Right there.. Ch.33

*Moments before the match ends*

*Kannavis POV*

Oh.. ohh she's won.. Irene..she did it! Ahh I'm so glad she's okay.. well she looked a little rough, but still! I was extremely happy with her attainment.

".. Let's go get her some stuff for replenishing." I said while heading out through the gate, making my way to the stalls that set up around the corner, getting some drinks and potions for Irene.

As I was making my way back from getting the goods, I spotted Irene out of the ring, but she was not alone..

There, I saw her talking with Hedera, with his hand touching her hair and the other hiding the piece of wrapped up item that was with him earlier during the match.

Oh. He's going to give her a present as well… as expected.- I thought then turned away from the both of them and started to walk away.

I strolled out from there along with the crowd, head facing down and palm clutching onto the bottle of elixir I thought to hand to her.. sigh~ who am I kidding? Of course, she's going to be taken care of well… in order to change my fate as the doomed villainess, I shouldn't be intervening with this type of scene. That way I would be fine.. she would be fine, right?- I thought to myself. Convincing myself that seeing her with another was of no issue, but to believe that I am okay with all of it wasn't a easy peasy at all. The walkout with people pushing others around and in the grazed of others' touch were the icks to the icing of it all.

My face was filled with the heat of the moment and everything was bothering the life out of my soul. Ugh can they stop pushing around? And what's with that looks? Can't they move faster? Annoying.. so annoying.. huuu..I shouldn't have come.

*Grab*

Suddenly, I felt a cold grip on my wrist. Between the feverish sweats and sticky canoodles, the grasp was with a chill touch that ran down through my spine. I quickly turned around and was about to lash out on whoever it was that's handling me, but-

"…Ah…Irene.." I exclaimed out softly. Ah..This isn't as I expected. Irene, she was the one that grabbed me through the crowd. Even after battle, she still looked like an angel that fell out of heaven. I thought she'll be occupied with that guy?

"..sniff* Miss Kannavis." Irene said while panting heavily.

Woah. She's seemed out of breath. Wait, she looked a bit drained.

"Hey.. are you okay-" I asked her worriedly.

"Mmm.. you're heading back, miss?" Irene asked while gulping back as if holding back her distressed. Oh..seeing her like this… I really want to embrace her.

"Y-yeah.." I replied.

"Can I go with you?" Irene asked. The words were simple, but her eyes were begging for my confirmation and my heart was giving the green light instantly.

Don't you have a celebration to go to? Won't there be people waiting to congratulate your victory? That was what I wanted to ask, but I didn't say anything and just nodded to her request.

As we were walking along out, the crowd would almost separated us from time to time, but still we never let go.

*Badump, Badump..*

There it is again.. my heart, it's doing that thing. In those silence moments, I could felt clearly the blood that's rushing through my head and back to the hand that's intertwined with hers.

"..Are you planning on going anywhere, miss?" Irene asked out of nowhere.

"Hmm actually yeah. I might want to cruise around the capital for a bit.." I replied.

"Oh.. then may you allow me to company you? I'm quite familiarized of these areas of the capital. Around these times, even during the nightly hours, the capital is still lively with many fares, celebrating the Maytime's Festivities. If you need an assistant, I might be of help." Irene said.

"Huh, that sounds interesting..but where do you think you're going in the state you're in right now?..Take some rest. When you're all well and recovered, then I'll consider it. Tsk! And thinking back to it..Why don't they provide any healings or medical services after each match ended?! These competitions made everyone fight blood, sweats and tears for some piece of medal, at least give some healing potions or something!" I ranted out loud while still holding onto her.

I was busy ramming off and didn't notice, but Irene became a little silent about it. After we're out in the open and all alone, away from the others, only then has she finally spoken up.

"Mmm.. They did provided recovery potions for each round." Irene muttered out slowly.

"Huh?" What is she saying?- I thought to myself.

