Chapter 14 - Love Asleep

"Woah…" Shocked, surprised, amazed, awe; an indescribable emotion welled up inside the hearts of many as a group of children stared at the grandeur manor belonging to Dolian's family like a mansion ripped out of a fairytale and plastered into reality.

Who wouldn't feel stupefied by the sight? Even though Dolian doesn't say it or flaunt it, he was ridiculously rich. Even if he were to be jobless in the future, he can live off of his family's fortune for multiple lifetimes!

"Life would be so pleasant if our family were as rich as them." Someone commented as they couldn't but daydream.

"That's true." Another one nodded their head.

"But, I really can't bring myself to be envious."

"Hmm? Same!"

"Right? Just thinking about the legendary deeds of those two is making my blood boil!"

"They help calm down the suicidal villain Big Boy and stopped him from leveling an entire city. They also made numerous villains reform and become many of the pro-heroes in our country! If not for them, we wouldn't be living the lives we have right now!"

"And those two legends' son is our classmate! But…" They paused and shook their head," Dolian totally deserves to lavish a bit. Did you know that he even works part-time in a cafe? He really should relax a bit and give more focus to his studies and training!"

"No, he should spend more time resting instead! He's already spending way too much time trying to become better. I already feel pressured to work harder these past two weeks because of him."

"Hehe, I guess that's true. Maybe if I worked as hard as him, then I might have a chance of becoming as strong as them."

"There's no way you can be as strong as them. Those three worked hard since they were young, and they also have talent! Unlike you, or us, we just pale in comparison in terms of effort and hard work."

"Sigh, I hate to admit it, but that's correct."

While they contemplated their life, wondering just how different their story could have unfolded if they were a bit more talented or a bit more hardworking, they followed the group as a man with gray hair and shadowy black eyes guided them inside the house.

The man wore an outfit similar to a traditional butler; a white shirt, black vest, and black pants. He accompanied the group of children inside and toured them around the manor when all of a sudden, they heard a cordial voice shout, "You guys are all here!"

The group turned their eyes around and saw a young boy with black hair and golden eyes walk down a flight of stairs. Perched on his shoulder was a blue owl that stared at them with its golden eyes full of human-like curiosity.

"Are they your friends, Master?" The owl asked all of a sudden, shocking the group as if they have witnessed a miracle.

"D-Did that owl just speak?"

"Is that a human who became an owl?!"

Many came up with strange theories at that moment when all of a sudden, the owl flapped its wings and gracefully landed on Aleksandra's forearm.

"Good evening, Madam Aleksandra." The owl ruffled its feathers and said with its sage-like voice.

Chuckling softly, Aleksandra greeted the old owl with a grin, "You've gotten a bit bigger compared to before, Mister Stolas."

Just as the owl felt it was struck by an arrow by her words, Alastor popped up from the side and stared curiously at the owl, "Is that really a normal owl?"

"Yeah! I've never seen a talking owl before!"

"Of course, you would have never seen a talking owl before, they're straight out of a fantasy!"

"But there's a talking owl in front of us right now!"

"I=I guess you're right."

Dolian clapped his hands, capturing the attention of everyone else as he skilfully grabbed their focus, "Hehehe, before all of that, we should have dinner first! My family's chefs worked especially hard today to give you all a pleasant experience!"

"Oh wow!"

"You didn't have to be so extravagant, Dolian!"

"Yeah! We could have just ordered with MealBear and not troubled your family like this."

Dolian wore a grateful smile and said, "Thank you for your concerns, everyone, but you don't need to worry! Everyone in the manor did this out of their own accord and wanted to give you all a joyful time."

"Yeah, Dolian's family is like that," Aleksandra added to ease the shyness of everyone else.

"Why are you all so embarrassed anyway? If they're giving it for free, then just take it!" Alastor snorted.

"If you say so…"

…

An hour passed and a group of children huddled around a wide, empty room.

"What room is this for? Why is it so large yet empty?"

"This is actually one of our storage rooms, but we don't have that much stuff to store away. We even donate the stuff we find needless to charity organizations because it's more helpful that way than just accumulating dust inside our house." Dolian helped the others place down the array of futons on the ground along with the pillows for his friends.

"Is that so?"

The person who asked then observed the room along with a few other curious lads, and Dolian chatted with a few others as a joyous atmosphere can be felt inside the large room.

Even if the room was quite large, having a group of twenty children inside it gave it a lively air to it.

As they did so, Aleksandra's eyes wondered when she abruptly noticed Dolian sitting in the corner of the room, leaning his back on the wall while fiddling with the holographic tablet in his hand.

Deciding to take this opportunity to perhaps make further progress in their relationship, Aleksandra quietly walked up to him and sat down beside him.

"Oh! Good evening." Dolian smiled at her presence and fiddled with the holographic tablet in his hand.

"What are you doing right now?" She asked and stared at the holopen with interest.

Dolian rubbed his eyes for a bit and said, "I'm just making sure that everyone is okay. It's my first time having so many people over, so I'm doing the extra mile and keeping track of everyone else."

'Sigh, hard-working as always. Even though he doesn't need to do it, he still does it because it's better for everyone else.' Aleksandra chuckled and suddenly leaned her head on Dolian's shoulder, much to his surprise, "You're a lot like your father, you know that?"

"Hmm? You never usually do this, just so you know." Dolian pointed out the obvious abnormality wherein Aleksandra leaned on him as he scribbled on the holographic projection in front of him with seriousness in his eyes.

Aleksandra laughed at his words, "Can't someone act a bit abnormal from time to time? And you should really work with your bluntness, you know."

"Although…" she paused, and her eyes seemed to space out. She then whispered softly, "… I'm in a bit of a daze right now."

