''I see; it's where she was since the beginning.'' Alex was surprised to find that Maria stayed close to them, but they were unable to find her, she concealed herself well.
''I'm curious, how did you find her?"
Having been expecting this question, Artemia chuckled.
''You want to reconcile with her or waste your time with an unproductive question?"
''Ugh! You got me. I'm leaving.'' Alex said before departing from Artemia's; the girls outside left in a hurry, not wanting Alex or the princess to know they were spying on them; unfortunately, they knew for a long time.
''How funny,'' Alex mumbled while looking at his sister back. He Accel and disappeared from the room; his destination was the airport, two kilometers from their current location. There was a small lake there and around this lake was a small cottage, normally no one lived there, but since a few days ago Maria began living there.
After a few jumps, Alex arrived before the cottage, and as expected, he could not feel anything by standing outside; his Divine Sense was telling him that nobody was inside. If it weren't because of Artemia, he would have turned around and left.
〖This interesting; now that we are closer to this cottage, I finally figured out why we couldn't detect anything after many scans.〗
Silveria's words made Alex believe that she knew something, and he wanted to know what she knew.
''Explain, will you?''
〖This cottage is in another dimension; unless your senses can pass the space barrier, you will be unable to detect the presence inside this cottage, nor you detect this cottage. How ingenious.〗
''I see no wonder we couldn't detect this cottage. While I'm curious about how she knew about this cottage right now, it's not the time for that. I must see her. If not, I will become crazy; she is my raison d'être.''
While he was saying those words, Alex purposely raised his voice, making sure whoever was inside the cottage this person would be able to hear his declaration.
He took a deep breath to calm down his emotions before shouting.
''Maria, I know you are inside. Open the door, please, and let's talk. I miss you; I know I'm wrong. I promise not to make the same mistake again as I have learned from this one. Not seeing you beside me left me unable to sleep at night, and knowing you were angry with me left me with an endless nightmare. So please forgive me and come back already.''
He was on in knees when he was saying those words.
〖What a glib tongue you have, it almost made me cry. You are such a good talker master.〗
As usual, Silveria would not miss any opportunity to tease her Master; the latter harrumphed and promised to spank the naughty little spirit weapon when he would have the chance.
Suddenly, Silveria had a bad feeling. Or maybe that should be called conviction. She felt a chill as if the hair on her back stood on end, something terrible would happen to her soon, she thought maybe it was her big sister coming back to fight against her but quickly dismissed this idea, then who? The girl hailed as magic nemesis couldn't finish the answer no matter how hard she thought about it.
Meanwhile, Alex waited patiently for Maria's reply; he thought it would at least take half of an hour for her to say something but unexpectedly, not even two passed when suddenly, the door of the cottage was opened from the inside producing a cracking sound.
Alex was shocked; he almost jumped and ran into the room but, in the end, still managed to control himself and waited patiently.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes. The minutes continued to pass when Maria's voice echoed from inside.
''Are you planning with me? If you don't enter two seconds, then please go back.''
''I'm coming.'' Alex declared with the brightest smile he could muster before entering the cottage with his fattest speed.
The inside of the cottage was simple, one bed, a simple table with one chair, nothing else.
While Alex was looking inside the room, he suddenly felt someone jumping on him; his normal reaction should have been to defend himself. Still, after knowing that the other person was Maria, Alex happily welcomed her in his embrace.
The two said nothing and just enjoyed each other embrace for a while before Alex said.
''Alexia, I miss you too much, so much that I was going crazy.''
''Me too! I don't know what got into me, but I couldn't stop myself. I have never felt that emotion. So many negative emotions, I couldn't control them. While rationality I shouldn't have behaved as I did, love has never been and would never be something rational. It shocked me how things escalated to this point. The next thing I remember was me running away while you went after me; the rest was a blur; somehow, I managed to stumble upon this special cottage. Maybe the owner and old lady saw through me; she accepted too easily gave me this cottage. The strangest thing was what she said.''
Upon hearing Maria's words, Alex became curious.
''What did she say?" He could not stop his growing curiosity and raised such a question.
''She said jealousy is normal between a couple, but when you love you must follow your heart that believes in your partner and never shut the door to your partner because by shutting them you will miss many opportunities, opportunities that might forever change your life depending on how you used them. She said I must listen to my heart.''
Maria's explanation made Alex guess what came next.
''I see, no wonder you deliberately lured Artemia here, letting her know where you are and to not raise suspicion you made it seems like she found your location by coincidence and you would never forget her if she were to tell me knowing well she would do that, the opposite of what you instructed her.''
Alex's analysis was accurate; it was exactly what happened; Maria was not really shocked; on the contrary, she smiled proud of him.
''As expected of my man. I accept your apology, please, in turn, forgive me.'' Maria declared while getting on her knees. She was truly ashamed of what happened, but as she said, jealousy is not an emotion; one has perfect control over it sometimes, the most peaceful could turn into a demon because she felt threatened by someone. It was what happened with Eri. While normally Maria did not show such hostility facing another woman except for Kuina, and in Kuina's case, it was different. Facing Eri, Maria could not control herself and ended up voicing her dissatisfaction.
''Apologies accepted, please get up. I'm not too vexed in love, so you must be patient with me because I'm bound to make mistakes. Therefore you must not get angry, no even if you do, please never forget that I love you and I will never want to lose you.''
''I know. Let's grow stronger not only in terms of strength but also in our relationship. The road will be filled with thorn,s but the result will be us still together forever.''
''Even fate doesn't want us to be together, we will smash such fate apart for how happiness. As you have said, we both are novices in a relationship; lets us learn from our mistakes and love each other more.''
Alex nodded before sitting on the bed with Maria sitting on his lap, her back against his chest.
''How nostalgic. It has been only a few days, but I felt like I didn't see you in a year.'' Maria declared while leaning into Alex's chest; he responded by opening his arms wider to make Maria more comfortable.
''Me too. I felt the same way. The old lady must be powerful if she could easily see through your problem at first glance. Never underestimate anyone, especially this tower where I think everything had been prepared for us, I mean me.''
''You are right. We are not strong enough to decide our fates. For now, let's play along until we are strong enough to change the tide in our favor. The old lady disappeared immediately after leaving those words behind; she also said I don't need any other power because all I need is inside me. Depending on how I use my power, I can be extremely powerful, or I can become extremely weak.''
Alex nodded, and before he could say anything, Maria continued.
''I understood that she must be talking about my glass heart.''
Alex was shocked by this declaration; it never occurred to him that Maria might be aware of her great heart; however, after hearing her say those words, he understood that she knew her heart was different from normal people.
''You don't have to be that surprised. I knew it since my first rampage.''
She talked about the first time she unconsciously unleashed the Ice Empress Mode and was stopped by both her master and Luna's master, Armstrong.
''I see, let go on a day; after all, today is lover's day. It's like valentine's day on Earth. We will communicate in bed after our date because it is the best way for a couple to make up after a dispute. It was scientifically proven.''
Maria shook her head and decided not to play Alex's game, but one thing was sure, the best way to resolve a dispute between the couple was in bed, her father Ricardo had told her.
Shortly later, the two went out on a night date, enjoying their time under the moonlight.