86 Jealousy

That group of gangsters must've seen that I was distracted by Asu's brilliance and took it as an opportunity to slip away.

And in a way, this development was beneficial to me too because now, Asu wouldn't be suspicious as to why such tough looking guys were so frightened of me, a meek girl who did not try to even defend herself.

However, I couldn't be sure that that was all it took to preserve my image of innocence. I turned my attention to Asu, who had shaken off her daze and now stood beside me with her fingers intertwined with mine. "Lance, why don't we go play some chess?"

She grinned smugly.

"C-Chess?" I stammered, trying to control my voice from revealing my thoughts.

Alas. I guess I was still too obvious.

The beautiful blonde girl seemed ignorant to what had transpired, and even though I wanted to laugh the incident off and praise Asu for her brilliance, I could not find it within me to simply forget about what had happened.

If Asu had returned a bit earlier, and the festival was a bit less crowded with less noise, perhaps she would've found out the scary sides of me that I desperately wanted to hide from her.

I looked down into her sapphire orbs with guilt.

Oblivious to the meaning behind my gaze, Asu punched her fist into the air while exclaiming cheerfully, "Everything's good now! You don't need to worry, Lance! I got you! I'll save you!"

"Pfft." I held back my laughter. I continued to look at her springing silhouette as she led me to an area where several commoners were playing chess.

I suppose I should just throw my worries to the back of my head for now—there's no use in incessant worrying anyway.

Just enjoy this date with Asu; that's my goal for tonight.

To be honest, I have never played nor learned to play chess; I had never even heard of its existence before my studies on the festival culture of Loen. Even then, it was only a brief mention, and I had not been in the mood to learn another game after all the other seventy-eight commoner games I did learn in the hours before.

As a result, it was a surprise to know that Asu actually knew how to play it. This also meant that she would have to teach me, and so I silently looked forward to the experience.

But before I could even daydream about that moment, I heard Asu's voice call out affectionately, "Kiddo!"

And to be clear, the person she called out to was not me. Instead, it was a youth dressed in dirty rags, someone that Asu should've never stained her eyes with.

I scrutinized the youth with narrowed eyes. Just which part of him made him worthy of being called 'Kiddo' by Asu? Just how was he worthy of my goddess' grace?

Was he handsome? Is that it?

My eyes narrowed even further. No, it can't be. You can barely see his skin underneath that thick layer of dirt!

But then why would Asu pay attention to someone so lowly like him? Don't tell me, was this her type? Was she not into nobles like Cassian Hall* after all?

VA note: Lmao. He's supposed to be Lancera's half brother that was mentioned earlier on, but I forgot his name and am too lazy to go back and search for him, so I just used the name I think I used before. Do correct me in the paragraph or chapter comments if I'm wrong. I'll change it around 2 weeks later. Lol. Forgive this author's laziness.