As this was happening, Ethan decided to leave the latter for some time. This because, he was curious to observe a particular person..
Feeling someone staring at her, Lefiya blinked as she understood the person that was doing so, was Ethan.
Remembering how they left each other last night, took Lefiya's gaze elsewhere while Ethan could only sigh in his mind. He didn't want to put pressure on her, but he just didn't want to leave her in her thoughts for too long..
'I think I have a better idea about what kind of person she is, which is why I can't just leave things the way they are. If I let too much time pass, I'm sure Lefiya will no longer be able to hold a conversation with me..'
This thought, led him to take a mental note, to stop her to talk about it later while he could see that Tiona, along with the other waitresses, brought various food on the table..
Even though Ethan could feel the festive atmosphere, he knew that the situation, for the others, was far from over. But, he couldn't do anything to change the situation, and this thought, was enough to make him feel a little guilty as he had also damaged his own Familia without wanting it, but, the fact that in a couple of days, Adventurers would eventually understand they can enter the Dungeon as always, was what made him remain completely silent about it.
While his thoughts kept him busy, the others were talking to each other, but the first to recognize that Ethan had got out of the conversation, was Raul.
Looking at him for a moment, he could see how, while he seemed preoccupied with thinking about something important, Ais was attached to him and, as if nothing had happened, was resting her head on his shoulder and her eyes were half-closed.
This action, was considered rather annoying for someone like Lili, but for Raul instead, he could not help but question himself on how he was able to remain so impassive and focused on something else, even as the person he loved showed him a similar level of affection.
Noticing that Raul was staring at someone to his right, Aki understood immediately, but instead of starting to tease him, she decided to stare at him while her lips, moved upwards to form a small grin. She knew his reaction would amuse her, and that's why, she said
"I wonder why you, even if you want to be like him, don't try to change a bit.. you know, it's not that hard.."
Hearing the words of the person at his side, Raul understood that they were referring to him. Looking the other way to avoid encountering Aki's 'piercing' gaze, Raul wanted to reply that for him, it was not so easy, but, he felt as if the words had stopped in his throat, and they didn't want to come out, now that Aki had asked him in a place, and at a time, not exactly appropriate for the statement itself..
This reaction led to her grin becoming even more pronounced on her face. Although she wanted to continue this conversation, she didn't want others to understand that something was not right in the way they were talking to each other.
In fact, just a couple of seconds after saying those words, Aki was already quietly turning her attention to the conversation that was going on between Riveria and Ryuu while Raul, feeling that she had decided to let it go, breathed a sigh of relief...
After deciding to leave aside the thoughts he would later work on, Ethan began to converse with Hestia about something on which he wanted clarification..
"By the way Hestia, may I know why you ignored me the whole time before coming here..?"
His words, led Hestia, who was speaking earlier with Lili, to stop immediately before bringing her hands in front of her face.
"... If I spoke to you more than I should, I would have ended up accidentally revealing our plan, and I didn't want that to happen.."
Thinking about it for a moment, Ethan also understood why Lili had tried to talk with him a lot during their 'date' as the latter sighed in exasperation while pointing her finger at Hestia..
"She had a great idea, I admit it, but that's not the way to handle things! She almost got caught, and I had to cover for her all the time..."
Upon hearing this, Riveria decided to bring her attention to the conversation, deciding to stop her for a moment.
"....I understand what you're saying, but I don't think we should continue to blame Hestia-sama for something insignificant"
These words led Lili to stop with a sigh as she looked away, as well because of the way Riveria stared at her when she said that, which was pretty scary..
Hearing this too, Hestia raised her head, which she had previously lowered, before shaking her hand to make Riveria understand that everything was okay. Although she would normally be very angry at Lili's words, she knew too well that it was the truth..
"It's fine.."
But, Riveria, wasn't the kind of person who could ignore a lack of respect for a goddess. Even if the latter turns out to be a person like Hestia, for Riveria, this did not make any difference.
"No, Hestia-sama, it is not. A mortal should always respect gods and goddesses, no matter if you are wrong, which I absolutely do not deny, but you should avoid letting the members of your familia act in this way.."
