20 Denial is the Enemy

Emilia walks over to Dietrich's tent to wait for his return. She wants to train more but it's obvious that he has other things in mind to replace normal training so she wants to at least get permission to go hunting. While waiting she looked around the tent, at some point Dietrich had brought in an air mattress. "I guess lying on blankets on the ground like the rest of us wasn't good enough for a prince." She chuckles to herself.

Dietrich enters the tent and laughs when he spots Emilia patiently waiting for him. "Couldn't resist me after all?" He asks with a lifted eyebrow in her direction. She rolls her eyes. "You wish. I just came over to ask for permission to go hunting." She states. Dietrich removes his shirt and looks around for a replacement. "Well, I guess you can go but I thought you wanted to focus on training as much as possible." He points out. Emilia tries her hardest to look away from his bare chest. "Well I do but it doesn't seem like you're very focused on training me right now. Besides, I need to learn how to hunt properly too." She adds while sneaking a glance in his direction.

Dietrich chuckles softly when he sees her look at him from the corner of his eye. "You say that as if you've never even hunted before coming here." He says nonchalantly, not realizing he hit the nail on the head. "That's because I wasn't allowed to hunt before. I was only permitted to watch because my broth-... The Snows didn't want to risk me getting hurt." She says. Dietrich whips around and stares at her. "Are you serious? So wait… is that why you went out by yourself before?" He asks curiously. Emilia nods her head in response, feeling guilty all over again about disappearing the day before.

Dietrich stops to think for a moment but Emilia drags him out of his thoughts when she clears her throat. "Well, can you please put a shirt on? I don't want Paul walking in here and making assumptions again." She says. Dietrich scoffs at her excuses, he already knew that she was struggling to fight off her desires for him. 'Why is she so deep in denial?' He asks himself while putting a shirt on.

Emilia stands up and walks over to Dietrich, startling him. "So? What are we going to do?" She asks him. "D-do? Uh… about w-what?" He stutters. Emilia tilts her head. "Are we going to continue training or am I going hunting?" She asks. Dietrich sighs, "Right, that. You can hunt if you'd like. I need to take care of something." He starts to walk away but she blocks his path. "Take care of something? Do you need some help? Hunting and training can both wait if you need me." She offers naively. "Ha haha, you really are a cruel woman. No, I can take care of this myself, go hunt." He laughs disbelievingly. "What? Uh, okay then." She says and then walks away. 'Jeez, she chooses the worst moments to be clueless.' Dietrich thinks to himself.

Emilia walks out into the clearing in search of Paul and Selene but can't spot them anywhere. She sniffs the air and catches their scents in the direction of Selene's tent. She walks inside and calls out to them. "Selene? Paul? Hey, you guys want to go hunting with me?" She shouts. She hears frantic rustling as Selene's voice responds. "Uh, now isn't a great time! Give us a few minutes and we will be right out." Selene shouts back, her voice sounding out of breath. Emilia tilts her head and walks closer. "You oka-.... Oh my goddess, I'm so sorry!" She shouts and runs out of the tent with a flushed face. How could she forget that Selene and Paul are mates?!

Emilia rushes back into Dietrich's tent to tell him what she just witnessed. "Diet! I just accidentally walked in on Paul and Selene and… OH MY GODDESS, DIETRICH!" She squeals and covers her face. "WHY IS EVERYONE SO HORNY RIGHT NOW?! Put that thing away Dietrich!" She shouts. Dietrich rushes to cover himself up. "Well I'm sorry Emilia! I didn't know you were going to come back here so soon!" He shouts back as he fumbles with his pants. He pauses and realizes that this might be a good opportunity.

"Emilia, look at me." He says mischievously. Emilia shakes her head. "Come on, look at me." He says again but with a more seductive tone. "I don't care how many times you say it or what kind of voice you use to say it. I am not looking until you are dressed." She insists. "Why won't you look at me? It's not like you'll feel anything, remember?" He goads her. Emilia scoffs, "Excuse me? Just because I won't feel anything about it doesn't mean that I want to see your dick!"

