"…it appears to be that way. However, regardless of whether you had a valid reason to be there or not, it is still not an excuse for the fact that the first thing you did when arriving in that town was assaulting the 2 poor guards doing their job. So what do you have to say about that?"
"We…can't deny it. We did in fact beat those 2 guys up. Relatively speaking at least."
"See?! Look at them, everyone! They're not even trying to deny it! That's their guilt speaking, you see?!"
"Hold your horses, Your Majesty. While we can't deny the fact that it happened, what we can do is give you the true reason for why things played out that way. After all, it couldn't be further from just "wanting to assault some poor guards doing their job" isn't that right, my dear little brother?"
"That's true. In fact, the one who started to throw hands wasn't even my dear older sister, but me."
"Hmph, so it was the brat? So what? Are you going to try and use the "he's just a kid, so he doesn't know any better" as your "reason"?"
"Oh but we wouldn't dare, Your Majesty. In fact, why don't we let him explain, without my intervention? I'm sure that you're more likely to believe him than me, right?"
"…that appears to be reasonable. Though a reckless and aggressively dangerous brat, he's still nowhere near as much of a disgrace as you, the scum who's actually in power currently."
"Though I personally don't advise you using such language referring to my dear younger brother, we'll let it slide this time, shall we?"
"What are you insinuating—"
"Go on, Cael. Explain to Hia Majesty-no, explain to everyone in the entire Kingdom what truly happened in the first phase of these ridiculous allegations on our name."
"You got it, Maia. But don't be so hard on His Majesty, alright? After all, he's as much of a victim as anyone else, who was falsely convinced that we're criminals."
"Is that so? I guess you're right after all, aren't you? To be so forgiving towards the man that's currently and constantly insulting you is no small feat."
"Alright, alright. I'm happy that you think that, but it's about time we stop wasting everyone's time, and I begin explaining."
"That's true. Go on, my dear younger brother. The stage is all yours."
And so I turned directly towards His Majesty, then began speaking.
"Your Majesty, if you don't mind me asking, you have a sister yourself, is that correct?"
"I do indeed have more than just 1 sister. One of them is younger and 2 of them are older."
"And as their brother, would something happen to them, wouldn't you want to be the one to protect them? Or even, take action and try to defend them? Of course, putting aside the fact that you're royalty, as a totally hypocritical scenario."
"What brother wouldn't want to keep his own sisters safe? Their safety should be a priority for anyone who has any, just as much as their wives, daughters or mothers."
"Haha, I totally understand that. As you're already aware, I personally have a younger sister myself, not just Maia as my older sister."
"Where are you trying to go with this?"
"Don't worry, you'll see in a second. I just have one more question before I get to the main point, would that be alright?"
"…go on."
Slowly, as I began my sentence but paused it midway, I walked towards the edge of his desk.
"Assuming that you were in our place. Banished nobles, completely hated, disrespected and discriminated against because of something we never even did. If you were with one of your sisters who so happened to get recognized as one of those banished nobles unlike you, and they began touching her innapropriately…"
And before finishing my sentence, I placed both hands on his desk, looking him straight in the eyes with the most serious expression I could possibly put on at that moment.
"Would you just stand there and watch?"
Loud gasps erupted in the courtroom once again. His majesty on the other hand, clearly not fond of my approach, began glaring at me.
"What do you think you're doing, getting so close to me?"
His tone was low, and honestly so filled with anger that it was almost concerning, given the fact that he was visibly trying to contain it. But nonetheless, I remained calm, since I genuinely didn't fear him whatsoever.
Letting go of my hands, and taking a few steps back, I switched to a more serene tone and light expression.
"I guess you're right, perhaps I did get too close, didn't I? You have my sincerest apologies, Your Majesty. However… I did ask you a question, didn't I? So what's the answer?"
I kinda felt like those cringe wannabe manipulators on one hand, but on the other I wasn't able to find any real reason as to not take this approach. Sure, the sudden change in tone and expressions was a little edgy, but so what? At the very least, it did exactly what it was supposed to do, aka: cornering him.
Everyone saw how serious I was. Everyone is aware of how serious of a question it actually was. Everyone is piecing one and two together and realizing where I'm going, and by now most likely so has His Majesty. He simply cannot avoid answering it, unless he wants to throw away whatever little good image he may still have by now, in the eyes of the entire kingdom watching this trial being live-streamed.
