If You're Going To Cheat, Cheat Once

Because they still needed to take care of the remaining sick people, Aria and the others were only able to leave two days later. Rei had intended to drag Aria away as soon as he managed to get his hands on the gold emblem, but fortunately Aria managed to postpone it out until now.

Aria walked closer to the carriage, but her lips still seemed to curl down. "Can't we stay here a little longer? There's still some sick people--"

"Get in." He cut her mercilessly. "They can take care of themselves from here."

He wasn't wrong, so in the end Aria could only sigh. Then she turned to Helen and Feny who were beside her. "You two get in first." She said.

And this time it was Rei who let out a long sigh. "Should you bring her too?"

"Why? Just dropping her off at her uncle's place is fine, right? It's in the capital too after all." Replied Aria, somewhat pleading. "Helen has no family here anymore, please."

"...If only you know what the Havan family is like."

"Aria! Don't go." But then the children called to her while running closer. Aria glanced uncomfortably at Rei who looked even more irritated, but in the end she lowered herself towards the children.

"Aria, can't you just stay here? When will you come again? You have to promise to come again!" Said the children.

"Of course. If there is a chance, I will definitely come here again." Aria replied while comforting some of the children. "So until then, you should promise me to be a good kid, alright?"

But while she was patting the children's heads who were crying, she realized that Cal wasn't there. She looked around and it turned out that he was standing far behind the others with a gloomy face.

So with a sour smile, Aria decided to walk over there to approach him too. "Hey. Are you going to keep that face until I leave?" She said. "I'm going to be sad, you know."

"Aria… Can't you take me too like Helen?" He said.

"...I'm so sorry." Aria replied with a heavy heart. "But the other children still need you, you know. So you better be here with them."

Cal still looked sad, so Aria tried to say something else. "Plus, didn't you say that you want to be a royal soldier? When you do, I promise I'll come to your inauguration ceremony. How about that?" She said while raising her pinky.

Even though instead of joining his fingers, Cal immediately jumped up to hug Aria, who was followed by other kids again.

That scene was so touching that Rei had to stop it. "Ahem! Ahem! The sun is going to set soon!" He said loudly.

==============================

Apart from talking to Feny and Helen, Aria had actually not dared to look at Rei at all during their trip. But once it was night and the two children started to fall asleep, Aria started to feel awkward by herself because Rei wasn't sleeping--and still liked to glare at her.

That's why before he really started to say something bad at her, Aria chose to talk about another thing first. "B-By the way, were you serious when you said that before?" Aria asked.

Turning his head, Rei glanced at her first before answering. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but usually I'm always serious."

"About firing me."

"Ah, you heard that? Because you ignored me, I thought your ears were deaf from being shot by those cannonballs." Rei replied sarcastically.

But after letting Aria put on a sullen face for a moment, he continued. "Well, it was actually serious. But after you ruined this, it looks like it will have to be postponed. Again." He said.

"Wha--" Aria was surprised when Rei suddenly threw something at her, but luckily she caught it. And it turned out to be the expensive cube which now works as a demon prison.

"It's broken now. So you should be the one to explain everything to Mrs. Loreine." Rei demanded her.

Aria was silent at first because she wasn't sure what he meant by broken--since the cube was still intact. But after trying to extract the magic from it, she finally realized what's wrong.

"I-I'm so sorry." Said Aria helplessly. "I didn't know the cube would just go dead like this."

"You didn't? Then how did you think you could trap the demon there?"

"I'm not sure... I just suddenly thought, if the cube can store magic, maybe it can also store the curse." She answered vaguely. "That's why I made a magic circle that can put the mushroom to sleep." She continued.

But because Rei just kept silent after hearing that, Aria started to feel guilty again. "...Why? Do you still think I shouldn't have done that?"

"Well, done is done. Except the cube, I guess you actually did a good job."

"...Really?"

Aria looked a little surprised because she didn't expect Rei would actually praise her. But in fact, Rei himself also kind of felt weird after saying that.

So he tried to change the topic. "And by the way, we need to stop by Emor City first before going back to the capital."

"Emor city? Why?"

"Of course to get your final emblem."

"..."

Frozen, Aria could feel her heart rhythm starting to beat irregularly. "H-H-How are we going to do it this time??" Asked Aria who started to break out in cold sweat.

The first was a pirate, then the second was a mushroom demon… If she really has to fight the dragon next, Aria could die for real this time!

"Calm down." Rei replied with a chuckle, amused when he saw Aria's face turn pale. "You don't need to do anything this time. I just need to ask my uncle."

"Ask?"

"Yeah. He's actually the head of the factory that makes the emblem. So we can ask him to make a new one for you." He explained. "And as for the reason, maybe I should just write that you saved his life or something."

"..."

"What? You don't like cheating?" Asked Rei, realizing that Aria just kept silent.

"...Rather, couldn't we do that from the start?"

"Of course not. If you're going to cheat, cheat once." He replied lightly. "If you cheat it all the way, somebody will realize it."

'I guess he's right.' Aria just let out a long sigh hearing that. Somehow it sounded like an advice, but not a good one.

"Also, about my uncle's family, he also has a son and a wife." Rei said again. "I wouldn't worry about his wife, but you should be careful around my cousin. His name is Oliver."

"Why?"

"He's a jerk. A little worse than Hiki."

That's so easy to understand.

"And… You probably have to call me Mr. again." He still continued. "They might get suspicious if they hear you mention my name so casually. So if they ask, just say you're a herbalist that works for me for the time being."

"...Sure."

"Only when they're around." He added again, somehow sounding a little careful when saying it. "You can still call me Rei other than that."

"Sure." Aria replied again, with a smile this time.