When they reached the garden, there was a mat, laid on the floor in front of the bench, Claire made him sit on the matt as she made some metal cups with her magic, she placed the cup and the bottle at the bench and gracefully sat in front of him she placed her knees on the floor and rest of her b.u.t.tocks on the top of her feet.

"Hey Claire, what is this all about?" Andrei sat casually in an Indian sit.

"Nah, I just want to drown over my failures over wine," she replied sarcastically with a deadpan expression while pouring some wine on the cup she made and offered it to him.

"What are you? An old man?" He took the cup from her and smelled it, "Oh, Claire this smells nice!" He made a bright smile as he looked at the wine, in Andrei"s college life, he would sometimes be invited on formal occasions, where pricey wines were served, he was able to identify that the wine poured to him was indeed of high quality just from the smell.

"Really? That"s great, I"m glad you liked it," Claire poured some for herself too, and raised the cup.

"What are we cheering for?" He asked her as he also held up his wine, cup not b.u.mping it to hers yet.

"For our safe return," she said softly as she made a brief smile and b.u.mped her cup to him.

[Clink] The sound of metals echoed in the garden.

"For our safe return," Andrei replied and drank from his cup.

After this part, everything was fuzzy and Andrie was roused up from his memories, as he felt someone was leaning at his shoulder, it was a girl with a golden hair that reached up to her waists as she wore a white summer dress, he didn"t recognized her at first, but seeing her sleeping face, it made his heart jump to see that it was Michaela, sleeping soundly.

"Hey… Michaela, why are you sleeping here? You"ll catch cold with that dress," he tried to shake her a bit.

The girl slowly opened her eyes revealing her crystal-like irises, that looked gems when illuminated by the moon. She lightly rubbed her eyes and stared at him while half awake.

"I"m tired," she told him as she rested her head on his shoulders, as a response Andrei hugged her with one arm as he stroked her head.

"Really? Then… good work for today," as he did this, Michaela felt safe and made a smooth smile, as droplets of tears appeared on her eyes, being soothed and protected by his fiance"s presence, taking away, even for a short time, the stress, pressure, and worry that she felt every day in her duties, while also waiting for the recovery of her beloved sister.

When Michaela couldn"t take it anymore, she would usually go to see Andrei"s in his room and sleep with him, but when she saw he didn"t come back yet, she asked her maids who told her that Andrei was sleeping at the garden.

"So, what is troubling you this time?" He asked while he kept stroking her head.

"Well, lots of things, ironically thanks to the war Kydus paid us lots of gold and jewels, for their stay at our land, and the costs of the horses and metals for the swords of their knights, this boosted our treasury enabling us to maintain our green and brown soldiers salaries, plus the mining rights at some areas in their border, but managing these a.s.sets are a headache, no wonder Kydus is a large country and has lots of ministers"

"Why don"t you do the same? I mean employing different ministers?"

"Well, it"s a bit complicated-" Michaela elbowed him, "why are we talking about work stuff when I"m relaxing?"

"Ouch, haha, well… I just wanted to know about what"s bothering you"

"Well, if it"s about that, what concerns me most is my sister, I haven"t seen her for weeks now, it makes me a bit… anxious," as she spoke the words her eyes shook a bit and closed, Andrei who noticed it had an idea of what she was going through.

Claire was Michaela"s only family left, it was natural for her to feel such worry. Andrei patted her at the back slowly not saying anything as he looked at the stars above them sparkling.

"When do you think we can see her?" she murmured in a small voice.

"I"m sure you"ll see her soon," Andrei rea.s.sured her as he kissed her in the head.

"Why are you being so kind to me now, but you avoid me when I try to be aggressive?," she puffed her cheeks, remembering her many aggressive attempts to Andrei, sometimes she would attack him in his sleep or through their every day interactions, but Andrei would find a way to avoid it.

"You"re so beautiful yet you are so aggressive to someone like me, I"m not even that good looking, plus you are a queen right? You need to stop doing those things," he turned the hand that stroked her hair into a chop and softly chopped her head with it.

"I can"t help it, sometimes my appet.i.te for you go to this level, that I can"t take it anymore"

"Uahh, you"re scary Michaela"

"Don"t worry I don"t have the appet.i.te for you tonight"

The two looked at each other and smiled, forgetting about the magnificent view in front of them, to them, the sight of the smiles on each other"s faces was more attractive and magical than anything around them.

Michaela, who told him that she didn"t have an appet.i.te for him, was driven by her desire to make him hers, she negated her sentence with her actions just seconds after she said it, as her hand slid on Andrei"s neck towards the back of his head, and slowly pressed her lips to his. Andrei this time didn"t feel the need to avoid her, seeing how sincere she was in baring her feelings, pulled by her tantalizing eyes that relayed her love to him.

