"Why?"
Alice grumbled without turning her head.
Ayaka’s eyes twitched.
’This brat.’
She leaned slightly toward Alice and lowered her voice into a gentle whisper.
"Because, dear. Half the cake shop has been listening to you scream about Leon Valentine’s girlfriend for the past three minutes. They will get the wrong idea."
"...."
Alice slowly turned her head.
Then she looked around the shop.
Sure enough, at least four different tables were pretending very hard not to be watching them. One elderly woman near the window did not even bother pretending she was openly staring with her chin resting on her palm, thoroughly invested, and the waitress standing near the counter quickly looked away.
Alice’s face went completely pale, then it went completely red.
"...Oh." Alice just now realized that she was making it sound like a lover quarrel.
"Yes, dear. Oh." Ayaka smiled sweetly at her, patting her head gently. "It is all fine, dear. Let us go now."
Alice slumped back into her chair, mortified, and immediately began stuffing her face with a pastry to hide her embarrassment.
"...Sorry."
Alice muttered those words toward Irene while munching on her cake.
Even though Alice was mad, she did not want Irene to take all of her behavior in the wrong way.
"...I am... just angry because... it made me feel left out."
"...."
Leon’s jaw fell open.
"...Excuse me? Left out? When did I ever—"
"You did!"
Alice said, gritting her teeth, one eye half closed.
"Just because I refused your and Ethan’s invitation, you refuse to share with me what you all did there. And... and..."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"...here I was, sacrificing my sleep just to work on your weapon. Have you even realised how it made me feel when you said that? Just because I did not say it to your face does not mean I like every act you do to me! It hurts me too! I am showing you the respect of one of my closest friends, so then return it the same way! Share things with me!"
Her eyes were slightly wet now.
"From the way you talk to me, I feel like you know everything about me. But then you..."
She looked away.
"...I don’t... I don’t know a single thing about you. It hurts me! I feel like you are using me for your benefit! Like my father did! Like my mother did! Like my brother did! Like my sisters did! Like all of my uncles did! They all... every single one of them...!"
Her eyes watered up, and then tears started to roll down her cheeks.
She kept stuffing her mouth with cake, one bite after another, as if the sweetness on her tongue could somehow cancel out the bitterness sitting in her chest.
She raised one arm and wiped her cheeks, because her tears were making her cake taste salty.
"...you make me feel like you are one of them."
Alice then added.
"I hate it."
.
.
[A/N: Every 100 GT = 2 Extra Chapters]