Asher knew that his Angel would never hug anyone other than the people who were very close to her heart. Currently, these people included her parents, siblings and possibly Mrs Hansley too.
While Asher was wondering when he would be included in this list of people, he noticed Mrs Hansley frowning at him.
Under normal circumstances, Asher would have never tolerated such blatant disrespect. However, since the hug had already proved that this woman was very dear to his Angel, he decided to let it slide.
Aelia too had noticed Mrs Hansley frowning at Asher, so she quickly made the introductions.
"Mrs Hansley, this is my fiancé, Asher Ignatius Ivanov! Asher, neet my mentor, Mrs Hansley!"
Mrs Hansley widened her eyes after hearing Asher's name. With her connections, it was impossible for Mrs Hansley to not know the name of this infamous person.
Mrs Hansley did not know at which fact she should be more surprised about, at the fact that her favourite disciple who never showed any interest towards the opposite gender suddenly having a fiancé or at the fact that her fiancé was none other than the one and only Crown Prince of the most powerful country, Delphia.
While others might have been flattered at meeting Asher face to face, Mrs Hansley was quite irked as she held Asher responsible for taking her favourite pupil away from her studies.
So, after quickly collecting her thoughts, Mrs Hansley gave a cool nod towards Asher in acknowledgement and then looked at her pupil with raised eyebrows.
Aelia knew that her mentor wanted an explanation. So she briefly explained the situation, without mentioning anything about the supernatural nature of Delphians.
After hearing what Aelia said, Mrs Hansley said with a sigh, "So, you have to go to Delphia because you are an heir to a Delphian Ducal House. But should they really be allowed to force you to be their Crown Princess just because of this?"
Mrs Hansley asked this question, because she knew her disciple never cared much about material wealth and social status. Despite Aelia's cold demeanour, she knew that Aelia's heart always longed for warmth and love.
Thus, Mrs Hansley was surprised that Aelia had accepted this ridiculous proposal to suddenly become the Crown Princess of a country.
Aelia could guess her mentor's doubts. However, since it was not her place yet to reveal the secrets kept by the Delphians for so many centuries, despite trusting her mentor completely she could not reveal the urgency of the situation about the prophecy.
So, Aelia cleared Mrs Hansley's doubts with another half-truth, "Mrs Hansley, I'm not being forced into anything! Though this was a child betrothal set up by our parents, it was me who accepted to marry Asher and shoulder the responsibilities of the Crown Princess. So, please don't blame him! Alright?"
Seeing the pleading look on her disciple's face, Mrs Hansley could only concede in defeat. How could she refuse this request from her favourite pupil when she could see that the young girl was trying her best not to hurt the feelings of the young man beside her.
Asher too felt a warm sensation creeping into his chest, when he heard his Angel defending him. He looked at her with a warm gaze and started to play with the ends of her long golden hair.
Seeing this, Aelia blushed in embarrassment as she did not want to show such affection in front of her mentor.
Mrs Hansley could now see that her young pupil most probably had already started having feelings for her fiancé.
However, as far as she knew Aelia, she knew that her disciple may possibly not know her own feelings yet.
Mrs Hansley felt some sadistic pleasure when she thought about how this Crown Prince, who had already begun showing signs of being a henpecked husband, would have to go through many sufferings before getting the confession from his beloved.
Mrs Hansley gleefully thought to herself, 'Serves him right! How could he take my star student away from her studies!'
If Asher would have known that the woman who had previously disrespected him, was also now enjoying his possible sufferings, would he have coughed up blood in anger?
Aelia saw that Mrs Hansley had finally reluctantly accepted Asher.
So, she decided to divert her attention to another topic, "Mrs Hansley, that day you told me to come to your office after getting my graduation result, so that you could give me my doctoral certificate. But now that I'm already here, can you give it to me now?"
Mrs Hansley gave a glance at Asher and shook her head.
She explained, "Previously, I was worried about your safety due to the sensitive nature of your research topic. However, now that you have someone like him to stand behind you, I no longer need to pay any heed to all those things.
Besides, you always deserved a public announcement and acclaim for your research. Now, I can finally give you the deserved honour as my farewell gift to you!"
Mrs Hansley said this with a warm glance at Aelia. She thought that having the Crown Prince as her disciple's fiance may not be a totally bad thing after all!
Though Aelia did not like to be the centre of attention, since she did not want to refuse her mentor's kind gesture, she went along with Mrs Hansley's decision.
After chatting for another couple of minutes, it was soon time for the graduation results to be announced.
Aelia and Asher got up from their seats after bidding farewell to Mrs Hansley.
As they were about to open the door, Mrs Hansley stopped Asher.
"Your Highness, you may find this abrupt and disrespectful. But please take care of Aelia! She tends to keep her feelings to herself, often hurting herself in the process. Take this as advice from an elder, if nothing else, if you manage to win her heart, you can never find a more loyal person other than her in this world."
Asher looked at Mrs Hansley and nodded with a serious expression on his face.
"I know! You can rest assured that Aelia will always be my first priority!"
Though Mrs Hansley could not completely trust Asher's words, seeing the serious look on Asher's face she felt somehow reassured.
Asher too knew that possibly no one would believe him when he said that his Angel would always be his first priority. After all, they would think how can a Crown Prince place his lover above the responsibilities of his country and his position as the Crown Prince.
However, what they did not know was that without his Angel, Asher would never be what he was now! All his actions, starting from that fateful day fifteen years ago, was always because of his Angel.
Asher had strived to be a powerful Crown Prince just to ensure that no one would ever be able to hurt a single strand of hair on the head of his Angel, who was the most precious pearl of his heart.
Asher decided to just show the world the truth through his actions. He would prove to everyone that his Angel will always be his first priority.
Hearing Asher's words, Aelia felt overwhelmed with sweetness.
She was also grateful towards her mentor for being genuinely concerned about her. So, she gave Mrs Hansley a grateful smile and finally left her room, while holding Asher's hands.