The years went by, and Isaac graduated at the top of his class.
"Who are you looking for, Isaac?" the crowned prince asked.
At the graduation ceremony, the prince had come to personally hand out the badge of a magician recognized by the Royal Magic Academy to everyone, and he took an interest in Isaac. However, Isaac's mind was elsewhere.
"I was looking for my friend. She is more talented in magic than me. I wanted to introduce her to, Your Highness."
"What's her name? I'll ask to look around for her."
"It's Ria..." Isaac realized he didn't even know her full name.
"Ria? I remember the names of every student attending the academy, but I don't remember such a name. Which family does she belong to?"
"I'll just introduce you to her some other day, Your Highness," Isaac replied, a bit embarrassed.
And thus, a year passed by without Ria.
Isaac started working at the Magic Tower, but he couldn't focus on anything. He didn't have a way to reach her, nor did he know anything about her.
Isaac had his doubts about Ria not actually being a student of the academy, so he didn't mention her to anyone again. But that meant he also couldn't ask anyone to look for her. Isaac had searched for her himself for a year and still found nothing.
Until one day, Isaac came out to search for some materials needed at the Magic Tower. Coincidentally, the forest near his residence had some.
He quickly gathered the materials and was just about to leave with a teleportation spell when he caught sight of a golden light in the distance. Without a second thought, he ran over in the direction of the light.
It was coming from the window of a little house covered in moss and flowers. When the light died down, long blonde hair came into view from the window.
Isaac had concealed his mana before coming into the forest. While he could still detect the mana of others nearby, he couldn't detect whoever had just used this mana. But he somehow knew it was her.
He quietly took steps towards the window. He was about to reach it when the person turned over, alarmed by the intruder.
Isaac didn't move away. He saw the person's face and immediately ran over to her.
"Ria!" Isaac called out.
Ria was only wearing a thin little white dress. Seeing Isaac caused her to panic, and she hid under the blanket on her bed.
Isaac saw her hide. He thought she was hiding from him, so his spirit half flew away while he still jumped inside from the window.
"Why are you hiding? I already saw you. I know it's you, Ria," Isaac said, standing by the bedside.
The place seemed small from outside, but it was even more cramped inside. There was basically no other room she could have run to, at least.
"..." Ria didn't know how to respond and wished for him to just give up.
"So you're not going to talk anymore?" Isaac became annoyed at her hiding and threw the blanket away.
"Wait, Isaac, not the blanket.." Ria was too late; the blanket was on the floor.
Isaac's heart throbbed at the sight. Ria's body was covered in injuries from head to toe.
"Who did this to you?" Isaac asked angrily.
Ria didn't answer. She wanted Isaac to stay away from all this.
In the end, Isaac gave up, since Ria remained silent no matter how much he asked her.
"Let me heal your injuries," Isaac offered, defeated.
Ria didn't refuse this time and asked him to sit down beside her. Isaac healed everything down to a single scratch. It was already dark outside, and the room was only lit by a single golden orb.
"You're not going to tell me anything about your situation, right?" Isaac said.
"I can't. You're better off not knowing anything," Ria replied.
"I won't ask then, but don't leave me again. I didn't know where to begin looking for you. I searched almost everywhere, and to think you were hiding so nearby... Did you not think about me? How could you just disappear like that."
"Do you like me, Isaac?" Ria said looked at him.
Isaac didn't hesitate to reply, "Yes, I do, so much that I can't do anything without you. So you better take responsibility for my life now."
"I can't do that. I'm not even sure how long I have."
"It doesn't matter. Stay by my side for however long you can. It doesn't matter to me. Just stay with me!"
"I'm sorry," Ria couldn't look at him anymore as she hardened her heart to let him go.
"I'm not asking for much, Ria. You can do whatever you want. I won't ask you anything. You can stay wherever you want. Just tell me where I can come and find you, at least this much..."
Isaac was desperate enough to convince Ria to let him know wherever she went and gave him permission to come over once a day.
Time went by like this, and naturally, the two people who were so in love with each other couldn't not bloom their love.
Isaac later found out about who was attacking Ria when she told him everything at last. He just said he didn't care about her being a dragon or anything, but he wouldn't let anyone hurt her, not even her own parents.
When Isaac became the new head of the Magic Tower, he wanted to surprise Ria with the news, so he went over to meet her immediately after the ceremony. But Ria had a bigger surprise planned for him; she told him she was pregnant that day.
Shortly after, they got married and lived happily ever after.
"So you fell for Father's looks?" Estoria concluded.
"Of course, that's not all. I also like everything else about him, like how powerful he is, how he can keep up with me in a fight, how he takes care of me, worries about me, and most importantly, how he loves me so much!" Ria replied with enthusiasm.
Estoria got the answer she was searching for, and her mind cleared with the realization.
Estoria had definitely fallen for Aluxio's looks first, so she wasn't sure if she really liked him or just how he looked. But then again, if someone else like Darius, who was equally as handsome as Aluxio, had held her... even the thought of it disgusted her to the core.
Aluxio had confessed to her over and over again, leaving her more confused each time. Estoria never had anyone love her, not a single person, nor did she love another person romantically before. She didn't know how to react to his advances at all.
During the first confession, she was skeptical of him. What did she even do for him to love her, actually?
As Aluxio's confessions went on, she became confused. Why is he doing all this just for me?
Aluxio never gave up, and it became natural for Estoria to receive his love and care, to the point she became afraid of him leaving her even for a single minute. But she did all she could to conceal her emotions because, as ever, they never helped her with anything.
Lillia had abandoned such emotions, but ever since she became Estoria, those emotions have been spilling out from time to time.She needed just enough emotions for her to live with any attachments, but looking back, she already had made many attachments to this world. So did she still need to hide all these emotions and never accept them?
It came to the point that her love overthrew the desire of not accepting such emotions. At the end, Aluxio's love had won over her.
She wanted to try again. She wanted to give herself one more chance to accept and trust all the people that did love her.
She could be selfish and take their love, right?