Chapter 397: Accuracy

Sitting at the corner of her bed, Ashlyn gently leaned against the wall, a turbulent storm of emotions brewing in her mind.

Her uncle was dead... the news reached her early in the morning just when she was about to set off to meet her friends before visiting the forge.

Her father... Damian Levaith had called her to his room and explained the situation in more detail.

Remembering the conversation, Ashlyn couldn’t help but close her eyes to control the tears that were a moment away from flowing across her face.

Knock. Knock.

The consistent knocks brought Ashlyn out of her thoughts, as she shifted her focus towards the door.

"Come... in"

The words were difficult for her to utter, but Ashlyn somehow managed it.

Thinking that it must have been the maids sent by her father to inform her to get ready in order to receive the body of her uncle, Ashlyn was about to get up from her bed—

"Hey."

A very familiar but unexpected voice made her look towards the door once again, only to find that she hadn’t misheard anything.

"Kael?"

Kael stood at the door, slightly waving his hand in her direction... an action that didn’t quite suit his usual behaviour.

"Your mansion is quite similar to a big maze, and trust me... I would have lost my way, had it not been for my in—"

Kael stopped midway, as he slightly raised his brows in some sort of realization.

"You good?"

After a slight pause, he walked towards Ashlyn, his steps confident, as if entering the room of the first daughter of Levaiths wasn’t anything out of the box for him.

Ashlyn didn’t reply to his words... at least not immediately.

She wanted to say that she was doing well, but the words for some reason... were caught in her throat, unable to leave its territory.

Ashlyn didn’t want to appear weak before Kael, but as the distance between them was reduced by every passing moment, Ashlyn’s earlier facade began to crumble as her eyes grew moist.

At present, Ashlyn’s hairs were all over her face, and with marks of dried tears covering her cheeks... she appeared like quite the mess.

Kael didn’t comment on anything, as he simply stopped near her bed, before taking a seat at its edge in the most natural manner out there.

There was no hesitation in his movements, as if they had been rehearsed a thousand times.

There was a brief silence which soon extended to a long one as neither Kael nor Ashlyn spoke anything.

Yet, Ashlyn didn’t find the silence awkward in any way.

On the contrary, it felt soothing for some unknown reason.

"I heard about it."

Kael uttered the words without mentioning anything in particular, but the meaning behind them was clear to understand.

Ashlyn just sat at her place, without moving an inch.

The moisture from her eyes slowly turned into tears, though she didn’t make any sounds whatsoever, with the tears doing all the work by themselves.

"Due to the recent attacks, the public had already been frustrated about the working of the authorities... so, they are trying to portray one of their own as a hero... as a martyr who died while protecting the world."

Kael’s voice echoed in the room, as Ashlyn listened to his words, while using the back of her hand to wipe the tears that were still spilling out of her eyes.

There was another round of silence, as Ashlyn had her eyes focused on her bed, before she felt a movement near her, and—

"Your uncle is innocent... at least, I believe in him and... you should too."

Ashlyn’s eyes slightly widened as she felt a warm touch on the top of her head, and just as she raised it to meet Kael’s gaze... time seemed to have frozen for her.

"Trust me on that... will you?"

Kael’s eyes... they felt a lot different than his usual self.

The turn of events was too quick to process for her mind, but subconsciously nodding her head, Ashlyn accepted the consolation nonetheless.

Kael’s lips stretched into a smile, as he withdrew his hand, before silently lying down on his back.

Ashlyn wanted to say something, but she found there to be no reason to ask Kael to not rest on her... bed.

***

A vulnerable person was far too easy to convince.

Lying on the bed, I observed the ceiling of Ashlyn’s room, while giving the girl the time she needed to compose her thoughts.

There was no need for me to add anything, as my words, however brief they might have been, were enough for the time being.

After entering the central mansion of the Levaiths, I had ’requested’ to meet Ashlyn, and... well, Damian had been surprisingly fast to allow me to visit his daughter’s room.

Maybe... he genuinely thought that I had become a friend of Ashlyn, and that his daughter would need me at the moment.

Or maybe, he had some other reason, but at the end... it didn’t really matter much.

Ashlyn might not have been the most useful for me in the present, but with her talent and after winning the elections... the girl would serve her purpose pretty well.

At least I hoped so.

Even though my eyes were focused on the ceiling above, I was still able to see Ashlyn through my peripheral vision, as the girl sat with her knees touching her chest, while leaning against the wall.

With her hands resting on her knees, Ashlyn hugged them with closed eyes.

The Levaith princess looked quite defenseless at the moment, and far different than her usual self, which should have been a given outcome after her uncle’s death.

Arnold... I was now getting more curious about the guy.

Maybe I would have to ask Julien to dig a little more into the situation and find out whether the Levaith was truly dead or was something playing out in the shadows without our knowledge.

"There was no need for you to come here."

Hm?

My thoughts were interrupted by Ashlyn’s voice, as I turned my head to look at her.

"I know."

I didn’t refute her sentence as it was true to some extent.

"But, it felt good to help a... friend."

Ashlyn simply stared at me, while I did the same.

"Since when had we been friends?"

Ashlyn’s eyes were now slightly narrowed than before, but I wasn’t one to be offended due to that.

"I mean... I will be supporting you in the elections, and well... your father and I had finalised the deal between Syma and House Levaith, so... shouldn’t that be enough to make us something more than mere acquaintances?"

Honestly, it was far from enough, but it wasn’t like I was going to lose anything by saying the words.

Ashlyn had now gone silent, though that in no way reduced the intensity of her gaze on me.

"Still, that doesn’t justify your current behaviour. You have no reason to be good to me, as our partnership will stay the same irrespective of my personal emotions."

This girl...

"I am not being good... it’s just your perspective that’s making you hallucinate."

"..."

"I am just doing what a friend does."

Adding the last part to the current conversation felt like a necessity, and seeing the gradual change in Ashlyn’s expressions, maybe... I hit the mark with accuracy.