Dietrich guffaws at her response. "Come on. Just look at me for a second. I need to confirm something. And I'll drop this whole thing afterwards." Dietrich insists. Emilia can't resist the chance to get Dietrich to back off. She uncovers her eyes and makes eye contact with him. "Satisfied now?" She asks with a slight quiver in her voice. "Not yet." He says while taking a step toward her. Dietrich makes slow steps in Emilia's direction, keeping his eyes trained on hers. All he needed was to know if she was really unaware of her desires or if she was simply denying them.

"D-Dietrich, uh… I think that's close enough." She stutters nervously as her eyes dart toward his lower region. It was only for a split second but Dietrich caught a hint of lust within her silver eyes. She blinks and her eyes go back to empty but it was already too late to cover it up. Dietrich got the answer he was searching for, she was trying to deny her feelings. Not because she didn't understand it but for some other unknown reason.

Emilia steps back, trying to regain control of herself as every instinct was trying to tell her to give in. Her body was showing its betrayal as her underwear moistened and she shivers. The fight between desire and denial was already difficult before, now with her mate at such close proximity and his twitching penis in front of her… the intensity of her internal struggle had increased tenfold. Dietrich looks at her and watches as the emotions in her eyes continuously change.

"Alright, that is enough for now. I understand." He says as he goes to turn away. Emilia catches him off guard again as she stops him from leaving. "I…umm. I don't. It's not what you think. I don't feel anything." She insists. "I know, you don't desire me despite the fact that we're mates, right?" He says as he begins turning away again. "No, I mean. It's not that. I just can't let myself be like Dietrich. I barely know you and I need to focus on returning to my real family." She explains hesitantly. "Emilia, you don't need to explain. I'm sorry for pushing you so much." He says apologetically.

Dietrich turns away and puts his clothes back on. He looks over to Emilia who is still standing in place, her face finally showing her true feelings and the struggle she was going through. She had wanted to ignore her feelings and pretend that nothing was going on, at least until she had her life sorted out. Dietrich's persistent prodding created a new dilemma in her mind. Sure, it was easy to ignore her desire for him when they were just acting as normal friends but now it was like a slap to the face as she was placed into a position that made it nearly impossible to deny the truth and her desires intensified.

Emilia stares blankly as she tries to gather her thoughts and get her emotions back under control. 'What do I do? No, I can't fall for this. I won't fall for this. I feel nothing.' She repeats over and over in her head like a mantra. She takes a deep breath and looks over to Dietrich with renewed determination. "Okay, I'm going hunting now. By myself." She says, leaving no room for argument from him. He opens his mouth to refuse but she walks away before he has the chance to speak.

Emilia walks into the woods and continues walking for an hour. She drops to her knees and screams at the top of her lungs. All the anger and frustration finally overwhelmed her. She ceases her screaming and punches the nearest object, a boulder, with all of her strength, immediately regretting it as she screeches in pain. She looks down at her bloodied fist and laughs at her own stupidity, "Of all the things I could do, I had to hit a stupid fucking boulder. Go figure." She sighs and shrugs off the searing pain as she ventures further into the forest.

Emilia suddenly hears unfamiliar voices speaking nearby so she hides behind a tree and listens in. "Prince Dietrich said they were somewhere around here, didn't he? Did you get us lost again, Vira? How are we supposed to reunite with our sister if we can't even find her camp? " A young hisses in annoyance. "What are you talking about? We aren't lost." A female responds. She pauses to sniff the air and tilts her in the direction of Emilia's hiding spot. "Who's there? You're obviously injured, come out and maybe we can help each other out." The female says gently.

Emilia steps out and looks at the two strangers. Both had black hair and silver eyes, just like her. "Who are you? And how do you know Dietrich?" Emilia growls with suspicion. The male steps forward to speak. "We are Isaac and Vira Rose, from the Southern Kingdom. Who are you?" He growls back. The female, Vira places a hand on her companion's shoulder. "I think it's pretty obvious who she is. You must be Emilia, right? We're your older brother and sister. We've come to take you back home." Vira says happily.