"…I wouldn't."
"I see. Thank you very much for your answer, Your Majesty. I can now proceed to tell everyone what truly happened in front of those gates now."
He didn't reply back, but neither tried to say anything else to begin with. I'm fairly sure that in cases like these, silence means approval, so without further ado, I began explaining.
"For starters, I was personally covering my hair that day. As everyone can see, I really only have about a small section of my hair being the signature Ashford white-silver ish color. Which is why, I was wearing a simple beanie to cover it, so the guards didn't even think much of me at first."
"However, Maia on the other hand, didn't cover her eyes, or anything like that. The guards recognized her Golden eyes almost instantly, and held both of us outside the town. However, while I was taken aside by one of the guards, probably thinking that I was a hostage even, as he lectured me about "not hanging out with someone that has golden eyes" and how I'm "too young to understand""
"Which is frankly speaking, the point where I could not hold it in anymore. Revealing my hair, I then tried to run towards Maia, but the guard was quick to immobilize me. Not only were they annoyed, but both of them were so disgusted by us, that the other guard began the disgraceful, and frankly, disgusting act."
"He made Maia raise her arms and stand still, and with the obvious lie of "needing to pat search her for any weapons" he began touching her. I tried to get up to my best attempts, but it was quite frankly, impossible for me at that moment. After all, I was being restrained to the ground by a grown man that intentionally wanted me to witness my sister getting defiled."
"However… as the other guard's hands went from Maia's arms, towards her chest, I felt something in me."
Though of course, it wasn't really my power that actually helped me get up, they don't need to know that much.
"With a sudden change in power, probably the adrenaline in my veins screaming at me to get up and help my sister, I managed to push the man off me, and ran towards the other guard, punching him hard enough to send him on the ground, and free Maia."
"That wasn't actually the end of it though. Because the next instant, the man that I had pushed off me was actually coming back at me… with a sword. That's right, a grown man, and a guard meant to protect the town's entrance, was charging at a child with his sword, intending on slashing me."
"But luckily for me… I just so happen to have the best and strongest older sister in the entire world. I had actually closed my eyes, as shameful as that is to admit, genuinely thinking that I was about to get cut. But when I reopened them after nothing happened to me, I saw Maia who had caught his blade in between 2 of her fingers, then snapping it in half and throwing the tip of the blade away. Only then, we were able to go inside the town."
This should be enough, right? I don't really think he's even going to try and argue this one—-
"Hmmm. Quite the story you fabricated, isn't it?"
You can't be serious…
"…What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?"
"While it is certainly an inspiring story on the outside, it has a crucial flaw. One so deep, that I am honestly astonished that you forgot to cover that part up while making up your alibi story."
YOU out of all people can't be talking about poorly made up stories…
"And what may that flaw be, if you don't mind me asking?
"Hmph… I was hoping you'd admit your mistake on your own to save at least a tiny little grain of face for yourselves, but I guess I was overestimating the intelligence of a mere Ashford brat. Very well, I shall enlighten you."
…I wanna beat him so bad…
I wasn't even that particularly annoyed at him while o watching his terrible attempt at defending his case earlier, but now? Things are different. How can a King be so obnoxious to reality that he genuinely thinks he has the right to call me unintelligent in my story making process, which isn't even fake, while he forgot his own circumstances in his story earlier…
Is this really the man that has been leading our kingdom for I don't even know how many years already? How is this kingdom not in ruins yet? I'm surprised an economy still even exists with him at the top, and the people somehow accepting him and not having thrown a civil war over his stupidity until now…
"Haha, yes please… do enlighten us."
"Very well. I shall put it in simpler terms as well, so you can understand it as easily as possible. To put frankly, you left a considerable inconsistency in your story. You're telling us that your sister first allowed herself to be humiliated in front of you, then she snapped after you did, and broke a guard's sword?"
"Ah… I see where the confusion is. But I think it's best if Maia herself answers that."
I glanced over at Mio as I said that, signaling a request for intervention… which of course, she flawlessly picked up on.
"I agree. While we can put aside the validation of Cael's story as a whole for now, there's no better way of finding out whether what the geezer pointed out is an inconsistency within the story or not. So with that being said; go on, Maia."
"Hmm, well, to put it shortly? I just didn't want to cause a commotion. That's really about it. However, Your Majesty…"
She then switched places with me, walking slowly until she was right in front of his desk unlike me who stood by its side.
