Therius was stunned by Atila"s words. Ah ... he didn"t know Emma was mad at him and blamed him for letting her sleep in the library.It was really unexpected.
"I will go to her and explain what happened," Therius finally said. "You don"t need to come."
Without waiting for Atila"s response, Therius immediately strode toward Emma"s room. After he arrived at her door, he knocked twice.
"Emma ... I want to talk to you."
Emma, who did not expect Therius to come to her room, became even more annoyed. She opened the door with a frown.
"My body aches, and I badly need to rest. What is it that you want to talk about?" she asked curtly.
"Hmm ... I did try to wake you up several times so you can go to your room, but you didn"t wake up," Therius said without further ado. "I"m not a heartless person."
"Oh ..." Emma was astonished when she heard Therius"s explanation.
"I don"t want to forcefully wake you up and then told you to move. You looked so tired," said Therius again. "Please let me know. If something like last night happened again in the future, what do you want me to do? I can either hit you and forcefully wake you up, or carry you to your bedroom. You decide."
Emma"s face turned red when she heard Therius" last sentence.
"Just hit my shoulder to wake me up!!" said Emma curtly.
"All right. I"ll remember that," said Therius. "Then, I"ll take my leave and let you rest."
Therius then turned away, leaving Emma in a daze.
As she closed the door, Emma sighed softly.
Well, maybe Therius wasn"t as bad as she thought he was. The man did try to wake her up so she wouldn"t sleep in the library.
***
They did not talk about the issue at all when they met the next day to study. Therius gave a few simple sentences and asked Emma to write them down. The atmosphere felt calm and peaceful. n.o.body talked unless it was really necessary.
Finally, their two-hour lesson ended.
"Hmm ... your progress is quite good," Therius commented. "What about the children"s books I gave you last time? Can you read them already?"
"I"ve finished reading two of them. I think I"ll finish the third book today. Maybe you can give me more difficult material?" Emma responded.
"OK." Therius took Emma"s tablet and added several simple books to it. "Let me know whenever you need more books."
Emma nodded, took the tablet, and left the library. Before she walked through the doorway, Emma turned and stared at Therius.
"What is wrong?" Therius asked. "Did you leave something?"
"Hmm ..." Emma looked at the tablet in her hand and then at Therius. She finally said, "Thank you."
Therius was surprised to hear these words coming from Emma"s lips. He didn"t expect Emma would say thanks to him.
He actually wanted to ask what was the thank you for, but he was astounded and said nothing, until finally Emma turned and left him, closing the door behind her.
Hmm ... this is progress, Therius thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Xion, who sat in the corner of the room with a lazy expression, seemed impressed to see the change in Emma"s att.i.tude.
***
In today"s training, Emma had managed to improve her results. Now she could hit 100 bullseyes in two hours, from initially 30. Indeed, this was still far from her expectations, but at least she could see the progress in her efforts.
Xion had promised to teach her a special technique for using aeromancy better. He would only do it after Emma managed to hit the bullseye 200 times in two hours. and Emma was determined to work hard to achieve it.
"Your progress is pretty good after two weeks," Xion said, checking the training statistics on the wall. "When will you start your training with Therius?"
"Tomorrow," Emma said. "I hope he can teach telemancy as well as he teaches me how to read."
"From what I see, it seems like he is a talented teacher," Xion said. "You"re lucky."
"Hmm ..." Emma didn"t want to discuss Therius again. "Are we done with our training today?"
"Yes, we are. You may rest now. I don"t want Therius to nag me for making you tired and fall asleep in the library again," Xion said with a hearty laugh. "You should have seen him last night. He was torn between hitting your shoulder to wake you up or just carrying you to your room. He needed half an hour to decide."
Emma frowned and looked at Xion in surprise. "Really? Were you also there? Was it difficult to wake me up?""
"Yes. He tried everything to wake you up gently, but apparently you slept like a log."
"Oh, really?"
"I told him to hit you so you would wake up, but he didn"t want to hurt you. He said he could kill people if they try to wake him up violently," Xion said, shaking his head. "So, maybe he thought you are the same."
Emma narrowed her eyes and stared fixedly at Xion. For some reason, she felt that, on every chance he got, Xion would always praise Therius in front of Emma. He seemed determined to change Emma"s view of his best friend..
"Can we talk about something else, please? You always talk about him. People will think you are lovers," Emma finally said.
Xion just laughed at Emma"s words. "Sorry. Maybe someday, after I have a girlfriend, I"ll stop talking about Therius. I just thought you have started to like him, that"s why I mentioned him just now."
"I started to like him? Rubbis.h.!.+ How on earth you could make such a.s.sumptions?"
Xion shrugged. "You thanked him earlier. Did I misunderstand your intention?"
Emma shook her head. "I was thanking him for teaching me how to read. That is all. I appreciated what he did. I know it"s not an easy job, and I can learn so much already. But I still consider him my enemy."
"Oh... I don"t understand what that means," Xion said. "So, does that mean you still hate Therius or not?"
Emma paused for a moment and tried to find the right words.
"Hmmm ... I don"t hate Therius as a person. However, I hate him as the crown prince of the country which colonizes Thaesi, my mother"s homeland; imprisoned my father; and forced me to go back to Akkadia with him. But, after knowing him these past two weeks, I think I understand why he did all those. I hate that side of him."
Xion nodded. He understood what Emma meant. Actually, she meant to say that had they not been on opposite sides like this, if they met in different circ.u.mstances, maybe they could be friends.
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