Inane casualness

WHILE THEY WERE being a hot topic among those who spotted the two of them together, Hades and Ecru simply walked together, with a decent distance between their shoulders, and matching walking pace. The first few minutes were quiet, until Ecru decided to break that comfortable silence.

"I apologize for my brother's actions, I don't know why he kept insisting," she brought up calmly, and that made him smile. 'How unfortunate, it's clear that she doesn't want to be involved with me, but her own brother is pushing her to', he thought to himself.

As for Hades, he doesn't really mind if he becomes closer to her. However, he does have this feeling that he shouldn't be any closer to her, other than being acquaintances. Because like him, she's considered a rising star, a genius. He'd be a fool to let someone like her be any closer to him.

"No need to apologize, it's partly my fault. Rufus had seem to misunderstood that I have fallen love at first sight for you, and the others are simply believing it," Hades stated, making Ecru's head turn to him completely.

'That's the reason?!' she thought in utter disbelief.

"How in the world would he misunderstand? And why is it that you haven't cleared up that misunderstanding?" Ecru asks, arching a brow at him. She honestly couldn't understand what he's thinking, but he's just all over the place!

'Of course they'd have you to stick with me if they think you fell in love with me!' She was pissed off inside her head, but she maintained a cool expression.

She can't afford to throw a tantrum with so many eyes on them.

Hades hums, then, "I thought it'd be more convenient for people to think I actually fell in love with you, and that I will chose only you," he responds, but Ecru rolled her eyes. He doesn't want to get involved with me, but will use my name as he pleases? For what? To shoo away those who will try to dominate him?

He's strong enough to withstand those! Why would he need her name?

"I thought that we both didn't want to get involved with each other, was I wrong to think that way?" she asks once again, she completely lost all the reason trying to figure him out. Was she completely wrong to have thought that they were similar? Hades suddenly stopped his tracks, making her turn to look at him.

"… I thought that no matter how much you didn't want me, your brother will keep insisting that you need me… now, was I wrong to think that way?" he stated, and she was more than shocked.

'He's aware…?'

"Oh, well, other than that, it's bothersome to clear up such a trivial misunderstanding. What could go wrong?" he adds, and continues to walk.

Ecru gazes at Hades with blank eyes, too tired to smile at him because of his bizarre reasons. He could see through everything, she's confirmed it, and she's not as surprised anymore. If anything, it annoyed her how sharp he is for no reason. She never thought she'd be this easily agitated yet forgiving to a man she barely met.

'Is this how Brother felt towards him?' she thought to herself, and sighs as she stare at his back with sharp eyes.

'He's annoyingly comfortable to be with… he's a natural at deceit'

Ecru Grimes wasn't one to be fooled by such a man… she knows such tricks, she uses them too, after all. She smiles, then walked to catch up to him. 'I guess this is how similar we are', she thought to himself.

"If that's the case then, you mustn't refuse my advances in the near future. Although, I will warn you not to fall for me completely, I would hate for such thing to happen," she says, and Hades stares at her, then laughs in amusement. He would have never thought a day would come that a woman would warn him not to seriously fall for her after declaring to seduce him?

Moreover, that woman is a blood relative of a target.

"Shouldn't I be saying that, Your Highness? Don't think I'd sit still with you trying to seduce me every other time," he responds with wit, and it made her laugh.

"In the end, the one who actually falls in love loses then," she adds, and he glances at her.

"But what if we both fall in love?" he teases with a smile, and she laughs.

"Oh, rest assured, that'll never happen," she says, and he nods in agreement.

AFTER ESCORTING THE imperial princess back to her dorm, Hades walked back to the path where it'll lead to their own dormitory, however, on the way there… his classmates were just about to head out. Silver wasn't with the bunch though.

"Where are you heading to?" he asks, and they all smiled, which confused him.

"We're going shopping! We got Silver to ask for permission to leave right now, to buy some dress for the welcome ceremony," Rufus explains, then pulls him along by the shoulders. "Of course, you're coming with us too! We're spoiling you rotten!"

