Callisto's time in the temple was nearing its end. Due to several unfortunate events happening in the temple, some of which were caused by Astaroth behind the scenes, Lux's church was sending everyone out of the campus.
The straw that broke the camel's back was when a part of the inner temple completely collapsed, killing a couple of high-ranked members and nobles, as well as severely injuring several others.
The temple was closed so that the royal family could investigate why a string of incidents had suddenly happened out of nowhere.
She was packing up the meager clothing she had into the last chest, sighing at the fact that they didn't have proper luggage in this world.
She hadn't gotten the time to read the book she had gotten from the catacombs, 'The Truth on the Conception', due to all the pandemonium going on, as well as not being able to get time alone in the shared living space.
Though the nobles had quickly packed up and left as soon as they could, Callisto lingered for a few more hours, wanting to be alone. She slipped it in between her clothes as she closed the chest with finality.
Heaving a heavy sigh, she sat on top of the wooden box, her chin resting on her hand as she waited for her correspondent to appear.
As if reading her thoughts, Astaroth knocked on her window a moment later. Shattering the glass and letting himself in when Callisto took too long to open it.
"Thanks for telling everyone in a mile radius that I have a visitor," Callisto said sarcastically.
"Whoops," He said, not apologetic in the slightest. He kicked some glass off to the side, taking a seat at the end of a wooden bed frame.
"Is it okay that the leader of an empire acts like this?"
"Is it okay for a noble to be talking to royalty like this?" He shot back, wiping blood from who-knows-where onto the sheets.
"Are the preparations done?" She moved the conversation along, wanting it to be over so that Astar could leave and she could move on to other things.
Luka and a squad of Azel Knights were set to pick her up soon, and she didn't want to be caught alone with a man in her room.
"Yes. As for my reward?"
"I never said anything about a reward though?"
"Hmm, but it feels like I've been pulling most of the weight though. Besides, I'm sure it won't be much of an issue."
She just barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes and decided to just accept his condition. She didn't really want to argue
"Fine. Depends on what it is."
Astaroth gave a mysterious smile and stood to his full height, reminding Callisto of how short she was. Not to mention that his amber eyes seem to emit a light of their own, creating a feeling like she was looking up at a higher being.
"It's-"
"Hey, Calli! Haven't seen you in a while! How's the-oh. Oh?"
A cheery male voice that could only belong to Dane appeared as the door to the hostel opened.
Thinking quickly, Callisto tried to push Astaroth onto the bed so that she could throw some sheets over him, blocking his body from vision.
Unfortunately, the man had a different idea, holding onto her forearm and taking her down with him. The resulting scenario was easy to misunderstand, and embarrassing to say the least.
Face smushed in between two hard pecs, the resounding sound of a steady heartbeat pounding against her body, and warm breath softly hitting the top of her ear.
Her hands ended up somewhere around his head, and she could feel his soft red hair brushing along the back of her hand.
Callisto instantly rolled off, falling off the bed and hitting the ground. She would rather get hurt than be caught in a bed with a man she barely knew.
'I'm a taken woman, I'm a taken woman...' She said to herself scolding her brain.
"Don't misunderstand, Dane." Callisto sighed, laying on the ground for a second more, before dusting herself off and getting up from the floor.
"Calli? Seems like you two are really close, huh?"
Astaroth's voice seemed to be a few decibels more than his regular voice. He held the back of his head with one hand as sat upright, but the look on his face didn't reflect the nonchalant tone of his voice.
Callisto felt like she was a man getting caught cheating on his lover. She stood between the two men who looked like they were about to get into a catfight and felt the need to apologize to one of them, despite not having done anything wrong.
Is this the power of popularity? Truly fearsome.
"Oh sorry, was I interrupting something?"
A sly smile played on his lips, and though Callisto didn't notice, Astaroth's frown turned into a full-grown scowl, irritation marred across a handsome face.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You did, actually."
They said at the same time, and Callisto turned to Astaroth in confusion, who looked as if he was planning on setting Dane on fire.
He got up from the bed, flicking a flake of dried blood off his cheek, his eyes never leaving Dane. Even that master of the Mage Tower felt a cold shiver run down his spine, his knees trembling slightly from angering the Scion.
In his defense, Dane didn't expect such a harsh reaction. Then again, it was hard to read Astaroth. He was always up to something, and no one could unravel the mystery that was the Goetian royal.
"Can't a guy visit a friend? Besides-"
"With no shirt on? What were you planning on doing, creep?"
"Um, actually, I never wear a shirt. So whatever you're implying means nothing to me."
"Go rot in your damn tower, Rapunzel. Did they close the dog pound so that you could roam around on the streets begging for scraps?"
"Don't you have a kingdom to run into the ground?"
"It's an empire, though I'm sure living in a ramshackle kingdom like Regus might make it hard to understand the scale of Goetia."
Astaroth scoffed, shaking his head. He was getting tired of this pointless drabble with this dog freak.
He reached over to grab Callisto's hand, set on getting out of here to talk business with her, when he grasped onto the air.
Astaroth looked to the side, only to see empty space where Callisto was standing, along with her luggage.
"...Where did Callisto go?"
"She left like, five minutes ago man."
Meanwhile, Callisto was in a carriage back to the Azel estate, shaking her own head.
In the midst of Astar and Dane's arguing, Luka had come in to grab her stuff, and she was escorted out of the Church of Lux to return home.
"Men and their testosterone battles."