Vain - Chapter 69 Free

Cielo hadn’t felt this free in so long, she was finally able to say the words she wanted to say and do the things she wanted to do. She didn’t feel as though she was trapped within her own body, there was no fate that she needed to adhere to for fear of change. She was glad for her decision, she was glad that she had been able to become honest to herself and most importantly to Edmund.

She sighed in contentment, the fountain pen in her hand was held to her forehead as she stared at the clock on the wall of her classroom, lost in her thoughts. Her days thus far had been very peaceful, nothing especially unique or special to speak of. But the year’s end was fast approaching. And because of the new year, there would be a few weeks of break, which would begin when the weather became better and much clearer. It would make the trip down the academy and back to the capital of both kingdoms safer and easier for students.

This was something that she was looking forward to, though she wouldn’t admit it. A part of her was a bit homesick, she missed her parents. She had always stayed with them, rarely would she leave the capital, being at the academy was the first time she had been away from home for so long. Cielo even missed the Duke and the Duchess, Edmund’s parents. She treated them like relatives since she would see them frequently from her childhood on.

Edmund and her parents have always been close, she heard that when they were youths they had all been in the same friend group. And they married within the group, they were inseparable friends and even with their status. They had no pretenses with one another and she admires them greatly. She wanted to have that kind of friendship one day with people she could trust wholeheartedly. For now, she had Edmund, whom she had grown up with. He was the first friend she ever had and she stuck to him ever since. When they were little, high society suspected that they would be engaged with one another, seeing how their families were basically one already.

Both their parents defied expectations and they shook their head in refusal, they wouldn’t agree. They were people that respected the wishes and freedom of their children, to decide of their own accord who their parent would be. Well, even though they wanted this, that didn’t mean they would stop their children from being friends. Friendship would always be the start of any relationship, so they only stood by and pushed their children together subconsciously. If their children really didn’t want to pursue any relationship then they could remain friends. But if there was something more, who were they to stop anything.

And in the end, they were right. Their children really did get together, Cielo and Edmund had successfully fallen into their trap, but they weren’t unhappy about it. Though once they would return to the capital and their relationship was revealed, she knew what the reaction of her parents and the dukedom would be. Their immediate engagement. It was to be expected with how much her mother would gossip with the Duchess. Edmund and her would be the brunt of the discussion every single time and the mother could only continue to fangirl about how cute their children. It was rather embarrassing but learned to ignore it.

“What are you thinking about?” Edmund asked her, as they packed up their books. The class had ended and they would be moving on to their next class. Though she had been too lost in her thought to recognize that she needed to get moving. She grinned sheepishly at Edmund and quickly shove her things into her bag. She threw it over her shoulders and they were out the door.

“Wouldn’t mother and aunty be the most excited about the two of us?” Cielo’s eyes were soft with affection.

“They would kill themselves with excitement,” Edmund nodded confirming her thoughts. The most active force to their relationship would be both their mothers. They were basically vultures watching their every action for any sign at all. So it wouldn’t be surprising.

“I almost don’t want to tell them, we should leave them in suspense.” Cielo smiled, a mischievous glint flashing through her bright eyes.

“That’s too risky, they would kick us out in anger.”

“They wouldn’t,” Cielo argued and met Edmund’s eyes as she pulled open the door to their classroom. He raises his hands in defeat and they entered the room.

“They had been waiting all their lives, it would be too mean,” Edmund concluded and he sat down first before Cielo took a seat next to him.

“Are you on my side or not?” Cielo had the last word in their conversation before their professor started the lesson. And Edmund’s reply to her was only a small smile which seemed to say that she won, he was always on her side, there was no need to doubt him. She shook her head at his foolishness and turned her head to look out the window. The window faced the center of the academy, the main plaza. It was where the grand fountain was and where most students could be seen commuting from one building to another. There were three buildings that host classes in the academy and they all surrounded the main plaza.

Lucky for her, she didn’t have classes in all three buildings that would cause her to move about often. She only had classes in two buildings, which reduce much of her walking. As all the buildings had an utmost of five floors, there were really just too many stairs to climb. Even if she was fit, she didn’t enjoy the excessive stair climbing and descending.

Cielo who was contemplating for a time was caught by surprise at the strange figure that quickly ran through her field of vision. She was only on the second floor of the building, so she could clearly see who it was when they neared her. Aileene? Aileene Lovell? Why was she running? Class had already begun, was she late? But she was quickly able to notice that the direction that Aileene was running in wasn’t to any academic building. She was confused, she had never been close to Aileene before, but she could recall that they had interacted once. Aileene had invited her to drink tea, but she had rudely denied her then.

At that time some perplexing emotions had overcome her and she forcefully cut off any chance for them to cultivate a friendship. She could only assume that it must have been that uncontrollable influence in her body, but it still wasn’t good for her to have done that to Aileene. Who had been so kind and forgiving of her, she even had the nerve to forget about it too. She wanted to talk to her the next chance she had now, to make up for what had happened before. Before that could happen though, she was still baffled with Aileene’s action. Her pace indicated that she was heading to the White Castle, but what would she need at the White Castle that would make her so panic?

What was even more telling was the fact that there was someone running after her, it was the Kinlar’s Crown Prince, Lucian. From talks around the academy and having seen them a few time she was aware of the two’s close relationship, but what could have driven Aileene to run and Lucian to follow her?