399 Return to Haven [2]

"....." Shortly after ending the call with her father, Delilah stood in silence while her eyes grew slack. A chocolate bar lay on the ground beneath her, but she didn't so much as glance at it. Her father's words replayed in her mind over and over again. ...And gradually, her eyes darted towards her hand. That was when her eyes locked onto her finger and she pursed her lips. Rubbing the ring with her thumb, she stood like that for a minute with a lost look. "...." She only snapped out of it when she recalled something. Hastily, she turned her head to look around. Where is it...? Where? Where....? "Ah." Suddenly, it all came back to her. In an instant, she vanished from where she stood and reappeared in her office. Without wasting a moment, she strode directly to the nearest drawer.

Clank! Delilah rummaged through it before picking up a small book that read;

[Julien Observation Diary] Delilah dipped her fountain pen into the ink before flipping through the pages. Flip! Flip! Her gaze eventually fell on a certain bullet point. [● He likes girls with long black hair, and black eyes, and is older.] There... Delilah brought her pen over the bullet point and crossed it two times. Scratch~ Scratch~ Then, once satisfied, she nodded. "Good." Shortly after that, she dipped the fountain pen back into the ink and flipped over to the next page. Flip! The tip of the pen pressed against the paper as she wrote another bullet point. Sribble~ As she wrote the new bullet point, she thought about her father's words and the pressure on the paper eased. She was making fixes to the previous bullet point. A more accurate version of the previous bullet point. [● Wants to be engaged with me. He must like me.] "There." Delilah nodded her head in satisfaction. This was the evolved and more accurate version of the previous bullet point. Flawless, and accurate.

She didn't purposely forget about how her father had told her about the engagement being a ruse. That was useless information. "Good." Satisfied, Delilah closed the diary. Plack! ....How observant she was. *** "Did you pack everything...?" "There isn't much that I brought." I looked down at my luggage. Besides clothes, there wasn't much with me. All the important things were in my ring. "Hm, okay." Leon on the other hand had a lot more things with him. He had several servants help him bring the stuff to the carriage. The worst part was that none of the servants even offered to help me at all... It was as if I didn't exist to them. 'I'm supposed to be the Young Master here. Why is he getting treated better than me...?' I already knew the answer but the disparity between our treatments was far too glaring. To make matters worse, I could even see the servants sigh in relief. They were clearly happy about the fact that I was leaving. 'Damn, Julien.' I silently cursed while heading for the carriage. As I arrived, a thought occurred to me. "....Will Evelyn be coming with us?" "No. She left with her own one. Something about not being able to stand being with the two of us for several days." "Hmm. That was probably her polite way of saying she can't stand you." "....?"

Leon blinked his eyes before turning back to look at one of the attendants. They were all standing by his side. "Look around you." "...." Clank! I entered the carriage without saying another word. I had lost the fight before I could even fight it. Still... "I still beat you."

"....Uh?"

Clench. Leon's face tightened. I imprinted his gaze in my mind and leaned back on the carriage. It felt good to be a winner.

*** Bang—

Flames engulfed the surroundings as a white figure emerged from within the flames. Kiera's red eyes shone within the flames as her gaze locked in a certain direction. Immediatly, her eyes started to shift. They slowly started to turn black. A black film squirmed from beneath her feet, covering the surroundings as her figure started to fade from the platform. Swoosh! A powerful gust of wind shot in her direction shortly after. However, before it could even reach Kieara, it was swiftly absorbed by the blackness that surrounded her. "...Heh." Aoife looked toward the darkness, her eyes clear blue. Blinking once, her eyes changed to a different color. They turned entirely black. Then... without hesitation, she sprinted toward the ball of black that had covered Kiera. Swoosh! Her figure blended within the darkness as she looked around. It took her no longer than a few seconds to spot Kiera within the darkness. Aoife's figure blended within the darkness, materializing before Kiera who appeared unfazed by her appearance. Aoife extended her hand forward, reaching out for Kiera's exposed body in a swift and decisive move. She planned on ending the fight before Kiera could react. ".....!" Aoife's expression changed the moment she brought her hand forward, but it was too late. Kiera's figure shattered. A hand then stretched out from the very fabric behind her, grabbing her by the back of her neck. "....Ukh!" Aoife was immediately startled. Especially when she noticed that the hand released her shortly after touching her. Aoife wasn't all too pleased by the fact that Kiera didn't follow up on her attack especially since she started to feel her body become heavier by the second. She had clearly been affected by something. "Haa... Haa..." Her breathing grew heavy. Flicking her head to look around, Aoife kept her composure. A bright light shot out from her body, shattering the darkness that surrounded her. Tzzzz—

A hissing sound reverberated through the air as the darkness around her writhed like living creatures, recoiling and slithering away from her presence.

