As Aelia stood in Asher's embrace and rested her cheeks on his chest, she felt a sense of relief after speaking out all her worries to him.
Asher too was very pleased to have his first heart-to-heart conversation with his Angel. Though he knew that he had yet to make her fall in love with him, he was neither displeased nor daunted by the task.
Since the time he was saved by his Angel fifteen years ago, to Asher, Aelia had become the most precious pearl that was more valuable than his own life. He wanted to give her everything she wanted, even if he had to fight Gods or retrieve it from hell itself.
Thus, Asher was not dissatisfied with the work he had to do to win over his Angel. He was more than happy to put all his effort into this task, as he believed that if his Angel had instantly accepted him without any effort from him, then it would only diminish her value in front of others.
As Asher thought of the incident fifteen years back, he looked at his Angel who was resting her face on his chest with a peaceful look. Seeing this Asher's face softened and he tightened his arms around her waist.
Asher intended to always ensure that whatever be the circumstances, his Angel could always find love and peace whenever she was in his arms.
Though Aelia had never embraced any other man other than her father and brother, she knew that her fiancé definitely had an exceptional body. As she leaned on Asher's chest, she could feel his sturdy and robust build under his clothes.
As soon as Aelia's thoughts started to stray in weird directions, she blushed and shook her head.
She quickly chastised herself, 'No, I shouldn't let myself be influenced by his shameless thoughts so easily!'
As Aelia looked up at Asher with an accusing glare and a slight blush on her face, Asher felt confused as well as intrigued.
He was about to ask what he was suddenly being blamed for, when he at realised that someone was intensely staring at them. He instantly became alert and looked around with a protective stance that hid Aelia securely in his embrace.
Sensing the sudden change in his mood, Aelia too became conscious of their surroundings and looked around only to meet her sister's teasing smile.
As soon as Aelia saw her sister, she finally realised that how affectionate they were being in such a public space. She quickly released her hands from around Asher's shoulders and stepped back.
Asher too relaxed on seeing that it was just his sister-in-law.
As Aelia stepped back from his embrace, he could only sigh disappointedly on losing her warmth.
Aylin did not even try to be inconspicuous while winking at Asher and giving him a thumbs up.
Seeing this, Aelia scowled at her younger sister, while Asher chuckled at her antics.
Aylin conspicuously cleared her throat and teased, "Duh! I won't even ask if I was interrupting something, because obviously I was! Should I come back after another half an hour? Or do you want more time?"
Aelia blushed at her younger sister's teasing and admonished, "Linlin!"
When Aylin heard her elder sister calling her Linlin, she knew that Aelia was not really angry with her.
It was the first time since their mother's disappearance that Aylin had seen her elder sister being so carefree. Aylin felt very grateful to her brother-in-law because she knew it was him who was responsible for her sister's great mood.
After this, the three of them had a great time while shopping and chatting with each other.
Asher knew that soon when they would leave for Delphia, it might be some time before his Angel could return to Phillon. So, he gave the two sisters a chance to interact and chat with each other.
While Aylin chatted with her sister, she did not miss how Asher had kept holding her sister's hands. What surprised her was how her elder sister, who always hated public displays of affection, had so docilely accepted Asher's hand without putting up any fight.
Asher too felt satisfied when he saw that he had successfully bridged some of the distance between their hearts.
After shopping for more than four hours, Aylin finally accepted Aelia's request for ending their shopping trip.
As they sat in the car, Aelia asked Asher, "Will you be joining us for lunch?"
Asher thought for a second and nodded yes. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with his Angel.
Aylin scrunched up her nose and asked, "Then should we just have our lunch at some restaurant? Those two frauds at home would definitely not let us eat our lunch in peace!"
Hearing this, Aelia shook her head in refusal. She replied seriously, "You know that they are the frauds! Isn't it them who don't belong in our house! Why should we let inconsequential people like them affect our moods or our actions? If we allow them to have such an effect on us, then wouldn't it mean we're letting them win."
Hearing her sister's explanation, Aylin acquiesced to the decision. She felt that her sister was right! She should just treat those two as inconsequential people who would soon be out of their lives.
Asher felt proud that his Angel could think so clearly. He was sure that Aelia would make a fine Crown Princess.
Just as Aylin had predicted, as soon as the three of them reached home, they met Reine in the drawing-room.
Reine gave the three of them a sweet smile and warmly invited Asher for lunch.
Seeing Reine acting as if she was the hostess, Aylin gave a cold snort and went into the dining room. Asher and Aelia too did not pay any attention to Reine.
Seeing this the smile on Reine's face stiffened. When she saw Asher pulling out the chair for Aelia, she fumed thinking, 'How does that bitch dare to steal my place!'
Though she felt a strong desire to give a tight slap across Aelia's face, she reined in her anger and consoled herself thinking that she had to only wait for the next day to place Aelia in her rightful place.
Thinking about this, Reine's mood brightened. She smiled at Asher and cordially said, "Since our results for graduation will be out tomorrow, Asher, why don't you accompany me and Sister Aelia to our university? We can show you around the place where Sister Aelia has spent her last two years."
As soon as Aelia heard this, she understood that Reine had again schemed up something for tomorrow. Otherwise, on the basis of her understanding of Reine, she would never deliberately invite Asher tomorrow knowing that her results would be overshadowed simply by Aelia's presence.
This was not Aelia being vain and proud of herself. It was just a fact that Aelia was well-known as a prodigy in Chemistry.
She had passed the University Entrance Examination at the age of seventeen. Just after a year of entering the world-renowned Phillon National university, she had successfully performed her own experiments on plant-based poison.
In fact, she had recently been informed that tomorrow she would receive both her graduation results as well as her doctoral degree for successfully performing the experiments.
However, as this fact had yet to be publicized by the university, not many people knew about the fact that Aelia would also receive her doctoral degree tomorrow.