"Eva, I have something I want to talk about.""? What is it, Rai?"
While the previous chaos had ensued in the〈Huaxia Zone〉, Eva was drawing on her sketchpad by a big old tree with Braith lying down next to her.
Because she thought it was problematic to keep on calling him Braith, she shortened his name to "Rai", which was p.r.o.nounced like "Ray."
Braith, seeing that his only friend was willing to listen to him, felt the burden on his child"s heart lighten up a bit. It was something that he couldn"t even open up to his family about. If he did, he was sure he would be simply made fun of.
"I think... I"ve fallen in love."
"..."
Eva"s hand jerked slightly which caused a stray pencil mark to appear on her drawing. She breathed in and out so as to not rip it out due to anger and erased the mark.
Faced with silence from his only friend, Braith was starting to grow uneasy.
"Rai."
"Yes?"
"I"m five and you"re seven. Do you really expect either us to know anything about that emotion? I understand familial love, but the one you"re talking about is clearly the romantic kind, right?"
"Yes. But since I a.s.sume we"re both mentally advance for our respective ages, you would at least have some kind of idea."
"..."
Eva felt even more confused than before. She had no idea why her only friend around her age had expected to have some kind of insight into such an issue.
She was the least qualified person to talk to about such a matter. She was cooped up in a single place and was five. She barely lived long enough to have any kind of experience.
"Haa... Rai, you"re my one and only friend. So, I would love to do anything to help you. But this is just outside of my area of expertise."
"Oh, you"re the same to me."
What a coincidence. In general, Braith was also a lonely child. Although he didn"t despise his father, he was unsure whether or not he was a good one. He just a.s.sumed it was a cultural problem for Dragons.
But Eva didn"t expect such a comment. Braith had told her over from the times he came to visit with Val and the previous day of his tales of attending school.
She was sure that school was a place designed to educate and have fellow children socialize.
"But you go to〈Central Academy〉, right? Doesn"t that have loads of people?"
"It turns out whenever I"m near, they refuse to approach me."
"..."
Eva was struck into confusion once again. From her perspective, Val was actually quite handsome for a seven-year-old. Glossy black hair with a purplish tint. Red eyes like a shiny apple. She thought that a lot of people were attracted to beauty.
But it appeared that wasn"t the case.
Given the silent treatment once again, Braith at least wanted to talk about his crush"s beauty.
"Can I at least talk about her?"
"Sure, why not?"
Eva had nothing better to do. Libra went to go do some things, Lala was preparing lunch and she didn"t want to see Grandma and Grandpa Blitzkrieg.
Braith"s eyes transformed into rubies when he heard the seal of approval. He was so excited that he started doing hand gestures as he spoke.
"So, she has beautiful silver hair."
"Like mine?"
"No, you and Uncle Cole have that metallic and n.o.ble shine. The one that makes everyone around you think that you"re both cold like the edge of a stainless sword. She has that purplish silver kind. The one that makes her feel majestic."
"Oh, I see."
"I"m worried about my future."
Like Cole, Eva mostly had a blank expression on her face most of the time. It"s only when she interacted with others did it change slightly or greatly. She wasn"t like her father where he could fully fake his expressions to the point of becoming real.
She wanted to have a lot of friends in the future, her greatest fear would be loneliness. But although she thought such she guessed that if that was the case then she would grow accustomed to it.
But the fact that she also had silver hair made her slightly interested. She flipped a page and started to sketch her based on Braith"s descriptions.
"She has natural pink cheeks and although she doesn"t smile a lot, she"s cute."
"..."
"I wonder if she"s secretly my distant relative."
Her interest was piqued even more. She then started drawing her eyes. Although she wasn"t the best and was just a novice at drawing, she liked doing it.
"How about her eyes?"
"The prettiest of amethysts."
"Uhu."
Eva started getting a feeling that Braith might end up becoming a poet soon or in the future. He looked completely engrossed in the telling of his tale.
"And even as my cla.s.smates avoided me, she would always come forth and reprimand me whenever I did something wrong. She always had a proud and dignified expression when she does it too. Even though she"s so young..."
He chided her as if he was some wise old elder. Eva didn"t think he had the right to do that considering...
"You"re the same age as her!"
