At the dining table, Godfrey pondered. It must have taken Ronald a lot of ti and mana to do what he did.
His mother served chicken noodle soup. The sight of the soup made Godfrey’s eyes involuntarily widen as his lips curled up. He actually loved his mother’s homade chicken noodle soup and she prepared it occasionally, ensuring he wanted more every ti it hit the table.
A clever strategy, it worked and made a soft smile appear on his face. He instinctively reached for the hot sauce bottle only to see his father was doing the sa thing.
They both froze, fingers inches away from the bottle.
Godfrey’s eyes went to his mother who covered her mouth with one folded hand while squinting in amusent.
’She did this intentionally.’ He looked at his father who withdrew his hand, scooped his soup and drank stiffly. It was obvious he didn’t enjoy it without the hot sauce, just like him.
Godfrey scowled inwardly but took the hot sauce and placed it in front of his father—Ronald.
He rose to his feet. "I’m going for a walk."
"But you haven’t even touched your food!" Valentina stood up, alard.
"I’m not hungry." On his way to the door, Valentina grabbed his arm. "I’ll be waiting for you to co back."
"I will."
After leaving the house, Godfrey went straight to Victoria’s gym. The place was shut but he could hear grunts inside. He tried recalling what the place looked like and teleported.
Inside the gym, he saw Victoria in the ring training against a phantom opponent. There was no one here apart from her and most of the equipnt was gone, making the gym look like a large, almost vacant hall now.
"What’s going on?"
His voice made Victoria’s head snap in his direction. "Godfrey!" She uttered his na in astonishnt.
She stepped out of the ring, unstrapped her gloves and embraced him. Godfrey’s arms went around her back while her own were around his neck.
After a while, Victoria took a step back, tilting her head at the young man who was now taller than her. She was quite tall for a woman, boasting an impressive height of 183cm.
Isolde was also tall but Victoria took it to the next level, unfortunately even she had to look up to a 191cm tall Godfrey.
"Almost nineteen and you’re already U.S.’s first paragon." Victoria smiled, brushing her hair back.
"Did you close down the gym? There’s barely any equipnt here."
"I had to make enough money. I’m planning to move away, maybe find sothing that would suit more than this, maybe sowhere beyond paradise. The only issue is that I’m a fugitive so—"
"What?" Godfrey interrupted her.
Victoria tilted her head with a soft, broken smile that revealed a bit of her pain. "I’ve been training to be a bodyguard before I knew how to read, Godfrey. It’s all I’ve ever known or done. I turned against my previous boss and lost my summon, I’m not a bodyguard, in fact I’m the one that needs protection."
Godfrey remained silent. She must have held all these emotions inside all this ti.
"I know you want to belong to the family but I just can’t, I’m sorry. My place there was as a bodyguard, if I can’t do that, if I can’t afford the barest minimum of strength in a world like ours then I can’t be who I was trained to be."
She smiled sadly.
Godfrey could have sworn he almost saw her cry. The pain of losing her summon finally overwheld her. This wasn’t abnormal, so people even took their own lives even after surviving the death of their summon.
He realized it was the sa for him. The Golden Order defined him... without it, he would never have what he had now.
"I’m lost Godfrey and throwing punches isn’t helping like it once did." She sniffed, exhaling shakily. "I’m sorry for saying this to you."
She didn’t even know why. He just looked so mature now, especially with those eyes. It made her pour out her heart like a woman yearning to be heard.
Godfrey stretched his hand. "You could still be a guard... if you agree to beco a knight. You would have a second heart pumping mana through your veins, you would wield the power of a beast, for you it would be the phoenix. As a knight your service will not cease and you will be my guardian."
Victoria stared at him. "You could make like Ballista?"
"If you desire." Godfrey replied. Both of them looked into each other’s eyes, a little gap between their physical bodies but an imasurable distance in their minds.
The future of both of them would be decided at this mont, whether she would walk away from his life forever or stand as his phoenix when he finally claid the throne.
"C-Can you do it?"
"It’s possible."
"I desire it." Victoria replied.
A portal appeared behind him the mont her words fell and Tempest erged from it, his ironclad boots ringing softly as it touched the floor.
Victoria’s heart pounded. He had a tal ring shaped like a crown hovering above his head which was covered by a slightly tattered hood. One of his pauldrons was shaped like a bear’s head and a mighty Double-Bladed greatsword hung across his back.
Would she gain such form? To be both magnificent and intimidating just by presence alone.
"He’s your partner." Godfrey said, then turned his head toward Tempest. "She’s yours. We’ll visit the tomb of the fallen phoenix knight once I’m able to unlock the next door... and get my hands on a mana fruit."
’Those alchemists have been awfully quiet. It seems I must unseal their chamber to speak to them once more.’
He knew he was in for a remarkable surprise once he had both phoenix knights. Their true potential would be unleashed.
Victoria chuckled, a bit embarrassed. "Did I tell you that I tried dating several n and failed?"
Godfrey’s smile shattered. "What?"
What in the world was Victoria talking about? He tilted his head and saw Tempest looking at him.
He couldn’t really gauge what his expression was.
Godfrey cleared his throat. "He’s good-looking behind that mask."
For the first ti, Tempest glared at him. A knight glaring at his prince... disrespectful yet justified for this reason.
And... he had to lift Victoria’s emotions, an honourable knight like Tempest would have to bear with him.
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