Riveria's words, led Lili to continue looking away, even more annoyed, while emitting a 'hmph' in frustration. This is because, the latter expected Hestia to agree with Riveria, leading her to have to suffer her goddess' lecture, but, what she didn't expect at all, was that Hestia rose from her chair while saying
"It makes me happy that you care so much about respect, but I'm of the opinion that members of my familia shouldn't be treated exactly like subordinates. Although on a significant level she is, for me Lili is more like family. Even though she's obnoxious most of the time, it doesn't really matter..."
Hearing so, Lili's annoyed expression became one of full amazement. Though bored by the way she said she was, most of the time, 'unpleasant', she couldn't help but apologize in her mind for the way she had just treated her as Riveria sighed.
"I understand, Hestia-sama..I only hope that you can take my advice to heart, as it will be useful to you in the future.."
Obviously, Riveria didn't want to contradict a goddess, and this, led her to accept her choice as such, because, although she felt a deep respect for the gods, and even admiration, she could only leave things as they were, If the same goddess she was trying to help imposed that everything was okay this way..
Upon hearing this, brought Hestia to calm down immediately, as she didn't want to make a scene and spoil the party, but, the fact she hadn't noticed, was that everyone else was already focused on the 'event', including Ethan, who was struggling whether to intervene in the conversation or not, but the fact that it was resolved without further problems, led him to sigh in his mind while Lili, without hesitation, brought her arms around Hestia's neck before she pulled her near herself.
"I'm sorry.. Hestia-sama.. I won't disrespect you anymore..."
While saying these words, Hestia shook her head before adding that nothing special had happened. But, Lili still decided to 'tease' Riveria by bringing her tongue out of her mouth as if she was saying 'hehe, I won' without being noticed by Hestia while Riveria felt her own vein on the side of the head swelling...
This action, also seen by Ethan, led him to look at Riveria and, what he saw, wasn't to his liking at all. That's because, maybe Lili didn't know Riveria yet when she was seriously upset, but Ethan could remember it well..
Seeing Ethan quickly shaking his head towards her, Lili decided to stop while Riveria took note to punish Lili very severely in the future..
While these small events marked the day, the latter passed rather quickly as, it was time for the dessert. At this, Aki raised from her chair as she added
"Now, it's time for the highlight!"
"Okay, now that the time has come for the cake, leave it to me"
Immediately starting to hand out the pieces of cake, Ethan decided to wake up Ais who, had dozed off for a while. By lightly shaking his shoulder, he wanted to wake her in this way, but, he could see that this didn't seem effective, so, he decided to try with another approach as he whispered
"Ais, the cake..Don't you want a piece? If you don't wake up, I'll eat your piece too"
Hearing so, Ais slowly opened her eyes as she stared at him for a moment as he couldn't help but chuckle a little
"I was joking, don't take me so seriously.."
As the two interacted casually with each other, Lefiya stared at them and, she could feel that, what she felt now watching this scene was different from what she felt a few days ago. In fact, before yesterday, seeing this scene would have made her feel unwanted in the group since the two were so close, now instead, the thing that tormented her the most, was that she also wanted to be able to act so willingly with Ethan, which, for her, was completely impossible..
Occupied, and lost, in these thoughts, she didn't even realize that she was being stared at before someone spoke to her from behind..
"Are you jealous?"
These words, made her flinch as she turned immediately before seeing that, Lili was the one asking this...
"N-No..It's not that.."
Looking away, Lefiya, felt she was no longer so sure that it was not this, which was also felt by Lili..
"...I don't believe you. Tell me, the relationship between you and him is so special?"
Although she had seen the two sometimes interact, Lili was pretty sure that, the situation was not very developed with Lefiya, so she expected, some kind of negative, or embarrassed response, But she was surprised for the second time of the day..
"..Yes, there's a sp-special relationship..between me, and Ethan.."
The fact that she had gathered all her strength just to try to say it openly, and clearly, led Lefiya's voice volume to be so low that, Lili, could not hear it completely, but, at least, she managed to understand the first parts of the sentence while Lefiya, now had a red face as her cheeks felt hot as if she was close to Ethan, even though she was 2 positions away from him...
---
(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)
(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox))
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(Alternate Titles: "Lili, casually making Riveria angry, she doesn't know what's coming for her..", "Lefiya, you are jelous AF","Syr wanted to be part of the party, I just approved it")