Part 42

This chapter's song is: Wildest dreams by Taylor Swift!

Sylvia's POV:

"Hey, Rin, are you okay?" I ask.

"I'm fine, Sylvia. I would just like some alone time," she says.

"You sure?"

"No... I lied..."

I sigh as I sit down on the sofa next to her. She was facing the balcony connected to the common room. "Were... you scared?"

"No."

"Shocked?"

"No... I felt stupid."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I mean that I'm engaged to the crown prince of demons, and I know not to judge a book by its cover or give into stereotypes but I don't know, I guess when I was with Lucas all the time, I completely forgot about all that.

Like, I thought he was charming and calm and it's not like he isn't, it's just that I forgot that even humans have bad emotions so I don't understand why I was so shocked that he also had those emotions.

Most of all, I feel guilty that Lucas had to hide all that because he might've thought that I would associate it with him being a demon and although I was shocked and somewhat scared, I was ashamed, y'know? I just don't know how to face him.

I know people think of me as the innocent, childish one so maybe it's because of that, he felt like he had to hide his own personality. It could just be in my head but I feel so guilty and my throat feels clogged and my heart hurts and I don't know what that emotion is and I just wanna go home..." She says, tears forming as she buries her face in her hands.

"Oh Rillaine, come here," I say as I pull her into a hug. "It's alright. It's not your fault. If anything,  I blame the person who came up with stereotypes, there's nothing wrong with being innocent or childish just as there's nothing wrong with being a little... aggressive..." I say, thinking hard about how to describe Lucas in the nicest way.

"Sylvia, I really want to go home today... I just want to be with my family..."

"That's alright, I'll ask Lillian to prepare a carriage for you, would you like me to say anything to Lucas should he ask about you?"

"No.. Yes. I don't know. What should I even tell him? I don't want him to think I'm running away from him. He doesn't deserve that."

"I'll make something up. Don't worry. We're lucky that it's a Friday. Should I tell Allen about it?"

"Just tell him I went home because I was missing the twins, I don't really want him to see me like this y'know. I think I just need a quiet day at home without being pitied. I don't think this incident has reached my parents yet so they wouldn't know when I visit."

"M'kay. I'll go and tell Lillian. Stay here and catch your breath," I say.

I arranged the carriage to take Rin home, talking to Len along the way. Surprisingly though, I saw no signs of Lucas, even after Rin left. Fridays were normally visiting days for the students here who wished to travel to their homes.

I usually stayed in the dorms save for when my family called me back on important occasions or to the royal family who calls me into the palace for crown princess duties.

Ace always travelled home for his duties along with many of the heirs of their houses.

"Do you want to go visit him, master?" Astro asks.

"Yeah, I kind of do."

"Wow, you said yes!" Luna says, astonished.

"Well, after hearing what Rin said. I realised that I'm also kind of doing an injustice to Ace. I'm nearly 15. I should be able to at least confront my own feelings," I say.

"Is this what you humans call maturing? Is puberty this amazing?" Astro whispers.

"I don't know, maybe the power of love pushed through," Luna replies.

"Shut up the both of youse. Agh, but I don't want to make a big deal out of this. I wish I could just poof in his room or something," I groan.

"Into whose room?"

"Ah! You scared me, Lucas!" I blurt out, a hand on my heart waiting for it to settle.

"It's your fault for talking so loudly out here, it's very annoying," he shrugs. I tense up a bit around him, wondering if he's going to ask about Rin.

"Do you wanna know-"

"No, I don't," he interrupts.

"Really?"

"Yes, I know she took a carriage home. I've decided to give her some space."

"..."

"She didn't leave to run away from you, you know?" I speak up, breaking the long silence.

"I highly doubt it, I acted abhorrently."

"Originally, if you asked me, I was going to lie and give you an excuse but I'll just say this one truth: she didn't run away from you, she's running away from her guilt."

"Guilt?"

"Hah, although you have a completely different personality reserved for Rillaine, she's not stupid. She knows what others think and say about you. She feels guilty because she doesn't like how you think you have to hide your personality from her. Frankly, she's probably the only one who doesn't see you as a terrifying, nightmare-inducing-"

"You can shut up now."

"Humph, if I were Rillaine, I'd ask you to cover up more of your fiendish personality," I mutter.

"I could have killed you on the spot for that remark but because you were so useful, I'll give you a reward," Lucas says as he snaps his fingers. Before I could question him on what he meant, I was already falling from the sky.

"AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'M WEARING A SKIRT YOU JERK!" I scream, clutching my skirt tightly so it doesn't flow up.

My screams stop as I fall into rather muscular arms. My eyes that were sealed shut slowly opened as I saw a foreign shocked expression on a most familiar face. The expression was soon changed with a smile.

"I knew I said I missed you but I didn't expect you to fall from the sky like this," Ace chuckles.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood so you could say that I was dropping in?"

"To what do I owe the pleasure then," Ace says, carrying me inside and placing me on his bed.

"No excuse really, I just wanted to see you, I shrug, eyeing Ace's body. Somehow, he grew even more. However, I've not even grown two inches. His physique as a whole looks stronger and fuller and there was no trace of his childish appearance anywhere. Meanwhile, I've still got my baby face. Curse my lack of hormones.

"Oh, are you finally coming to terms with how you feel?"

"Actually, yes."

"Hmm?"

"Oh come on, Ace. I'm nearly 15 you know, and we're already engaged so I was always going to have to come to terms with the fact that I do like you. Also, I'm sure you were getting tired of having to deal with my childish antics," I flip my hair.

"While I'm glad that you've reached that conclusion, I'm not too keen on how you got there. I never once got tired of you. Your rebuttals, comebacks, and facial expressions have always made it fun for me when I so cruelly got rejected," he smiles.

"I wasn't cruel! I-"

"Listen, Sylvia," he was on his knees in front of me, his hand touching my face, "every single one of your actions, I've never hated. You don't need to force yourself to do anything for me if you feel uncomfortable with it, I will always understand."

"W-wait, you doing this..." my face heated up tremendously.

"I mean it. The worst thing I could possibly do is make you feel uncomfortable or forced into doing anything. If you ever dislike something, just push me away," he says, as his face moves closer to mine.

His lips connected to mine, my hand squeezing the covers tightly but not wanting to push him away.