In Denial

"Miss Shirley, is this true?" Aziel asked with a tone as cold as a wintry night. "If so, then why didn't you tell me?"

Hearing his words, a confused expression appeared on Shirley's face.

"Yes, it's true," she confirmed, drawing gasps from the crowd. "I'm not obligated to tell you who I date, am I?"

Aziel gritted his teeth, realizing she was right—she had no obligation to tell him. 

What truly bothered him was how foolish he now felt.

He actually tried wooing the woman of a talented young hero who defeated a Phoenix!

Still, that didn't mean he saw Shye Crowley of the Black Dawn as someone superior to him.

His pride wouldn't let him admit it so easily—not until he witnessed Shye's skills firsthand, which would inevitably happen later when Alexander Aphelion of the Boundless Shadows, the rival he could never defeat, issued his challenge.