Did l?

An odd silence reigned over the atmosphere in a forest just on the outskirts of a Luxnix city.

Joel, Franco and Allan stood across from Yuri and Savahn, the latter two wearing nervous, fidgeting expressions.

In truth, Joel was quite surprised that Yuri had managed to contact them from so far away. It had taken several hours just to get here. If not for Joel being pretty level headed, he wouldn't' have even deemed to come. But, for matters related to Leonel, he was still willing to go so far.

That said, it made sense. This was Planet Luxnix, not Planet Viola. Plus, the status of these two was ties to Miel and Aina, so even if it was Planet Viola, it wasn't like they could move about as freely as they wanted. Due to these reasons, they had no choice but to contact Joel and the others from so far away.

The surprising part, though, was that Yuri was actually able to accomplish such a thing. It made Joel take her just that bit more seriously.

"Where is Leonel?" Yuri finally asked, somewhat unwilling to meet their gazes. In fact, much of her fidgeting was because she was trying to see if Leonel was coming or not.

Yuri had left a small tag on Joel's Soul Force the last time they met, but she had never been able to do the same with Leonel. So, she had contacted Joel, hoping to contact Leonel through him. But, Joel didn't seem to have come with Leonel at all.

This was a problem. If Leonel was truly angry, this would make things even more difficult.

Of course… this only showed how little Yuri understood about Leonel. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

"… Is he that angry?"

Joel, despite his usual calm disposition, couldn't help but narrow his eyes at these words. What did she mean, 'is he that angry'? Setting aside the truth for a moment, so what if he was? Did he not have the right to be? The fact he hadn't exploded onto the arena stage was a proof of his self control and nothing else.

Joel reached out a hand and put it on Franco's chest, stopping him from snapping.

Among the three who had come, Joel and Allan were quite level headed, but Franco was most definitely not. Joel had made it a point not to take Raj along with them because he would only exacerbate any situation they ended up getting into, but the more rowdy of their group had insisted that at least one of them go because they didn't trust Joel and Allan to say the harsh things when they needed to be said.

That said… They knew that this was a gross exaggeration. The current Joel and Allan were just as enraged as any one of them.

Seeing the expressions of the three men before her, Yuri's own flickered, making her feel that maybe she had said something wrong.

"Your words show just how little you understand about Leonel, but that isn't your fault. You're just the friend of the woman he liked, not the woman herself. The one who deserves the blame is her."

Yuri's jaw clenched. Just the same way Raj was willing to go overboard in protecting Leonel, even saying many things he shouldn't have said, Yuri was much the same way with Aina. In fact, compared to the time Leonel's brothers had spent by his side, Yuri had been with Aina even longer.

However, this time, she took deep breaths, realizing that letting her temper flare like it had before would only be detrimental to her goal.

"You … You all have to understand that this matter isn't what it looks like."

Joel's brow furrowed, but he chose to continue to listen instead of interjecting.

The truth of the matter was that if Joel had told Leonel that Yuri wanted to talk, Leonel probably would have come. And, even if Leonel chose not to come, it wouldn't be because he was furious, it would only be because he felt that his time was better applied to something else.

Joel knew better than most that what Leonel was feeling right now wasn't rage, it was indifference. If he felt that his time was better spent training and meditating, he wouldn't come. If he was curious enough to hear what Yuri would say, then it would come. It was that simple.

However, Joel knew well, at the same time, that there was a very lowly, maybe 0% probability, that Leonel would change his mind purely on what Yuri would say.

Knowing this, Joel chose not to waste Leonel's time. The three of them already had been booted from the second day of competition, they had nothing to lose wasting time like this. So, he listened to Yuri's story from start to finish.

"… So you mean to say that Aina's father agreed to this marriage for the sake of a position to enter the Void Palace Selection? But this was a lie because anyone could participate anyway?" Joel summarized.

"Yes, yes." Yuri wrung her hands together. "But they lied. The marriage was only supposed to take place after the Selection, but Rychard used a loophole in the agreement to place it after the first day of the Selection. Also, the deal wasn't of equivalent exchange because there was no quota this year to begin with! Even Savahn and I could participate."

Joel, Allan and Franco watched in silence and Yuri continued to explain herself. They didn't interrupt her and didn't shift her gaze away.

The only one of the two who seemed to realize that something was wrong with the atmosphere was Savahn who could only sigh inwardly.

Yuri loved Aina too much. She was unwilling for Aina to take any sort of losses, even if others had to suffer for it. The same way Leonel's brothers thought that Aina was unworthy of him, just how much more so did Yuri believe the vice versa, albeit subconsciously?

"And what do you want us to do about this, exactly?" Joel asked.

"We—we have to save her! I saw earlier that Leonel's grandmother is very powerful, if she works together with my adoptive father, can't we kidnap Aina before the wedding?"

A pregnant silence fell over the forest.

"… So let me get this straight." Franco began to speak, this time not receiving the interruption of Joel. "Your friend wanted to spread her legs for a chance to move up in the world, but now that she's been played she wants everyone to risk their lives to save her from one of the strongest families in the Sector?

"Did I get that right?"