Chapter 152: ¹⁵²: close friendship

Chapter 152: 1?2: close friendship

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something about Gamma Derek," I said, leaning slightly forward toward Kael.

I widened my eyes as I did so, an expression I always seemed to make whenever my curiosity got the better of me. I knew it was almost impossible for me to hide my interest when there was something I genuinely wanted to know, and right now was a similar situation, one in which I had far too many questions running through my mind.

"I heard you’re very close with Gamma Derek. How close are you two?" I blinked several times while watching his face, but Kael continued looking at me almost expressionlessly.

Too boring...His face gave away absolutely nothing.

"Is it just like you are with Beta Ryan?" I continued, refusing to let his lack of reaction discourage me. "Like, you two know exactly what the other person wants without even having to say it? Is your relationship same with Gamma Derek also? Were you three really together since childhood?"

As I finished asking, I realized I had been leaning farther toward him than I initially intended.

Kael seemed to notice it too. Just like me, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs. The movement brought his face closer to mine, and a single strand of his hair fell loosely across his exposed forehead.

For the briefest moment, I found myself distracted by the sight. I blinked quickly, forcing my attention back to the conversation and trying to take in the image as normally as possible.

Why am I suddenly behaving like this? I silently cursed my own mind for choosing such a strange moment to become distracted.

Kael, however, seemed completely unaffected. "Why are you so interested in my friendships?" he asked. His voice remained monotonous, almost lifeless, perfectly matching the strange version of himself he had been displaying these days.

His eyes narrowed just slightly as he continued. "Or are you rather interested in knowing about Derek?"

I rolled my eyes at the last part of his question. I didn’t move back from my leaning position either. Instead, I remained where I was and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Neither," I answered. My tone was deliberately firm. "I am not interested in your friendships or Gamma Derek."

Kael watched me for another moment. Then he leaned back into his seat as well, settling against the sofa without breaking his gaze from my face. "Then why did you ask about my friendship with Derek?"

"That..." I stopped myself right there because I had to choose my words carefully.

There was no way I could simply tell him the truth; that I had found Gamma Derek’s behavior toward me strange, and more importantly, that something about the way he interacted with Louis had caught my attention. That would sound ridiculous.

I didn’t even fully understand what had bothered me about it myself. How could I possibly explain it to Kael without making it seem as though I had been unnecessarily overthinking every little thing? And more importantly how could I let him know that I was interacting with his baby brother?

I cleared my throat and changed my position, sitting a little more properly now instead of leaning toward him.

I placed my hands neatly in my lap for a moment before looking back at him. "I wanted to know because I was curious about the fact that you transferred him from such a prestigious post as Army General to the education department."

I paused briefly, watching his reaction. The question I was about to ask had been bothering me for some time, especially after learning how close the three of them supposedly were.

"If he was your friend and as close to you as Ryan is, why didn’t you give him a chance to rectify whatever mistake he had made instead of punishing him outright?"

Kael’s expression remained unreadable as he listened. I waited quietly, keeping my gaze on him. I had carefully avoided mentioning everything that had actually made me curious about Gamma Derek.

Instead, I had given him what I hoped was a reasonable explanation. After all, my question wasn’t entirely false.

I really did want to know why Kael had removed someone who had once held such an important position from it, especially when that person had apparently been one of his closest friends since childhood.

Still, there was another reason I had asked. I wanted to understand what kind of relationship existed between Kael, Ryan, and Derek.

And after the way Kael had reacted when I told him that Derek had spoken to me personally, I was even more curious about what their relationship was.

"You are just a student. How do you know that Derek was transferred from the Army General’s post?" Kael answered my question with another question, making me look at him in confusion for what felt like the tenth time since I had met him today.

Once again, he was looking at me with that strange, unreadable gaze. And once again, instead of simply answering what I had asked, he had found a way to turn the conversation around and question me.

It was becoming increasingly irritating. "We have media in our empire," I replied, the excuse coming to my mind in a flash.

I tried to keep my expression composed as I continued, "Me being a student doesn’t stop me from staying updated with the news."

Kael’s eyebrows lifted slightly. "Oh?" There was an unmistakably sarcastic edge to his voice. "So Miss Moonvel is a well-informed citizen of my empire. Something to admire indeed."

I stared at him for a moment. The way he said it made it painfully obvious that he wasn’t genuinely complimenting me.

"Why are you being sarcastic?" I shot back, irritation slipping into my voice. "I just asked you a simple question, and you’re behaving as though I’m some kid asking stupid things!"

My brows pulled together as I glared at him.

I had already been trying to figure out why he was acting so strangely today, and now he was deliberately making the conversation more difficult.

I clenched my hand into a fist, forcing myself to remain seated instead of getting up and confronting him. I took a slow breath through my nose trying to calm myself. If Anna hadn’t been suppressed right now, I knew I would have had an even harder time controlling my temper.

"You’re angry." Kael’s eyes remained on me, and there was a faint trace of amusement in his expression. "Your anger is cute, Athena Moonvel."

My eyes widened even more than they had already been. Seriously? The sheer audacity of his comment left me momentarily speechless.

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say anything, Kael continued, and his next words immediately made me realize the mistake I had made earlier.

"Derek’s transfer was common news. I know that." He raised his eyebrows slightly, wearing an expression that made it clear he believed he had finally caught me in my own explanation. "But how do you know he was punished? That thing was never made public."

The amusement in his face faded into something more observant as he continued. "And don’t tell me you guessed it, because that doesn’t make sense either."

He leaned back slightly, watching me carefully. "It could have simply been a strategic move to bring some reforms to the education department. His current position in that sector is equivalent to his previous one in the army."

Every word he said made the problem worse. I stared at him, suddenly unable to find a response.

Of course. Ihad forgotten about that. I had assumed that knowing Derek had been transferred was enough to make my explanation believable, but Kael knew exactly what information had been made public and what hadn’t.

He knew the difference between the official story and what had actually happened. And now he had noticed the gap in my explanation.

"I..." The word escaped me before I stopped. My eyes remained fixed on his face, but my mind was already racing through possible answers.

I couldn’t tell him the truth. I had learned that Derek had been punished because Rose had told me.

She had also told me that something major had happened on the day of his transfer, something that no one had been allowed to discuss with anyone else.

That information wasn’t supposed to be public. So how could I possibly explain to Kael why I knew it? I lowered my gaze for a moment, trying to think. Anything I said now could make things worse.

If I claimed I had heard it from the media, he could easily ask which report had mentioned it. If I said someone at the academy had told me, he would probably ask who.

And if I admitted that Rose had told me, I would have to explain how she knew something that had apparently been kept secret.

None of those answers were safe. I swallowed quietly and looked back at him.

Kael hadn’t said anything else. He was simply waiting. His silence somehow made the pressure even worse. I could feel his attention fixed on me, as though he had already realized that I had no convincing answer and was simply waiting to see what excuse I would come up with next.

I pressed my fingers together in my lap, trying to keep my nervousness from showing. For the first time since I had started asking about Gamma Derek, I regretted bringing the subject up at all.

I had only wanted to understand their relationship. Now I was sitting there, struggling to explain something I should never have known in the first place.