"Oh, there they are. Over here!"
As soon as we were getting near a white kiosk surrounded by a ring of flowers, the people sitting in there greeted us with a wave of their hand.
"My, my. What a surprise is to see you surrounded by new friends"
"It was a nice chance to meet new people, so we just took it, right?"
Isabella nodded with a smile on her face and I sat in one of the chairs. My place got me right across Véronica, so I had a nice view of her beauty.
Naturally, Isabella took her seat beside me.
This was premeditated, because now, Nicholas was in front of her. Both stared at each other for a couple of seconds before greeting each other.
"Thank you for allowing us to eat with you, Prince Nicholas"
"Please, you don´t have to use such a formal treat with me. We are all students of the same academy, and you will be part of Dominique´s disciplinary committee, so it´s better if you talk to me more informally"
"... I think I´ll restrain from that for the moment. I don´t want to cause unnecessary problems when an irregular like me is talking to the next king"
"Well, if that is what you have decided, then it´s fine"
"Thank you"
Isabella was surprisingly calm. I was expecting she would get at least a little nervous, if not from his status, from his look.
Nicholas was as handsome as a fashion magazine model, also, his cool personality and seemingly calm attire tend to be of interest to most females.
It wasn´t the best first impression, but I guess this will have to do for now...
Jasmine stayed on her toes due to her position as a maid. I told her to seat with us, but she insisted that I have to act like a noble and prevent that kind of treatment to a servant.
I wanted to brush off her words, but looking at her eyes I noticed how seriously she was talking, so I had no other option but to give in.
"Hey, how long do you plan on standing in there? Come take a seat"
From the moment Isabella and I sat, the group that had been with us just stared at the table without moving a single muscle. They seemed to be in a sort of trance.
"B-But... T-This is the council´s table... Can we really just sit?"
After hearing the words of one of the guys, Nicholas stood from his seat and gave them a nice smile.
"As I said before, we are all students here, status is not something to be concerned about. Besides, any friend of Dominique is also my friend. So please, grab a chair and take a seat"
The group looked at each other for a moment, but they eventually took action and did as Nicholas said.
"Now that we are all here, won´t you introduce us to your new friends?"
Who asked this was Véronica. She had an expression of enjoyment while saying that, and her eyes were placed on mine with the intensity of a mother looking at her son.
I´m not a kid that just made his first friend you know...
My pride received some damage from that.
"Right... The person sitting on my right side is Miss Lada En Reco"
When she heard her name Lada did a brief bow. "Thank you for having me"
"Miss Lada, I haven´t seen you in a while, how is your father?"
"He is doing well, your highness, thank you for asking"
"I see, that´s good to hear, the economy would have problems if his leadership is gone for too long"
Lada´s face got a little stiff. The comment Nicholas had touched a nerve.
"You don´t have to worry about that, I´m sure there is plenty of people that can cover up his post if anything happens"
"That may be true, but I heard that the bank is having some internal issues exactly because of the temporal replacements. I don´t usually believe in rumors, but you can never be too sure, right?"
"... I assure you there is nothing to fear, my family is currently taking care of that matter, the money of the royal bank of Asphyxia is, and will always be safe under our care"
For a moment, the lazy and uninterested personality of Lada was gone, instead, a proud and serious woman was now standing beside me.
"... I see... I´ll believe in your word for now"
With a sigh of relief, Lada returned to her seat as if that scene never happened.
Shit! I remember now! Reco is the name of the most important bank in the kingdom of Asphyxia! And she just showed to be an acquaintance of Nicholas!
According to the original story, she is destined to help the heroine to reveal fraudulent deals from the family of Véronica, but those events take place because Herion was dead at this point.
Delilah was desperate to maintain her wealth, and the death of her husband triggered a wave of attacks from other families that pushed her to lose most of her money. This forced her to join the world of clandestine business and blackmailing, turning her into an empress of illegal money.
That behavior reflected on Véronica by making her a cruel and selfish woman that would use her marriage with the prince just to steal money from everyone in the kingdom.
It was a dark future for the Herion family, but a necessary one to turn Isabella into a true heroine.
