Chapter 30:

“So how did you lose your eye?”

Eres stumbled, bewilderment painting her face before she washed it away. Her hand unconsciously went to her scratched eyelid. Eres’s lip twitched. Had she thought Eres had lost an eye because of how edgy she’d been acting? She held back a laugh. A certain irresistible urge to tease Amira rose within her. The girl might slap her later but…

Worth it, hehe.

Eres forced a frown on her face. Amira, noticing her drop in mood, widened her eyes and waved her hands in a panic. “Y-you don’t have to tell me! I apologize, that was rude of me!”

Eres shook her head. “No, it’s fine.” Her face fell into melancholy, before glancing up at Amira. “It was a dark and stormy night…”

Amira’s eyes opened, eager for gossip.

Eres retold the story of Celise’s birthday party, lifting embellishments from a certain mischievous princess. Her spin, however, certainly didn’t have that disgusting kiss of her and Leo — it instead told the heart-racing tale of how she stopped a pirate invasion, but lost an eye in the process. 

Eres gave off the energy of a war veteran, attempting to lower her voice into a gruff growl, though her attempt ended as a somewhat adorable squeak. 

“Then, when all was lost, and Leo was crying in the corner, I stepped in front of the man’s blade and took the hit. I lost an eye, but saved his life…”

Amira put a hand to her mouth, gasping in amazement. “How are you so brave? I could never do something like that!”

Eres shrugged, smiling ruefully. “I’m not sure. Sometimes I wonder if it was all worth it, but when I see that kid’s smiling face, it’s all I need to keep going on.”

Amira put a hand on Eres’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Eres. You’re so beautiful, even with a face wound like that, you won’t have any trouble marrying Leo.”

She gave a brilliant grin, warm like the sun. Eres nearly coughed blood. Marriage? As if! That damnable word again, why was everyone so eager to sell her off?! 

“I…don’t think I’ll be getting married in this life.”

Amira  looked at her, brow raised. “But you’re Sir Leonard’s fiancée? ”

Eres’s lip twitched. She waved a hand dismissively. “That was a joke, a joke. How could a maid marry a duke?”

“A joke? But he even grabbed your waist…all of us were talking about it in the dorms!”

Eres flinched. That guy…would anyone notice if she murdered him out in the woods? Maybe she could feed his body to the dragon in the lake.

Amira went on, gushing. “You even lost an eye for the boy you love! Lost an eye for your beloved, ah, it’s like a fairy tale!”

“…I promise you, it wasn’t like that.”

Amira hummed, her smile teasing. Eres nearly pushed her into the nearest shrub. What was with these kids and shipping? And with that guy, of all people?!

“I could never marry a guy like him.”

She looked at Eres, confused. “Why not? What kind of guy would you marry, then?”

Eres stopped walking, nearly tripping on a root. Amira steadied her before she fell flat on her face. Eres looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“Who would I marry?”

Marriage? That should be impossible, right? She couldn’t marry someone her own age, and she certainly wouldn’t marry someone twenty years older than her. Both were horrifying options. Who did that leave? Just Leo. But that bastard?

“He’s not my type.”

Amira hummed. “What’s your type?”

What was her type? With her lack of a social life, she wasn’t exactly loaded with options. She rubbed her chin. 

“They’d need to be someone I’m good friends with.”

Amira nodded, following Eres as they walked. 

“Funny, too. I’d want to laugh with them.”

Her compatriot smiled. “Funny’s good.”

Eres stroked her nonexistent beard. “Smart. I need someone with a brain.”

She stepped over a branch, her foot snagged, and she stumbled a bit. Eres clicked her tongue. “Someone who can help me. Someone kind.”

She shook her foot out as they continued. “Rich, too, though that’s not necessary.”

“Similar hobbies would be nice.”

Amira raised an eyebrow. “Eres.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you messing with me?”

Eres blinked, confused.

She pointed at Eres’s nose, so close it almost touched. “Didn’t you just describe Sir Leonard?”

“?!”

Eres shook her head violently. “What? No way, that’s not him at all!”

Amira’s lip twitched. “He’s rich.”

“A lot of people are rich.”

“You’re his friend, right?”

“….Yeah.”

“You’re both top students.” Amira raised an eyebrow. “All his classmates love him.”

“…Then they have bad taste.”

Amira sighed. “Why are you so against it? Do you not like handsome men, or something?”

Eres scoffed. Describing that shrimp as handsome was a stretch. Besides, it wasn’t like she hated men or women. In her past life, she’d dated a couple of women by miracle, and had even kissed another guy during the only spin-the-bottle party she’d been to in college—the only party she’d gone to in her life. She hadn’t hated it. 

She wasn’t anti-men, she was anti-Leo. That guy! That shrimp! Their feud was deeper than blood!

Eres slapped a hand on Amira’s shoulder, glancing sideways as they walked. “He’s not as nice as you think he is. He’s a terrible boss! He always makes me do unnecessary things! You’ll see when we get to camp, he’s awful.”

Amira scrunched her eyebrows. “Camp?”