Aoife looked around her with an expressionless look. This had been her plan from the very start. "....Huff." But still, the damage that she sustained in the process wasn't light at all. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward but the moment she did, the ground beneath her sunk Swoosh! "....!" Aoife's expression fell as she felt herself slowly sink onto the ground beneath her. Her eyes grew entirely white as the glow around her pierced even brighter. Tzzz! The darkness hissed once more, and the sinking sensation slowed down. But only for a brief moment. To Aoife's annoyance, she was still sinking down. 'Damn it.' Aoife clenched her teeth and looked in Kiera's direction. Bringing her hand up, a sword levitated in front of her. Twisting her hand in one motion, the tip of the sword faced Kiera's direction. "...." "...." The two sides stared at each other in silence, no words exchanged. It was just when Aoife was about to release her attack that a voice fell. "Stop! The practice session is over! Dispel all your skills immediately or I will do that for you! Don't make me repeat myself. Dispell all your skills!" The darkness surrounding Aoife dispelled and her eyes returned to normal. Thud! Kiera landed on the ground opposite her. Her expression was calm, but when paying close attention, Aoife could see the trembling in her hands. '....Did she overreach?' It made sense to some extent. Especially since Kiera had started to materialize her domain unlike her. It took a heavy toll on the body since the mana required for the domain to materialize was quite heavy. Aoife was about to talk to her when Professor Hollowe's voice reverberated. Clap, clap! "May I have everyone's attention, please!" He had a thin smile on his face as he looked around. "I've watched all your fights, and I'm pleased with your progress so far. Your next task is to create a detailed feedback sheet. I want each of you to provide constructive criticism to the person you faced, highlighting areas they can improve and suggesting ways to get better."

Aoife frowned, glancing at Kiera who didn't say much. She had been a little silent lately, but Aoife wasn't one to complain about such things. 'A quieter Kiera is a better Kiera.'

"....Is that the case?" "Sort of—uh!?" Stunned, Aoife hastily turned her head to see Kiera's face pressed next to hers. "I'm just a little tired. I can talk if you want." "No, that's... Wait, you can understand what I said?!"

Aoife looked startled. Then, after a little thought, she started shuddering. No, not like them... Kiera seemed to have understood her thoughts once again as her face twitched. "Bitch, you whispered the words. I didn't read your mind. We're nothing like those two." "Ah." Aoife appeared relieved. But only for a few seconds as both hers and Kiera's expressions froze. "Ah." Kiera's face fell as she bit her lips. "...We did it, didn't we?" "Yes." Aoife nodded slowly, trying her best to keep herself composed. 'This... This wouldn't have happened if those three weren't gone for so long. Now that I'm spending so much time with Kiera, it's starting to become easier to read her face.' Aoife felt her stomach churn. She really didn't want to become like those two... "Keum." A sudden cough gathered Kiera's and Aoife's attention as they hastily turned their heads. It was there that they spotted Professor Hollowe looking at them, alongside pretty much the entire class. "Care to tell us what you two were whispering to each other?" "....." "...." Neither Kiera nor Aoife said a word. They understood the situation all too well. Saying anything would just make the situation worse for them. Silence was the only answer. ...And indeed it was as Professor Hollowe didn't give them more trouble. Of course, he did say a few words to them. "I'm not going to lecture you too much, given that you two are the highest ranked in the class. But if I were you, I wouldn't be so relaxed. In fact, I'd be using every spare moment to train." "...." Aoife pursed her lips as Professor Hollowe turned his head to face the classmates. "....You two may currently be the highest ranked, but you're far from the strongest." It was then that Aoife's eyes fell on several familiar figures. Figures that she had brought to the Academy at the request of her father and family. "Don't slack off. Otherwise, you'll find yourself out of the top ten."