Julius pulled out a book from his storage ring, it was called Elven Wars: Blood Era. The book was a fictional story about a real war that occurred thousands of years ago with another continent where the elves primarily resided.
It was actually quite an interesting story. He found himself enjoying a good book whenever he wanted a break from his manic training regi.
And people accuse of not relaxing enough, Julius chuckled to himself.
He took breaks occasionally, that was what helped him keep focus on his goals better. It didn't have to be long, but sotis, an hour of doing sothing that didn't revolve around stretching him to his limits helped more than many would think.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to enjoy his book. Just as he was beginning to read, he sensed the two of them walking toward his little corner of the library.
When Grace approached him, he pretended to be absorbed in his book. It wasn't until she sat down in front of him that he looked up at her with feigned surprise on his face.
He observed as Grace licked her lips anxiously before speaking. "Hello," she said tentatively.
He closed his book and smiled at her. "Hey, Grace. Fancy seeing you here this early."
His friendly attitude seemingly put her more at ease and her shoulders relaxed a hair. "Yeah, I like to co here in the mornings to read. It clears my head before the day begins. But I could say the sa to you," she said with a smirk.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess my reason is pretty similar to you. It's a nice way to relax before I have to head to class."
She nodded her head, agreeing with the sentint before opening her mouth to say sothing else but hesitated. She looked down at the table between them, closed her mouth, and furrowed her brows before opening her mouth again. "I want to apologize for what happened the other week. Alia has always been overly protective of , but she went too far."
Julius took the ti to look directly into her eyes before shaking his head with a chuckle. "I don't think you need to apologize to . You didn't do anything wrong."
This ti it was her that shook her head at him. "No, I should stopped it before it got to that point. I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy with…" she trailed off.
"With eating delicious food? I noticed," he said with a teasing smirk.
He saw her blush a little bit at that comnt but smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I guess you did," she said.
Julius turned his attention from her to look around the room again. "The others and I don't hold any hard feelings for you," he assured her.
She bit her lip worryingly. "And Alia?" She asked hesitantly.
"Eh, I couldn't care less about seeing her again. I find myself not making ti for rude people," Julius truthfully told Grace.
Grace nodded her head and nervously picked at the hem of her uniform. "Does that an we can't be friends?" She asked quietly.
It was quiet enough that Julius was certain that if not for his enhanced hearing, he wouldn't have been able to hear what she said. Still, he was able to fully catch her question.
He didn't answer right away and waited until she looked up at him. He then gave her a soft smile of his own and said, "I don't see why not. You still owe a cake after all. If we weren't friends then I wouldn't be able to exchange that offer."
He saw her eyes water around the edges before she looked away again, but this ti with a smile of her own. "What about Alia?" She asked him.
"What about her?"
"She won't affect our friendship?" She asked.
Julius just shrugged. "I an that depends a lot on you and her. What kind of relationship do the two of you share?"
Grace tilted her head in thought. "She's soone who keeps an eye on while I am at Goldencrest. But more importantly, she's my friend. Probably, my only friend," she admitted sadly.
"Well not anymore," he told her with a smile. "And I don't know about the others, but I can tell you that they liked you. I know for sure that they enjoyed your appetite, especially Edgar. But he's biased."
She looked up at him with a brilliant smile upon hearing his kind words. But then frowned. "Biased?" She asked confused.
Julius waved his hand. "Eh, it's not really important. He just likes anyone who eats a lot because it makes him feel less guilty about him eating his family into poverty."
She visibly flinched "What?"
"I know, sad business," he shook his head morosely. "Anyway, I don't see why she would affect our friendship, I just wouldn't want to hang out with her," he said switching back to the original topic, leaving Grace slightly confused and off-kilter.
However, she quickly got back her bearings. "What if she apologized to you directly?" She asked curiously.
Julius paused and put a hand on his chin. "That would certainly help," he admitted.
An apology would go a long way. It wasn't like he wasn't unaware of where Alia was coming from. He had teased Grace a little bit and he could see how soone who was very protective of a person would perceive that in a negative way.
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Additionally, he wouldn't have lost his own composure that night if he hadn't seen House Greyson just a few minutes before. If it was any other ti, he would have brushed it off like no big deal.
Grace smiled at that. "I will have her apologize imdiately," she promised.
"Thanks, I would appreciate that," he told her, feeling good about resolving that issue.
There was just one single thing that was bothering him now.
It was that Alia was currently breathing down Julius's neck. And he ant literally breathing down his neck. She was so close to him that he could reach behind him and touch her.
She had maneuvered around him the second Grace entered the room. The only thing that made him okay with it, was that she wasn't doing anything that would alert him.
Her body was oddly non-threatening. The main thing she had been doing, was staring at him. But there were tis that Julius suspected she was testing him and whether or not he could sense her.
He almost laughed out loud when he sensed her fake lunging at him. He remained his act though. He was pretty confident that Alia wouldn't blindside him in front of Grace. That was what he was hoping for at least.
He looked at Grace who was also looking at him with an awkward look on her face. However, after too much ti passed to be comfortable, she sighed loudly.
"I ant now," she said in a surprisingly stern and commanding tone.
