Myra, who was tending to the area near Leon’s clavicle, suddenly stopped her hand.
She spoke while looking directly into his eyes through the mirror.
"Um, young master, there is something I want to ask you..."
"Hm? What is it?"
Leon asked, staring back at her face through the mirror.
"...This might come out abrupt from me, but could you please tell me, were you planning to do something at the banquet tonight?"
"Huh?"
Leon furrowed his brows at her.
He wondered how the heck Myra had gotten the idea that he was planning something.
’Did she hear my conversation with Eula?’
Not possible.
That conversation had happened inside Ayaka’s personal room, and knowing Eula, she would have made absolutely sure no one was tapping into it. She would have even gone so far as to place her own people around to watch for any unusual occurrence.
"I do not know what you mean by that, Myra. I am going because Eula personally invited me there. You know how she is, right?"
"Really? Uh, if that is the case, then it is alright."
Leon noticed Myra making a tense expression.
’Is she worried I might do something against the King there?’
Well, Myra also knew that the last time Leon visited the King, he had mocked him really, really badly in front of his own audience.
She might be thinking that the King would try to harm him today if he showed up out of the blue.
Leon stretched both his arms to adjust the cuffs of his blue coat.
"Nothing worth worrying about, I won’t do anything foolish."
Except for sneaking into the king’s private chamber while he would be busy.
He smiled at his own reflection.
"Looks really good. You picked a nice suit, Myra."
"Thank you for the compliment, young master. But I am afraid you are mistaken. It was Lady Veronica who chose this suit for you."
"Excuse me? Why her?"
Myra paused, then took two small steps back before speaking.
"Yeah, about that, I was getting into that—"
Knock knock.
Just as Myra was about to speak, a knock came from his dorm room door.
Leon’s attention turned toward the door.
"Who could this be at this time?"
He muttered.
Leon thought it might be Alice, but then he recalled that Alice had said she would be going with Madam Ayaka.
Leon looked back at Myra.
She appeared to be quite nervous now, which made him wonder what the reason behind it could be.
’Was I expecting any visit?’
Myra always informed him beforehand if he had one.
["M-my Lady! P-please let me do it. You can rest!"]
A terrified voice came from outside the door.
Leon instantly identified it as his dorm inspector’s voice.
Knock knock.
["H-Heeekkk!"]
"...The heck."
Leon walked toward the door himself, after noticing that Myra was not moving from her spot.
She appeared to be feeling guilty about something.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Alright, alright, I am coming!"
"Jeez, give me some time to open the—"
The moment he clicked the door open, he found out that standing at the doorway was none other than Veronica herself.
"What took you so long?" She asked, raising her brows at him.
Leon’s jaw dropped.
"...."
She did not even bother asking for permission.
She simply barged inside, passing right by Leon as he stayed frozen at the doorframe, staring outside at all the students, the guards, and the dorm inspector, who was practically dripping in sweat.
Leon slowly looked over the crowd gathered outside his dorm.
Staring at all of their terrified expressions, realized his own face probably looked exactly the same.
’...I feel you all.’
He said to them quietly in his mind, with genuine sympathy.
The dorm inspector, standing closest to the door, looked like he was on the very verge of bursting into tears. His whole body was trembling, and his uniform was practically soaked through with sweat.
’Poor guy. Must have been one hell of a shock.’
Leon could not even blame him.
Never in his entire life would that man have imagined that a Tower Head, and Veronica of all people, would suddenly barge into a student dormitory without any prior notice,
Leon closed the door and turned around to face her.
He was still wondering why she came here at this hour.
’...is it because she found out about what I was planning to do?’
No wonder Myra was doubting him.
She sat on Leon’s dining chair with one of her legs resting on top of the other, like she owns this damn place.
Even Myra was now serving her tea now.
’...is this why you were nervous?’ He thought of looking at Myra.
She was avoiding his gaze now.
Quietly walking in front of her, Leon simply asked.
"What is this supposed to mean, sister?"
"Hm?"
She tilted her head, as if he had just asked something incredibly stupid.