"Really?" Dolian looked up from his tablet and stared at Aleksandra with surprised eyes, "I can placate your mind if you want to. While it's not the best solution, it's still a great solution to ease anxiety and worry"

"You don't need to. It's just… I feel like you're becoming more distant from me, I guess." She closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders.

"I guess that's true…" Dolian agreed with her feelings, "I must have been too busy with others that I didn't have more time to spend time with you."

The two fell silent, and they didn't mind it. Dolian moved his gaze back to his tablet, silently scribbled down on his list, and enjoyed the presence of the other amidst the ruckus and chaos in the room in the comforting silence between them.

…

In another corner of the room, Alastor was fixing his stuff inside his bag when his eyes landed on the duo, and he felt estranged as a thought came to mind, "Huh… He really is stupid."

After knowing Dolian for two weeks, everyone in the class somewhat already knew of Aleksandra's true feelings. Many consciously tried their best to not disturb the two to help Aleksandra make progress with the oblivious Dolian.

"Maybe I should punch some sense into him if this stays the same for too long." Alastor squinted his eyes when all of a sudden, a pillow flew straight at his face.

'Huh?' He stared at the pillow as it landed right on his lap, and turned his face towards the one who threw it at him.

"Hahaha!" The group of rowdy classmates burst out laughing as they hurriedly ran away, holding their own pillows.

"You! Come here!" Alastor stood up with vigor and ran after them, holding the pillow tightly with one of his hands.

As Alastor ran, he felt a pillow shooting right at him from behind and stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding it from landing at him.

Then with bloodlust in his eyes, he planted his foot firmly on the ground, rotated his waist and torso, and hurled the pillow to the girl behind him. "DIE!"

Puck!

The girl met the pillow with her face and landed on the ground right on her butt. "Ouch!"

"Oof."

"Damn! Alastor is ruthless!"

"I don't care if you're a girl or a boy, all of you are going to die tonight!" Alastor shouted with a maniacal grin and started his hunt once more.

Dolian stared at the supernatural group of children playing a normal game of pillow fight with a slight grin on his face, but inside his mind, he wore an apathetic gaze. He sat on his golden throne, unmoving like a stone statue.

The screen in front of him then turned to the side, focusing itself on the young girl with a head full of golden hair that leaned on his shoulder. He asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"It seems like you're going through a lot right now."

"Yes, I'm fine." Aleksandra sighed, "Though I do wonder about the future for a bit."

'Like, when I am going to confess to you.' She added inside her heart and, with a bit of moving around, rested her head on Dolian's lap instead of his shoulder.

"The future…" Dolian paused and retracted his gaze away from the hologram to his classmates playing in front of him.

The usual subtle smile on his face slowly withered away and his face turned serious, "I do wonder if my ambitions would come to fruition."

"Even if we try our hardest, sometimes fate would just prevent us from grasping our own destiny." Dolian's voice turned more and more ominous, but Aleksandra remained ignorant of the sudden change.

"Aleks, do you mind answering a question?" Dolian whispered as a hint of a smile grew upon his face.

"Sure…" Aleksandra replied with a yawn.

"If you were given the chance, just the slightest bit of hope and the tiniest ray of light, to grasp your own fate and write your own destiny, would you be willing to do everything in your power to achieve it?" Dolian's golden eyes squinted as he gazed at the others in the room that, one by one, yawned as if a chemical reaction has occurred and they were the molecules swept along by the tide of yawning.

"Controlling your own fate?" Aleksandra paused and blinked her eyes, with each blink turning longer and deeper, "Even if I were given that chance, I wouldn't sacrifice others for it. That's something only a villain would do."

"A villain, huh…" Dolian's golden eyes slowly turned darker like gateways to the abyss.

"I suppose in a normal story, the villain would do everything and sacrifice countless others to achieve what they want but then gets stopped by the hero and everyone lives happily ever after." His soothing voice made Aleksandra's already drowsy state turn more lethargic as she struggled to remain awake.

'But alas, in this story…'

Dolian then smirked and leaned forward. As the light from her eyes slowly disappeared as her eyelids felt heavier than mountains, she felt a pair of soft lips land on her forehead and a lovely voice whispered, "Good night, Aleks."

'In this story, I'll make sure that I'll be the one who will succeed in the end.'

Dolian turned his eyes to the group of students that has already fallen asleep. They were scattered all around the room in a haphazard manner. Some slept with their stomach facing the ground with a pillow over their heads, while others slept hugging each other while blankets were scattered around their bodies.

For others, it was simply a normal sight of children falling asleep after being exhausted from playing with each other. But in a world where gods roam, simple things may not be as simple as they seem.

Dolian retracted his lips from Aleksandra's forehead and played with her golden hair. His eyes were one of affection and care, like staring at a priceless jewel or an angel fallen from the sky.

And in those moments, he whispered to her ear with his voice similar to a tranquil lake, pushing her asleep mind into the deeper boundaries of the ocean, "From now on, your love for Dolian has reached the point where you're willing to sacrifice your life for him."

AN: This chapter has 2233 words.

FLAG?! IS THAT A FLAG?! Is that a big bad death flag right there? I hope you guys don't have any funny ideas with romance because let me tell you, the closest we'll ever get to possibly having love in this story is with the concept of "self."

On the topic of love, did you know that your author already got rejected? Yes, I did the usual "I LIKE YOU! WILL YOU PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!" bullcrap and got turned down.

Ha! Looking back, it was funny as hell at how emotions warp our minds and rationale, you know? But that brought some juicy character development for yours truly so the rejection was a net positive for me overall. I mean, who would want two red flags being together, am I right?

(March 31, 2023 - 491st day of writing)