Just as he had that cheeky expression, it warped into one of pure sorrow. He even faced his back towards her to emphasize the effect.
"But I can"t tell her how I feel."
"Why? Because you"re like 7 and shouldn"t be able to think about the future yet?"
"Oh wait, shouldn"t it be the opposite?"
Since they"re seven, they don"t need to think about the future and can do whatever the h.e.l.l they want.
"No. It"s because she has a fiancee."
"Eh? Really? Is she n.o.bility?"
"Yeah. It was just recently announced."
"Ah..."
Eva paused and looked up to the sky together with Braith since his face had now changed into one of distance and longing.
"Then have you given up?"
"Because that would be the logical choice."
Although Eva said that to herself, she already got the idea that Braith had thrown logic all the way out the window and into the mountains when it came to his one-sided crush. She felt slightly disappointed in him. She thought he was better than that.
"What? No! That s.h.i.tty prince doesn"t even give a d.a.m.n about her. So she won"t have to grow up all alone, I"ll stick with her all the way to the end."
"But aren"t you a vampire? And I"m a.s.suming she"s a human?"
As said previously, the school he was attending was〈Central Academy〉
There were teleportation circles and gates made for easy transport and there were also dorms. The elementary division for the〈Fantasia Zone〉was mostly focused on the human race.
It turned out that it was only recently that they started accepting students from the〈Demon Realm〉and non-human countries.
They wanted to accept them from the start but they had to negotiate with monarchs and ban racial discrimination. The founders wanted the academy to be a place where all cultures and races could be treated fairly.
Because of this,
"If she falls in love with me I"ll turn her into a vampire. And then we"ll happily spend our days in the 〈Demon Realm.〉"
"Eh? Why the〈Demon Realm〉?"
"Because I"m the heir to my mother"s family. They didn"t have any boys and my aunts" male children will become the heir to the family they married into."
"I see..."
"Wait, a second. Did he say something about a Prince earlier? What is she, a Duke"s daughter?"
Eva started thinking about politics. Her grasp on them wasn"t that well but she had some knowledge due to her favourite children"s picture book author.
As her expression started becoming clouded, a hand suddenly patted her head. When she looked up at the source, it was Libra.
「What are you two doing this afternoon?」
"Ah, Libra. You"re back!"
"I"m having Eva listen to my love woes."
"Umm... Libra."
Eva covered Braith"s remark with her own voice and started to ask with a bit of hesitation.
「What is it, Eva?」
"Uh... Never mind. It"s embarra.s.sing."
「No. Since you"ve already told me, you might as well finish your request.」
"He"s right."
Seeing that what Libra said was indeed true, she decided to continue with her request anyway.
"...Can you give a Papa a call?"
Libra"s face was stunned for a moment but it quickly changed into a cheeky grin.
「If that was it, then you should have said so sooner.」
"S-Shut up!"
"Yes, I miss him but don"t put on that expression!"
She ended up raising her voice a bit louder than expected.
Quickly after that, she could hear the voices of a middle-aged woman and man coming from the direction towards the cave.
「! That adorably cute squeal! It must be Eva! Eva! Where are you~?」
「Darling! If you call her name out in the open like that, she"s going to run away again.」
Eva turned out to be immensely popular with Val"s parents. They had always wanted a cute little granddaughter they could dote on and now they temporarily had one. They hoped that Lala"s upcoming baby would be a girl but they internally worried that even if it was a daughter, it may not be as cute as Eva.
She had inherited her father"s genes after all. Although it was not mentioned, the office workers back in〈S.T.E.L.L.A〉had instantly placed him at the top of the "Top 10 Handsome Coworkers You Would Want To Spend A Night With."
It was only the weak-willed who openly showed their admiration! A true front-line soldier would be able to keep a professional smile at all times.
Even if Cole were to be aware of such facts, he would either not care or brush it off.
That was just a random day in the Zone.
.
.
.
--------------------------
Eva: Papa, how do you get close to a woman?
Cole: What a coincidence, I"m trying to find out as well. And I have to do it in five years as well.
Eva: That doesn"t answer my question!
Cole: Let"s try asking Val.
Eva: I don"t think that"s a good idea either.
Cole: Haa... You"re right.