Gift

After all this episode Aster decided to stop hunting for the rest of the day, naturally he took the spatial rings from the bandits while thinking about why did Aria have to disguise herself when she was in public.

There was probably a good reason, to do it but for now he decided to feign ignorance and just follow her act.

"Hahaha, this time I'll be the one to tease you, let's see how you handle it "big sister" Aria", he thought.

Aster took some materials out of his spatial ring and started working to create something, he also took the valuable things from the rings of the bandits before disposing of them.

Even if he was not a rune master, he has seen Lilia doing some talismans before so he learned the basics of it, he even worked as her assistant a couple of times.

After he finished what he was doing, he returned to Ghaleria, it seems that it was always the same guard on duty, not that it bothered Aster, on the contrary, he could enter without having to wait in line.

This time he returned directly to the Inn and when he entered, he saw the owner of the inn at the reception as usual, he approached her and with a smile he said.

"Good afternoon, it´s good that I found you around this time, I'd like to talk to Aria".

Aria panicked how was she supposed to bring herself to talk to Aster, her mind started to work to find a way to excuse herself or something along the lines.

Seeing her worried expression, Aster thought he had teased her enough already so he gave her a way out of her predicament.

"My clothes are a bit messy due to my training I think I will go take a bath; would you be so kind as to ask Aria to come up to my room to see me in half an hour?".

Aria immediately nodded and Aster went up to his room, he wasn't actually lying he wanted to take a bath before talking to her, while he was walking away, from the corner of his eyes he could see Aria´s relieved expression and he smiled to himself.

Once he arrived to his room he went right to the bathroom, turned on the shower and washed his body.

"Tomorrow I will have to return to the castle I just hope that mother let me go back to training without making things difficult for me, sigh the hardships of being a mother-con", he thought.

Aster finished bathing and then dried off before putting some comfortable clothes, he heard someone knock on the door and he couldn't help but smile, he calmly opened the door and invited Aria to come inside.

"I hope not to bother you but I wanted to talk before our dinner time", he said.

Aria smiled and answered.

"No problem I was just going through some irrelevant papers for the owner anyway".

Aster smiled.

"Very well, the first thing I wanted to tell you is that tomorrow I must return to inform my family about my training, so we will not be able to have dinner together, but I have a little surprise to compensate you, please close your eyes and extend your left hand".

Aria did what Aster asked her while thinking, "what is he up to this time?".

Aster took out a beautiful silver ring adorned with an aquamarine stone similar in color to Aria's hair and carefully placed it on her ring finger.

Aria felt Aster touching her hand but she did not feel uncomfortable, for some reason whenever she was with Aster, she felt that she did not have to worry about anything, at first, she thought it was because he was still too young but recently, she had seen a boy of the "same" age as Aster looking at her with lustful eyes so she no longer knew what to believe.

When Aria opened her eyes, she saw her ring finger adorned with a beautiful ring that had undoubtedly been created to match her perfectly, for a moment she was speechless, then with a happy but slightly embarassed voice she said.

"Why are you giving me something so precious? You know I can't afford it".

Of course, it was just an excuse, what really worried Aria was that as a lady of noble birth and marriageable age, she knew that a ring on the ring finger of the left hand for a woman meant that she was engaged, and although for some reason she didn't feel upset and since she was acting like a commoner, she couldn't tell Aster the true meaning of it, the fact was that Aster basically proposed to her!!!

Seeing her shy expression, Aster replied with an innocent playful voice.

"My mother told me that if I found a girl that I considered a special, I should treat her well and since you are actually my first friend, I thought of giving you a ring that matched your unique color hair, was it not to your liking?".

Aria could feel the meant no harm, but still she was a bit embarassed to accept such a thing.

"I really like the ring, but why did you put it on my finger instead of giving it to me?".

Aster shrugged, he anwered with a relaxed tone.

"That's because in my clan I saw someone do the same thing, and the girl to whom he put the ring looked very happy so I thought about copying it, is there a problem with it?".

Aria didn't know what to say, Aster really didn't have any bad intentions on the contrary he just wanted to see her happy, and when she heard that she was his first friend she felt warm, even though they hadn't known each other for a long time, he treated her as a friend even when she presented herself as a simple commoner.

In the end Aria decided to accept the ring while she convinced herself.

"Well in any case I can't feel any bad intentions from him, and it is not like he is actually proposing to me so I will wear it as sign of friendship", she repeated to herself, but deep in her heart she was really happy to have receivd his gift.