Estoria didn't know how the time passed, but it was already dark outside. She got ready for bed absentmindedly and tucked herself in.
As soon as her eyes closed, she heard a door opening slowly behind her back. She was lying on her side, her back to the balcony and her front to the entry door to her room, which was still shut tight.
At first, she thought it was Asher coming in to see her since he went to visit the magic tower with Isaac and didn't get to see Estoria all day today. He would obviously come to see her as soon as he gets back, but...
The door opened very slowly, like the person was trying not to make any sound, not trying to wake her up. If it was Asher, he wouldn't care about that and just rush in within a second or leave if she had her lights out.
As Estoria was getting more and more anxious, she heard a soft sigh in the air drifting in her ear like a whisper, sending shivers down her spine.
There was no doubt anymore; someone else was in the room with her. At first, she wanted to continue fake sleeping, but then she remembered she wasn't that weak anymore to be scared by something like this. Even if it was another assassin, wouldn't she be able to beat them?
Estoria quickly resolved her mind and sat up suddenly to face the person behind her. It was dark, so she couldn't make out the features on the face, but there was a tall shadow standing close to the bed, only a few feet away from her.
But her heart eased up instantly when she saw the moonlight brightening his hair. It was a dark red color, as if that warm red had immediately set fire to her heart, melting it from its frozen place.
"Aluxio," she spoke first.
Aluxio was a bit startled by Estoria getting up suddenly when he heard her calming-to-the-heart voice, and his lips unconsciously lifted up into a light smile in the dark.
"I thought you were asleep," Aluxio said as he took a step forward, but Estoria beat him to it. Before he could take another step, he was embraced by the waist.
"What are you doing here? You almost scared me to death," Estoria said, pressed so close to Aluxio's chest that she could hear his quick heartbeat clearly, and her own feral heartbeat was resonating on him.
Estoria had been feeling restless all day long, but Aluxio's appearance had solved all of it. She hadn't even thought about it before her feet moved on their own to hug him tightly, as if he would leave if she let go.
Aluxio wrapped Estoria in his arms blissfully. "Sorry for scaring you," he said and placed a kiss on her head contently.
He hadn't dared to think Estoria would happily come over and hug him at his sudden visit at all. But when she did, he was over the moon, and his heart seemed to run without a finish line.
They stayed in each other's arms for a while in the dark. No one spoke another word, but there was no need for them.
Estoria had always found it super awkward to stay in silence with another person; she felt the need to talk, or the other person might get bored and leave her. This was the first time she felt comfortable with silence. It was almost as soothing as listening to a lullaby while going to sleep.
The tranquility didn't last long, though, as Asher really did come back and headed straight for Estoria's room. He spawned on her balcony as usual, but when he saw the lights were out, he felt instant disappointment. He was about to leave when he felt the presence of another mana other than Estoria's mana. He couldn't place a finger on it, but it felt familiar. But it was nonetheless abnormal to have a different mana present in Estoria's room when she was asleep.
Asher couldn't take any chances with other numbers still out to get them, and the feeling of familiarity might be because it was someone from their team since that much mana only a few can possess.
Asher didn't waste another minute and teleported straight into the room without a single noise. The moonlight from the windows cast a soft light in the room, enough to view some things.
Asher could see the empty bed under the light; it was also a bit messy, the sheets were dragged to the side as if someone forcefully dragged themselves out of bed or someone else dragged her... That was when he heard a noise from the window beside the bed.
Asher couldn't be lenient anymore; he immediately cast a white orb onto the ceiling, enough light to see everything in the room but not too bright.
"What are you doing inside my room this late, Asher?" Estoria was standing barefoot close to the window beside her bed, closing the curtains.
Asher observed the surroundings for a bit before replying. "I detected another mana in the room which wasn't yours," Asher said and came closer to Estoria, still a little skeptical.
Estoria's face had no expression, but her hands were sweating as she let go of the curtains and turned around to face Asher.
She had expected him to come back and visit her as soon as possible, but the timing was really... Asher probably detected Aluxio in the room, and somehow Estoria had felt his presence too when he came inside the room. Without thinking, she hid Aluxio behind the curtains. For some reason, she felt too embarrassed to let Asher know about him in this dark room. They hadn't even turned the lights on...
Asher couldn't find anything else out of place in the room, but he still felt the mana, and it was close to Estoria. The closer he came to it, the more familiar it felt, until he could recognize it.
Aluxio.
Asher stopped a few steps from Estoria, and realization dawned on him at that moment. He couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed of himself.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Asher still wanted to see if Estoria would tell him or not.
"I am going to sleep; the moon was bothering me, so I was closing the curtains when you came in," Estoria said, feeling uneasy about lying to Asher. But if she were to tell him now about Aluxio, it would be even worse than before.
"Alright, I just came back and wanted to see if you were asleep or not. I'm retiring for the night now," Asher said sheepishly.
"In the future, don't enter my room at night if the lights are out and knock before coming in; it's really rude to enter a lady's room without permission," Estoria said sternly.
"Sorry, you have never complained to me about it in the past; I thought it was permissible," Asher said, red-faced.
