Chapter 145: ¹⁴⁵: am I excited

Chapter 145: 1??: am I excited

"That’s a relief, then," Rose said quickly looking toward Louis with a relieved smile. Louis simply nodded in response before his gaze shifted back toward me.

I deliberately ignored him. Instead, I turned toward Rose, who was still looking at Louis as though she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be collecting her own assignment.

"Don’t you have to get your assignment?" I asked, pointing toward the stage, where the teachers were now beginning to distribute the assignments to the remaining students.

"Oh, yeah." Rose finally seemed to remember why she was there. She quickly turned toward the stage and pushed herself out of her seat. "I’ll get my assignment. You wait for me here until then."

"Okay, no worries," I replied with a small smile.

Rose gave me a quick nod before moving toward the adjacent aisle that led toward the stage. I watched her disappear into the small crowd of students waiting for their turn before lowering my gaze back to the assignment in my hands.

I opened it again. If we really had seven days to complete this, I needed to understand every detail of the situation before I even began thinking about possible solutions.

I had barely managed to read another line when Louis’s voice came from beside me.

"We have seven days for the assignment, you know." My eyelid twitched before I slowly closed my eyes in irritation as I listened to him continue. "Why are you reading it here too?"

I shut the assignment completely and turned toward him. "I don’t think we are close enough for you to be concerned about what I do, Mr. Dreven."

The moment the words left my mouth, Louis widened his eyes. For a second, he simply stared at me. Then he leaned back slightly and placed one hand against his chest as though I had personally wounded him.

"You call me Mr. Dreven when everyone else doesn’t dare call me anything but ’the heir’," he said, his expression turning dramatically offended. "And you’re saying we aren’t close?"

My eyes widened at that. I hadn’t expected him to interpret my words that way. "I..." The response caught in my throat. I looked away for a moment, trying to find the right words. The last thing I wanted was for Louis to misunderstand me in a completely different direction.

"It’s just that I’m accustomed to calling you that," I finally said, stumbling slightly over my words. "Sorry, Heir Louis. I won’t repeat the mistake a.."

"Wait. I didn’t mean that." Louis interrupted me before I could finish. I looked back at him. His offended expression had already disappeared, replaced by something much more casual.

"You don’t have to call me heir," he said. "You can even call me just Louis. I won’t mind."

My expression stiffened. "That is not possible, Heir Louis." The answer came out quickly, almost instinctively. And, unexpectedly, he had just given me the perfect excuse.

If Louis himself was telling me that I didn’t have to address him formally, I could simply use the rules of our positions as my reason for maintaining the distance I wanted.

Even when his bodyguards weren’t around. Even when he wasn’t surrounded by the restrictions that usually came with his position as the heir.

"I am just a citizen of this empire," I continued, keeping my voice respectful. "I cannot lose that propriety. It is your favor toward me if you choose not to hold my earlier behavior against me."

I lowered my head in a small bow, keeping my eyes closed for a moment. I wanted the gesture to make my position unmistakably clear. There was another line between us now. He was the heir of the Starlight Empire.

I was merely a citizen.

I raised my head again, expecting him to argue. But before he could say anything, I made sure my expression remained composed. I wasn’t going to give him another opportunity to twist my words.

"Athena!" He started again. I barely had time to turn toward him before a strange man suddenly appeared behind Louis.

"My heir, Gamma Derek is waiting for you outside the academy. He has informed us that he has something to discuss with you."

Louis immediately turned around. The interruption had clearly caught him at an inconvenient moment, and the irritation that appeared on his face was impossible to miss. "And who are you?" he asked in an equally irritated voice.

The man remained composed despite Louis’s tone. "I am among Gamma Derek’s security, my heir."

My attention shifted to the man. Gamma Derek’s security? I glanced behind him almost instinctively, searching for the familiar figures who were normally stationed around Louis.

But they were nowhere to be seen. My brows drew together. A strange man had suddenly come close enough to speak directly to Louis, and yet none of his usual bodyguards had stopped him.

My gaze moved briefly around the surrounding seats before returning to the man. Where had Louis’s bodyguards gone?

"You go and tell him to wait. I’ll be there shortly with my bodyguards," Louis said, turning toward the man again.

"But, my heir, it is something urgent," the man replied quickly not giving any time to louis.

I saw Louis close his eyes for a brief moment, clearly trying to suppress his irritation before looking back at him.

"You will have to wait. My bodyguards aren’t in the auditorium right now. I told them to wait for me in my car, so how can I leave with you until they come?" His tone was matter-of-fact, as though the situation should have been obvious.

I nodded internally at that explanation. So that was why his bodyguards had disappeared. After Louis had sat beside me, I hadn’t seen a single one of them around. I had initially found it strange that they would simply leave the heir unattended, but apparently, Louis had already instructed them to wait for him near his car. That made sense.

"We are also from the Imperial Army, my heir," the man replied without hesitation. "You won’t need to have your personal bodyguards with you for this meeting. We will be with you."

The man’s hands remained clasped firmly behind his back as he stood in a stiff, disciplined posture. There was something about the way he spoke that made it obvious he was accustomed to following orders.

Louis turned his head toward me again. The moment I noticed his gaze shifting in my direction, I immediately turned my attention toward the stage.

I stared at it with far more interest than it deserved. I hadn’t been listening. I definitely hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation. At least, that was what I wanted him to think.

"Rose!" I called out loudly the moment I spotted her. She had already received her assignment and was making her way down the stairs from the stage, holding the papers against her chest.

"Wait!" I called again, rising from my seat. "We’ll leave through the back door." Without giving Louis another chance to say anything, I quickly gathered my assignment and moved toward Rose.

The moment I was on my feet, I walked away as quickly as I could without making it look like I was running from him. Although, internally, I absolutely was.

Finally. I released a quiet breath of relief as I left him behind. Till I reached Rose, I didn’t look back even once to see whether Louis had stayed behind or left with the Imperial Army personnel.

There was absolutely no reason for me to check. In fact, checking would only make it seem as though I cared about where he went. And I definitely didn’t want him misunderstanding my intentions.

By the time I reached Rose, she was already looking at me with confusion. "Why do you want to go through the back door?" she asked the moment I stopped in front of her.

"Because it’s easier to reach the gate that way," I replied quickly while I didn’t give her enough time to question me further. Instead, I caught her by the arm and pulled her along with me toward the exit.

Rose stumbled slightly as she adjusted the assignment in her hands. "Wait, slow down!"

"We need to go."

"Why are you suddenly in such a hurry?"

"I have to go home as soon as possible today," I answered, keeping my gaze fixed ahead as we continued toward the back exit. "It has been days since I..."

I stopped as the words died in my throat. For a second, I simply went silent. I had almost said it...Almost.

My mind immediately went back to the message Kael had sent me that morning. I’ll come there today. I had read those words earlier and had deliberately pushed them to the back of my mind.

I had told myself not to think about it. And, somehow, I had actually managed to do that for most of the day.

Until now. My grip on Rose’s arm loosened slightly as I realized what I had almost admitted out loud. It has been days since I...

Suddenly, an uncomfortable realization settled in my mind. Was I actually... Excited?

My eyes widened slightly. Now what am I even thinking?!