"Well, that shouldn´t happen now that Herion is alive..."
There was no need to get nervous since the original story is already very far away from the original plot. Even if Lada and Isabella become closer, they can´t do anything to Véronica since there is nothing dark going on with her family for now.
And even if there was something, I wouldn´t let them get near her.
I´d destroy the bank itself if I have to...
"Dominique, aren´t you going to introduce your other friends?"
"Hm? Ah, yhea, sorry, I was just a bit lost in thought"
Who pulled me out of my mind was my lady, her eyes were fixed on me as if she was trying to read the things that were going on in my brain.
I tried to avoid any fissures in my poker face and continued with the introductions.
"Regarding the rest of the group, first we have..."
For this, I turned to Isabella. I never asked for their names so I was unable to introduce them as they should.
She grabbed the baton and followed swiftly.
"Yes, first we have Mister Dorio Ogh Molten, son of a family of blacksmiths"
Contrary to his background, Dorio didn´t look like a blacksmith, rather, he looked like a bookworm.
His black hair was combed to a bowl and his brown eyes were behind a pair of thick lenses. There wasn´t much to say about his physique.
"I have heard about the Molten family, they are well-known for their ability to make durable armor and lethal weapons with uncommon materials"
Dorio was sitting on the left side of Isabella, his face blushed a little when Alfonse mentioned his family from the left corner of the table.
"I-It´s really nothing. My father and brothers are the geniuses of forging, I´m more into accountability"
"I think that is wonderful, there is no business that can go on without a person that organizes and controls the flow of money"
After hearing the appraisal of Véronica, his already red face became brighter. "T-Thank you very much, vice president"
"Aww! You received a compliment from the vice president, you are very lucky, Dorio!"
"E-Emma!"
"What? I also want to get along with Miss Herion and the council members!"
"For the elements... P-Please forgive my sister, she´s just very excited to be here"
"You can bet your squishy ass I am, Anna!"
"Ahhh! F-Forgive us! We´re sorry! We are very sorry!"
The people that stole the spotlight were a couple of twins. Their appearance was practically the same, just their uniforms and haircuts helped to differentiate between one another. Both of them were pretty cute, their bodies were in good shape and there was an air of gentleness around them.
"Ehem! T-This lovely duo is the Barrick twins. The one with the twin tails is the older sister, Emma Dua Barrick, and the one with bangs hiding her face is the young sister, Anna Dua Barrick"
We all shared a smile when the blonde duo was presented.
"Excuse me, can I ask you if lord Ederberth is somehow related to you?"
Berenice rose her hand as if she was talking to a professor.
"Oh, you know Uncle Ed?"
"So he´s your uncle, what a discovery"
Now Isabella was the one to raise a hand.
"Excuse me, but, who is lord Ederberth?"
To answer this question, the boy with the air of a young girl stole the momentum.
"He´s a famous surgeon that works in the hospital of R´lyos. The medical condition of the royal family along with many other important aristocrats is under his care"
"If you´re his nieces, then your father must be the owner of Sparking Meds, correct?" Asked Verónica while looking at the twins. The girls intertwined their hands before answering the woman.
"Yup! While our father produces all the medicine of the kingdom, our uncle uses it to cure people"
"M-Medicine is a family business in all its branches"
"Amazing! Anna, Emma, your family is amazing!"
To the sparkling eyes of the heroine, the twins showed a smile decorated by the faint red of her blush. "Thank you!" Said both of them with a proud chest up to the skies.
"By the way, Verónica, I heard that Doctor Ederberth paid you a visit, what happened?" Nicholas asked with a serene expression on his face, however, I was able to feel his eyes enjoying the moment while discretely looking at me.
Asshole...
Verónica closed her eyes and let go of a sigh.
"A certain someone got injured during a raid, we called the doctor to take a look at him. Fortunately, the damage was not irreparable, so everything went fine"
"Hoo, a certain someone huh"
His voice was so filled with enjoyment that I wanted to get up and punch him to bury his pleased grin under my fist.
So that old man is called Ederberth... I should thank him later for his services...