"It's my fault for not teaching you earlier, so don't take it to heart and go back now; you must be tired."
Asher teleported straight away to his room, and his orb also vanished with him.
Estoria sighed in relief and was about to open the curtains when a hand pulled her behind the curtains too. She was so close to Aluxio that his breath was falling onto her ear "Why did you hide me?" Aluxio whispered.
Estoria felt her face heating up; they were in a formal dance position but way closer, and instead of her hand, Aluxio was holding onto her wrist, and her other hand was resting on his chest.
Estoria took back her arm from him, taking a step back, but Aluxio immediately pulled her back by the waist instead.
"Let go of me first," Estoria said in a petite voice.
Estoria's face was probably as red as strawberries now, so she turned her head to the side, even though it was hard to tell in the dark; she still felt self-conscious.
"Why are you facing that way now?" Aluxio whispered in her ear again.
Estoria's heart was pounding like crazy, and she made up something in her flustered state. "I don't look that pretty right now."
Aluxio gave a silly laugh at that reply. "I have seen you vomit on me before; do you remember what I said at that time?"
Estoria remembered it clearly, of course, but now she had no excuse to not let him see her, and she was even more nervous to face him now.
Taking Estoria's silence, Aluxio felt amazed. Was she feeling self-conscious around him now? Why now, after all this time? He couldn't indicate it, but he still felt immensely joyful.
He wanted to hold her in his arms forever and ever, press kisses everywhere, and give her everything she ever wanted.
Estoria was about to say something again when she felt something soft on her cheekbone. Aluxio had placed a careful peck on her cheekbone!
Estoria's heart and mind went wild at this point. She wanted to run away, so she started to forcefully struggle out of Aluxio's embrace.
"Wait, Estoria, you'll fall—" Aluxio didn't even finish before they both fell out of the curtains and onto the floor.
Aluxio didn't let go of her until the end, and she fell on top of him instead; her head hit his larynx.
Aluxio whined in pain, causing her to lift herself from him; she knew a hit on the neck would hurt a lot, so she felt awful causing Aluxio that much pain.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Estoria rubbed his neck where her head had hit him.
Aluxio coughed a few times and in a hoarse voice said, "I'm fine," with a bit of difficulty.
Estoria became even more uneasy at that voice. "I'm sorry; I don't even know how to heal..." her head fell.
"Kiss it better then," Aluxio said with a grin, as if the pain had disappeared in a minute.
Estoria gave him glares at this response, but her worry also disappeared at this response; at least he was well enough to joke around at this moment. Just when she was thinking about this, her hands felt something solid under them.
Estoria felt around and said, "You have some really nice abs, Aluxio." She said it purely out of admiration, but seeing Aluxio facing away from her, his eyes closed as if he was enduring, she realized her situation.
Sitting on top of his lower abdomen while caressing his abs, she had really done it now.
"Why is it always Aluxio? He must take me for a pervert or something now?" Estoria thought as she carefully got up from him.
"Can you get up by yourself? Want me to lift you up?" Estoria asked after getting back on her feet.
Aluxio stayed silent, but his ears were burning red, the same color as his hair now.
Estoria took the silence as a no, so she took his arm and lifted him up in a single breath.
Aluxio stood on his own afterward, but his head dropped on her shoulder.
"What's wrong? Does it still hurt?" Estoria asked, worried.
"Hmm, just let me stay like this for a while," Aluxio replied hoarsely.
Estoria patted his back, extremely concerned for him; she could almost feel the pain herself.
Aluxio's ragged breathing could be heard clearly in the silence; Estoria wanted to do something to make it better.
Aluxio was trying his hardest to not touch Estoria; he kept his hands to himself as he tried to calm down. Just as the fire was about to die down, someone added oil to it.
Estoria attentively kissed his neck while holding it in her palms, wanting to make it at least a little, just a tiny bit better. She placed many kisses, trying her best to heal it, even though it was just wishful thinking that kissing it would help the pain.
"Stop, stop, Estoria," Aluxio hurriedly lifted his head as his clear voice awoke Estoria.
Estoria stared at him unblinkingly.
"Your voice!" Estoria exclaimed with wide eyes.
Aluxio just then realized that the pain in his throat was gone, as if it never existed. He stared back at her.
"Did you heal it?!"
"Did I? Does it hurt now?" Estoria asked, expectantly.
"No, it doesn't at all," Aluxio replied in disbelief.
She learned how to heal just like that? He had to properly learn it for a week, and even still, he couldn't heal it as perfectly. But she did it—how?
"I wanted to heal you, so without even thinking how to do it, I did it. Wow, I'm amazing," Estoria smiled wide.
"Yes, you really are amazing...," Aluxio was really straining himself to not kiss the person who had healed him just by thinking earnestly.
Estoria had already reached a calm state while remembering the feeling of healing Aluxio.
While Aluxio's fingers were tucked into his palm, his fists clenched and resisting when he saw Estoria's eyes becoming brighter and brighter in the dark until one could see her red eyes clearly.
"Estoria, are you okay?" Aluxio asked hurriedly.