Chapter Forty-Four: A New Understanding

That same day that Ren and Aurelia talked about her history with her father, Eleonora told Ren she wanted the translation device, but only her, as she still didn't trust the Volarian's yet. Ren brought the idea to Lucilia and Aurelia, who agreed to give her the same procedure that he had with the translation device.

The procedure went fairly quickly as they installed it in her, and a few hours later, Eleonora woke up in the medical bay.

"Why does my head hurt..." she said, groggy and holding her head.

"It happens; the same thing happened to me; it'll go away soon." Ren said, as he was also in the medical bay.

Ren, Lucilia, and Lily all sat together, waiting for her to wake up. Lily wanted to be there because she figured another familiar face would help her calm down since he had been knocked out for a few hours.

"Here, these should help." a voice that Eleonora didn't recognize said.

After Eleonora's vision cleared up, she saw who was speaking.

"Lucilia?" she asked.

"Yup, you can finally understand me now. Good to know everything's working." Lucilia said.

Eleonora had to blink twice before realizing that she now fully understood everything that Lucilia said.

"The migraine sucks..." Eleonora said still feeling her headache painfully pound in her head.

"Take the medicine. It helps." Lily said.

"Wait..." Eleonora said, realizing what Lily had said.

"I also got the procedure, as did Scarlet, Serenity, and Tyler. Sakura refused until you woke up." Lily said.

"But I thought..." Eleonora said.

"That was the plan, but after talking with Ren about it a little more, we decided to get it as well. I just woke up quicker than you did." Lily said.

"What about the others?" Eleonora asked.

"Scarlet and Serenity are still asleep, and Tyler is currently getting the procedure." Lily said.

"I thought we agreed to wait until I got it..." Eleonora said.

"True, but we all wanted to understand what was being said around us, except for Sakura; she was really the only one who stuck with the deal." Lily said.

Eleonora was upset that it seemed nobody stuck with the deal she had made with them, but she also understood why, as Ren was their best friend and he had more influence with them than she did.

"Ughh" another voice said in from behind the curtain.

"That would be Scarlet..." Lily said as she grabbed the headache medicine for her as well.

Soon Scarlet, Serenity, and even Tyler, who had just gotten his procedure done, woke up and took care of their headaches, and they were finally able to ask Lucilia the questions they had wanted to know.

"So Lucilia I have a question I've been meaning to ask." Scarlet said before taking a deep breath. "Who is Ren to you?"

That question sent shockwaves to Ren; he hadn't told any of his friends about his and Lucilia's relationship, and of course it was Scarlet who had to ask first.

Scarlet was looking at both of them with inquisitive eyes; she had been wanting to ask them about this but couldn't ask since Ren would shake off her question.

"He's important to me; after all, he will soon be my prince." Lucilia said boldly that Ren would be her prince.

"And here we go..." Ren thought to himself.

Scarlet, Serenity, and Lily jumped up and said loudly "PRINCE?!"

"That's right!" Lucilia said with a devilish smile that she knew exactly what she was doing; she was just confirming how each of the three felt.

Each of them showed anxiety hearing that, which made Lucilia just want to lay her claim even more.

"He and I are to be married when we get back to Volaria." Lucilia said.

Scarlet looked at Ren with tears in her eyes, and she asked "Ren...is that true?"

Ren could also see Lily and Serenity with the same sadness on their faces.

"It is..." Ren said.

He had trouble finding the correct words to use to tell them exactly about the situation, especially Scarlet, Lily, and Serenity, who didn't know anything about the situation.

Scarlet, Lily, and Serenity all looked at each other, almost as if they were speaking to each other without using words.

Then the three looked at both Ren and Lucilia with determined looks on their faces.

"We don't accept this." Scarlet said.

"We?" Ren thought to himself.

"Explain..." Lucilia said, looking at the three girls.

"Exactly as we said, we don't accept this." Serenity said. "If anyone is going to marry Ren, it will be one of us."

"What...the hell...is happening..." Ren thought to himself.

"I already asked Ren to marry me, and he agreed. I don't understand how you expect to deny our marriage." Lucilia said as she was confused.

Scarlet angerily got up and said "Because you barely even know him, me and Lily grew up with him. We have more of a right than anyone else."

"Right?" Lucilia asked.

"We both care about him; we won't let some alien princess take him away from us." Scarlet said.

Scarlet, Lily, and Serenity argued with Lucilia about what would happen now. Lucilia stood her ground against the three and didn't budge an inch regarding her and Ren's marriage.

Ren eventually just convinced everyone to leave the room and cool their heads. He knew it wouldn't be easy to tell them about the marriage, but he also didn't expect Scarlet and the girls to take such a stand against the idea.

He had hoped that they would've been supportive of it, but that wasn't the case; they cared strongly about this, which could only mean one thing.

"They feel the same way...don't they?" Ren thought to himself.

He figured that Scarlet, Lily, and Serenity also held strong feelings for him, but they struggled with revealing how each of them truly felt until just now, when they felt the pressure that Lucilia had.

As Ren was walking down the hallway, still thinking about everything, he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around and saw that it was Sthora behind me.

She overheard the argument the girls had and wanted to check up on Ren.

"Are you okay, Ren?" Sthora asked.

"Yeah, just...a lot to think about right now, but what about you, Sthora? What are you up to?" Ren asked.

"I've been studying how to act with the people from Lucilia's planet; some of the maids have been teaching all of us from the village, and they are even weaving new clothes for us." Sthora explained.

"Really?" Ren asked "I wouldn't mind seeing you guys in your new clothes."

Sthora blushed hearing this and said "Maybe we'll show you first, depending on if they come out okay."

"I'd like that, Sthora." Ren said it with a smile.

He and Sthora walked and talked a little before Sthora left to handle some business with the villagers on the ship, leaving Ren alone and looking at the stars in a hallway.

He had to think about how exactly he felt about the girls right now. He knew he was attracted to all of them—Scarlet, Lily, and Serenity—but was what he felt truly love? He had trouble identifying what kind of love he felt for each of them.

That's when he felt someone wrap their arms around his chest and hold him tightly.

Ren turned around and immediately saw the red-haired beauty he had grown up with.

"Scarlet...are you okay?" Ren asked as he looked at Scarlet, who had her face now buried in his chest.

"No..." Scarlet said "I just got you back, and now I might lose you again."

Ren put his arms around Scarlet and said "Scarlet, no matter what, you won't ever lose me. You are someone who I care about no matter what happens regarding me and Lucilia."

"That's not good enough!" Scarlet said.

Scarlet looked up into Ren's green eyes and said, with all of her emotions coming out "I love you, Ren... I always have; I just haven't been able to say it. Those nights where you would stay at my house and we'd stay up late watching movies or playing games—those are some of my best memories of my life. I wanted to stay with you...always. Then, when you got captured and I thought you were... It broke me. Every night I wanted nothing more than to see you again, but I was faced with the fact that you may never come back... I couldn't handle it, and when we are finally reunited, I find out you are going to be married to someone you barely even know? How could I not be this upset?"

"Scarlet I..." Ren tried to say before being interrupted.

"I refuse to lose you again...especially to her... I won't let it happen." Scarlet said.

Scarlet grabbed the back of Ren's head and pulled it towards her as she met his lips with her own, kissing him passionately, letting all the emotions she had held close to her heart out in the kiss.

Once she separated from him, she once again looked at him with tears coming down her cheeks and smiled at him, saying.

"I love you, Ren..."

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