Chapter 16

With the time used for their visit to Rowas Island and the battle between Celestine and Lagus, she would without a doubt feel exhausted after the long day. Wilhelm asked Dale to fly a bit more gentler because the lady had fallen asleep.

As they share their small moment. The stars are shining brighter than usual, everything does. They arrived back at his house sooner than expected as if time lapsed itself.

How Wilhelm wished he could use a detour to extend the moment but before he could think of that Dale had already landed at the shored near his house.

Since Celestine was asleep he gently lifted her and carried her, it was quite the distance but he didn't break a sweat. She was defenseless like an infant. How can she trust him so much that he won't do anything funny? The reason behind that is, that she had always observed him whenever she had the chance.

He's a man with self-control and has a strong tolerance against his desires. Wilhelm would not lay his hands on a woman other than his partner, that's what his father taught him, to be the man who could fully devote himself to just one girl.

Even if they were to strip naked in front of him or try to seduce him he wouldn't fall into temptations. It's not a question if this man would ever lay his hands on another woman with such desires he had with Celestine. He wants to cuddle her as she looks incredibly adorable when she's sleeping.

The door closed as he entered his house. He placed her on her bed, covered her with a blanket, and went straight to his study to read some of his books. He was trying to use the books as a distraction for he had yet to shake his physical desires.

"Why am I acting like that? Every time... Every time I'm with her... I just can't help but feel happy... Even though all she ever did was disturb, demand, and annoy me... Damn it, I can't hide my feelings for her forever..."

...

Celestine wakes up near dawn and finds herself inside her room, she guessed that Wilhelm carried her while she was asleep again. With that being the case she went to his room along with her pillow and blanket and slept next to him. Celestine decided to be bolder than she was yesterday.

She doesn't plan to do anything out of the line, she has her self-boundaries to follow, and it was fine to just sleep beside him because she could trust him, i's the man she had fallen to after all.

But well, who could stop her? Not even his father could make her sit still and the only ones who could force her were her mother and Candice but they aren't around so she can do whatever she wants. She wanted to fully enjoy her stay, therefore the idea of sleeping beside him was one of the things she wanted to try.

As she snuck to his bed she was feeling a bit nervous, her heart was thumping. She was finally able to sleep next to him, it was exciting. Her eyes were locked to his sleeping face as her eyes slowly closed themselves and slept.

The most handsome and troublesome to deal with, the man who stole her heart, Wilhelm Degrovia. A man with silken blond hair, deep blue eyes with long eyelashes, his nose has a straight bridge that lacks curves showing an appealing shape, an exquisite visible jawline, and sharp almond eyes, with lips that tempt you to kiss them.

A man with these traits has women flocking around them, it reminded her of her days with him in the academy. Where she would always see women approach him with love letters and chocolates. It was the first time Wilhelm was assigned as an instructor.

It was funny how she used to think that he was just insensitive about not accepting any of those but since she also experienced the same thing it made her sympathize with him. Celestine is one of the most popular lady in the academy and men tend to flock around her.

But the difference was that the ladies stopped their advances to Wilhelm. Not that they wanted to stop but they seemed like they couldn't see him. As if he was someone invisible.

Later then she realized that he was using stealth magic to avoid the crowd. He finds it bothersome being surrounded by people. But why can she see him despite using stealth magic? It is because of her gift. Being blessed with mana allowed her to be more sensitive about the presence of magic.

Some noble students didn't acknowledge the fact that Wilhelm was allowed to teach them. To some, it had their pride flamed and a few were impressed. They all had the same question in mind, how could someone their age be capable of teaching them the complexity of magic?

That thought disappeared when he started his lessons. A young man wearing a calm expression and no signs of being nervous or pressured. His voice was just the right volume for the whole class to hear. He would also teach them the following pages of the book without even taking a glance on his copy. Its as if he knew every detail of the book.

Celestine would always ask him questions and would ask for more, to her surprise Wilhelm could feed her curiousity with brilliant answers and explainations. Wilhelm spent extra time teaching her as she was asking for more. He was easy to talk to as long as you ask him anything about magic.

After a while Celestine volunteered to become his personal student. The getting to know part of the story was the most exciting part. He started showing the parts of himself that he keeps.

Celestine would involve herself to him as much as she could and it made him act out of his usual character, until later on he adapted that attitude whenever she was around. He couldn't blame her for being annoying as it was one way for her to discover his personality more.

Despite showing his stingy side and not wanting to get close to Celestine he would always help her when she needed something. However, it was rare for her to ask for help on anything other than magic theories since she was more capable than her peers.