"I can't quite understand why you'd think of it as an inconsistency. Did you expect me to just allow my own little brother to get cut by the guard?"
"That's…"
"You wouldn't expect that, would you? No reasonable individual would, am I wrong?"
She gestured with her extended left arm towards the entire courtroom this time, to which of course she got no answer… because everyone already knew she was absolutely right.
"So to put it simply your Majesty, yes. I did allow them to disrespect me. But I interfered the instant they attempted to genuinely injure Cael. Why? Because I'm his older sister. Why wouldn't I help him?"
"I…understand."
Silence engulfed the room for about 10 seconds or so. In that time, Maia walked back to where she was earlier, next to me and our parents desk, while everyone processed what just happened, until Mio broke that silence.
"Alright then. For now, let's just move on to the second and last allegation, shall we? We can find out whether they or explanations are valid or not after we hear their version as well."
"That's right, indeed. While you filthy individuals may have a decent explanation for the first one, the second is inconceivable. There is no possible explanation for such act of bestiality."
Mio sighed. Me and Maia glanced at each other, sharing a mutual "try your hardest not to laugh, or we're done for" look, before ultimately composing ourselves without anyone even noticing that we were about to burst out laughing- well, our parents and Mio most definitely noticed, but no one else probably did.
"Geezer, how about you get your facts up instead of your insults?"
"Wha-"
"But regardless, you're not wrong. So with that in mind, Cael, Maia, go ahead and give us your versions."
"Well then, I guess I'll start off again. After all, there is a little context I have to give on my end before Cael can explain, since he's more involved than me."
"Quit wasting everyone's time, and just go on, Maia. We get it."
"Alright, alright… Scot starters, upon arriving in the town, we actually met with a friend of mine. Mio does also know her, but for privacy reasons, I'd like to not disclose any information regarding her, and I'll have to specify that she cannot testify currently either."
"Then how are we supposed to validate your claim, if you're trying to play the hero for your little filthy friend's sake?"
"Well, regarding that, Your Majesty, worry not. I'm not quite sure about the details, but Mio herself said that we can verify the truthfulness of our stories after we're done with our explanation, right? So I'm assuming she has a way."
He did try to say something at first, but when glancing over at Mio and he saw her sigh again, he decided to just pipe down.
"Continue, Maia."
She nodded at Mio's green light, then went ahead.
"All 3 of us ate together, at our other friend's restaurant which I mentioned earlier. However, after our meal, we actually split up. It's not like I had temporarily let go of Cael to wander alone, since he wasn't even alone, nor I just left him to wander."
"While he and my friend were out together, I just went back to the restaurant and spent most of that time with our friend, then went alone to wander around until what happened later. So there isn't really much else that I can say, which means that this is probably a safe point to hand over the explanation to Cael. Any objections with that, Your Majesty?"
"No… let the brat speak."
"Well then, with your approval, I'll go right ahead. For starters, please note that I won't be going into any details into what me and our friend did. Once again, I think it's important to protect her privacy above all, which includes what happened when me and we spent time together."
And since by now, it's pretty obvious that they're obviously trying to avoid mentioning Luna as a whole, but I can't blame neither Maia… nor Mio. After all, "Luna" is technically already here, just sitting on the throne of absolute power though, under her true identity…
But either way, I decided earlier to not focus on anything related towards Mio for now, since I'll have my chance to speak to her later either way. Right now, my priority of focus was getting this trial over with as soon as possible, so we could actually get this over with, and manage to speak with her later. I guess in the end even my current motive revolves around her, huh? But I don't see any issues with that, so i'll just go with it.
"But fret not, as the details are in no way related to what truly happened in that alley. So I'll be putting aside that time, which amounted to a few hours maybe? I honestly don't quite remember properly."
Time felt as if it flew by in an instant for how much fun I was having after all.
"After that, we did in fact go to a random alley to sit down. It was no particular alley, and we chose it completely randomly, as we just wanted a quiet place to sit at and rest. There wasn't anyone else there, at the very least not when we arrived, or in the exact alley we were in, since it was actually interlocked with a few more, behind us, but we remained at its edge."
"There, we ended up doing pretty much nothing except talking for a little longer, with the sole exception of the fact that I personally ended up taking a nap. Well, I'm aware of how weird it may sound, but I was pretty tired by then, especially after what had happened when we arrived at the gates, you know?"
