Estoria and Asher stopped, out of breath. They arrived inside the palace where they were staying. Aluxio stopped right behind them, not out of breath.
Seeing that a confrontation was almost unavoidable, Estoria decided to face it instead of running away.
"Asher, go to bed. It's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Estoria said, putting his coat back on his shoulders.
Asher made an unreadable face and quietly went to his room.
"You have a minute because I'm freezing," Estoria said to Aluxio. She turned to face him, making eye contact.
"Let's head inside first," he said. "My bedroom?"
Estoria stood there expressionless. Aluxio's room was obviously closer; her room was upstairs at the other end of the hallway. She could just walk there; it wasn't that far...
"Let's go," Estoria said, not waiting for him.
They both entered Aluxio's bedroom. The rooms inside Théodred's guest palace were unusually spacious. If they tried to convert the room into an apartment with a functioning kitchen, living room, and bedroom, there would still be space left for extra rooms, considering the attached bathroom. Just how expensive would the apartment be?
Estoria quickly moved to the fireplace in the bedroom to warm herself up. Aluxio swiftly lit the fireplace with mana; a red-colored fire illuminated the wood. She kept shivering, standing close to the fire. Only after returning to the palace did Estoria realize how bad her condition was. She sneezed suddenly; the fire couldn't immediately warm her trembling hands and body. It would probably take a while for her temperature to rise.
Estoria heard Aluxio's footsteps behind her. He came close and hugged her from behind.
"What are you doing?" Estoria asked, bewildered.
"Warming you. You're so cold; I hope you don't get sick," Aluxio said, grabbing Estoria's cold hands with his warm ones.
Estoria wanted to complain but couldn't; he did bring some warmth to her.
Aluxio placed his face in the crook of her neck, hugging her securely. She wasn't so surprised until Aluxio suddenly pecked her cheek. Her already frozen body stiffened even more, but her weakly beating heart started racing, almost wanting to jump out.
Estoria pushed Aluxio back to ask him, but he pushed back and kissed her again.
"Wait—" Estoria tried to speak unsuccessfully as Aluxio pecked her lips this time.
Enraged, Estoria pushed Aluxio away a few feet. He almost fell but quickly regained his balance.
"Why don't you stop when I tell you to?!" Estoria shouted. After ignoring her for days, suddenly Aluxio was acting as if nothing had happened.
"I'm sorry; I got too distracted," Aluxio apologized, burying his face in his hands.
Estoria wasn't cold anymore; her blood was boiling from anger and frustration. It was one thing if he had continued to ignore her, but now that they were alone, he wanted to act all lovey-dovey.
"What do you think we are, Aluxio? What's our relationship?"
Aluxio lifted his face, looking pitiful for some reason.
"I'll apologize again, Estoria. It wasn't right of me to do that without your permission. I know you don't like me, and I know this seems like an excuse, but sometimes I just can't control myself. I want to hug you and kiss you, and since you never outright rejected me, I thought maybe I had a chance..."
"I'll try to forget my feelings for you!" Aluxio finally looked into her eyes; his heart throbbed unbearably, but he kept his composure in front of Estoria.
"Is that why you pretended not to know me all this time? Are you really trying to get over those feelings for me?" Estoria nervously asked, her fingers curling into a fist.
"I'll try to, from this moment on, but I really don't want to... Do I really not have a chance, Estoria?"
"Then why did you keep your distance from me? Did you think that would make me want you or something?"
"No, it's not like that. I had another reason," Aluxio strongly denied , his face suddenly blushing.
It all probably started when I decided to visit the stranger Alstroemeria rescued and brought back to her place.
---
Aluxio jumped down from the open window, walking straight to the bed. The room was quiet; only the light breathing of the person sleeping on the bed could be heard. Aluxio's footsteps were as light as a feather falling on the ground.
When Aluxio lifted the bed curtains, the person sleeping on the bed quite peacefully looked paler than the moonlight itself. He cautiously placed his sword on her neck.
No reaction.
After a while, he retracted his sword and closed the short distance between them. It was hard to see her face because of all the hair covering it. He pushed the hair out of the way.
She looked dead; the only way to confirm she was alive was her weakly beating heart.
He stared at her for a long time.
After a while, he touched her forehead; it was cold. He forcefully opened her eyelids; he could clearly see her eyes, which weren't rolled back.
Red eyes were very rare in the kingdom. Could she be a spy from another kingdom?
He gave her another look and shook his head. That weak body couldn't possibly do much; he couldn't even detect any mana in her. She could have died with just a lift of his sword, she was too careless to be a spy.
"I'll let you live for now."
He gave her one last look, pulled the blanket up to her shoulders, and left.