Their lips were softly touching each other, which made Ruby panic and fall from her chair.

"Are you okay? You shouldn't have asked if you're not ready," Aurora said as she helped Ruby stand up.

"Sh-shut up," Ruby said. Her face was red as a tomato. "I'm just a little surprised. And you were blushing too!"

"I'm not," Aurora said.

"Why you..." Ruby said, annoyed, as she playfully pinched Aurora's cheeks.

Aurora giggled. "Sorry. Anyway, that wasn't the reason I came here," Aurora said.

"Oh?" Ruby said, looking disappointed. "So why did you come here then?"

"I was planning on going somewhere," Aurora said. "It was going to be a trip to another kingdom. I hoped this would help us prepare for the future. So I was wondering if you were interested in coming with me."

Ruby blinked. "What?"

"If you couldn't, then it's fine," Aurora said. "I guess I can just go alone."

"Waitwaitwait, so we're going on a trip together?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, but it's not for fun," Aurora reminded her.

"Let's do it then!" Ruby said excitedly. "This will be fun!"

"I told you it's not for fun! Our goal was to meet the huntress," Aurora said. "And it was dangerous."

But Ruby just didn't listen. She was already planning on what she was going to bring with her and thinking about what fun activities they might be able to do. Aurora sighed. As long as she was happy.

"Oh, but I need to talk to my father first," Ruby suddenly said. "To ask for permission and... I had some questions I wanted to ask him too."

"Of course," Aurora said. Later, she would go home and do the same thing anyway.

"Don't worry, I will still come with you even if he doesn't let me go," Ruby said, trying to reassure Aurora.

"No, no, let's not do that," Aurora said, worried.

"Why not?" Ruby said. "He couldn't tell me what to do."

"Well, yes, but he was still your father," Aurora said. "Didn't you need to respect his opinion, even a little?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Ruby replied. "I respected him if he did as I said."

"That's not how it worked..." Aurora sighed, feeling uneasy.

"It's fine, it's fine," Ruby said, making Aurora think this wouldn't be fine.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Geez, believe me a little already," Ruby pouted. "I knew how to deal with my own father."

Aurora smiled. "Okay then."

"Now that's out of the way," Ruby said, suddenly getting nervous again. "Um, can you make things clear already?"

Aurora blinked. "About what?"

"You still need to ask?" Ruby said, annoyed.

Aurora sighed. "I want to ask the same thing now. Was that kiss not enough for you as an answer? Do you really think I'm the type to do something like that just for a joke?"

"We-well, no, but..."

"Humph! I'm done. See you later, Ruby," Aurora said, walking away.

"Wait--" Ruby tried to stop her, but Aurora got out of the room and closed the door.

Aurora's face was hot. It was weird. After going this far, there was no point in getting flustered anymore. She understood what Ruby wanted. Yet, to say something like "I love you" to Ruby felt so embarrassing for her.

The door behind her was opened. Before Ruby could catch up to her, Aurora hurriedly ran away from there. While walking, she fanned her burning face with her hand.

Aurora still had two things to do before going home and asking for permission from her father.

"Let's focus on that," Aurora thought, trying to calm her mind.

She walked toward a new building near the library. The elves were given that building as their temporary house when they were here.

She then saw the elves in front of the building. Serena sat behind the table, casting her magic and creating several guns on top of the table. Then the twins and Altea picked up the gun and left somewhere.

Aurora guessed they were going to bring it to the practice area, either for their own practice or for Prince Casper's knights.

The plan was to create an elite army that could handle modern weapons and then send it to help fight with the Kingdom of Samalanra. And it seemed things were working just fine.

Aurora approached the Elf Princess, who looked tired.

"Hey, Serena, can we talk for a bit?" Aurora asked.

"Oh hey Aurora," Serena said, smiling. "Sure, what's up?"

"Soon I went somewhere, and while at it, I might check the dwarf kingdom too. I will try to get as many materials as I can, so can I borrow your bag?" Aurora asked.

"What? You're going to travel to another kingdom?" Serena said. "I'm so jealous! I want to do that too!"

Aurora blinked.

"What are you talking about? You already do that," Aurora said. "This is not your kingdom."

"Oh right, I forgot," Serena said, embarrassed. "Anyway! My bag, huh? Okay, take it."

Serena passed her bag to Aurora, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Thank you," Aurora said, checking the bag. "Is there stuff you want to take out first before I take it?"

"Nah, nothing," Serena said. "Just take it already."

Aurora nodded. "Anyways, if you need anything, just ask my maid, Lyra. I will leave her here."

"Sure," Serena said. "Still, I'm kind of jealous. I want to visit the dwarf kingdom too. A trip sounds like fun. Hey, Aurora, can I come too? Please?"

"I didn't go to have fun," Aurora said. "And you had a job to do here. Isn't your kingdom and your survival riding on this? You better not slack off."

"I know," Serena said weakly. "But I'm so tired. I want to have fun, even just a little."

"You can always go on a trip after things calm down," Aurora said. "Don't start complaining now just because you get a little tired."

"Boo, you're so strict," Serena complained.

"Whatever," Aurora said, "I had another place I needed to go--"

"Wait, wait, I'm sorry! You should stay here a little longer!" Serena said.

"No, good luck with your work," Aurora smirked.

"Oh, come on," Serena said. "Aren't you my best friend?"

"Yes, and as your best friend, I think you need to work harder," Aurora said.

"That's unfair, Aurora," Serena said with no energy, her body flopping onto the table.

"Sorry," Aurora smiled before she left.

Last stop before Aurora went home. She passed several empty classrooms before arriving at the last room on that corridor. Since a few days ago, this room had been used as a potion-making room, mostly by Marina and Oliver. She knocked on the door.

A shriek came from inside the room. Aurora immediately opened the door and saw two teenagers on the floor, Oliver on top of Marina.

Aurora knew that it might just be a silly misunderstanding, something she had read a lot about in manga before. Still, she said it for fun.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt you guys," she said and closed the door again.

"Wait, you got it wrong!" Marina and Oliver said at the same time.

I know, Aurora thought, smiling.

They forced Aurora to get inside the room.

"Look, i-it's just an accident!" Oliver said in panic. "Because of your knock, I was surprised and fell toward Marina!"

"I get it," Aurora said. "Two teenagers in an empty room, I can guess what happened."

"I told you! You got it wrong!" they both said.

Aurora giggled. "I get it, I'm sorry. I'm just joking."

"Really now?" Marina said, still flustered. "That's an unfunny way of joking."

"I guess not," Aurora said. "Anyway, I came for the potion. You're already finished it, right?"

"Of course," Marina said proudly. She picked up three bottles of invisibility potion and passed them to Aurora.

"Hopefully, that's enough for whatever you're planning to do," Marina continued.

"Thank you, I hope so too," Aurora smiled. "Oh, right."

Aurora picked up a folded paper from her pocket and then gave it to Marina.

"Your next challenge," Aurora grinned. "And while you're here, Oliver, are you interested in working with Marina to make this new potion?"

"Me?" Oliver said, surprised. "Can I?"

"Only if Marina is okay with it," Aurora said.

Marina looked at the paper. It was a complex, unknown potion again.

Meanwhile, Oliver eagerly stared at her, waiting for her response.

Marina sighed. "Well, collaboration can be fun too," she said.

Hearing that, Oliver got even more excited. "Okay, let's do it then!" he said.

"Okay, then I will leave you two," Aurora said, ready to leave.

"And hey," Aurora said before she opened the door, "don't let me witness you guys doing something weird again next time."

"Just go already!" both of them said.

***