Taya took a deep breath as she first took a peek out to see if anybody was in the corridor, especially Tiana or Sayana but let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out.
But at that moment, Eva was climbing up the stairs and froze upon seeing Taya sneaking out of Viktor's room, who also froze upon seeing Eva with an awkward expression.
It didn't take much for Eva to guess what was going on here, though she kind of expected this after Viktor's return.
She, however, didn't stay in the same spot or stare at Taya for longer as she quickly walked back towards her room after quickly greeting Taya.
"Madam," Eva made a quick bow towards Taya while briefly giving a petulant glare at Viktor before walking away towards her room.
Taya turned around and looked at Viktor with narrowed eyes who shrugged and said, "What? She already knows."
"Hmph," Taya harrumphed and quickly ran to her room before anyone else found out about her 'scandalous' affair.
Viktor only chuckled, seeing Madam Snow run off like a rabbit. However, he decided it was time he progressed his Goodboi identity.
—
A few hours later, two girls were doing basic stretches while watching a young man doing his best to lift weights with all his strength to the point that nerves were popping up over his body from the strain even though the weights barely crossed five kilos.
This place was the outdoor gym built just behind the Snow Mansion, and Viktor had come here to spend some time as Dorian while Sayana and Tiana occasionally came here to do at least some basic exercises.
Sayana was an exercise enthusiast, while Tiana only did these things to keep her body in shape, especially since she was worried she might gain fat by sitting and playing on her computer all the time.
"Goodboi, what is up with you?" Tiana asked with crossed arms, her golden-red hair tied up into a bun. She could see that after Dorian went on a sudden trip with her grandfather, he seemed a bit different.
"Maybe he is just trying to gain muscles?" Sayana said in a low yet sweet voice as she observed Dorian while parting her wavy red hair to the side, feeling that even if the weights were not much, he was still diligently lifting them without giving up.
Viktor, who was lifting dumbbells by laying down on a training bench, dropped the dumbbells on the floor as he raised his body up and said after catching his breath, "I learned some truths after going on the trip with Uncle Brad. I feel that I am too weak, and it's time I improved myself," Viktor said in a tone filled with innocent determination, his eyes resolute.
"Dorian, that's not true. You are stronger than you realize," Sayana immediately said, feeling that Dorian might be feeling insecure though she had no idea what happened to him during the trip and felt that asking him might come off as rude.
"What happened to you during the trip? Did you happen to meet some girl you liked and wanted to build up your body to show off to her?" Tiana immediately asked with a curious expression, while Sayana briefly looked in her direction with a blinking expression before turning towards Dorian with a curious glint in her eyes as she lightly scraped her nails together.
Viktor scratched his head as he replied with a confused expression, "Eh, girl? Why would I need to build my body for a girl? I am doing this for myself, and no, I didn't meet a girl whom I liked during the trip."
Sayana couldn't help but smile slightly, hearing his words while Tiana pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, not expecting such an answer from him. After all, boys of her age did indeed go to the gym but mainly for appearing good before girls or trying to court the girl they liked.
"But I came upon a strong enemy and realized that I was too weak to defeat him," Viktor continued with a disappointed sigh, though he indeed was talking about himself, remembering the time when he lost miserably against Bamir, not that he expected to have the strength to fight a fallen god. It was just beyond his league and the first time he even faced someone that powerful.
So he had a change of mind and asked Umilia to help him learn how to use his Odic Force, especially since he wanted to venture out and see if he could help out Taya.
Umilia did come here an hour ago to teach him basic meditation techniques to feel the Odic Force inside him and told him to just feel and get familiar with it for the next three months by using the same technique every morning.
Viktor was a bit disappointed seeing how he would have to follow the same boring yet simple technique for three months, but still he decided to go through with it, and here he was, lifting some weights for fun after practicing his meditation technique though he didn't surprisingly feel his Odic Force, though Umilia said it was natural to not feel it since he never tried to during his entire life.
Sayana worriedly asked as she stopped her stretching exercise, "Did you have a fight with someone?"
Viktor sighed as he replied, "Yes, kind of…He tried to bully me and the people around me, so I decided to stand up against him, only to get defeated. But this made me decide that I have to change to not face anything like this again."
"Tch, you should have put your head down if you didn't have the strength to defeat him. Otherwise, bullies like them would only hurt you more," Tiana said with a head shake, taking the pose of a wise master.
However, Sayana couldn't help but pour out her inner thoughts, "But I think you did right by standing up for yourself. Bullies get more encouraged if you let them step over you. Dorian, as I mentioned earlier, I can teach you martial arts if you want. It will certainly help you deal with them."
Tiana suddenly looked at Sayana with a look of surprise in her eyes since she didn't expect Sayana to refute her words so openly and that too before someone else.
Also, when did she get so enthusiastic about teaching martial arts to someone else? It was indeed true she held martial arts classes for other kids, but she had never gone out of her way to offer someone to teach them.
Viktor smiled and said with a happy smile, "Sure. How about we start this evening?"
Sayana nodded happily, "Of course."