Celestine had only become aware of her feelings the moment she graduated. She would always seek his presence, to hear his voice, to have a talk with him, and to learn something from him. She was aware of her feelings but Wilhelm even to this day was still unaware of his. Never have it crossed his mind about love. And for him, the way Celestine acts around him is more of a sister than a love interest back in the days.

If she never told him that she liked him then he would still have had the same impression on her. He doesn't understand how other people feel about him until they tell him directly.

...

[ Baking Time... Skip if you're not interested. ]

It was morning and Wilhelm was surprised to see Celestine sleeping next to him, she was drooling. He had the urge to flick her or push her off the bed but seeing how she sleeps made him think otherwise. He decided to leave her as is, letting her enjoy her sleep. He then went downstairs to cook something.

He decided to make a pie. He opened a cookbook and searched for a recipe to make a pie. He first scanned the ingredients if he had everything and he seemed to lack some of them therefore he went to town and used the fastest way possible to buy them, it's by using teleportation.

The instructions were divided into parts for making the pie.

Firstly, it was to make the crust. He combined the flour, salt, and butter in a mixing bowl and gently cut the butter into the flour using sharp knives in a crisscross motion until the butter was small enough.

Slowly drizzle in half a cup of ice water and fold into the mixture with a fork until the dough comes together. He added more water, one tablespoon at a time when the dough was too dry he turned the dough out onto a floured surface and divided it into two balls, and formed each into a disk, and left them for at least twenty-five to thirty minutes.

He combines sweet berries by cutting them into pieces with granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and lemon juice in a large bowl.

By following the instructions he prepared the bottom crust and preheated the oven.

He then rolls out one disk of dough on a floured surface into a twelve-inch circle. He rolled the dough onto the rolling pin, then carefully unrolled it over a nine-inch pie plate and gently pressed the dough into the plate with his fingers. Add the added the filling.

The next step was to make the lattice. Wilhelm rolled out the remaining disk of dough into a round. With a sharp knife, he cuts it into an inch-wide strip. He then lays about half of the strips on the pie in one direction, about half an inch apart, and folds back every other strip halfway.

The book says to lay a strip perpendicular to the first ones. Unfold the strips back over the new strip, then fold alternate strips back halfway and add another perpendicular strip; unfold the strips back over it.

Repeating that process to form a lattice. Pinch the overhanging top and bottom crusts together, trimming as needed, then fold the dough under itself and crimp with your fingers.

It was finally the baking part. Using his fingers, he pats the lattice tops with milk and sprinkles with sugar. He puts the pie on a baking sheet, places it in the preheated oven, and bakes it for twenty minutes he then reduces the oven temperature and bakes until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

While he was waiting for the pie he prepared for the drinks. He used Burr Berries, squashed them, and poured it into the glass. Burr Berries are only found in clean areas, it's shape is appearance is similar to strawberries, and it has pink nude color and white random polka dots all over them.

It tastes like sweet milk and is highly nutritious but are hard to come by. By placing a butterfly-shaped ice he created in the paired glass, the drinks had colden.

[ Until Here... ]

The moment the pie was cooked, he got it out of the oven and was still hot. He cooled it off until it was just about the right temperature for eating and placed it on a wooden tray along with the drinks. After that, he cleaned the tools he used and threw away some of his waste in the garbage bin. Inside the bin was a slime monster that ate the waste.

It dissolves it into its body and it grows in size. When it was uncontainable inside the bin he cut off the sum of its body until it was the size of his palm. He threw out the other parts outside his yard where the plants he was growing would consume it as a fertilizer.

It was about time when Celestine was about to wake up, for some reason he could tell whenever she wakes up. He climbs upstairs with the tray in his hand. A certain gut feeling he had.

Celestine stretched her body and heard the door opening.

"Good morning..." She greeted him with half-opened eyes and a short smile accompanied by a yawn at the end.

"You got the nerve to sleep on my bed... What if I do anything funny?"

"As if you could do something funny. I bet you couldn't" She said with a sleepy tone.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm confident that you won't... Oh? Have you perhaps tried to do anything funny when I was asleep?" He looked away,

"Wait, What did you do? Did you--"

"No, I didn't do anything funny while you were sleeping last night!"

Last night surely he didn't but the other night he did. Kissing her hair would be counted as something funny if ever she brought that up but it was nothing malicious and it gave her butterflies and because of that Celestine is assured that Wilhelm sees her as a woman.

"Can you not? It's still so early can you spare me with the teasing?"

