Lily and Asta had just saved Noelle from her own magic going out of control. After being accepted into the Black Bulls as she was, Asta helped her up to her feet. Lily approached her and put her hand on Noelle's shoulder.
"Let's grow stronger together so we can no longer be considered royal misfits! Okay Noelle?" Lily said to Noelle who managed a smile.
"Right! Okay... uh, I never got your name." Noelle said as Lily realized she never actually introduced herself to her.
"Oh! I'm Lily Grinberryall. Sorry, where are my manners?" Lily said as she smiled brightly at Noelle and held out her hand to her.
"A pleasure, Lily." Noelle said as she took Lily's hand and shook it.
~Time Skip~
It was dinner time and Asta was sitting between Lily and Noelle in the dining hall. Lily was to his left and Noelle was to his right. Asta was munching through his food ravenously while Lily and Noelle ate more slowly. As she ate, Noelle had this look on her face like something was on her mind.
"Hey Lily?" Noelle asked to get Lily's attention.
"Yeah?" Lily responded to her.
"You said you were royalty, but I don't recognize your last name at all." Noelle said as Lily sighed. She told her about herself and her past, where she was from and how she met Asta. Noelle listened intently to her as she told her story, as did the rest of the squad that was at the table near her. When she finished, everyone seemed quite shocked, especially Noelle.
"Wow... That's actually quite the life story. But I can't believe you had the guts to leave home like that. I could never!" Noelle said, flipping one of her twin tails up which fell in front of her shoulder.
"After all that neglect, abuse and ridicule back at home, a life far away with commoners was a breath of fresh air. My church foster family in Hage Village was more of a family to me than my biological family back in the Spade Kingdom could ever be." Lily said as she took another bite of her food.
"A royal that likes living with commoners more than living in luxury with her royal family. Now that's something I've never heard of before. I gotta say Lily, you're the best royal I ever met. You don't look down on commoners unlike somebody." Magna said as he glanced at Noelle. She just scoffed and flicked her other twin tail in front of her shoulder. Lily blushed out of flattery at Magna's comment.
"Yeah, Lil blends in so well with us commoners, I keep forgetting that she's even royalty!" Asta said with enthusiasm. Noelle got up abruptly, not even bothering to finish her food and left. She gave them a glare before she did. Everyone stared at her as she walked away.
"Looks like there's more food left for me then!" Charmy said as she started scarfing down Noelle's unfinished dinner.
"What's her problem?" Asta asked, after he noticed her glare before she stormed off.
"She's probably jealous that I said Lily's the best royal and not her." Magna said as he finished his food and got up from the table.
"Welp! I'm gonna go back to my room for the night. See you guys tomorrow!" Magna said as he headed off for the rest of the night. Asta then finished his food and so did Lily. They both got up from the table at the same time.
"So what are you gonna do tonight, Lil?" Asta asked her as she cupped her chin with her hand and thought for a moment.
"Hmm. Probably work on cleaning and organizing my room. I still haven't finished cleaning it up yet. It was pretty dirty." Lily answered Asta's question.
"I can help if you want me too. I got my room all cleaned up on the first night." Asta said as Lily sighed. He must have forgotten about the trap magic that would go off if he goes down the hallway to the women's rooms.
"I'd love for you to help me clean my room, but there's trap magic that'll get triggered if a guy walk through the hallway to the women's rooms." Lily said with slight disappointment in her voice. She wouldn't mind it too much if Asta waltzed into her room. Although she probably wouldn't appreciate it if any of the other dudes walked into her room, especially Finral.
"Ah, right. Well that sucks. I really wanted to see how you set up your room." Asta said with a disappointed expression on his face. Lily sighed, equally bummed out as he was. Just then, she got an idea.
"Hey Asta. Maybe you could get through the trap magic in the hallway using your sword. It is magic after all." Lily suggested. Asta's face lit up at the idea. He was excited that she might have found a way for him to be able to visit her room.
"Oh yeah... we could try that. Great idea Lil!" Asta said as Lily smiled and the two of them headed towards the women's rooms.
"I'll help you Asta. " Lily said as she pulled out two broad-bladed swords from her grimoire and Asta got out his sword. They weren't as big as Asta's blade, but they were still good-sized. It was a good thing she trained with Asta back when they lived in Hage Village. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been able to wield the two swords at once.
"Ready? Go!" Lily said as she charged through the hallway before Asta, slicing through anything that flew back towards him from the front. Obviously nothing was going to hit her because the trap magic was meant for guys. But she didn't want to risk him getting injured. Both hers and Asta's blades seemed to destroy the traps because they disappeared once they were sliced with their anti-magic swords. Once Lily and Asta made it past the hallway of traps, the two of them stopped and panted, trying to catch their breaths.
"Phew! Glad we made it through. That was intense! I thought we were going to die!" Asta said, wiping the sweat off his brow.
"I would've been fine. After all, the trap magic is meant for guys, not girls. But... it seems like we destroyed all the traps in the hallway with our weapons in the process." You said as Asta looked back at the once heavily booby trapped corridor.
"Oops haha... Well look at it this way, Lil. I'll be able to visit you in your room without dying now." Asta said with a wide cheerful grin. Seeing Asta's smile made Lily get all flustered. He was adorable when he smiled. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
"Y-yeah, that's true. Anyways, my room's this way." Lily said as she led Asta to her room. She opened her door and gestured for Asta to enter which he did. Her room was still pretty dusty and was fairly plain except for a large tapestry hung on the wall next to her bed. It was of her, Asta and Yuno laying together in a grassy field near the church that they always hung out at.
"Where did you get this Lil?" Asta asked as Lily grabbed the feather duster to start cleaning.
