Aravel

Chapter 41

Kaze's mood took a turn for the worse as Bryle stuck his hand out in front of him.

Shaking it, Kaze quickly retracted it in a not-so-obvious manner. It was clear that neither of them liked each other, especially considering how Bryle just tried to take out Kaze during the exam to teach him a lesson.

Lunaria was equally aware of this fact, since she was the one who rescued the fainted Bryle after the centipede struck. She regretted doing so, even if it was the right thing to do. Why should she have to save someone who was trying to act detrimentally anyway?

"Lunaria-hime, you look good tonight," Bryle addressed Lunaria, who step out from behind Kaze.

"... Mm," Lunaria coldly replied with a simple nod, not even bowing.

This move surprised Bryle, who took a step back. Looking from Kaze to Lunaria, to Kaze again, he seemed to have guessed that Kaze must have told Lunaria about what happened. This made the smile on his face warp a little.

After hearing it was Lunaria who had saved him when he woke up, Bryle thought that it was Kaze who dealt the massive explosion which caused him to black out. Thinking it was him playing dirty instead and Lunaria went out of her way to ensure he wasn't harmed, only then did he learn that it was actually the centipede who caused all the destruction and made the exam void.

Even so, Bryle was actually thankful to Lunaria for saving him. It was beyond his imagination when he found Lunaria standing by Kaze's side, an action that showed support for her friend. Clearly, Bryle was in the wrong for targeting Kaze in the exam.

"... Lunaria-hime, are you perhaps angry at me?" Bryle tried to smoothly play off the situation. "May I enquire for your reason?"

"I don't believe I need to explain it, do I?" Lunaria crossed her arms and glared at Bryle. "You and I know the reason for it."

"I'm afraid you are going to have to elaborate," Bryle challenged Lunaria, taking a step forward and holding her hand.

Getting on his knee, he gave a light kiss on the upside of her palm, much like how a formal greeting was made for the royalty. Kaze glanced at Lunaria upon seeing this, wondering how she was going to react. He knew that Lunaria was equally as pissed as he was at Bryle, if not worse.

Thankfully, Lunaria didn't erupt or do anything that attracted attention to them. She simply pulled her hand away after the kiss and applied water magic to it, adding insult to injury. Lunaria was essentially washing away any traces of the kiss when supposedly the greeting was to be taken very seriously. This meant her saying: 'I won't even receive your respect'.

"This is stupid. Kaze, let's go," Lunaria linked arms with Kaze and dragged him off in the opposite direction.

Bryle could only watch the two leave with a baffled expression on his face. First was her washing her hand with water magic to get rid of any stain of his kiss, next she stuck to Kaze and brought them away. The message now conveyed once combined with her previous gesture was as if she said to him: 'You are insulting me. How dare you flirt with me when my boyfriend is here?'

Dousing water all over his pride, the anger within Lunaria quelled a little. She had a satisfied smile on her face after 'very politely' shrugging Bryle off. Instead, now she was able to secure Kaze away without any incident. It would, without a doubt, develop into a fight if she kept watching or allowed them to talk.

"L-Lunaria, is this alright?" Kaze asked her nervously. "Leaving just like that?"

"What about it?" Lunaria stopped and turned around to face him with a pout. "Would you rather have me punch him in the face?"