Outburst

"All of you, get out of our sight. Now."

The maids and servants stood rooted to the spot in fear. Arlitos's expression turned ugly when nobody listened.

"Get out of my sight, now!" He shouted, behaving completely out of his normal character. They flinched and forgot to even bow before running away.

Arlitos slowly went back to normal after everyone left and turned to look at Ria again, his expression turning gentle as he kneeled down in front of her. "Hey, it's okay now." He coaxed.

Ria was unresponsive. Her gaze was distant as if she was in a completely different place. Fallios retracted his wings and looked at Ria worriedly.

Even the heat around her dissipated like it was never there. That didn't make them relax though.

"Freia?" Arlitos called out, waving his hand in front of Ria's face in confusion. Still, Ria didn't move an inch, her limbs still curled up to her body.

[Ria?] Fallios hesitantly asked as he nudged her side with his nose.

[…] It was as if Ria was frozen in place. Even touching her did nothing to improve her state.

Arlitos pursed his lips as deeply inhaled. "Freia!!" He shouted at her. Suddenly, Ria flinched and finally came back to herself, looking around anxiously.

Fallios circled around her in relief. [Are you okay now?] He asked.

Ria closed her eyes and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. She let out a slow sigh. [Yes] She said and uncurled herself, unsteadily standing up again.

Somehow, Ria could tell Fallios's brows were furrowed, even though he didn't have any. [Don't scare me like that again] He angrily said.

Ria couldn't even get defensive. She knew although Fallios sounded angry, he was actually very worried about her.

Arlitos sighed in relief and stood up. He frowned as he studied Ria. "Will you still be able to follow me to your room?"

Ria sighed and tapped her right foot. Arlitos smiled at her. "I guess that means yes. Let's go then." He said and started slowly walk down the now empty halls, matching her pace.

When maids and servants appeared, he ordered all of them to move away from them in consideration of her.

"Please move. I know you're curious, but these are not zoo animals." Arlitos said as politely as he could. He glanced at Ria with pity.

"I think I can understand why you did that." Arlitos whispered. Like the two of them, he was also a spectacle for others to look at his entire life.

He had gotten used to it by now, but looking at how Ria reacted to it reminded him that he was the abnormal one for being able to tolerate it so easily.

When Arlitos thought of that, he couldn't help but get a little annoyed at all the eyes which were staring at him and the reptile pair.

"Haah. Don't worry, we're almost there." Arlitos sighed and spoke as he turned to walk down another hallway and took out a key.

He inserted it into the door and pushed it open, moving to the size so Ria and Fallios could see.

"This is your room." He said, waving in a semicircular motion. The room was huge. It was a rectangular room, the door was at the smaller side, so you could see the entire room easily.

It had a fresh scent, as if the room was just built. Unlike in Ria's previous two enclosures, the pond was in the center of the room instead of the corner. She guessed it was to preserve the walls.

There were ledges attached to the walls to jump on. It reminded her of a cat ledge. The entire room was filled with sand. But, there was one thing missing. Ria tilted her head and looked at Arlitos in confusion.

"Ehe." Arlitos rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as if he knew what Ria was thinking. "Do you see that hole over there?" He asked, pointing to the hole in the farthest right corner of the room.

He didn't wait for her reaction as he continued. "You see, we couldn't exactly put boulders inside the palace and carve out a cave in time, so we just gave you an extra room to use as a bedroom." He said.

[Ah] Ria nodded in understanding. It seemed they just renovated this place in a mere month. It explained why she felt the air in the room felt so fresh.

And.. another detail she found. There actually were windows, and there was a ramp attached to them so she could climb up and look outside.

Her eyes brightened and she walked over to the ramp, she climbed the ramp to look out the window.

It was a huge courtyard. It was so big, in fact, that she could barely see the trees on the other side. It seemed like they were at the back of the palace.

The glass was at least four fingers thick. She tapped on it with her angular mouth curiously. Her eyes had a glint of admiration in them.

[This glass is thicker than my future] She said, looking at Fallios who just hopped on the ledge of the windowsill with her.

Fallios snorted and pointed with his head outside. [Are those knights or something?] He curiously asked.

Ria looked back out the window and spotted what Fallios was talking about. She didn't notice it at first, but there were indeed people training outside.

They seemed to be running around the track situated in the left of the field, closest to her. She watched them intently, squinting her eyes.

Suddenly, a voice from above her made her flinch. "I put your room in the back of the palace so you could be protected by them." Arlitos said, pointing with his chin at the men running around the track.

Fallios looked at Arlitos with a hint of admiration. [He put a lot of thought into this] He said.

[We lucked out] Sighing lightly in relief, Ria nodded in agreement.

Arlitos smiled as he pet both of them at the same time. "Alright. I have to go somewhere else for now. Is that okay?" He asked.

They both nodded and Fallios pointed with his foot towards the door, gesturing for Arlitos to go.

"Alright." Arlitos put both his hands up and swiftly turned around to leave the room. Before he shut the door, he winked at Fallios and smirked.

[Ah] Fallios blankly stared at the closed door. He raised his leg to touch his neck, still not processing what happened.

His neck was empty. There was no collar on it anymore.

Ria had her mouth slightly open. [Wow, that was smooth] She praised. If she could, she would clap right now.