Aria had her eyes closed and hands on the windowsill when Joseph came back. The slight wind coming in from the window flew a few stray strands of Aria's hair back as a small smile formed on her lips.
Joseph barely had time to admire Aria's beauty before she turned around and opened her eyes.
"Enjoying the wind?" Joseph spoke, walking towards the bags they had brought from the kitchen and opening them.
Aria only smiled as she walked over too and peeped into the bags. There were all types of exquisite dishes packed into small packets.
"What's all this?" Aria asked as Joseph took out the dishes one by one.
"Food that had been packed for the search party. No one knew how long it would take us to find you." Joseph spoke with a straight face.
Aria: "....." What did these people think she did when she got angry? Aria shook her head as she began to feel guilty again.
Just then her eyes fell on one of the dishes and Aria completely forgot herself as she shrieked, "You've got shrimp rolls!?!?!?!?"
Joseph stopped and looked at Aria with a weird expression and Aria immediately realised her mistake.
This was a dish only available to the royalty due to the scarcity of shrimps. It wasn't even served at the academy due to the fact that there were a lot of students there.
But Aria had forgotten all her cover simply due to the fact that shrimp rolls had been her favourite dish back at the fire kingdom and was one of the main reasons she would be able to endure parties.
Aria and Joseph stared at each other for a few seconds without speaking a word.
"Tell me honestly Aria. Who are you?" Joseph asked in a small voice with a frown.
Aria looked away from Joseph's searching gaze and spoke in a small voice, "I'm Aria."
Joseph laughed. His voice sounding hollow when he next spoke, "That's all I am to you? After a year of knowing each other, you don't even trust me enough to tell me your last name?"
Aria opened her mouth but Joseph cut in, "Don't give me that crap about not remembering anything. Like hell that's true!!"
Joseph's voice rose as he spoke.
He would have continued to yell, but Aria suddenly mumbled something in a small voice.
Joseph stopped short and asked, "What?"
"Welson." Aria mumbled, "Aria Welson."
Joseph: "...." He had never expected Aria to actually tell him her family name. He obviously knew there was a big reason Aria was secretive about where she was from, Aria wasn't one to usually hide things. She would speak them at your face even if the truth might hurt you.
Aria stared at Joseph's surprised face as he tried to digest the fact that she had actually told him her full name. She knew how big of a risk she had taken telling Joseph her family name.
He might search and might even get to know that Welson was the family name of the King of the fire kingdom. But seeing as Aria hadn't heard even a mention of the kings or queens of the other kingdoms, she was betting on the fact that Joseph would not be able to get information about other kingdoms. Even with all the resources at his father's disposal.