Chapter Twenty Three: Neat Idea

"And how exactly did you get into the princess' room? Weren't you just in your room now?" Aurora questioned with a confused expression on her face.

"Oh, I came out just a few minutes ago, I heard you wanted to bring my door down." He expressed before slowly moving past her. "Anyway, Erina told me you were all gathered so I decided to come see what the occasion was."

"So, you were eavesdropping on us," Alvis concluded.

"Umm, yeah." He replied with a nod. "It looked like whatever you guys were doing, you didn't want me to be a part of so I just listened."

"But still, this doesn't make any sense," John remarked before shaking his head.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Alvis added with a nod.

They all had the same line of thoughts but they had to leave the questions to Michael.

"How exactly did you get to the princess' room fast enough to take the tiara and come back here?"

He was just as baffled as everyone else in the room.

"How? I ran there of course, is there supposed to be any other way?"

"We were just preparing to go steal that as a team and you've already been there and back with the tiara?"

John just couldn't phantom how possible this was, he still believed that there had to be a catch somewhere.

"Are you sure that's the real tiara?" Krayan asked, this was the first time he was speaking since Devon walked into the room.

Arguably the most skilled among his peers at the orphanage, he had black eyes that looked at almost everything in distaste.

Facially speaking, he looked better than the other boys in the group with a nice pointed nose and lips that matched his face well but maybe there was an argument for Devon.

He also had long hair that covered a part of the left side of his face and even his left eye but he liked it that way because that was the representation of how he felt most of the time.

"Yeah, most of it is made of real gold just as described," Michael replied as he slowly rubbed his hand across the surface of the item.

As soon as Krayan got that response, he quickly shot a gaze at Devon, and as soon as the two made eye contact, he slowly shifted his gaze away.

"I think you all should stop worrying about if it's fake or how I was able to get it." Devon expressed before he slowly turned and began to make his way to the exit. "Just be happy that I was able to save you the trouble of having to go there as a team. And also, Uncle, I hope I can get a share from the sale."

"Sorry, but you're not getting anything." Michael asserted.

"Hmm, I see, I'll be in my room then." He replied before slowly leaving through the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Aurora yelled before quickly rushing after before he could get far.

Devon heard her coming from behind and he knew she was about to get physical.

"Hey, just where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, dear."

She pushed him against the wall and tried to pin him there but he was fast enough to evade her grip at just the right time, and with just a little twist, she ended up being the one pinned against the wall but he was well aware that he didn't have enough strength to hold her down for long.

"What do you want this time?" He asked before letting out a sigh.

His face was quite close to hers to the extent that he could hear her breathing which had gotten a little bit fast-paced now.

"Just where the heck were you last night?" She snarled before attempting to pull both of her hands free but Devon still had enough strength to put up with her for a few more seconds.

"I believe my uncle, Emilia, and Erina already explained it to you because I know you like to hear everyone's side of the story so I won't bother doing so."

"You won't bother doing so?" She retorted before suddenly bursting out with a chuckle.

Now Devon knew he was in trouble because she had just started gathering strength in her arms.

'Oh, dear.'

"Umm…what are you two doing?"

The two quickly turned their gaze to the side where the voice came from to see Erina standing there with a book in her hand.

Aurora had to quickly relax her arms as Devon slowly let go of her.

"Oh, hi, Eri…."

He wasn't able to finish that statement as he suddenly felt the impact of a punch just on his cheek forcing him to stagger to the other side of the hallway with his hand now on his jaw.

"Owww, you could have at least given me a heads up."

"Just pull a stunt like the one you did last night again and you will be getting more than a punch from me." She declared before quickly making her way out of the area.

Erina just stood there until she was finally out of sight before deciding to make her way to Devon who was sitting on the floor now with his back against the wall.

"Sorry." She muttered after squatting down beside him.

"I'll get her back for this." He mumbled with his hand still on his jaw.

_______ _______

What happened tonight was quite a surprise to everyone who knew about it, who knew Devon could infiltrate the castle and take something that precious without getting caught, and all it took him to do was just minutes while Michael was preparing a team.

While some of them like Krayan were sort of unhappy because he wanted to take care of it, someone like Alvin was glad that it happened.

He would have been out there trying to not get caught now if that wasn't.

Now, he could use this time to work on more smoke bombs before going to bed, he had not properly introduced it to the team yet, but he was planning to do so soon.

He was in his room right now working on them when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

As soon as he heard the knock, he let out a sigh before turning his gaze to the door.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Devon."

"Devon? What do you want, are you here to steal more of my smoke bombs?"

"I already apologized for that," Devon replied before letting out a sigh. "I'm not here to take your smoke bombs, at least that wasn't my reason for coming here, I just want to make a proposition to you."

"What sort of proposition?"

"Let me in and I'll tell you."

"Alright, come inside, the door is open."

"Huh?" He replied before pushing the door open to see that it was really open. "Honestly, I would have just walked in if I knew that was open."

"And that's one of the reasons why you're not always welcome in my room."

"That's the same for everyone else's room apart from Emilia and sometimes Erina." He remarked as he slowly made his way to him.

"Hey, don't come any closer." Alvis asserted just before he could get to his table.

"Okay," Devon responded before taking a step back.

"So, what is your proposition?"

"Umm, I was lying on my bed when this crazy idea came to me."

"Okay, and what is the idea?"

"Umm, how do you see mixing pepper with a little bit of oil and water, and then putting it inside something that can spray it on someone really fast? You know so that when you're in tough situations you can just spray some pepper on their face and escape."

"Wow, that's a very neat idea, Devon," Alvis remarked.

When he heard him say he had a proposition, he was never expecting something this good, this was something he should have thought about a long time ago.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, and we'll call it..."

"Pepper spray." They said in unison.