Seeing Leonel’s reaction, Aina didn’t know how to react herself for a long while. The level of worry in his gaze, even for something that had long since passed, left her feeling at a loss.
“I… It’s wasn’t a big deal, I’m here, aren’t I?”
Leonel frowned at this response, he could sense Aina pulling away. Such a scene made him sigh and release his grip on her.
“Where is Lancelot? Did you not find him?”
Leonel changed the topic, but this left Aina at even more of a loss.
Forcing things and reaching the end goal as quickly as possible always seemed like the path with the most satisfaction. A slow, long grind wasn’t something most people wanted to deal with and it was even something that scared most away.
Though Leonel had spoken so many heartfelt words to Aina, they were ultimately words he had spoken himself. They weren’t words that Aina had said, nor were they necessarily the way she, herself, felt.
Whether she did or not wasn’t something Leonel knew, nor was it quite the point regardless of what the truth was. What truly matter was that even if she did, she wasn’t at a point where she was ready to say them.
This wasn’t necessarily the end of the world.
The pursuit of Aina had always been a one-person affair. Leonel never took Aina’s standoffishness to heart because in his mind, it was his task to get her to warm up to him. If he failed, then it was because he was inadequate, it wasn’t her fault.
But, this very same logical mind of Leonel’s also understood that relationships weren’t supposed to work in this way. As logical as he was, he also had exceptionally high emotional intelligence.
He felt that his and Aina’s relationship had taken a step forward she very clearly wasn’t ready for. When things reached such a point, dragging her along would do more harm than good.
However, this abrupt change in Leonel from overly caring to, as though he had flipped a switch, strictly business… It left Aina not knowing how to face him.
Maybe for the first time, she realized just how true Leonel’s words from before were. He didn’t lie to her, there was no hidden truth she had to uncover… he laid out the way his mind worked and the kind of person he was right before her.
Leonel might have been kind and caring, but it was all built upon a foundation of cold calculation. What drove him first and foremost was logic.
Since he decided Aina wasn’t ready to truly treat him as her boyfriend, he took a step back with ease… almost too much ease.
Watching it all play out exactly how Leonel described left Aina feeling somewhat…
Cold.
She realized that if there really came a day where she didn’t trust him, where she didn’t lean on him as he would lean on her… He really wouldn’t come to save her.
Aina’s lips trembled, but she clenched her jaw and swallowed hard forcing back the emotions she was feeling and not allowing her tears to fall. Her small reactions were missed by Leonel who had started to analyze the fallen knights, calculating if he could spare the stamina to heal them and by how much he would be able to do so.
“… While I was digging up the others, Lancelot managed to climb back up himself. He gathered the ones who could still fight and rushed off to the Lin Barony. If it wasn’t ruined, they plan on taking a shortcut to the backside of the Barony and hopefully help fortify their defenses.”
Leonel raised his brows when he heard these words, looking back toward Aina. By now, she had already gone back to normal as though nothing had happened.
“Hm… They have a chance to make it before the gliders get there.”
Though the gliders had a head start and were flying through the skies, because they were gliding rather than truly flying, their speed was obviously lacking.
Leonel doubted that the loss of their commander would slow them by much. Such organized armies definitely had a clear line of succession. Those who were meant to step up had likely already done so. Leonel wouldn’t underestimate such an army in the slightest.
“Did they describe the shortcut to you?” Leonel asked.
Aina shook her head no.
Leonel could only accept this. He hadn’t been too hopeful to begin with. There was no time to do such a thing. And, even if there was, there was no guarantee the explanations would have been clear enough to make use of them.
“Yip! Yip!”
At that moment, Little Blackstar dove down from the skies, skipping on his little shadowy platforms to dive into Aina’s arms.
Leonel smiled lightly. “Done?”
“Yip! Yip!”
Leonel nodded. “Pass me their Beast Crystals and crossbows, they might be useful in the future.”
“Yip! Yip!”
Little Blackstar vanished into Leonel’s spatial ring and entered the Segmented Cube with ease. Sometimes Leonel wondered if the little guy had a spatial affinity rather than a Dark Elemental affinity. But, he knew better. Though they looked quite similar in function, they were very different.
Those with Space Elemental affinities were moving through space whereas Little Blackstar was entering and exiting the Shadow World. They were functionally the same, but technically different.
After transferring all the Beast Crystals and crossbows from his Shadow World and into the Lab Setting, the little mink dove out and back into Aina’s embrace.
Leonel looked over the knights again and cast a quick [Grand Heal] a few times. When he was sure that none of their lives were in danger and that a few would wake up soon, he called down his jet black surfboard again.
Stepping onto it, Leonel turned a light smile toward Aina and stretched out a hand.
Aina was a bit stunned, but still reached out.
“Hang on tight.” Leonel said, wrapping an arm around her waist.
Aina subconsciously wrapped her arms around Leonel’s back as they shot into the skies.
“Yip! Yip!” The little mink called out in dissatisfaction, feeling squished. Without a choice, the little guy could only wiggle out and find a new location within the Segmented Cube. Maybe going to tease Tolliver would make it feel better.
Aina, however, looked up to view of Leonel’s side profile. Realizing that he wasn’t paying attention to her, she lowered her head back into his chest.
A single tear fell from her eyes but just as quickly as it appeared, it was absorbed by Leonel’s robes.