"What do you mean? It was you who was taking so long getting ready. So I had no choice but to come here myself."
"Huh?"
"Did Myra not tell you?" She glanced toward Myra.
Myra kept her head down in an apologetic manner and muttered softly.
"Young master arrived just twenty minutes ago, I was busy helping him up, and I was about to tell him. But then, My Lady, you arrived here first."
"Oh? So, he came back just now?"
She turned her glare back toward Leon.
"Where were you roaming around? Ah. Right. Irene is in the kingdom, is she not. Were you out on a date with her?"
Hearing that, Myra turned to Leon with a confused face. "Irene?"
Veronica answers Myra, "he didn’t tell you?"
"..tell what?"
Before Veronica could reply to Myra, Leon spoke up.
"...And what if I was with her? It’s not like I am not allowed to, or are you implying something else sister?"
He said, looking directly into her golden eyes.
Veronica glared right back at him. "Leon Valentine, I will be direct with you... Eula Lunovar, and you. What exactly are you two plotting together?"
She asked it right to his face, without any hesitation.
"Oh? You do realize it is bad manners to listen in on someone’s personal matters, sister."
"Just answer my question."
"....."
Leon paused for a second, he took a heavy breath, and leaned back into his cushion.
He looked straight into Veronica’s eyes and uttered.
"Is Aster Lunovar scarier than Dreamweaver?"
"...What?"
Veronica’s eye twitched at the mention of one of the Calamities’ names spoken so casually here.
Leon leaned against the edge of the table, facing her without blinking.
"You saw what I did to that poor guy, did you not? So tell me, sister. Do you really think a King like Aster, a mere mortal, is somehow more terrifying to me than Dreamweaver himself?"
"...."
Veronica went completely quiet at that.
"I know exactly what I am doing, sister."
Leon continued.
"And I can very much accomplish the things you yourself never did all these years. So please, do not get in the Twilight Order’s way.." he paused and added. "Do not get in my way."
Myra gulped seeing this side of Leon. She just prayed inside her head to not make her master angry at the young master.
The sheer gall of him, to say something like that right to her face.
If it were the old Leon, the one from before the formation of Evana, then Veronica would have already beaten the crap out of him for saying something so reckless, just to knock some sense back into him, to save him.
But this was not that Leon anymore.
After witnessing him single-handedly cornering a Calamity and walk away alive, she was no longer someone who could bring herself to think lowly of him.
"...Fine then. Do whatever you want."
She rose up from the seat and walked toward Leon, picked up a blue tie from the table, and gently tied it around his neck herself.
"This one suits you better."
She patted it flat against his chest.
"Alright. Let us go."
"...Huh, what?"
Veronica said, already walking toward the door. "I am coming too."
"Huh?! ...Wait, what do you mean you will come? Where?!"
"To the banquet, where else?" Veronica replied without even turning back. "Why do you think I came all the way here in the first place?"
Leon shot a quick glance toward Myra.
’So this was what you were trying to tell me earlier.’
No wonder she had been so hesitant about saying it.
’Ah, dammit.’
Leon cursed inside his mind.
Veronica tagging along with him meant only one thing.
She was joining him purely so that she could keep a close eye on Leon, and make sure that he and Eula did not do anything reckless tonight.
Now, here’s the thing, Leon was actually recalculating his entire plan right now.
Because Veronica coming here was no small matter, by attending the banquet, she would be breaking a ritual she had held onto for a very long time.
Veronica never attended any royal banquets, ceremonies, or any events of the sort.
She had despised them.
And yet, right now, she was willingly deciding to come to this one.
It meant that there was indeed something special about King Aster.
Something that even a Tower Head like Veronica felt the need to keep her own eyes on personally.
But strangely enough, after all of that, Leon did not feel scared at all.
If anything, it made him feel even more excited than before.
’Just what exactly are you hiding, Aster?’
A slow smile crept up the corner of his lips.
’Because now I want to see it even more.’
Tonight was going to be real fun.
A/N
@everyone updates of both AOD and VDD will be unstable till 15th of this month as I am moving to my new w*rk location in a new city.
Thank you for the support.