"Anyway, let´s not keep the conversation to ourselves, there´s still someone whose name we don´t know"
The attention naturally landed on the person across from Alfonse. His face became a little brighter as he loudly gulped down the piece of meat that he was chewing.
"Right! Last but not least, the son of a knight and bodyguard of the Barrick twins! Emile Loe Astrea"
When his name was announced, the student with the build of a Viking stood up and punched his chest as he yelled "Your majesty! Everyone! It is an honor to be allowed to eat with you!"
He had a trained body, some scars could be seen from the arms that he showed through his rolled-up sleeves. He was not as handsome as Nicholas, but I wouldn´t call him ugly either. Besides his physique and loud voice, his appearance was quite ordinary.
"So you´re the bodyguard of the twins, then you must also be something similar to childhood friends, right?"
This time it was me who began the questioning.
"I-Indeed! My family has served the nobles of the Barrick household for generations! My father is in charge of the current leaders´ security while I stay with Lady Emma and Lady Anna! We´ve known each other since childhood, that´s why I was conferred with this task!"
"Awww! Isn´t that cute? It´s like the beginning of a classic romance novel!"
"Pff!"
"Cough!"
Involuntarily, Verónica and I choked on our food when we heard Berenice, the good thing was that no one noticed since they were too fixed on the twins, but in any case, we became unable to look at each other for a moment there.
"N-No way! Someone like me is not qualified to be a romantic interest of my ladies!"
"..."
"Wah... That´s quite the statement..."
Curiously enough, neither of the twins seemed happy with the response of their bodyguard, and an air of awkwardness rose from this sad statement.
"Berenice, I know that you like novels, but please be more careful with what you say, don´t forget there is a difference between fantasy and reality"
"I-I´m so very sorry! I didn´t want to make things awkward, it was just a comment!"
"Please don´t apologize, Miss Berenice! I´m sure my ladies weren´t bothered by that! Isn´t that right, Lady Anna, Lady Emma?"
Both twins shared a tired smile and nodded.
"See! Everything is fine!"
I´m not an expert, not even someone with deep knowledge in matters of the heart. However, even I was able to tell that this bodyguard was in a hard position with those twins.
Dense men are the worst huh...
I can´t read minds, but I was sure that the people sitting at this table had a thought similar to mine.
"By the way, Emile, can I assume that you have some experience in fighting?"
To not get stuck in this painful mood, I rushed forward with a change of topic.
"Ah, yes. I have fought with criminals and hunted beasts as part of my training"
"Really? Then you must have some good stories about it, tell us some"
"N-No... I would be just bragging..."
"Oh don´t be shy, I´m sure everyone would like to hear you"
As to give me follow-up, everyone at the table nodded their head to reassure my statement. Emile placed his eyes on the twins, who gave him a bright and subtle smile to raise his confidence.
"If that´s the case... Then let me tell you about the time that I was chased by a bloodhound"
And just like that, we spent the rest of the lunch break telling stories to get to know each other better.
This isn´t what I planned when told Isabella to get some new friends...
When I looked at the heroine I saw her chatting with everyone with a wide smile on her face. Just as it happened to me, she had this sort of aura or charisma that was just attracting the attention of people around her.
I don´t know how she does that. Maybe is a special power of the heroine, or maybe is just part of her personality.
In any case, this is a step in the right direction, so there´s nothing left for me to do at the moment.
Then my eyes were drawn by the person in front of me. I´d like to think that our thoughts were as aligned as our hearts because when I turned to look at her, she had done the same.
We stared at each other in silent comfort. We both knew that showing our connection here was something uncalled for, so moments like these would have to suffice.
Following that logic, I discretely used my magic to manipulate my shadow into reaching her hand. The shadows were an extension of my senses, so I was able to tell how hard she was squeezing the dark palm on her palm.
I wasn´t able to hold her with mine just jet, but under this table filled with laughs and voices, I wanted her to understand that I was trying my best to change that. That I was hers, and that this fact would never change.
So, please... Just wait for me a little longer...
Suddenly, the little food I had left tasted better.