"Oh, I used Vanessa's thread magic to weave it. It turns out I can also use the magic of allies as well as opponents as long as they're within my vicinity. We had already figured out that I could use the magic of my opponents. But when we rescued Noelle, I was able to use her water magic even though she wasn't technically an opponent. So while you were doing laundry earlier, I asked Vanessa if she would help me to test out the new theory regarding my grimoire. She agreed and we discovered I didn't have to be up against someone in order to use their magic. And that's when I made this tapestry of you, me and Yuno using Vanessa's magic." Lily told Asta who gawked at the tapestry.
"You made this?! Whoa! That's so cool! It pictures us perfectly. I love it!" Asta said, raising his voice in amazement as he stared starry-eyed at the tapestry. Lily just giggled at his awe struck reaction to her masterpiece.
"I appreciate that you like it so much, but we should start cleaning so we can finish before the sun goes down." Lily said as she handed him the feather duster and grabbed herself a broom. The two of them got to work in Lily's room getting rid of the dust and dirt on the floor. Asta finished dusting before she finished sweeping. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"What should I do next?" Asta asked Lily for his next assignment. She paused and thought for a second as she looked around her room. There was a pile of clean laundry on her bed that needed to be folded and put away.
"You can fold my clean laundry there on the bed and put them away in my dresser. Just organize everything as best you can. I can reorganize later if necessary." Lily told Asta.
"Will do Lil!" Asta said with an upbeat tone as he walked towards Lily's bed and started folding and putting away her clean laundry. He started to get a minor nosebleed every time he came across a bra or a pair of panties. To prevent getting his blood on your sheets or clothes, he stuffed tissues up his nostrils.
"Asta your nose is bleeding. Are you okay?" Lily asked when she finally noticed the bloodied tissues sticking out of his nose.
"I'm fine. It's just a bit dry in here." Asta lied as he finished folding the last piece of laundry which was a pair of panties. Well technically it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the real reason his nose was bleeding.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, it is a bit dry, isn't it?" Lily responded as Asta nodded his head. Once everything was clean and organized the way she liked it, Lily and Asta walked to the hallway where all the booby traps used to be before they destroyed them to get him to her room earlier. Fortunately, they were still gone and Asta was able to safely walk through the corridor.
"Goodnight Asta. I'll see you tomorrow." Lily said waving to Asta on the other side of the hallway. He turned around and smiled.
"Night Lil. Sleep well." Asta said goodnight to Lily and continued on his way to his room for the night as she went back to hers.
~Time Skip~
The next morning, Lily was woken up by Asta's boisterous screaming and yelling. She quickly got dressed and left her room to see what all the commotion was about. She was met with the sight of a battered up Asta approaching her door.
"Asta! Are you okay?!" Lily asked Asta with a worried look on her face as he smiled and placed his hand on top of her head.
"Good morning Lil. Yeah, I'm fine. Turns out the traps are back though. They caught me off guard a bit haha." Asta said, chuckling as he ruffled Lily's hair slightly. She sighed and looked Asta in the eyes.
"Well I'm just glad you're okay." Lily said with a relieved smile. Suddenly, Noelle and the other girls came out of their rooms to see what had caused the ruckus Asta made earlier.
"What're you doing here? Guys aren't supposed to be able to get to the women's side! Ugh! I can't believe that little insect managed to get over here." Noelle said as she pointed at Asta.
"Oh hey Noelle, Charmy, Vanessa. I was just coming over to say good morning to Lil here. I thought the traps would still be gone, but apparently they're back and a few of them got me." Asta said as he gave them a sheepish grin while scratching the back of his head.
"The trap magic wasn't working?" Vanessa questioned as Lily stepped in to make sure Asta didn't get in trouble.
"It was my idea for Asta to come over to the women's side. Last night I wanted him to help me clean up my room. So we went through the hallway together using our anti-magic weapons to destroy the trap magic so he wouldn't get hurt. If anyone should get in trouble for this, it should be me, not Asta." Lily said, explaining everything to the girls as she bowed apologetically.
"Don't worry, we won't tell Captain Yami. After all, Asta was just helping you out with your room. No harm in that, right?" Vanessa said with a wink. Lily nodded in response. After that, the three girls went on their separate ways as Lily and Asta stayed where they were.
"Come on in Asta. Let's get you fixed up." Lily said as she opened the door to her room and gestured for Asta to enter. She shut the door behind him and he walked over to her bed and sat down. She inspected him for injuries. He had minor cuts on his face near his mouth and forehead and scratches on his left cheek near his ear and on his right arm and hand. She began to clean Asta's wounds and bandage him up, starting with his face. Then she moved on to his right arm. Asta couldn't help but stare at Lily as she knelt in front of him, carefully and gently wrapping his arm and hand with a clean bandage. When she was done, she looked up at Asta only to find him staring at her.
"W-what?" Lily asked him as he closed his eyes and smiled.
"I was just thinking about what Magna said about you yesterday at dinner. And you really are the best royal, Lil. Even though you and Noelle are both royalty, the two of you treat me so differently. Noelle always calls me a little insect and looks down on me for being a commoner while you treat me like I'm the most precious thing in the world to you." Asta said as Lily smiled up at him and stared into his lime green eyes with her storm blue ones.
"You are the most precious thing in the world to me Asta." Lily said with a gentle smile while holding his hand in her hands as she stood up.
"Aww you really mean it Lil?" Asta asked Lily as she smiled softly.
"Yes, I do." Lily said as she leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the lips. As she pulled away, Asta reached behind her head with his free hand and pulled her in for another much more passionate and heated kiss.