Lilian stood, waiting for an answer from Arthur. He on the other hand couldn't grasp what she might mean by that question.
She stood there looking at Ruby while waiting for an answer. After a while, Arthur replied
"No... I don't hate you.... But why do you ask?"
She ran out of the room without answering his question. He looked out of the window and saw her running towards her dad and realized why she had asked such a silly question
"Dad..."
"Get in the car..."
In his first life,he heard that lilian had died from a sickness when in reality,her father was the one who killed her. He had always demanded impossible things from her and warned her never to associate with the Koreans.
Because of that, lilian was always lonely and taught the world was against her. Since her dad was with her in the car, something unpleasant would happen
"Oh well..."
When she entered the car, he locked the doors and rose the windows up
"Lilian..."
"Dad... I'm sorry da—"
She slapped her, interrupting her statement.
" Haven't I warned you not to associate with those filthy Koreans?... After just barely discovering magic in their country, they're throwing a banquet for someone who isn't even their relative"
"I'm sorry..."
"And you had the guts to sit with him the entire time instead of finding yourself a groom to engage to"
A stop in his words would follow with a slap as he continued to nag about her behaviors. Despite that,she didn't cry or resent him anymore as she was used to it already.
"We're leaving Korea tomorrow...for good"
"Dad!... please no... please"
"What's wrong..."
"There's finally someone that doesn't hate me"
"And who is that?.... That bastard?"
As he raised his hand to slap her, they hear a knock at the car's window. After winding down,a head poked through
"Sorry to disturb your family matters but I think it's a little late to hang around "
Arthur?!
"Y-young master...."
Arthur glanced at lilian who was trying to hide the injuries she had sustained but he smiled and turned back to her father.
"I would like to talk to lilian... Would it be alright for you?"
"Y-yes of course..."
He took a final glance at her before opening the lock on the door. After holding her hand,arthur turns back to her father who was trying to keep his composure
"She'll be staying with me for some time,is it okay?"
"Of course...take care lilian "
After seeing him off, Arthur turns back to her
"Let's go... Princess "
When they got back to their room, Arthur treated her injuries and gave her a place to sleep. As he was about to leave, she called him back
"Arthur... Please stay with me "
"Fine..."
Arthur sits next to her and she lies on his lap, making herself comfortable
"I can help you for as long as you want. If you ever need it"
"My father won't stop..."
"What do you want?"
"..."
"Tell me when you're ready "
They stayed up late while talking about trival stuffs. His time for training came and he left her to rest while he went to begin his swordsmanship training.
"I need to take care of her from now on ... after all,she knows magic "
I need all the help i can get in destroying the threat 3 years from now
"What technique do you want to learn?"
"The flower of darkness —"
"How do you know of that technique?..."
August might not know,but Arthur knew the technique well since it became a legendary technique in the future
"What?... that's a weak technique..."
"I want to start small"
Arthur smiled while looking at august. He didn't understand what was going on but since it was a request he had to fulfill it
"I want to add something... Let's make it a closed training"
"F-for how long?"
"For the next two years"
"What?!... for such a useless technique?, there will be no time to learn others"
"It's fine august... I'll become the strongest knight with just that technique "
August sighed before closing the training session. His mood was more of worried than annoyed. Arthur dropped the wooden sword they were planning to use and sat on a chair
"Where to..."
"We have to prepare for the training."
Lilian saw him through the window and waved at him and he smiled back. After resting,he laid on the bench
"There's one problem..."
Magic... The complete technique of the flower of darkness requires magic. But thanks to ruby, I've discovered that we can learn magic
"Urgh... lilian"
"You called..."
Lilian sits on his stomach as he talks to her
"Yeah... Can you teach me magic?"
"You can't learn magic. First of all, find a way to unblock your meridian. If you can't do that,then you'll die trying to learn magic"
"Thanks for the heads up"
Now,I'm adding a meridian specialist search to my to do list
"I told you I'll do anything right?"
"First of all, get of me..."
***
Arthur waited in front of ruby's dad's office for a while. He was called in the morning after his training for some urgent business. But for some time now,he has been waiting outside without anyone calling him in
" Oh well... Argh, I hate waiting"
"Sorry, come in..."
The door opened shortly after and his personal guard leads him in. As he walked into the office, and woman's presence greeted him first. Her young physique and blonde hair and unique aura enveloped the room, even surpassing ruby's fathers'.
"Oh hey there baby boy..."
"Argh... It's you again"
"Don't say that... Didn't you miss me?"
"I don't know. But why are you here?"
He turned to ruby's fathers who silently watched them as they joked around and stretched out her hand collecting a box. She turns and hands it to Arthur with a smile on her face.
"You can't fool me with this you know?"
I didn't think I'll see her so soon
"Ashley noona"
Ruby's mother...