"Most people only competed around three matches at most, so healing items weren't too much of a requirement, but because I competed more than the others.. cough*.. I did in fact got compensated with healing potions for most of the round." Irene confessed out.

I stopped at my track and turned to look at her- "Wait, so why didn't you use it? Weren't they effective?- Also, can't you use healing spells too? Why didn't you heal yourself?" I asked with a bit of a frown and confusion on my face.

Irene tried to look away, her gazed were trying to avoid mine… this is unusual. I've never thought Irene can be this nervous about saying something.

"… because if I have healed myself.. then the bruise will be gone too.." Irene faintly muttered out that I almost couldn't hear it.

"Huh? What are you trying to say?" I asked her again.

Irene bit her lip then placed her hand on the side of her neck, gently rubbing it.

"Because if I used any healing potions or my spells, then all the wounds and bruises on my body will all completely vanished… that includes the mark you left on my neck too.. Miss Kannavis." Irene said.

I was baffled of her words. Huh? Am I hearing this correctly? The reason she hadn't healed herself is because of this? At the moment, I could have sworn my veins were popping out of head. My gawd.. this idiot exhausted herself and kept herself all injured up just because she might lose the bite mark I did on her neck? Oh I'm going to lose my mind.

My face was fuming red with anger and to top it all off, I felt ashamed of myself that I'm a bit proud of it too. I guess my silence were making her feel a bit uneasy too as Irene asked me- "umm miss Kannavis, are you perhaps mad at me?- ah.. AhAhh"

Irene yelped in pain as I pinched her cheeks.

"Oh I Am not MAD AlRIGHT.. I am FURIOUS!!! Furious that you would put yourself in such a predicament because of such stupid reasons… do you know how worried I was when you're up there looking like that?! You're lucky that nothing too serious happened! Seriously if the situation didn't go as it was today.. if something life threatening happen to you.. tell me, how could I bare to live with it?" I ranted out.

I didn't notice at the time, but tears were unconsciously rolling down my eyes as I yelled all of those things at her. For that reason, I took a few step away from her to wipe my tears away. I felt embarrassed, too embarrassed to even look at her anymore. I'm the one that's scolding her, so why am I the one that's crying? This doesn't make sense.

*Sniffs, sniffs*

"Oh miss Kannavis.." Irene said softly as she approached me. First, I tried to pushed her off, but she's strong. In just a minute, she got a hold to both of my arms, I even head banged her chest, but she wouldn't even budged… how annoying..

After I gave into her grasp, Irene pulled me closer and wrapped her body around me. At that moment, something came over me and I just released those streams of sadness on her shoulder. Then out of nowhere, Irene pulled back and placed her palm on my cheek, lifting my face up to look at her. In my pathetic state, she even started to kiss all over my face, specifically where the tears had fall down on my face.. huh? how am I supposed to react to this?

"Please. Don't cry, miss. I'm sorry I've made you feel this way. I promised I will never make such a thoughtless decision like this anymore, so don't weep any longer. You know you make such an adorable expression when you cry.. If this continued, I might want to see you cry even more." Irene whispered to me.

I looked at her with disdains on my face.The first-half was heartwarming, but she's really gotta have to ruined it all with the last part… and she said it with such a serious look too!

I pulled out of her arms and started walking away with my face's popping red- "hmph! Whatever! If you know you're wrong, then don't do it again!"

"Oh miss Kannavis. I've won! Do I get any reward from you?" Irene asked.

Really? You just went like a dog all over my face and you're asking for more? This shameless..

*Whoosh!*

I turned around and aggressively threw the healing bottle I bought earlier at her.

"Heal yourself up! If you do something dumb again, next time I'll personally beat you up, you hear me?!"

"…Are you perhaps rewarding me with a good time, in disguised of a punishment?" Irene swiftly catched the bottle and asked me from the distance.

"Shut UP!!" I shouted then stormed off, leaving her giggling by herself near the Academy's entrance.

I guess things went smoothly back there... sort of

But we made a mistake. What we failed to notice was that someone was watching us at that time..