"So as weird and unconventional as it may be, I ended up taking a nap there, while she patiently watched over me, for its full duration of about half an hour or so. After that, we did want to just go back to meet up with Maia, as the day was pretty much over by then… but we encountered a little complication."
"Complication? Like what, falling in love with a poor helpless girl and needing to claim her, even at the price of beating her brother?"
"That's right. We randomly spotted a boy and his sister in a completely deserted alley on our entrance, and I was so desperately in heat for his sister that I couldn't hold my urges. That's something only an idiot would genuinely believe…but I'm just so glad that there's no one here that actually believes that this is how things went, right?"
"'Pfft…!—-'"
All at the same time, multiple laughter bursts sprouted from a few distinct spots. His majesty was instant to blush and turn around the sources in fact too. However, as he first turned over to Mio, then Maia next to me and lastly our parents, he found all of them with completely straight faces.
But as a matter of fact, he didn't actually imagine anything. I can guarantee to you all, that not only did Mio and Maia let out a small burst of laughter, but so did our parents. I heard them fairly well myself after all, but given how fast all 4 of them are, and how good they are at acting? I wouldn't be surprised if even the people watching this thing live-streamed didn't even see their expressions move. Let alone his Majesty, who was pretty much just a regular human.
"Whats up with you all of the sudden, geezer? Looking around the room as if you saw a ghost or something."
"There's no way I was mistaken… I definitely heard-"
"I have no idea what you could've possibly heard, but as far as I'm aware, since none of us did, you're just wasting our time. So would you mind staying put and allowing Cael to explain already?"
Poor His Majesty… frustration is written all over his face. I may just end up feeling bad for him!!! Yeah, let's not lie to ourselves.
By now, I genuinely didn't really care about his feelings anymore. Sure, I felt a little bad and didn't have anything in particular against him while listening to our parents and his debates, but after facing him directly? It's a completely different story. He's genuinely so annoying that it single handedly destroyed any kind of sympathy I may have had for him previously.
"Alright…"
Mio then turned towards me as a signal, so I cleared my throat and continued, as if nothing happened.
"He-hem… anyway, back to what I was saying. While we did want to go and meet up with Maia right away, we were unfortunately, or I guess, fortunately? Interrupted by someone's screams. Now, I'm aware of how it sounds when I'm saying fortunately, in the context of hearing screams, but before you jump on the horse, let me explain."
"While yes, obviously the screams were an indicator of a bad event taking place, and that was indeed the case, on one hand it was also a fortunate thing. Why? Because thanks to those screams, we were able to take notice of what was happening in one of the intertwined alleys behind us, and take action."
"We instantly went to check of course, though making sure we remained silent for the time being. What we saw was 5 men, clearly pressing 2 children. That part in those fake documents is true, at the very least the presence of all the individuals. But the roles? They couldn't be further from the truth."
"The boy, whose name is actually Jun, was already in a terrible condition. His little sister, whose name is Juna, is the one who actually screamed. Why? Because her older brother was protecting her, yes, but not from us. On the ground next to Juna, laid a piece of bread, which was actually stolen by Jun… to feed Juna."
"We found that out later, but regardless, the situation was pretty clear. Jun stole the bread from those 5 guys, then ran off, but they were caught, and he tried to protect Juna at all costs. Quite the admirable older brother, you know? In fact, I really respect him for what he has done."
"Which is exactly why, although our friend did tell me to not interfere and we should've just reached for some adults, I jumped in anyway. You can say that my body just didn't allow me to walk away honestly. But while I went ahead and interfered, which did ensure their safety momentarily, our friend went to look for Maia, to bring her there."
"I'm not going to go into details regarding the fighting on my end… but well, considering that it was 5 adults against myself before my training really started, I didn't end up winning grandiosely or anything like that. But what I did manage to do was waste enough time for our friend to find Maia."
"After she arrived, she actually instructed me to take both Jun and Juna back to our friend's restaurant, so I can't really say what happened there, but Maia did return a while later after we got to the restaurant safely."
"Hmph… how convenient, huh? The brat turns out to have been a hero all along!"
His sarcasm was of course, nothing but thorns to my ears, but I let it slide. Instead, Maia took over.
"I know right? I wonder who could've twisted the events so drastically. After all, I handed those guys to the authorities myself, after Cael left. But regardless, this is what really happened, whether you believe it or not."