The purple lights, like happy fairies, danced around them as the two let out their affection for each other. Andrei pulled her and wrapped his arms around her hips and Michaela hanged her arms at his shoulders. Her insistent mouth parted his shaking lips, as it sent wild tremors along his nerves, evoking from sensations he had never known he was capable of feeling. And before a swimming giddiness spun him round and round, Andrei knew that he was kissing her back.

"I thought you didn"t have an appet.i.te for me tonight?" He whispered to her as they parted.

"Sorry, I lost control," she replied with a bright smile that suited her golden hair, which became a bit messy from their intense kiss.

"I"m sleepy, I should go back to my room," Andrei told her as he turned away to hide his face that was blus.h.i.+ng.

"Then I should go too"

They stood up and held hands as they walked back inside the castle, then they found the maids lining up with their ears that were red.

Andrei who knew one of the maids by name went near to her and asked her.

"Celeste, why do you all have the same expressions?"

"N-N-No your highness, T-This is just from… " she looked at her colleagues for help, but they just ignored her.

"Don"t tell me… " Andrei could a.s.sume what they had seen to cause such redness and blus.h.i.+ng at their faces, Michaela crossed her arms and walked ahead of him.

Andrei facepalmed in realization and went back to his room, and covered himself with a blanket and within it shouted with all his will.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH d.a.m.nNNNN THAT WAS EMBARRa.s.sING!"

…

The morning after, Gideon arrived at his front door with a smile on his face, crossing his arms. He was still in his sleeping clothes while the middle-aged viscount wore his usual flashy attire.

"What?" Andrei told him as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"I have some good news for you"

"What good news?"

Then Gideon gave him a small ball that looked transparent, it was the same size as the projectile except that it looked brittle.

Curious about what"s in it, he picked it with his thumb and index finger and peered through it by closing one eye, inside it, he saw a flame icon rotating and glowing inside it.

"Is this… a marble?" he asked him, but before Gideon could answer, it slipped through his finger and fell on the floor. "Ah," at a speed it dropped on the floor and unnaturally broke into tiny specks of dust.

[Boom!]

Flames appeared on where it dropped and it scattered on Andrei"s floor.

"Andrei you idiot! Why did you drop it!" The middle-aged man panicked and took out his wand.

Andrei stepped backward as he saw the flames, the flames were the same color as Gideon"s phoenix and it reached up to his knees.

"Gideon could this be? A new type of bullet?" He asked as he stared at it blankly.

"Yes it is but forgets about that for now! You"re gonna get roasted inside if you stay there!"

"Huh?.... Ahhhh! Gideon idiot! Why did you bring it here in the first place!" Andrei came to his senses finally.

"Shut up! I"m casting!" Gideon"s incantation was broken and he had to start anew.

"Gideon it"s coming to my room you idiot! I"m gonna tell Layla about this!"

Andrei backed as the flames went closer to him and was cornered at the wall behind the door. But suddenly a cold breeze turned the flames off, taking shape of the flames it extinguished. Andrei made a sigh of relief but at the same time nerves popped into his head for Gideon bringing the dangerous item to his room, but it was also his fault for dropping it.

"Whewww Gideon, if you didn"t have that ice magic, I"d be toast now! Next time don"t bring something dangerous inside the castle!" He protested while still being surrounded by ice.

"Huh? It"s not me though?" The middle-aged man was still halfway through his incantation.

"Then where did it come from?" He searched his room and saw that Michaela was under his blanket, looking at him irritatedly, half only showing her head and shoulders.

Seeing this he panicked and shut the door, so Gideon couldn"t see her. And then put his body behind the door.

"Gideon, shooo"

"Why?"

"Just wait for me at the grounds," he pointed towards the end of the hall.

"Okay, whew whew, such a popular guy we have here" Gideon could read the expression on Andrei"s face.

"Go away"

The middle-aged viscount gave up and disappeared from the hall. Andrei returned back to his room and saw the bulge inside the blanket.

"So Michaela, why are you here again in my room? And not wearing anything at all? Don"t tell me?" He asked slowly as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes to remember what happened during his sleep but he couldn"t remember anything.

Michaela showed her flushed face and didn"t answer, "Andrei, you pervert" she spoke under the blanket.

"Why? Why do you call me like that? I didn"t do anything right?"

Still Michaela didn"t answer, so he asked once again.

"I didn"t do… anything right?"

Michaela"s response was to hide under the blanket, Andrei also saw her clothes at the top of his bed on the side where he slept, it was the white one-piece outfit she wore yesterday.

"Don"t tell me I did something to her in my sleep?" He thought to himself, as he has forgotten another night.