Chapter 123: A Date with the Villainess [Part-1]

After the battle was over, everyone went their own way. Sylvia and Cassian had already gone to their room, washed themselves, and gone to the office for work. Even though they had taken some of their time away from their work to spend with their children, it was not as if they could abandon it, since the duty of the Duke and Duchess was not an easy one to carry. They had to work day and night, handling not only the paperwork but also maintaining peace across the territory.

Every single day, dozens of people came to their door with some sort of complaint related to the territory or other small matters, and as the lord of this area, they had to resolve whatever problem arose in it.

The dukedom was so vast that it covered nearly one-fifth of the Empire’s total land, so there were several smaller lords working under the Draven Dukedom, like barons and counts, who ruled relatively smaller lands, resolved the small matters, and forwarded the major problems to them.

But as the area around the Draven mansion was covered under his father’s main ruling area, all of the responsibilities and problems came to his door, so he was never free from morning until night.

He barely got a small bit of time to meet Neo or Evelyn, as most of his time was spent in his office, buried under a large pile of work.

Even when his father had come to search for him in the Desolate Land, Sylvia had continued to handle most of his work in his absence.

Even though the absence of her child hurt her, she still couldn’t stop handling the work, as a single piece of paper here could decide the food of entire villages. If the dukedom stopped working even for a week, the economy of the whole dukedom would plummet to half, and even the Empire would lose several percent of its exports, which would ultimately have a massive effect on the people of the Empire, as prices might rise and many other problems might arise.

That was why the responsibility for the work rested solely on their shoulders, and they carried it wholeheartedly.

...

Neo walked through the corridor, following a violet-haired girl who walked steadily without looking back and without caring about him following behind her.

Neo knew that even if Nora couldn’t hear him, she could still sense his presence and already knew he was following her from behind, but he didn’t care, as his main goal was to confront her today at any cost.

He had waited outside her bedroom for quite a long time, waiting for her to come out, and now he was following her like a tail.

Suddenly Nora stopped moving and finally turned around to face him, folding her arms, wearing the same expressionless, calm face which made his heart ache for some unknown reason that he couldn’t quite interpret.

"What is it? Why are you following me? Do you need anything?"

Neo nodded immediately and stepped closer.

"Yeah, I was thinking, let’s go out and stroll around the city. What do you think? It’s been a while since we went out... together..."

Nora looked blankly at him, reading the movement of his lips, and answered calmly, "No, I have other work to be done, later."

She turned around and began to walk steadily again, ignoring him entirely, but before she could take more than a few steps, Neo grabbed her hand and pushed her gently against the wall, blocking her way with both of his hands beside her shoulders so that she had to face him completely, as he looked at her sharply.

"Tell me, what’s wrong with you, Nora? I have been noticing it for quite a while. Why are you acting so indifferent towards me? Tell me, have I done something wrong? Or are you upset because I broke my promise and left you for ten months? If that’s it, then say it flatly, Nora."

"If that’s it, if you have begun to hate me now, then say that flatly, that you hate me and don’t want me to meddle in your business. I promise I won’t bother you ever again, I promise."

Nora stared back at him for a moment, her expression still blank, though for a second something appeared in her eyes which Neo couldn’t read, and it was gone immediately as she pursed her lips.

"Go..."

Neo’s hands stiffened as he looked at her for a moment. Whatever words had been about to leave his mouth died down immediately, and he didn’t move forward to press her with more questions. He pulled back slightly, stepping away to give her some space.

She had already stated what she wanted, and now he had nothing more to say. He turned around and walked away from the corridor, his eyes trembling slightly as he clenched his fist, holding himself back from expressing his feelings, and he began to walk steadily.

"We will go in one hour. I will wait at the gate..."

Neo stopped in his tracks as he heard her voice, and a surprised look appeared on his face as he turned back to look at her, but to his surprise, there was no one there.

"What the—"

"Where the hell did she go so suddenly after saying that?"

Neo immediately checked near the wall and behind the pillars to see if she was hiding somewhere, but of course there was no one there. Suddenly a crimson petal floated in front of him, and he reached his hand forward, letting the petal fall into his palm. He looked at it as it slowly began to disintegrate into nothing.

He couldn’t help feeling that he knew nothing about the girl he had spent his whole childhood with. Even after all these years, he couldn’t fully understand her. Though he knew that she didn’t hate him, her indifference was so frustrating that he couldn’t help feeling that he would have to use a harsher method to talk with her and open her up.

After a short moment, he sighed under his breath and began to walk towards his own room, as one hour felt like a long time to him for getting ready. But of course, he couldn’t make her wait for him at the gate, which meant that he at least had to get ready and reach the gate before her, so there was not as much time as it looked. He immediately rushed into his room and got ready, wearing casual clothes, not too flashy and not too plain, as it was just a simple walk and he didn’t want to attract unwanted attention. He also took a cloak along with him so that it would help him hide his clothes and face while walking around the city.

Finally, after checking himself in the mirror and looking at his handsome face shining brightly, he admired his look once, as he looked no less than an actual model. He gave a big thanks in his mind to his mother, who had given him such good genes, and then moved towards the door and stepped outside, to go on a date with the so-called villainess who was trying hard to ignore him.

He walked down the grand staircase with a lighter step than he would have admitted to anyone, and as he crossed the main hall, a maid who was polishing the railing bowed to him and asked whether the young master was going out. Neo nodded and told her not to inform his parents, since they were busy with their work, and that he would be back before dinner. The maid gave him a knowing smile, as if she had already guessed who he was going out with, and Neo hurriedly looked away, pulling the hood of his cloak lower over his silver hair.

When he finally reached the front gate, the knights stationed there bowed deeply, and Neo gave them a small nod as he walked to the side and leaned against the pillar, folding his arms. The afternoon wind was soft, carrying the faint scent of flowers from the garden, and for a while he simply stood there looking at the road that stretched towards the city, trying to calm the strange nervousness which had been building in his chest.

’It’s just a walk. Nothing more than a walk. Why am I acting as if I’m waiting for an important battle?’

He let out a long breath and tapped his fingers against his arm, glancing at the sky, and then at the road, and then at the sky again. The minutes passed slowly, and just when he started to wonder whether she had only said that to make him leave, he felt a faint presence behind him and turned around.

Nora was standing there, only a few steps away, and Neo’s breath caught in his throat.

She had changed out of her training suit and into a simple, elegant dress of deep violet, its sleeves trimmed with thin silver lines, and her hair, which had been tied in a ponytail earlier, was now loosely braided over one shoulder with a small ribbon at the end. A light cloak hung over her arm, and her violet eyes were looking at him with the same calm, blank expression as always, but the sight of her in the soft afternoon light made him forget everything he had been planning to say.

"You are here early," Nora said, tilting her head slightly.

"I... Yeah, I didn’t want to keep you waiting."

Nora’s gaze lingered on him for a moment, travelling from the hood of his cloak to the casual clothes beneath it, and then she looked away and stepped past him towards the road, as if his answer was not worth any further comment. But Neo noticed, as she walked by, that the tips of her ears had turned a very faint shade of pink.

He stared at her back for several seconds, and then a small smile slowly appeared on his lips, as he realised that the girl who had said she was too busy had still arrived early at the gate.

’So you were not ignoring me after all... You are really bad at being honest, Nora.’

He hurried to catch up with her and walked beside her, and the two of them stepped out of the Draven mansion together, heading towards the city of Valoria, with the golden afternoon sunlight spreading across the road in front of them.