"Only a fool would believe your stories. Do you expect me and everyone else to believe that everything on those documents is actually the complete opposite of what truly happened? Everyone can just take a story and twist it backwards. Without proof, it's nothing but a fairytale."
"That's true."
Mio took over.
"Which is why, both of you can go back to your seats, Maia, Cael. Your testimony is over."
"Alright."
"Got it."
Which is also where me and Maia picked back up our mana communication, while going back and sat down.
"Quite the performance you put out, my dear younger brother."
"My, but your performance was just as fabulous, if not greater than my own, my dear older sister."
"Hehe, that line about "I'm glad that no one really believes that this is how things went"… we genuinely couldn't even try to hold our laughter! You should've seen the look on our parents and Mio's faces…"
"No, I'm pretty sure that all of your reactions would've been too fast even for me to see…"
"Is that so? I think you would've had a pretty good shot at it. But either way, our part of the show is over."
"Seems like it. Once again, good job out there."
"You too, you too. Now all that's left for these allegations to be dealt with, is Mio's ace."
"Her ace? She did say something about validating our story after we're done, but she actually has a way?"
"Yep, she does. As I said, we were both really surprised that he genuinely used our planted documents. However, we did also prepare ourselves in case he did do it, long ago actually. Mio thought of and took precautions against this possibility as soon as it happened."
"Hmm… as expected of our beloved, Commander, huh?"
"…I wonder what you're talking about."
Still pleading ignorance, huh? I guess I'm not gonna get any concrete confirmation from anyone other than Mio herself later.
"That so?"
"That is so. But regardless, let's just enjoy the show that's to come now."
"…Gotcha."
And once again, we ended our mana communication. I honestly lost count of how many we started since the beginning of this trial, but who cares I guess, right?
"Now then… geezer, before we proceed, do you have anything to say?"
"Hmph. I have nothing left to say. I'm just waiting for those filthy brats' stories to be proven to be nothing but fairytales."
"Right, right. Anyway, what about you two, Ashford couple?"
"Hmmm, I personally also have nothing in particular to say, but I think Isolde agrees."
"That's right. Of course, we're angry as parents, since we believe our own children's story above all. That also means that our Eldest Daughter has been touched inappropriately, and that our Eldest son risked his life to save 2 kids, only to be seen as an assaulter by His Majesty though."
"Yeah, it's definitely not something we can overlook as parents. I share that anger, and I want nothing more than our children's innocence to be proven. Which I'm sure Isolde agrees with. Which is why…"
"Besides our own thoughts as parents, as the "Ashford Couple" currently on trial, we have nothing to say. Because…"
"'We have no doubts, about the fact that their versions will end up proven to be true.'"
Mio's expression remained neutrally serene, but I'm very sure that deep down she most definitely felt proud by their answer.
"Alright then, I'll be explaining the verification method very briefly now. Or rather, instead of explaining it actually, it's probably best to just… show you."
She then snapped her fingers, and a black and purple mixed portal appeared vertically in the middle of the space between the desks and stairs. It actually looked so much cooler than when she teleported his majesty to his seat too, because now it kinda looked like a rupture in space itself just standing there. But shortly after… 7 men, which both me and Maia were very familiar with, came out of it.
Lining up shoulder to shoulder then, their backs facing the stairs, and their faces facing the entire courtroom, Mio smirked as she spoke. But that wasn't all.
"I'm not really sure what you guys expected, but there's no better way of getting to the bottom of it than this… is there?"
As her voice leaked the rawest and most intoxicatingly exciting cockiness, when glancing at his Majesty, I managed to see nothing but panic, from the side of his profile that was actually visible from my angle. But that was enough.
I'm not sure about Maia, nor our parents. But I could tell without any doubt that I was sharing the same amount of excitement and cockiness as Mio. There was no possible way of denying it. Our compatibility, our similarities in behavior and ways of thinking… they were even greater than what me and Luna had.
Even without knowing the reason behind why she's hiding herself from me as Luna, it was still plain obvious. There's no one in this entire world that has better synchrony, harmony and balance while also matching with me… other than Mio.
Weirdly enough, this made me think back on something. While still in my previous life in Japan, and the first time the white haired woman interacted with me. Her words were now reminiscing in my head, so loudly that I was finally forced to fully realize what she meant back then.
"She… she's not the one.", huh? Yeah, I get it now.
