The girls were weeping and clinging onto tightly, making it a slightly awkward situation, especially with their close proximity.
"You're quite popular, Amael, ahaha," Victor teased, grinning at .
I smiled, glancing at the five girls surrounding him. "You're not far behind either, Victor. You've got your own harem here."
"W-What?!" Celeste blurted out, her face turning red.
"H-Harem? Not really…" Cylien stuttered lightly.
"Right, we're just friends!" Alia interjected.
"We're not…" Elizabeth said with a small smile.
"…" Selene's silence was as good as confirmation.
"Oy! He's running away!" John's voice called out, diverting our attention.
He was locked in a fight with the middle-aged man.
"That guy! It's him! Celeste, Cylien!" Alia shouted, pointing at John, who had forgotten to remove his embarrassing masquerade mask, revealing his identity from the shopping mall incident. This guy is truly hopeless and doesn't care about any consequences.
[]
Shaddap.
I gave it to him.
Celeste and Cylien widened their eyes, recognizing John from the previous incident.
Is that Manuel?
No, I don't think it's him.
But then who is he?
"Victor, be on your guard. Sothing's going to happen," I warned Victor with a serious expression.
"Yeah, I feel that too…" Victor nodded, focusing his attention.
"Hey, shouldn't you at least be on your guard first?" Celeste asked, crossing her arms and looking down at .
Ah.
"Excuse , girls, could you please move now? This place is about to get a bit dicey," I remarked, pushing myself up.
The girls exchanged glances, blushing slightly, and departed, leaving behind a slip of paper with their numbers. My reaction to this unexpected gesture didn't go unnoticed by Celeste, who seized the opportunity for so good-natured teasing.
"You seem surprised. Not much experience with girlfriends, have you?" she quipped, a teasing glint in her eyes.
Stowing away the piece of paper, I t Celeste's gaze. Her head tilted ever so slightly, curiosity evident in her expression.
"Have you always been this approachable, Lady Celeste?" I asked seriously.
"Drop the 'Lady' part, will you?" Celeste scratched her cheek, her smile genuine. "Being a princess doesn't an I have to act like one. I prefer just being myself."
Her authenticity reminded of Milleia. A friend with a hidden face. Trusting another leading heroine felt like a gamble; Celeste's innocence echoed shades of Milleia's nature.
"Hey! Bastard! Stop flirting and help !" The mont was disrupted by John, yelling for assistance as he confronted the mysterious man.
"Is he referring to you? Do you know him?" Celeste's astute questions triggered an imperceptible bead of sweat on my forehead. The dots were connecting, and soon, she might deduce my nocturnal intrusion into her room.
"No, I have no clue who this weirdo is. Besides, are we really flirting right now?" I retorted, injecting a casual note into my response.
"What?" Celeste stifled a laugh. "No, not at all. We're definitely not flirting..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at with those wide, innocent eyes. "You got that, right? I wasn't trying to flirt with you, okay?"
Did she feel the need to emphasize this point?
Well, I guess she is exhausted with classmates misinterpreting her friendly gestures, so her need to clarify her stance.
"I'm not misunderstanding anything," I replied while looking around.
Let's leave that guy to John.
Celeste's relief was evident as I denied any romantic inclination in our interaction, and she smoothly transitioned to a different topic.
"It's cool that you are friends with Victor. He has always been concerned about that," she remarked, her eyes drifting toward Victor, engrossed in conversation with Alia and Cylien who were briefing him and Elizabeth about what happened in the shopping mall.
"He's a good guy," I nonchalantly replied, my eyes scanning the crowded restaurant.
Where was he?
"You intervened to help those girls, didn't you? Why didn't you respond to Jiren in the sa way?" Celeste asked curiously.
"Hm? I did nothing," I replied with a hint of ambiguity.
"You're lying, aren't you?" she pressed, narrowing her eyes.
I couldn't help but smile at her persistence. "I think you're drawing too many parallels between with Connor Olphean and Christina Olphean, Lady Celeste. I hate to break it to you, but I'm not cut from the sa cloth."
Her surprise was again evident, and she quickly backtracked, attempting to dispel any notion of comparison. "No, I didn't an it that way! I'm not comparing you to them..." she stamred, a tinge of guilt in her expression.
Good. Because I am nothing like them.
"...!"
Finally.
Pushing Celeste away gently, I crossed my arms, and in that mont, I heard the ominous crack. -Crack!
Reacting too late, a sudden kick struck my arm, causing the bones to audibly crack. Resisting as much as I could, I was propelled to the end of the restaurant, colliding forcefully with the wall.
A collective gasp echoed as the few remaining clients scattered, fleeing the scene of the sudden altercation.
"Amael!" Victor called out, worriedly.
Groaning in pain, I found myself embedded in the wall as a ripple of fear ran through the restaurant. Victor and Celeste were quick to rush towards , concern etched on their faces.
Before we could fully process the situation, a series of mocking claps resonated through the air. The source erged from the shadows, a man with curly dark hair and a maddened smile. His twisted gaze fell upon us, and a sinister revelation accompanied his words.
"A group of students from the Trinity Academy reunited in this place? The icing on the cake is that they are all Great Nobles of Sancta Vedelia, isn't that quite unfortunate? Right, little Celes?" A man approached slowly.
"Everyone! Run away!" Victor's alard shout echoed through the restaurant, urging everyone to step back, declaring the imminent danger posed by this man. Elizabeth and Cylien had weapons drawn, ready for a confrontation, while Alia and Selene eyed the man with caution.
"Celeste, are you okay?" Alia shook Celeste's shoulder in worry.
"Ah…" Amidst the tension, Celeste's reaction was different. A gasp escaped her lips, her eyes widening as she recognized the man – Manuel Hylkren. The very person who had brutally ended her mother's life before her eyes.
As the realization dawned, my gaze hardened. Manuel was not just a murderer; he was an Apostle of Nes, affiliated with the new Ante-Eden, a force I should have led after Brandon Delavoic's death in the Second Ga.
Spitting blood onto the ground, I took note of the dark blue Nes mark glowing on Manuel's hand, similar to the one Jasmine Reis Aquila bore. I managed to kill her at that ti, abandoning my Falkrona Bloodline.
However, this ti, I couldn't summon that power again. And to complicate matters, Manuel was not just an Apostle but also categorized as a [Major Antagonist] of the Second Ga.
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