"Our Kingdom"s Princess gave it to him," Rhys explained to her.

"The Sound Kingdom"s Princesses?" the two of them had left the area of the harbor behind already, and was walking through the main streets.

"She"s frail at health and seldom makes any appearances."

So that"s it, but, huh? Why does the Sound Kingdom Princess have the weapon? Lyn is pretty sure that they kept it in a place where the other Kingdoms couldn"t find it. How unusual, does Rhys think that she knows nothing about the weapon? Otherwise why else would he reveal the name of the one who had the weapon? Before she uses it, she ought to ask mentor or Kyou on the details. Lyn would cause her family a lot of problems if they found her using an illegal weapon.

"In the first place, there"s a reason why Kazuya gave you this weapon," Rhys said.

Her thoughts broke off when she hears Rhys words; she blinked surprised, "Eh?"

Rhys sighed at her reaction, "Don"t tell me you thought he just gave it to you without thinking?" Lyn said nothing in response and Rhys seemed to grow more agitated, "As careless as he is, he"s still the strongest person in the Sound Kingdom and a young prodigy."

Her eyes widened, "Kazuya is a genius?"

"You didn"t even know that?"

"I didn"t," she trailed off and sighed, "Kazuya doesn"t like talking about things like that regarding himself. He talks about his likes and dislikes. But he doesn"t like mentioning anything like how other people see him."

Lyn a.s.sumed at first that Kazuya was simply hiding it away, due to the whole strongest guy in the Sound Kingdom thing. If he spoke about how others praised him and stuff, wouldn"t he look like a show-off? So it"s only reasonable that he doesn"t say anything. Now that she thought about it, there"s no need to ask him directly. To satisfy her curious mind, she could just ask Rhys.

"Hey, even if you look at me like that I won"t tell you anything."

Lyn leaned forward, "Please?" she wants to learn more about Kazuya. Then maybe she can understand her feelings about him as she thought this Rhys bent down and kissed her. Lyn immediately moved away from him. "That"s right, she can"t ask this person," Lyn thought. The moment she remotely gets close to him, he does something like this.

"Let"s go back to the inn already."

"Wait a minute," Lyn said, and Rhys paused, she took a deep breath, "I want you to stop doing that. I won"t stop you from liking me or pursuing me; you"re free to do that as you wish. However, you have to stop kissing me randomly."

Rhys looked at her with confusion, and she sighed. Does this man genuinely think kissing her all the time is going to change her feelings for him?

"I do understand; you love me. Okay, prove it. I may be with Kazuya now, but I can"t stop people from liking me," and besides she isn"t sure still about her relations.h.i.+p with Kazuya. Kazuya too noticed that her feelings are still vague, that"s why he"s working hard, "So you can do what you want, but don"t kiss me."

After a brief silence, Rhys nodded, "Yeah, okay."

That"s it? Lyn eyed him with suspicion; it can"t be that easy. Look what he"s been doing to her this whole time. Still, she saw confusion fill Rhys face. Why does he seem genuinely confused about this whole thing? Does Rhys think he"s been doing normal things this entire time?

"So, I can"t kiss you?" Rhys suddenly said.

Lyn nodded.

"How about a hug?"

Lyn blushed, wait was he silent this whole time because he was thinking about what is okay to do and what isn"t? "Friends, hug, right?" She can"t say no to that one. Lyn nodded, and in seconds Rhys pulled her into his arms, "So, I don"t get this whole thing at all. And this probably isn"t the time for it, but I do know I like you." his hold on her tightened as he said these words.

"Rhys," she murmured. This is a first for her. To think she went sixteen whole years without a single guy liking her before, to having two from another Kingdom with genuine feelings for her.

....

When they returned to the inn, the others were busy planning away. When she saw how busy they were, Lyn decided not to get in their way anymore and take a walk around the inn. Lately, her heart has felt very restless. When she agreed to date Kazuya seriously, Lyn knew what it would ent.i.tle, but even then she didn"t prepare for this situation. There are a lot of things she needs to know about a relations.h.i.+p.

Still, when she thought about Rhys, she did feel a bit strange. What an unusual feeling. Does she like him? Lately, Lyn thought that her idea of like and love differs from the norm. Or maybe it"s because she isn"t used to people? Spending so many years in an isolated area, Lyn knew her social skills are very lacking. So she ought to work on it, hadn"t she?

Maybe she can ask somebody? But, a deep sigh pa.s.sed her lips, "I don"t have any friends," and Pupillam or the General isn"t here either. She can"t bother Kyou since he"s out gathering information. It did not cross her mind to ask Allen that man is even worse than her at communication. Who else can she ask? As Lyn pondered on this, she caught a glimpse of somebody by the entrance of the inn. It was Beth; she seemed to be returning with a group of people.

A mature woman who is good at socializing and strong on the battlefield. "She"s so cool," Lyn thought. For a while now Lyn had been secretly admiring the woman named Beth. There are no other good female role models around her, after all. Her sister? A bad idea, Mother, is even worse. Still, she wonders if it"s okay. Most people would say that Beth isn"t an ideal role model either. She"s like Rhys; the woman does terrible things. At least according to Pupillam.

Even if that"s the case, "She"s a nice person," what she said at the meeting the other day confirmed it. Beth wanted to verify whether there were no traitors on Allen"s side. Most people overreacted, but Lyn understood immediately. Rhys seems to treat her well too. Lyn saw how Rhys treated other females who liked him; he treated them like they were dirt or air. But Beth is different.