Arthur and Carla go to school on foot.
It was also not far from the neighborhood they lived in, only around 500 meters.
Along the way, Carla occasionally read the paper Arthur gave her. Arthur, on the other hand, just kept walking with his eyes fixed ahead.
When they passed a building that was an apartment building, a soft voice suddenly called out to Carla.
"Carla, wait!" Said the voice.
Carla stopped in her tracks and Arthur had no other choice but to stop too. From the building, a young woman stepped out.
She was wearing a skirt, short-sleeved shirt, long black stockings and high heels. Her blonde hair wasn't very long, only reaching around her chest.
Her steps were quite smooth, plus with her hands pressed against her body and her feet that were quite close to each other, she gave the impression of a weak woman at first glance.
However, that impression would disappear because of the faint smile that seemed to be part of her rosy lips.
This woman, Bella, was no stranger to Arthur. They rarely interact, but she can be said to be Carla's bestie, and even often comes to her house, causing their meetings to be quite frequent.
Because her family is a business family, so she has quite a lot of money. Even though she is still a high school student, she already lives alone in a luxurious apartment.
Carla and Bella greeted each other, then did a light hug. The latter stared at Arthur, her eyes moving from his face to his feet, looking slightly astonished.
"Carla, I think there is a little difference with your cousin," she said.
"Yeah." Carla didn't argue. She realized that others would think they had something to hide if she lied because Arthur's change had been quite noticeable.
"He looks like a gentleman now, immediately made a deep impression on me at first sight," Bella said again.
Arthur didn't say anything, he took another step.
While Bella wanted to take a step too, Carla stopped her. She wanted them to keep their distance so Arthur wouldn't overhear their conversation.
Unfortunately Carla was not aware that Arthur could hear quite clearly even thirty meters from him.
"What made him change?" Bella asked.
"It's a family secret," Carla replied. She's really good at hiding things.
"It's not because of some kind of ritual, is it?"
"What rituals?"
"Ritual of coming of age, from virgin to man."
"You." Carla was dumbfounded by Bella's words.
"Am I right?" Bella became even more suspicious seeing Carla's expression. "W-were you the one who helped him become a man?"
"Nonsense, nothing like that!" Carla smacked Bella's hand.
Bella knew how Carla lied and she didn't look like she was lying at all so she didn't say that anymore, just smiled a little.
"What, did you suddenly like him?" Carla looked at Bella suspiciously.
The latter cleared her throat softly, she replied, "I'm just impressed! You know, an aloof guy but still looking cool is pretty rare."
"So you're saying he wasn't cool before this?"
"No, he's cool but not that flashy."
"Hmph, you're only looking at other people on their surface."
"No, as a woman, you should know that we need something to provoke us." Bella brought her face closer to Carla's ear after saying that. With a strange smile, she continued, "why do I get the feeling you would mind another woman taking your cousin?"
Hearing that, Carla blushed for a moment. "You're crazy," she said.
Their conversation made Arthur who was walking in front frown. He knew that women often spoke strange things among themselves. Not that he cared, but this time he was the one being talked about and one of the people who spoke was his own cousin.
Luckily, they had finally arrived at school so the two women stopped talking.
The school is an elite school, has a modern five-story building while in the schoolyard there are several sports fields.
Even though the backgrounds of the students here varied quite a bit, most of them were smart students unless they entered through the back door.
When Arthur arrived at the schoolyard, he stopped in his tracks. For a moment, he closed his eyes. 'It seems someone is watching me,' he thought. 'Oh, no, not me, but Carla.'
He looked back. Carla was still walking side by side with Bella.
Around her, there was nothing suspicious, but Arthur was quite sure of his senses. The reason he could feel that was because of the magic he had imbued into Carla's body.
'Yesterday me and now Carla, it's definitely nothing personal.'
If they were from an ordinary family, he wouldn't think this way, but Isabel, the head of their family was a congresswoman. In certain situations, this is indeed possible. After all, there have even been congressmen who have been murdered.
Arthur was curious, so he called his aunt.
"What is it?" His aunt's voice echoed from his cell phone.
Arthur replied "aunt, actually yesterday I was kidnapped by a group of people and today, I think another group is conducting surveillance on Carla."
"W-what?" Isabel looked dumbfounded.
Arthur quickly calmed her down. "Don't worry, Carla will be fine as long as I am here, even if they are special forces, they need several hundred people to kidnap someone under my eyes."
Isabel's breathing which had become rapid calmed down again because of Arthur's words.
On the other hand, Arthur asked, "aunt, what exactly happened?"
He hardly ever followed political news, so he was completely in the dark.
"Mm, maybe it's because of my support for the nuclear submarine building project, some countries and some people on this continent are not happy about this," Isabel replied.