Jessica had trouble sleeping that night. She had a lot of things on her mind. By the time the sun started to rise, she was able to get a few hours of shut-eye.
When it was around noon, Jessica walked into the dining room to see a drinking Victorina. The look on his face was not pleasant. While he liked drinking, seeing him this distraught, drinking so early, was a strange sight to behold.
The only time she had seen him drink this early was for celebrations. As for what he celebrated back then, she was not sure. Being told by Beast not to bother with his degeneracy. Without needing to ask, he turned to look at her, making her feel a bit uneasy.
“Who the fuck is your teacher?” His voice deep and laced with urgency.
“Why?” Jessica was now wondering what he was going on about. Cassie already warned him against leaving. At most, she would force him to keep silent about her identity if she was worried. While she could be seen as dangerous.
Cassie knew Victorina was someone from Jessica’s past. There was no way she would make a move on him to harm him. Therefore, there had to be a misunderstanding if Cassie was truly involved.
“She is the only person that could be the cause of this. I went out in the morning to feel the bustling atmosphere. While the Grade D and C district is boring, only a few interesting spots. There were a few places I looked for you in the Grade E and F parts, I planned to go sightseeing.”
His face looked rather ashen, “When I showed up, and even before. Since learning this technique nobody paid attention to me. I was non-descriptive. So long as I hide my hair and face. Nobody would give me a second glance.”
“Are you really freaking out about an elf drawing attention? Did you get too used to being ignored in Aruna?” Jessica started to feel like there was something wrong with his head.
“Don’t interrupt your elders! I was getting to it.” He looked a bit hurt she was being this dismissive of his claims.
“Then get on with it, if you see a day drinker blabbering on about nonsense, you would think they’re wasted already.” Jessica was getting a headache, as she had grown used to the quiet. Not used to the noisy lifestyle that followed this man.
“It wasn’t just a gaze. I thought it was strange, and figured it was someone that somehow caught sight of me. But, I was very mistaken. They weren’t trying to hide, they were not trying to hide their attention. Do you know who I saw?”
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“I don’t know.”
“Helga, that legendary monster. There is zero reason for someone like that to look for me. Let alone keep an eye on me. She wasn’t showing any hostility, but from her gaze alone is already so uncomfortable.”
Before she could say anything, he continued to spew nonsense, “At first I thought she was her daughter. But that is impossible. Rumor say she is a cripple or something is wrong with her body. Otherwise, there is no explanation why such a figure would be a non-graded being. So who was that beautiful woman from last night?! How is she able to draw Helga’s attention.”
As if drawing up a conspiracy, she could see the gears in his head rotating on overdrive, “Don’t tell me you’re learning from Helga herself? Was that a disguise last night? If that is true, that is horrifying. The person last night was strong, but not on that freak's level.”
While her headache was slowly subsiding, she was trying very hard not to laugh. The cool and collected uncle figure that never lost his cool. Even when he was confronted for his womanizing ways.
Usually when he was a little nervous was when a woman confronted him with the things they did. It was a sad but common reality. Elves were truly in another league to most people in looks. What starts as a fling causes feelings of infatuation to fester.
Putting a strained expression on her face, “I don’t know if they’re connected. I will have to see what my teacher says.”
Possibly from drinking, or being very worried. He didn’t dare leave and nodded his head. As if agreeing. She wasn’t sure if her acting worked or if he was preoccupied with his own delusions to pay attention to her.
Of all her lessons, acting was one she found the difficult. She had learned to suppress some of her facial expressions. Her best state was a stoic ignorance. Being neutral without expressing too much emotion, leading to her being exposed by her own inability to fake it.
After leaving, she walked around a bit. When she made her way to a shop, she nodded at the owner. Moving to the back, she was met with a beautiful face staring at a ledger with a furrow between her brows. Glancing up, she smiled, “How was your night?”
From her eyes, Jessica already knew she was making fun of her inability to hide her restless state of mind. Causing her a lack of sleep. Having been in close quarters, Jessica found it impossible to hide anything from Cassie.
“Thought provoking. Though maybe not as much as Victorina, he is going nuts trying to figure out your identity.”
Hearing this, she looked up with a bit of worry.
Jessica couldn’t help but laugh at the rare sight, “It seems your mother has been keeping an eye on him. Probably to ensure that he doesn’t divulge your identity. However, he doesn’t know who you are. As he himself as already ruled out the non-graded daughter of Helga.”
With a bit of shock flashing through her eyes, she glanced at Jessica, “It appears that technique is something I vastly underestimated. You should do your best to learn it.”
Seeing her very quick change in expression, Jessica could only give her a deep look of wonder.
“If my mother is watching him, it means that, he is difficult to pin down. It isn’t her being overprotective. It literally means other people are finding it difficult to watch him, so she had no choice but to do it herself. Furthermore, it seems we will have to bring my introduction forward. Otherwise, it could get in the way of him teaching you.”