After all, while me and Hana had plenty of Synchrony, and for a while I may have even thought that my feelings for her were romantic, I was clearly and utterly wrong. What made me realize it was the fact that I was already looking…
At "the one", sitting right above us all.
It all makes sense. Even if we look at the one and only time she's shown herself to me in this life. "You can rest… she's here, after all." Then right afterwards, Mio appeared to take out the dragons, hand me the sword that seems to have temporarily fixed my underperforming and underdeveloped mana stomach, and she's been supporting me as Luna in the shadows too. There's no one else who even comes close to her.
"These guys are all 7 of the individuals mentioned in both the documented allegations, and Cael and Maia's version of the story. Regardless of which version is true, all of them did in fact end up being arrested, and we had custody of them, in one of the many Sentinel prison cells. I made sure of it during the explanations, and here they are."
"I-I… see…"
His majesty couldn't even try to properly hide it anymore. I guess that by now even his acting energy was close to fully drained.
"We've already been here long enough after all. So let's keep it simple, shall we?"
No reply.
Yet she continued.
"All 7 of you scums. I'll allow you to only speak one thing. All you have to do is tell everyone which version of the stories that have been told are true. The Ashfords? Or the allegations. Do you understand?"
They nodded, without looking back.
"Go ahead."
It wasn't an immediate reply. In fact, the silence before it actually came out was at least 10 seconds long… but the wait was 1000% worth it.
"Ashfords."
All of them, in union.
The room erupted ever so slightly yet another time.
Gasps, some applause even, and a whole lotta muttering. But they were all quickly silenced, the instant Mio opened her mouth again.
"I guess that solves the mystery. Those allegations against Cael and Maia… were nothing but false and harmful attempts at defamation, and completely False."
The portal then opened once more, and without another word, almost like robots, they all simply began walking inside of it, one by one, until they were fully gone.
"Now, does either one of you have anything to say?"
Surprisingly enough, his majesty did actually speak up. But before that, although looking slightly defeated, somehow managing to keep most of his poker face on after recomposing himself in a way or another, he raised his hand to ask for permission.
"Go on."
"I shall then sincerely apologize to both the Eldest Ashford Daughter, and Son. However…"
"I know. That still doesn't prove the fact that the Late Great Ashford Duke, wasn't a treason…. And you're correct. "
He tried to reply to her. But he stopped before he could speak, however not because of Mio. In fact, he wasn't the only one who turned their heads backwards, towards the courtroom's massive doors either. The entire room, me included, did the same thing, and we all shared a single common feature on our expressions.
Confusion.
And although it wasn't the case for me, our parents or Mio of course for obvious reasons, there was also another commonly shared emotion on everyone's faces but ours.
Terror.
"Which is why, in order to not drag this trial any longer, I also came up with a solution for finally deciding whether the Late Great Ashford Duke was a treason or not."
Don't tell me…
Although my lips curled up into a nervous smile, a cold sweat began dripping down my face.
This is what I meant earlier…
My Synchrony with Mio was so ridiculously unmatched, that even before she muttered it.
Even before she announced it.
Even before she told him to…
"Come in."
I already knew.
The instant she said those 2 simple words, the doors were kicked flying. Breaking from the frame with 0 resistance, but being dematerialized before they could hit any of the benches.
"Aaah…ah! So it's finally my time to come in. I was getting reeaaaaaaaly bored waiting, you know??"
A single man.
He slowly walked down the hall of the courtroom, without a single care in the world.
In fact, while looking around, he even sighed once, before speaking in a weirdly confused almost annoyed tone.
"Seriooouslu…?! I really don't understand you humans."
"You're sooooo scared of me for some reason… but you're toooooootallyyyyyy fine with that Damn Monster, sitting on top of her throne, looking down on allllll of you. It truly… makes no sense to me."
2 horns.
blue hair.
As he finally approached the end of the hall however, he stopped right beside me.
Side-eyeing me.
Talking in a serene yet taunting tone.
"Yo, Cael… It's been a while, hasn't it?"
I dry gulped. My nervous smile didn't falter one second, and neither did my cold sweat go away. But this time something was different. I wasn't scared of him. The reason for that was more than obvious at the end of the day, so I don't think it's worth mentioning, but I guess I also have nothing to lose from it, so why not?
As long as she was here… there was nothing that could scare me. Which is exactly why I replied calmly, transforming my nervous smile into a confident one.
"Yeah… it's been a while. Alduin."