Julius calmly watched with his two eyes as Alia suddenly appeared in front of him.
He saw her looking at him with extrely focused eyes. Then she smiled and laughed, turning to Grace. "I told you," she said proudly.
Julius looked confusingly at Grace who then smacked Alia on the shoulder. "Not the ti," she scolded her.
"What do you an? Are we just going to ignore the fact that he didn't even seem remotely surprised to see ?" Alia asked in disbelief.
"That's not the point. We already suspected that he could. But I asked you to appear to apologize, not to talk about his perception skill," Grace said.
"You're not a little bit curious?" Alia asked knowingly.
Grace paused and conceded her point with a nod. She turned to Julius with an intrigued look. "So you can perceive her," she said matter of factly and with a knowing grin.
Shit, I forgot to act surprised. Julius literally slapped his own forehead in frustration. It was such a simple mistake. Though, he hadn't been prepared for Alia to just appear out of thin air. He had been expecting them to continue to hide it since that was kind of the point of staying invisible.
He thought about denying it, but he had also just said that he and Grace were friends. Lying about whether or not he could perceive her wouldn't be a good start to their friendship. Especially, not a lie that was easy to see through like this one.
They both seed pretty confident in their deductions. It was actually likely that the only reason why Grace had told Alia to show herself.
Julius just nodded. "Yeah, I can," he admitted.
"So that night when we first t…"
"Mm-hmm."
Alia jumped in, the attitude she showed that night was no longer on display. If anything she was very interested. "So how can you sense ?"
Julius just looked at her with a deadpan expression. "You want to tell you?"
Alia nodded her head vigorously.
Julius looked at her like she was dumb. "You want to tell you about an ability of mine even though you were just insulting last week and then tried to strangle with your aura? You still haven't apologized for that by the way," he said sarcastically.
Julius watched as Alia got an annoyed look on her face and was about to say sothing, but stopped when Grace, who was now next to her, smashed her with an elbow to the ribs. Alia's face went through the five stages of grief in the blink of an eye.
First, there was denial, then there was anger, which quickly changed to contemplation, then to sadness, and finally after she glanced over at Grace her face demonstrated acceptance of her fate.
He observed as Alia bowed toward him. "I am deeply sorry for my behavior the other night. I misunderstood your intentions and lost my composure. I sincerely hope that my actions do not affect how you view Grace. My actions were my own and I will accept any reprisal you have for ," she said solemnly.
In all honesty, Julius was a bit surprised at how sincere her apology was. He was half-expecting so bullshit apology that was mostly thinly veiled insults wrapped in pretty paper. However, as far as apologies went, her apology was a pretty damn good one. He wasn't able to find any fault in it, which was annoying.
Although he was still a little bit displeased with her, he grudgingly appreciated her sincerity. She had been able to swallow her pride, sothing Julius could imdiately tell she didn't do too often in order to say sorry.
That in itself said a lot about how Alia felt about Grace and the importance she placed on her happiness. It also said a lot about the type of person she was.
After she said her piece, she didn't lift his head, apparently waiting for him to accept it or at the very least say sothing in response.
Julius brushed a hand through his hair and sighed dramatically. "Why couldn't you have just given a shit apology? It would have made it so much easier," he said to her.
She looked up at him finally with confusion evident on her face. "You would rather give you an awful apology than a genuine one?"
He put his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. "No, but it would have made it much simpler to continue to dislike you. Having a good apology makes want to sympathize with you and that just feels wrong," he said more to himself than to her.
She was about to respond but she instead chose to stay silent. Electing to look at him a befuddled look on her face.
He then had a wandering thought and turned to look at Grace. "Did you write that apology for her?" He asked. For so reason, the apology seed a little too genuine. Almost like soone had told her how to.
He spotted a flash of amusent across her face. "I don't know what you an," she denied with a smirk.
Julius pressed his lips together disappointedly. "How long did it take for you to convince her to morize it?"
At that Grace did chuckle. "It actually didn't take that long. I think she was sincerely sorry about how that night went. It barely took much convincing."
He looked over at Alia who was becoming a little red in the face, whether that was from embarrassnt or anger, or perhaps a mixture of both.
"Are we good?" Alia finally asked Julius.
"Nope," he said offhandedly while scratching his chin and looking off in the distance.
"Perfect, that's… wait, what?"
"I said that doesn't make us even," Julius said casually, ignoring the growing ire on Alia's face.
"What the hell does that an?"
"You said that you would accept any reprisal from , correct?" Julius asked.
He could sense Alia grinding her teeth together hard. "I did," she acknowledged unhappily.
Julius clapped his hands together elatedly and looked directly at Alia. "Well, that's wonderful! Now, I can't think of sothing at the mont, but I will let you know once I think of it," he told her with a smile.
If looks could kill, Julius would be buried ten feet in concrete. However, Grace gave Alia another elbow to the chest, and Alia showed Julius a hideous smile while nodding her head. "Of course, just let know when you decide," she managed to grunt out through her gritted teeth.
Julius didn't let her angry look bother him. He just continued to smile at her with a toothy grin. "Oh, I will."
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