"Water," she then looked up at Raven and asked.He stood up and left. This time only those who still couldn"t believe that she had indeed returned, fully returned, remained inside the inner hall.
Karen could no longer hold it in and hugged her tight as she stood up beside her sitting figure. Azusa and Feena stood up and hugegd her on the side.
She could only pat them in return as she sighed. It was indeed very tiring to keep this all up. But at least, everything was already cleared.
It was not long after that Raven returned with a tray. He was the one who pushed it in after getting it from the servant he tasked to get some tea, coffee, water and a few snacks.
"Settle down now, you all need a drink. And Karen please stop crying I can"t have you delivering the baby prematurely," she then started speaking trying to lighten up the mood.
"Guys can you pull your wives away from me now?" she then complained at Hideyos.h.i.+ and Mamoru who was just looking at her.
They both stood up and pulled Feena and Azusa, they hesitated before each of them hugged her.
"Welcome back."
Was all they said before pulling Azusa and Feena to their seats.
After that she finally faced Rino who was still sitting on his chair with a grave look.
"Can I ask for a hug from the king, my brother?" she was not the type to act this way.
Nana would have been better at it but since she and Rino were quite alike she knew that Nana"s att.i.tude would be the best for this kind of sitiation.
Rino looked up at her with red eyes. Eureka just smiled and opened her arms.
Rino felt defeated and got up to give her a tight hug.
"Sorry."
"Shouldn"t that be something no longer necessary between us? You got mad at me and I made you feel guilty. We"re kinda equal now I suppose," Eureka replied with her usual tone.
Rino chuckled and let her go before giving her one final pat on the head.
"You really are finally home," he said before sitting down all over again.
Not long after laughter is being heard from the inner hall.
It was also a good thing that Karen"s pregnancy was not affected at all. Now, all of them are just enjoying their time together.
Though they still felt a little bad because of the fact that they are not yet complete.
"Don"t send letters to them. I shall make a personal visit to each of them," she spoke up when asked what she was planning to do about the others.
"You"re travelling? If you go to the other three kingdoms, that might take a while at most a year. When do you two plan on getting married in the end?" Karen as straightforward as always took the pandora box and opened it without much thought.
The others fell silent, all of them wanted to know this the most. Now that everything was over, does this two not plan on moving to the next phase?
Eureka and Raven fell silent before looking at each other. A silent agreement have happened in between their eyes before they looked back at their friends, "We"ll get there."
"You two- You really love leaving us in suspense don"t you?" Hideyos.h.i.+ didn"t hold back and accused them.
"Adding to that, not once have we seen you two be sweet to each other," Mamoru added on the side.
"Have we not? Didn"t we held hands and hugged in front of all of you?" Eureka raised an eyebrow before asking.
At their age, is there still a need to be shy over such matters? To her, there"s none.
Azusa who was just drinking from her cup suddenly choked upon hearing her nonchalant reply.
"That"s not called sweet at all," she complained in between her coughs.
Eureka just gave her a smirk. She didn"t say anything nor gave another comment regarding that.
Not sweet? There are so many times that the two of them have shown so much care to each other that sweetness could no longer be a definition to it.
"Geez, we really can"t win against you," Hideyos.h.i.+ finally raised his hands and gave up.
No matter what, these two had always been so serious that not one could make them act like a normal couple in front of all of them.
Without words, all of them knew that these two are just missing the ceremony itself.
Raven no longer needed to ask her to be with him, nor Eureka no longer needed to wait for his question.
Their understanding with each other have reached a terrifying level.
"But don"t you really want to hear sweet nothings from him? I mean you"re still a woman at the end of the day," Feena questioned this time.
Eureka first took a sip to her tea and smiled, "The fact that he was able to forgive me for everything was more than enough to the point that I felt like I have heard every sweet nothing coming from him."
The whole room turned silent, have they ever heard her speak about love in this way? Have they?
No, not once. Even the times that she had to reply it was not as wonderful as this.
And in reality even Raven turned to look at her.
Eureka shook her head, "You asked me. But now that I have given you a reply, you"re looking at me as if I"ve done something wrong."
"Raven, don"t you have a reply to that? Her words are just so sweet," Karen became so excited that she had urged Raven to speak up.
His brows were furrowed upon being stared at by their friends, "What more do I have to say, was my wait not enough?"
His words silenced them, how long had he waited? It was not simply the almost 5 years that she was gone.
It was beyond that, knowing full well that she wanted to place all her attention to the mission she had given herself. He didn"t push it but instead, he waited and waited and waited.
"Yup more than enough," Rino who was just listening finally gave his own comment.
Just what kind of person could wait the way he did? There"s not a lot of people like him.
"Indeed, both of you have done more than enough," the others followed suit, no longer prying about the relations.h.i.+p between the two of them.
Eureka was just silently watching them after her little speech. Even she herself still couldn"t believe that she had finally reached this point.
She was just 13 when she returned, it had been 16 long years since then.
She felt like she had lived far longer than that and have experienced more than one her age could experience.
Yet here she was, no more war, no more abilities, no more Juzo, just them. Just all of them living a normal life.
"That"s right Eureka. When you had no memories, did you not even just for once, wanted to ask if we know you?" Azusa suddenly asked.
"I have, multiple times," she replied honestly.
"Then what stopped you? You still don"t know about the headache and all during that time right?"
"It was all your eyes. Except for Hikari who had this genuine gleam on them and Raven who was staring just straight in mine. You guys have this scared look in them."
She touched the rim of her cup upon remembering this, "When I touched a question that could imply that I might be curious of my ident.i.ty. Your eyes would suddenly turned pain and terrified. I could no longer bring it up and would just brush it off."
That"s right, that was what she had noticed towards their eyes. Hikari must have genuinely wanted to know her elder sister that is why she didn"t have such look.
But Raven have the same clear look in them, even when she first met all of them upon returning. The moment they saw her, a pained look would pa.s.s through their eyes.
No one could comment to her reply, in the end it was still them who didn"t allow her to ask.
They also knew that what she said about being in pain while trying to remember was true that they would surely stop her and burn the letter, once they see this.
After speaking and thinking Eureka"s eyes landed on Raven who was beside her.
Feeling her stare Raven looked at her with an inquiring look.
"He waited and waited. Just as he had finished waiting, I was still not the same person he was waiting. But not once did he showed me other emotions such as anger or impatience due to him waiting. He still looked at me with clear eyes, the same way he did back when almost everyone was suspicious of me when I first arrived."
She was staring at his eyes as she placed her hand in his cheek.
And in everyone"s shock, she had closed in and pressed her lips on his.
She never gave it much of a thought but even from before, it was Raven who have seen her as her. He verified all his suspicion without judging her. Over and over again.
He was the only one.