"That's because I wanted to stay alone with Vaan as well…"
Elara spoke as she buried her face into Vaan's chest.
"O-Oh…"
Vaan on the other hand, was at a loss of words.
His face turned red and in order to hide that from Elara, he placed his hand on top of her head, making sure she would not move away and see his expression.
His heart started beating quickly, Vaan feared that Elara might notice that, however, Elara was too under the influence to sense that. She just felt the extreme comfort in Vaan's arms and closed her eyes.
Vaan's head, on the other hand, were still filled with what Elara said, his reaction was stronger than what he expected. The joy he felt when Elara said those words…
The feeling of accomplishment when Elara indirectly chose him over that Elric bitch, it was foreign to him.
"Vaan…" Suddenly, Vaan heard Elara's voice.
"W-What is it?" He stuttered.
"Talk with me," Elara repeated what she had been saying this whole time.
"R-Right."
Vaan nodded.
"Let me think about something to talk about."
"Think quickly."
"Yes mam."
"Vaan good."
Elara nodded, her eyes were closed and her voice was still as tipsy as ever.
Vaan smiled as he started gently ruffling her hair while his mind thought about different topics to talk about.
Honestly, he wasn't much of an expert in these matters either, the heart of a woman, he never bothered to try and understand it.
Wouldn't hitting your head on a wall be more productive? Why would you bother doing something as useless as trying to understand a woman's heart and win her over when you can simply pay one to skip all the formalities and get what you want?
Well, at least that was what Christopher thought.
Vaan, however, was different. He wasn't someone who had the same thoughts as Christopher anymore.
Being 'acknowledged' by Elara filled his heart with a strong sense of fulfillment the likes of which Vaan or Christopher had never felt before.
'Heh.'
A small smile appeared on Vaan's face as he thought about everything.
He tried to talk about different topics, normally, Elara would stay silent and he had to be the one to carry on the conversation, the drunk Elara however, was different.
Once she started, it was as if she didn't know how to stop.
The roles had shifted, now, Vaan was the listener, only giving his input when asked. Honestly, the sleepy drunk Elara was absolutely adorable in Vaan's eyes. The moment created was so wholesome that sometimes, Vaan felt like he was getting lost in it.
However, no matter how much the drunk Elara wanted to talk, the alcohol she had consumed was stronger than her, soon, it did its magic, and combined with the warmth she felt as she was hugged by Vaan, Elara who couldn't stop talking finally entered the dreamland.
Realizing that she had finally slept, Vaan sighed. There was a feeling of emptiness in his heart, he knew he wouldn't be seeing much of the drunk Elara in the future. After all, he didn't want Elara to become an addicted drunkard.
No matter how much he enjoyed the time he spent with Elara if it came with the cost of her health, Vaan didn't want it.
Also, his final aim wasn't just to get Elara drunk and have her talk to him. This was just him trying to peek into Elara's heart and get to know her better.
His final aim was to get Elara to open up to him and act like this around him without being influenced by Alcohol.
Anyways, soon, Vaan tried to close his eyes as well, but then,
*Knock* *Knock*
"Young Master Vaan." He heard a knock and Gabel's voice.
Vaan carefully got away from Elara, then he opened the door and with a slightly annoyed look on his face, he questioned,
"What is it?"
"Lord Orion has summoned you and..." Gabel reported and suddenly, Vaan's eyes widened as he quickly glanced at the time.
"Fuck…"
He cursed.
He missed today's training.
"He didn't seem to be in a good mood," Gabel spoke and a fake smile appeared on Vaan's face as he gave into his fate.
'I am fucked…'
…
"Father, please tell me this is all just Lady Astra's doing," Lirael spoke as she read the detailed report of Vaan's actions even since Lirael and other mages had left for the academy.
Seeing her daughter's expression a wry smile appeared on Draven's face,
"I would have loved to say that, I even tried to investigate the entire thing and it wasn't like there weren't any results.
I found out that before Vaan started acting differently, Astra implemented a large-scale forced memory erase on some family servants, however, since the operation was personally handled by Astra herself, there were no loops or openings I could use to get into the details.
All the information regarding that matter is completely wiped out."
"Then why don't we directly ask the Family Head, if we point it out in the next Vesta meeting and use our faction to add to the pressure, she would have to give in eventually, won't she?
I am confident that everything happening is somehow related to that Memory Erase, we need to know what Lady Astra is trying to hide from us."
Lirael spoke as her eyes brightened in hope.
Draven, however, shook his head.
"There is no cause for us to stand up against the authority of the Family Head, nothing bad has happened after the Memory Erase, not to mention the ones who got their memories erased were either servants or mages who were completely loyal to Astra.
So no one would raise any complaints together with us.
This act would simply be labeled as questioning the Family Head's credibility.
It would have been possible if it was a weak Family Head but…
Going against Astra is not an available option right now.
For now, we can only accept that Vaan has changed and need to plan our future actions accordingly."
"But this makes no sense! How could a waste suddenly wake up and say, 'Welp! I am not a waste anymore!'
Not to mention it happened so quickly that no one could tell when this transition actually happened.
How could a pushover who even the kids from the side families jeered at suddenly wake up and turn into a borderline thug who goes around beating anyone he doesn't like?
Not to mention he actually became a 2nd Circle Mage and even researched a completely new Magic Circle that broke more than 50 existing Magic Theories!
How is that possible!?
No matter how I see it, it is a foolishly framed story!"
Lirael burst out.
She was humiliated in the meeting today, therefore, the moment she returned to her room, the first thing she did was to visit her father together with her brother.
Draven already expected his children to come to visit him, he even had his servants prepare a thorough report about recent events so that he and his children were on the same page.
However, just as he expected, the shock was just too great.
"Are you trying to say Astra had come up with all of this on her own? Are you saying that Astra is a fool who would come up with this 'foolishly framed story'? Lirael, we may not be in the same section, however, Astra was someone who had defeated me. Calling her a fool is indirectly insulting me.
Also, didn't you already encounter Vaan once? You even saw his Advanced Magic Circle.
You should have felt it, he is not the pushover as before.
He is a threat.
A threat whom, rather than dismissing everything by calling it forged, the two of you should take seriously."
"…" Lirael turned silent.
This time, however, Vaelen spoke up.
"Do we really have to worry though? Even if Vaan has changed, or let's just say he was hiding his real self and has finally revealed his real self,
Isn't it already too late?
No matter how much 'potential' he might have, in the end, he is only a 2nd Circle Mage, and in Battle of Heirs, he faces me, a 5th Circle Mage, the difference is just too high for his Potential to cover it up, isn't it?
Not to mention the Factions are already made with only a few mages staying neutral. Even if all those mages side with him, the faction created out of them would be too weak to stand against the current two factions.
Even if he has the potential, his timing is just way off for him to succeed."
Vaelen voiced out his thoughts, how could someone like him treat a 2nd Circle Mage as a threat? That was ridiculous.
Draven started at his son for a while, then, he just sighed,
"Did you completely overlook the tension that arose during today's meeting? What? Was your brain in hibernation or something? Or has that whole darn thing rusted away since you have your sister taking care of things for you?"
Comments