Before Hades knew it, he was already dragged to the front gates, with Silver waiting there with two horses, and a wagon that's big enough for all thirteen of them. "Hope in, brats. We only have until curfew," Silver says.

And that's when they realized… having a royal in their class does have its perks at times.

They hopped in the wagon, with Rufus as the coachman, since he knows the Capital best, and Hollis as the one to say where to drop by, since she's got the best fashion sense among them. Hades knows the feeling of having the best connections, and it's a wonderful feeling. One can just laze around, or ask them for something, and they'll give what you want.

As they arrived by the only boutique that sells both carefully crafted dresses and suits, they had the knight guard their horses and wagon. They soon headed in, and they were immediately treated like important people… well, except for Hades. He didn't mind though, and sneaked to the side to watch each of them being attended.

When he was eaten by boredom, he looked around for something he wanted too. It's their money that he'll spend, it should be okay to be a little greedy. Everything in the store was unique, he doesn't know anything about the trends, but he does think they're matching well with today's fashion.

As he walked further to the very corner, his eyes became glued to one dress that was kept in a glass... it gave a him a deep feeling of nostalgia. It was a white dress, with white lily embroidery on its top, and a rain of opal jewels on both the top and the long skirt. It was like a fairy's dress… it can't be describe as anything else.

"That was the dress made for the late Linnea Winchester, she first wore it on her own welcome ceremony at the academy nine years ago," Hades later turned to a voice, and saw a familiar man, it was the first year professor of the Art Department, and Livia's professor, Russet Calvery. "… beautiful, isn't it?" he adds.

"Professor… you were here too," Hades mumbles, he wasn't surprised of the presence of the man. He heard from Griffith that this boutique was owned by his older brother, Russet Calvery. Russet chuckles at Hades' usual indifference. "Why… how do you have a dress that's not yours?" Hades asks, which made Russet smile a little.

"After her death, her family gave it to me after they found that we've been pen pals for a year," he exposed bluntly, and even chuckled. "They read my letters, where I kept on telling her how I fell in love at first sight for her during their welcome ceremony, and this is the result of that," he continues, and this time Hades was confused, but he then realized why this man kept rambling without hiding a single detail.

"… I see, love made you crazy as well," Hades stated, his gaze towards Russet completely changed. It was sharp, and completely glaring, but Russet was unfazed.

"It did… to the point that I won't even stop you for what you're going to do," the professor says, then walks closer to him. "Cloris has hidden you from me for a long time, hence the reason why I entered this year as a new professor. It feels nice to finally meet you, good luck with everything," Russet says again, then walks pass him completely.

Hades remained standing there with a darkened look. Judging by Russet's words… there are other people aware of the existence of a seventh Winchester child, and that he could possibly be alive. Those people are either the ones who were in the Winchester… or those who were close to the Winchester.

Hades clicked his tongue. He had once thought that there could be a possibility that there are people who were aware of Dwayne Winchester, other than the Novak, and Steele Armed Guild, but he never bothered asking if it could possibly be true. Back then, he didn't realize how troublesome it would be.

'How annoying… I'll have to be more careful than I need to be', Hades thought to himself.

"HADES!"

Hades flinched at the voices that called loudly for him. He turned to his right, and saw Griffith, Rufus, Hollis, and William together. William hits Hades' back and exclaimed, "We thought you ditched us, you bastard!"

"Don't run off on your own like that!" Hollis scolded him, and started pinching his cheeks.

"If my brother never saw you, we'd have gone crazy!" Griffith joins in, completely frowning. And Hades was utterly confused. 'Huh? Why are they reacting like they just lost a child?'

"If you'd told us that you were feeling out of place, then we should've put you first! Come, let's have you chose your suit now," Rufus takes his wrist, and dragged him back to where they were originally.

Other than Hades, the people around them were as baffled as he is right now. They were acting like over protective parents who took their eyes on their child for a second.

'That's how aristocratic youth are in this time…?'