Chapter 109: We got a fourth!

••• Caius left Aylin behind in that corner. He greeted the wall of gal pals with a smile and they all stammered to respond even after he was already many steps away. "You can’t escape it, Caius!" Aylin suddenly yelled after him when she stepped out of the corner, "It’s going to be us in the end. It HAS to be." Caius’s lips twitched in a smile wondering if she knew how much like a threat her words sounded. It was also dawning on him that he had just encouraged her to continue her campaign to have him all to herself and he let out a sigh before trying to put that off his mind for now as he approached the Cafeteria. The moment he was at the doorway, all eyes were on him. This was normal enough, except there was a look of concern in most of those eyes. And disappointment to see him return from certain others... Mostly Baler Khione. "Caius!" Two voices chorused just as he took more steps forward. One voice sounded singsong and the other, earnest and sweet. Both were very recognizable and they called Caius’s attention to their table where he was surprised to see it wasn’t just Kaya and Eloise sitting there. They had a third. He approached and both Kaya and Eloise were looking up at him with wide grins that lit up their beautiful faces, with relief so clear in their Green and Amber eyes respectively. The third person seated at their table, however, looked unbothered as she took up a morsel of food into her mouth. "Ladies," Caius greeted Kaya and Eloise with warm smiles. "You’re alright," Kaya said and it sounded more like a question than it sounded like a confirmation of what she could see right in front of her. "I am," Caius said with a nod as he sat down opposite them at the table. "Oh, we were so worried," Eloise said and reached out with her hands to grab Caius’s hand and hold it in a tight and warm grip. "I can tell you were, but really, I was fine," Caius said with a light smile. "How was it?" Kaya asked, leaning forward to peer even harder into his face, "We heard you were followed right from the Academy. Were you really scared?" "At the time, maybe—" Caius started to admit when the first part of Kaya’s sentence registered as he was taken aback and asked, "Wait, you heard what?" "It’s what the Professors were told when you were excused from classes. Apparently, the attackers had been watching you closely whenever you were dropped off and picked up at and from school," Kaya said and Eloise nodded along in agreement. "Really?" Caius said, "Huh." That he had been watched even when he was left off and picked up from school made sense enough. That amount of surveillance and preparation was good for planning the ambush. It could also have been achieved by just studying what path the carriage moved through so maybe they wanted to cover all their bases. That said, Caius was mostly just surprised his Father had volunteered this much information about the incident. It was not at all required. Unless, of course, Lucian felt the school’s security had been lacking and had somehow led to the ambush. The moment that thought came to his mind, Caius knew that was the reason. It was why his Father had let the Academy know so much about the incident; Because he felt they shared in the blame. Caius didn’t really agree. He was sure Anton’s Vampires had stayed far enough away from the Academy and really, how much of the region beyond Lochxen’s Gates could still be under their jurisdiction and protection? "We weren’t there and it was scary for us," Eloise said with a bit of a whisper, "Imagine if we are being watched right now." Caius looked into her eyes and then placed a hand over hers while she was still gripping his. He patted it. "I’m sure you have nothing to worry about," he said, "Lochxen is the safest place there is." Eloise shivered. "Hard to believe that after what happened to you," she said. "I was outside school when it happened to me. I was well on my way home," Caius said, "Trust me, there’s a difference." "And to be fair," Kaya added tentatively, "I’ve never heard of Lochxen ever being broken into." "Because it has never happened," Caius said with a nod. ’Yet.’ He added in his head. Lochxen could truly be argued as the most protected location in the Acheron Empire. But of course, no place is actually impenetrable. In [To Kill A Demon Lord...], Lochxen’s defenses were broken through a good few times. Sometimes through brute force but mostly through espionage. The thought of that reminded Caius of an important conversation he had to have with someone later that day. Eloise’s worry eased a bit and she was smiling brightly again, "Oh Caius, you missed so much!" She said and launched into a recount of what happened the day before. She released his hand so she had both her hands to emphasize her points. Considering it was all mostly class stuff and some things about little gists she had heard here and there, Caius found he cared very little but it was cute to see her so into telling him so, of course, he engaged in the conversation. "I took down notes for you," Kaya said smiling lightly when she managed to get a word in, "I’ll give them to you whenever you want them." "Thank you," he said. "None of them contain Eloise’s gossip though," Kaya said with a little smirk, "You’ll have to listen to her to get all of that." "Ah darn it," Caius said with a sarcastic smile, "Oh well, thank you still, I guess." "Oh! How could I have forgotten?" Eloise said and clapped her hands together suddenly, "The biggest news of all, we got a fourth!" As she said that, with her voice sounding so much like music that she looked so close to bursting into a dance, Eloise slid a bit to the side and grabbed the arm of the third girl at the table to pull her closer. "Delia, say hi!" Eloise announced. Delia begrudgingly looked up from her food. "Hi," she said in a little sharp voice. "What?" Caius asked her with a smile and a raised brow, "It’s no longer a ’Pity Friend group’?" Delia raised her head then, an annoyed look on her beautiful face and her grey eyes sharp as she pointed a spoon at Caius’ chest. "Arrgh, I knew you were going to talk about that." "Why wouldn’t I?" Caius asked, "You’re here when you said you wouldn’t be. So what? I offer you generosity, you throw it back in my face and then you accept it anyway?" "I didn’t need your generosity," Delia said, "That was the point and you agreed." "I did. And I still do. So why are you here?" Caius asked, "I’d assume my ’pity’ would sour any thoughts of you being here." Delia scoffed and leaned forward to stare even harder into his face, "You think too highly of yourself. I’m not here for you, I’m here for them," she said and gestured at Kaya and Eloise who were looking between Caius and Delia now realizing there was some history they were not privy to. Sure, they had both heard about the Mage-Knight spar last week—everyone had heard about that—but they had not expected such animosity. And certainly not for that animosity to be... charged with an emotion they both knew well. Delia continued. "These two ladies are so great, they make up for how much you annoy me." Caius looked into her eyes, well aware of the entire Cafeteria paying attention to them, and then he smiled lightly as he cocked his head to the side and said in a silky voice, "Fair enough." Delia blinked. "What?" She asked and then she frowned and said through gritted teeth, "Don’t do that." "Don’t do what?" Caius asked innocently and that only annoyed Delia more as she groaned and returned to a normal sitting posture. She was starting to see that he liked getting her riled up only to randomly agree with her in some way that killed all momentum for the argument she had. It had her annoyance steaming within her as she searched for an outlet. And then she remembered she had one and looked into Caius’ absurdly handsome, smiling face as she said with a vengeful smile of her own, "Smile all you want now. After school, I’ll be wiping it clean off your face."