Eres nodded. “Yep, we made camp in a cave up ahead.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Just you two?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

Amira glanced at Eres. “Are you sure you wanna bring me with you?”

Eres resisted the urge to strike her.

***

Leo was pacing back and forth in the mouth of the cave nervously, his head snapping upward when the two of them emerged from the tree-line. His face lit up as he ran over to them. 

He spared a single glance to Amira before his eyes returned to Eres. His brows furrowed, and he pulled his wand out, stepping close to her. 

He pinched her chin and raised her face up, looking over the scratch on her eye, lips pulled tight. Eres blanked out at his touch. 

“Eres…are you okay? What took so long?”

He tapped the tip of his wand to her scratch and let the healing spell he’d memorized loose. In a few short moments, the scratch closed up, and the dull pain Eres had in her eye disappeared. Her eye fluttered open, blurry and unfocused at first, before her vision cleared up. 

Eres stood dazed for a moment, regaining her thoughts. What was up with him? Had he really been that worried? Her lips curled into a teasing smile. This guy, already worked up by her short absence?

…

Why was she glad?

Eres, out of the corner of her eye, caught Amira covering her mouth with both hands, her cheeks flushed red as she looked at them. Suddenly, Eres remembered their conversation, and realized Leo was still holding her chin, his face worried. Embarrassment welled up, and she pulled her head away, taking a step back. She tried to complain, tease Leo, but couldn’t find the words. She simply crossed her arms and glared at Amira.

The girl blinked, her blush fading, replaced by confusion. “How did your eye grow back?”

Leo looked over, confused. “Eye? What do you mean?”

“Um? The eye she lost when she was defending you from pirates? How’d it grow back?”

Leo’s cheek twitched, and he cast a knowing glance at Eres. The meaning was obvious. Clean up your mistake. 

He shook his head and walked back to the cave, muttering. “Wasted my time worrying…”

Eres scratched her chin as Amira clutched her forehead, questioning her medical knowledge. 

“Um…sorry.”

Amira looked up, eyes innocent. “?”

“I lied. That plant was just a plant. And there were no pirates…sorry.”

Her mouth dropped open.

***

Leo handed Eres a skewered lizard, his face complicated. He seemed a bit embarrassed at how generously cooked the meal was. Eres smirked as she looked at the burnt crust. 

“Told you you’d fuck it up.”

“…Shut up.”

Pouting, Leo stared at the skewer in his hand before taking a bite. His face twisted, he gagged, and spit the meat out to the side. He shook his head vigorously and passed it off to Amira. 

“Amira, right? Here, guest’s honor.”

The girl looked at him blankly. She took the skewer out of reflex and looked down at the charred meat. Her eyes glazed over, and she looked at Eres with an understanding expression. I get it now.

Eres snorted. Classic. She looked at the lizard in her hand. It couldn’t be that bad, right? It was only a little…okay, maybe a lot charred. But she’d always liked her marshmallows burnt, so it might be fine? She brought her lips to it and hesitantly teethed a bite. 

“…”

Leo and Amira looked on, shocked, as Eres’s face suddenly brightened. Leo’s mouth dropped open when Eres went back for a second, a third and fourth bite. She ate it at a speed that defied reason. It reminded him of their childhood, her first meal at his table. She couldn’t be that hungry again, could she?

Eres licked her lips after swallowing the last bit of meat. She raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “How did you not like it? This stuff is delicious.”

It was alike to the most tender chicken she’d had in her previous life! Even the char gave it a smoky, intense flavor that only complimented the meat. If anything, Leo burning it was just what was needed!

Amira, blinking slowly, looked between the food in her hand and the shell-shocked boy beside her. She, too, nibbled at the lizard, only for her face to twist in agony and spit it back out. 

“H-how did you eat this, Eres?”

She shrugged. “Super tastebuds. Gonna finish that?”

Both Leo and Amira flinched, shaking their heads. Amira passed the skewer over and Eres began nibbling at it without her previous fervor. 

Leo and Amira looked at each other in a way akin to soldiers surviving a war together. They stared at Eres in tandem. 

The girl was now covered in char and grease, her face covered in soot stains and rendered fat. Leo’s lip twitched as he watched the happy girl chow down. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and cleaned her face. 

“Weren’t you trained to eat without making a mess? How are you so sloppy?”

She pulled her face away from the cloth he held, ignoring him to go back to eating. “Not my fault you’re a good cook.”

“…”

Somehow, Leo doubted his culinary abilities were at play. Still, the girl eating his food so ecstatically made him rather pleased, if not somewhat worried. 

He cleaned her face again after she finished, and snorted as he watched her stumble over to their sleeping spot and slump down, dozing off instantly. 

He and Amira looked at each-other again. “So how did you meet her?”

Amira scratched her cheek, face awkward. “She was yelling at a plant.”

“…”

Leo looked over at the sleeping girl, incredulous. He shook his head, and turned back, poking at the fire with a stick. He pulled the waterskin Eres had given him out and took a long drink. At least she actually got water.

Amira leaned forward, smiling, eyes twinkling. “So…have you guys kissed yet?”

Leo choked, the sip of water spewing all over the girl in front of him.