"You're no fun, but sure. Is that breakfast on your hands?"

"I baked a pie." He placed the tray on the table, "And Burr Berry drink"

"Why'd you bring that in your room? You'd usually eat it downstairs."

His face was a bit pinkish, he didn't want to tell her that he wanted to surprise her but now that he thought of it why did he? It made him think and still couldn't find the answer, "Because I just feel like it"

"Maybe I should visit more often... I never would have thought that you would treat guests this way"

She was teasing him, knowing too well that he doesn't have that many guests that come often, his house is far and his identity was kept hidden, and even if there were guests he wouldn't personally cook for them, which is why it makes her smile when she thinks of it.

'Aren't I special? Can't you just be honest with yourself? But oh well, this side of him is cute. Sometimes he gives me the idea of hugging him like a stuffed toy' That is what she was thinking.

"I could just send you back home this very instant if you want. You can have breakfast there." He fought back, she giggled.

"No thank you, and don't you dare transport me without my consent, or else I'd come back here the very next day"

"I don't think you can travel here from Meltiz just for a day"

"Then the following days."

"What if I decided to flee because I don't want you to nag?"

Celestine gave him a sharp look and said, "Where?"

"Why would I tell? I'm going to flee right?"

"Oh you better keep the crystal with you if--"

"I won't be using it"

"Is that so?"

"Yes"

Celestine started acting grumpy, after seeing that she didn't plan on getting off the bed Wilhelm carried the tray and placed the food on top of the bed this time.

"I'm not hungry." A sharp reply. Wilhelm started to get worried, he went to all the trouble to prepare her breakfast and she refused it. And now he doesn't know how to make things okay. Celestine on the other hand was trying her hardest to keep the attitude up.

If ever Wilhelm decided to flee and wouldn't tell her his location it would take her a lifetime's worth of searching for him and she didn't like it when he told her that. The only way of communication was through the crystal but if he doesn't use it she won't get a way of finding him.

If he says goodbye there's no way in hell she could ever talk to him and she's scared if he did. Maybe one day he'll finally get tired of her. But that would be a very petty.

Wilhelm raised the tray and planned to eat downstairs. It was making him feel bad because of what he did. He could've just kept his mouth quiet to not make her angry.

The only problem he has is that he won't force you to receive something from him. If you refuse what he offers you then it's your choice and he would respect your decision of refusing him.

"Wait...! I-i'm... I'm hungry..." She told him, she wanted to tell her she was sorry but it was a bit difficult to say. Worried that he might actually send her back and flee. She missed the part that the problem is not enough reason for him to not show himself.

She held the spoon, took a piece of the sliced pie, and ate it. She was pouting and was about to cry. Her mood felt like she was sulking.

"I'm sorry..." She finally apologized to him after a few more bites as she filled her mouth. Wilhelm scratched his head and said,

"Don't talk when your mouth is full... be more tactful of your manners will you?" He also took a bite using a separate spoon. It was too much for two people.

The pie tasted amazing and the drink was out of the world. She wanted to give out a compliment but she was feeling hesitant. It was obviously her fault, to begin with.

Sneaking inside his room, sleeping beside him, and how she acted all bossy. She's not even his wife, and they're not in a romantic relationship (yet), what gives her the right to boss him around or demand from him?

He's someone powerful and has a strong and wide influence. He can easily pull any woman that he desired if he wanted to. She knows it too well, even if she's a princess from a kingdom there are other princesses, and a lot of them are better than her, in terms of looks and personality. She can't help but feel a bit discouraged.

Wilhelm sighed as he saw the look in her eyes, "Just... Keep the teasing to a minimum... Especially during the morning... And at least be thankful for the meal I prepared..." He told her as he looked away. He also doesn't like it when she starts to keep an attitude, he doesn't know how to deal with it. Her reactions are unpredictable.

The last time she sulked it was easily solved by food but now that he offered her food she'd refuse it. It's becoming more difficult to understand her but for some reason he finds himself trying his best to try and figure her out.

That brightened the mood, he was not mad at her but he just didn't like it when Celestine teased him, he didn't know how to properly react, or was he even reacting the way she wanted him to? But now that she knows that the reason why he fought back was because she was teasing him during the morning.

He didn't mention the part, about her sleeping in his room or completely stop teasing him, he only said about the part 'during the morning'. She was hiding her smile.

The man obviously liked the idea of them sleeping on the same bed together, he didn't carry her back to her bed when she found him lying on his bed. Celestine would like to try that sometime but it's the last day of her staying at his house and she'll be returning home by the evening.