After spending few minutes outside, Alex went back to his room to sleep. Luna and Maria slept in the same room as Sakuya, too tired after tonight's event.
The next day morning, Maria and Sakuya returned to their mansion. Sakuya's expression remained unchanged as if what happened last night didn't happen; Alex didn't pursue the matter either.
One hour after Maria and Sakuya left, Alex got an unexpected visitor.
Alex, who was inside his library reading some in-depth information about the monsters inside dungeons, got startled when he heard that the second princess came to visit him.
''What are you going to do?" Gracier asked; like her brother, she was also reading some pieces of information about the dungeon's ecosystem, and she was aware of the past that existed between her brother and the second princess.
She was not the only one, though; Luna was also present in the library; she closed the book she was reading and removed her glace before looking at Alex in silence. She was curious about what Alex would do.
''Hah! I will see her.'' Alex finally decided after taking a deep breath. Judging by the butler's expression, the princess wouldn't go without seeing him.
''I will be right back, girls,'' Alex announced before leaving the library.
''Do you think it's a good thing for a brother to go? What if the princess came with bad intentions?" Gracier couldn't help but ask this question; she closed her book; she was not in the mood to continue reading. Currently, she was more concerned about the reason for the princess's visit.
''Relax, I doubt the second princess came with bad intentions.'' Luna calmed Gracier.
''She is probably here in the hope of mending her broken relationship with Alex to get a fresh start. Obviously, her end goal must be to have Alex work for her, join her faction like Leonardo and others; however, she won't say anything because she knows that Alex will not accept, she would try to win him over slowly.'' Luna added how she saw things.
Gracier nodded her head, having finally understood what was going on.
''Brother should chase that vixen away,'' Gracier said as she doesn't like the fact that her brother being used.
Luna chuckled when she heard Gracier's words; she had expected such a reaction.
''You are right, but better have a lot of allies than enemies. Besides, the relationship between them hadn't gotten to the point that they would become mortal enemies. Your brother is smart; I don't think he will let himself get used.'' Luna explained.
Gracier couldn't only wait for Alex to come back to tell them how the meeting went.
•••••
Meanwhile, Alex was walking toward the reception room where the princess was waiting.
Silveria had materialized and was walking beside him.
''What are you going to do? Outright refuse her?'' She asked; the two knew why the second princess came.
''Let's hear what she has to say. Honestly, speaking I want to chase her away, but I controlled myself and decided to see her. I will make my decision after hearing what she has to say.'' Alex said before entering the reception room; Silveria had already disappeared.
When Alex entered the room, his eyes quickly swept through the room to finally land on the blue-haired woman sitting gracefully on the sofa; behind this woman stood a guard; he had a cold expression, his posture was straight like a sharpened spear. Even though he stood there, he was emitting an intense pressure that only Experts would emit.
The man in silver armor gave Alex and glance, then a bow before vanishing from the room.
Alex wasn't surprised when this happens as he had the feeling that it must be the princess order.
''Morning, princess.''
Alex said after sitting across the second princess; the latter smiled before saying,
''Good morning Alexander. Happy birthday, by the way.''
Alex only nodded his head; he was not surprised that Katherina knew that yesterday was his birthday; she must have gotten the information somewhere, and Alex was too lazy to ask where she got that information from.
''What brings your highness here?" Alex went straight to the point; there's no need to beat around the bush; it was a waste of time.
Seeing Alex's unwelcome expression, Katherina sighed before sipping the tea that one of Alex's servants served.
''I'm here from us to start anew. To build a good relationship.'' Katherina declared.
Alex snickered, ''What for?"
''I believe that we must join hands, or at least be on good terms, like that it would be easy to forms an alliance in the future. Unlike others, you are smart, the general populace might not be aware, but a storm is brewing. There's some unusual movement coming from the demon continent. Who knows, maybe another Demon King was on the rise. We must be united, not fighting each other.'' Katherina explained.
Alex wore a slight smile on his face, not stopping her; he just watched her talk.
''I know that I made a mistake on our first meeting. But is there anybody that never makes a mistake? I don't think so. We all make a mistake at some point of time in our life. If you know what you did wrong and correct it, I think it's a good thing. I made a blunder, and now I'm trying to correct it. My previous approaches may have lacked sincerity. However, my coming here today can attest to how sincere I am. So, I hope you can consider my words sincerely.''
''Heh? Do you think that everything can be erased so easily? Didn't you send some assassins after me? When I was still in Eria's city, if not because of Elseria's protection, there will not be an end to the amount of trouble I would have faced. Now, you want me to forget everything? Cut the crap. Don't joke with me.'' Alex bellowed, a powerful pressure was emitted from his body, going straight toward Katherina.
The latter didn't do anything; just before the pressure could crash against her, it got dispersed by her aura.
Alex may appear cold on the outside; however, inside, he was surprised; his earlier outburst was because he had a goal in mind, as he couldn't appraise the princess; he decided to use this method to gauge the latter power and what he found surprised. At the same time, he didn't know her exact level; she was without at Rank 10.
''I understand your words. While I asked none of them to make things difficult for you, it was, in fact, because of me they acted to please me. As for the matter concerning the assassination attempt you suffered on your way here, I'm sorry about it.''
Surprisingly, Katherina bowed slightly when she was saying these words. Alex was surprised beyond as he hadn't expected Katherina to bow to him out of the blue.
He was not the only one surprised by the current situation; the silver armored man who was hiding was surprised as well; he couldn't help but ask himself if Alex was worth it. However, he was soon forced to reconsider this question when he recalled the boy's frightening connections. One of them was looking at him; even though the man couldn't locate where Silveria was, he knew she had her Aura locked on him; if he makes any wrong move, he didn't know what would happen. No, strong as he is, the man doubts if he could win if he were to confront Alex's master.
'How troublesome.' the silver armored man muttered.
''Sigh! Raise your head, princess.''
On the other side, Alex was forced to say this as it appears that if he didn't say anything, Katherina wasn't planning to raise her head.
Katherina lifted her head, and with a thin smile on her lips, she asked,
''So, will you accept my offer? Let's start anew.''
''What is your real goal? There's no way you just came here to make peace with me.''
Instead of answering her, Alex proceeds to ask Katherina's true motivation for visiting him.
Katherina chuckled and said, ''You are smart, so you know the answer. I may have another goal in mind, but I sincerely wish to make peace with you, to start anew on good terms. Well, nobody does anything without a goal in mind. You coming here is because you have a goal in mind. Let's take, for example, your earlier outburst; you did it with a goal in mind; am I wrong?"
Alex's face stayed impassive; he refused to say a word; his silence was a form of acknowledgment.
''I understand everything you have said. While I may not like you, I understand that it's better to have many allies than enemies. Sigh! I have suffered too much at your-"
Katherina didn't let Alex finish his words before clicking her fingers; a beautiful black pair of boots appeared in front of them, there was a small design of wings carved on the boots.
''Because yesterday was your birthday, and I couldn't participate in, I brought you a gift,'' Katherina announced before placing the boots on the table.
A beautiful smile appeared on Alex's face when he saw the black boots.
