Hope Domitius— if there was one person that could save Ava from her suffering, it had to be him. I remembered how he did it back then, albeit in an entirely different situation and circumstance...
"...I don't like it! I said I don't like it, so..." bellowed Ava.
It was the lounge room in Gheele's palace. If I recalled correctly, it was exactly a day after Freya Nikolaenkov joined Lutalo, just a few days away from the Great Transcontinental War. To prepare for it, Lutalo went back to Gheele's palace using my Teleportation Warp for a couple of days. Klaus invented a few prototypes of Aegis Gear there for me and Hope, but... none of it worked. What a shame, as he'd been hyping them up.
"What is wrong with you, Ava?" Agatha asked.
Ah, I forgot to mention. Inside that lounge room, aside from me, Hope, and Ava, there were Agatha and Freya as well. It was somewhere around 11:00 P.M at that time.
Ava pouted as her eyes glared at Freya, who returned it with a befuddled look.
"I-It's only for today..."
Hope said his piece with an awkward smile. Seeing those two girls in a tense situation had made him stood up from his seat, hands held out toward them.
"But..." Ava bit her lip. She wore her red pajama right then. "But you're a guy... a-and Freya is a girl. So..."
"There is no spare room for now. All the servants' quarters are full, including the guest rooms, ya' know? A huge war is coming, so the palace is packed," said Agatha with a frown.
"T-Then, she can take my room!"
"I don't mind if Freya takes mine as well. I'll not be sleeping these few days, with how things are," I supported Ava.
"Well, I can just go get a room in some hotel," Freya flashed a smile at everyone. "Sorry if this troubles you, Hope, Ava."
"Not at all."
"..."
Ava clenched her fists and looked down. She was in a bad mood recently, right after when Hope said he would train Freya himself, saying that it was his responsibility and all that. But...
I sighed inwardly.
What a dense guy.
...Freya decided to sleep in my room and then left along with Agatha. I sat at the edge of my seat, taking a few sips of my tea. My eyes glanced at Hope and Ava as they stared at each other.
"...Ava. Did I do something wrong? If so, I'm sorry," Hope apologized.
"..."
"You don't understand what I'm feeling. It hurts. It hurts and yet... I..."
Hope placed his palms together and lowered his head, in an act of apologizing. "I'm sorry! So sorry."
When he looked back up at Ava, tears fell from her eyes.
"A-Ava?"
"...I need to go."
"Eh? Ava. Wait!"
She burst out of the door, leaving only Hope and I in there. His hand that tried to reach for Ava fell down, followed by a loud sigh.
"Why is it always like this?" He said to himself. "The more I think about it, the more confused I get."
I put back my cup of tea on the table. "Mer Ava is in a really difficult spot right now."
Hope turned towards me, and his head jerked back. "So-So-Sofeea?! Why are you here? When did you get in?"
"I'm always here. From the beginning."
"...Oh."
"But anyway, Ser Hope, I really believe you should stop pretending right now."
"..."
"What are you talking about?" A serious expression flitted across his face.
"Do you not feel pity for Mer Ava? She's suffering because she doesn't understand the new feelings she had developed. She's fourteen. The typical age where someone starts to feel conscious of another person of the opposite gender."
"...You don't mean..."
"As I said, stop pretending."
Even I was getting frustrated by how things were going between both of them. Ava deserved much love. In fact, everyone in Lutalo loved her, but that girl's love for Hope was on an entirely different degree in itself.
"...Hah." Hope sighed again and went over to the door. "I want her to be happy. Everything I did is for her, for this very purpose of giving her a new, happier, fulfilling life in the near future."
"You're contradicting yourself!" I shouted. "Someday, you need to respond to Ava's feelings, one way or another. You want a happy life for her? Then be a slave to your ideals, Ser Hope. Only when you give it everything you have, everything you have to offer, will you be able to achieve it."
Hope let out a forced chuckle. "With Ava being the way she is, I guess this kind of price is... reasonable, huh. You know..."
He turned to face me, and my eyes opened wide. His expression was soft and gentle— a hint of sadness could be seen in his eyes.
"I always think of Ava's future, what would happen to her after everything is over? After the fall of C.U, the defeat of Amathelia and her minions, and all that... I always think of it. Can she fit in with the kids her age in school? She's an Aegis User, Sofeea, like us. By a stroke of fate, her friends might find out who she is, what she's capable of..."
Hope continued, "She might be isolated after that, and... her hatred might resurface."
I raised an eyebrow at him. Every one of us already thought of that possibility, not just him. For example, I always thought if Ava could ever live normally, away from the battlefield and bloodshed. Perhaps she could, but there was no way I could find out. I just had to live long enough to see it myself, how she would grow up, what kind of person she would be in the future.
"...I'm sure all of us think the same thing," I said, almost like a whisper.
Hope laughed. "Haha. Yeah. You know... if the price I have to pay so that Ava can live a normal, happy life is already that heavy... then... I guess I wouldn't mind going all-out and do it until..."
Bam!
My hands slammed the wooden table.
"Ser Hope! You..."
"Figured it out, huh? Well, I guess it's too obvious." The sadness in his eyes vanished, followed with an honest smile. "I really hope you don't tell her this, or anyone else for that matter. Haha. If I'm the only one who can do it, then I will. If I can shift this to someone else, it will be great and all... but... that wouldn't happen, huh?"
The tea I had placed on the table already dripped to the floor at that time, but I ignored it.
"You do understand what you're saying, right? She will... Mer Ava will not like it. You're trying to do something that will make her sad. This..."
"Sofeea. You were the one who said that I have to give it everything I have. It's true, though."
Hope twisted the doorknob open and without looking back, he said:
"Be there for her, at all times... And, just pretend we never had this conversation, all right? Ava will notice it if you start acting strange all of a sudden."
He closed the door gently, leaving me inside that lounge room, all sorts of thoughts clouded my mind.