Chapter 37

The summer heat was slowly dying down and the air grew chillier. Trees in different shades of green gradually shifted into red-orange-yellow tones signalling autumn was arriving.

Aeliana was dressed in a mint-coloured jumper dress paired with matching coloured shoes. In her hair were two ribbons at the side of her head, just above the ears. Her family was having a small celebratory dinner for Leon as he had received an acceptance letter from the academy not too long ago.

"Let's go now, my lady." Flora spoke to her.

She nodded and followed Flora to the dining hall where everyone else was at. When she arrived, she took a seat beside her father. 

"Now that everyone is here, let's have dinner." Cassian said with a wide smile on his face.

The servants began placing plates of food onto the table and Aeliana could see it was slightly different than the usual meals as this meal was fancier.

"I had the chefs make your favourite food, Leon." Cassian said.

Leon nodded and shot his father a small smile, "Thank you father though today's meals weren't necessary."

Cassian shook his head, "You worked hard on studying and getting into the academy, of course, it calls for a celebration."

"I see..thank you for this then, father."

The conversation ended just like that and everyone began eating. Aeliana felt like the way Leon spoke to their father was stiff and very formal however when she glanced at her father, it seems like that's the way they converse as her father didn't seem fazed by it.

"Brother Leon, does that mean you will be leaving?" Darius questioned.

Leon nodded, "Yes, I'll be leaving in two weeks so I have to prepare everything before that."

"Oh..you're leaving?" Marius muttered, his eyes cast downwards.

"I will be back during the breaks and holidays."

"Really? So can you still spar with me when you come back?" Marius asked, his eyes shining brightly.

"Of course."

Hearing Leon's answer, Marius no longer looked sad and continued eating his meal. Aeliana's eyes shifted over to Leon who had a straight posture and a blank expression on his face. She could hear Madam's voice in her head telling her how excellent Leon's posture and dinner etiquette skills are.

Suddenly he made eye contact with her. A bit caught off guard, she hurriedly looked away and shoved some food into her mouth.

She didn't notice that Leon's eyes were still on her until the very end. As the celebratory dinner came to an end, Aeliana decided to head to the library to grab a book to read for the night.

She looked through different bookshelves before deciding to settle on an animal book. Satisfied, she headed back to her room. As she reached out to open the door to leave the library, it swung open, startling her.

She took a step back, not expecting the door to open abruptly. Gazing upwards, she and Leon made eye contact, both frozen on the spot as neither of them expected to bump into one other.

"Why are you still awake?" Leon first spoke, raising an eyebrow at her.

Aeliana held out the book and replied, "I was looking for a book to read."

He read the title of the book and glanced back at her. 

"An animal book?"

"That's right, what's wrong with that?" she held a defensive pose as she spoke.

Leon shook his head, "There's nothing wrong with that."

"But are you sure you want to read that one?" he added on.

She raised her eyebrow. What's wrong with the book she's holding? It was obviously just an animal book.

Leon noticed her expression and cleared his throat.

"Never mind, go back to your room."

"Okay,"

'I was already planning to.'

As she walked past him, she heard him speak again.

"...Good night."

Aeliana turned around and waved, "Good night." she said in return and left.

Leon closed the door to the library and sighed. He wondered if she realised that book she was holding needed a higher level of understanding of the imperial language. A small smile unconsciously crept onto his lips as he thought of what her reaction would be once she opened the book.

"Young master Leon, you seem to be in a good mood tonight," Loran said, letting a small yawn escape.

The realisation set in and immediately wiped the smile off his face. He glanced at the librarian and walked further into the library, acting as if it didn't happen. Loran chuckled and didn't press on further.

***

Aeliana sunk into her bed, getting comfortable before flipping to the first page of the book she had taken from the library. Not long later, she closed the book shut and placed it aside on her bedside table.

"...Crap. This is hard to understand."

The next day, Aeliana returned back to the library. Leon was there early, reading his own books.

"Hello my lady," Loran greeted with a warm smile.

"Hello Loran, I came to return this book." Aeliana greeted back and handed the book over the counter.

Loran glanced at it and nodded, "Ah the book you borrowed yesterday? My, did you finish the book already?"

Aeliana glanced away with embarrassment and shook her head, "No…I couldn't understand it well so I couldn't finish it."

She heard a soft laughter and turned to the source of it. Leon cleared his throat and continued reading. She glared at him before looking away. She realised he knew about this book hence the reaction she got from him last night. After Loran took the book, she left to find another book. As she made one more eye contact with Leon, she let out a 'hmph' and walked away.

Leon found it amusing and shook his head. As he continued flipping through his book, he stopped at a new chapter and took a mental note of the page number before closing it shut, and placing it down on the table. He quietly got up from his seat and carefully walked to the shelves where Aeliana was.

He watched as she squinted her big eyes and tilted her head to an angle to read the book titles. She muttered the words to herself, trying to read and understand what the whole sentence meant. 

"Wa…water pail? No is it waterfall? Waterpit? Water..waterhell?"

Leon nearly blew his cover upon hearing her struggle to understand the words then he paused. Why was he even hiding and keeping his cover to not be blown? He took a step back and ruffled his neat hair.

He told himself not to get too close to her but he kept looking at her regardless. He wanted to see wha she was doing and understand what was she thinking about. He shook his head, deciding to just head back to the table where he left his book on.

"Leon?"

He stopped mid-walking and turned around, finding Aeliana standing there looking at him with a book in her hands. He always wondered how she could hold such a thick book with those tiny hands without it falling to the floor.

He felt an irk in him every time he heard her call him by his name without any honorifics. He felt stupid feeling that way since he was the one who had told her not to call him brother. 

"...What is it?" he spoke, ignoring the annoyed feeling.

"Are you looking for a book too?" she questioned.

Leon met her gaze before looking away, "Yes, I'm looking around for a few books to bring to the academy."

She nodded at his words, "I see, then I will continue looking around here. I hope you can find the books you want."

She didn't stay any longer and moved to another shelf. Leon dumbfoundedly stood there. What was he trying to do just now? He found himself being a fool and shook his head.

He had to be the perfect unflawed heir to this family. He shouldn't be wasting his time trying to build relationships that weren't beneficial to him. Everything needed to go smoothly so that him and his family could live a good life continuously.

But he couldn't help but silently look over at Aeliana. Maybe it's the promise he made with his mother or maybe it was just him wanting to make a connection with his sister. He didn't know but he knew if he didn't stop whatever he was doing right now, he might step over the line he made for himself.

'Don't. Just look from afar.' he told himself repeatedly until it was time for him to go to the academy.