Chapter 62 Restless (2) - Anicia

"Knock... Knock"

The sound of hesitant, silent knocking rang in the dead of night. The knocks were quite inconsistent with a few seconds of silence between them, they were also timid and reserved in nature as if the person outside weren't sure of their actions.

Ethan did not wake up immediately as he had been exhausted after the troublesome day and was asleep peacefully.

"Knock..... Knock"

The knocks sounded once again. This time not so reserved--however, with a hint of nervousness added to the uncertainty.

This time Ethan woke up squinting his eyes drowsily as he rubbed them and glanced outside his room's window, just to see that it was still night-time.

"Damn, who's mother died at this hour?" Ethan muttered in confusion and annoyance as he heard the sound of knocking yet again.

With great reluctance, he got off the bed while yawning, approaching the doors as he stumbled through the whole time. It was hard to believe that this person had been the target of an assassination attempt only a few hours ago.

"Knock--"

Another knock sounded which was very faint this time, it seemed like the person outside was about to give up seeing that it was pretty late.

"Who is it?" Ethan might seem like he was sleepwalking but he first inquired cautiously rather than opening the door.

"Ah... umm... It's- it's me!" A sweet, innocent, and anxious voice sounded from outside jolting Ethan awake with surprise.

Still a bit cautious, he opened the doors as Anicia's dimly illuminated face which was a bit yellowish from the glow of torches with a mix of whitish gray, became visible.

Ethan did not speak and simply looked at her with sheer bewilderment. He could not think of any possible reason for the obnoxious situation that had presented itself.

Anicia's face was a bit red from embarrassment as she did not dare make eye contact with Ethan so she simply fondled with her fingers awkwardly in silence.

"Have you seen the time? What's the matter?" Ethan asked in pure curiosity.

"Ahh... Well... Mmm... That is..." Anicia stuttered as she looked at Ethan apologetically seeing that he was most probably woken up from sleep by her.

Ethan turned his head slightly from side to side glancing at the corridor from the corners of his eyes but only noticed the empty, dimly lit corridor and nothing else.

He was pretty afraid of any weird misunderstandings that might arise if anyone saw the both of them like that and so he said, "Let's talk inside."

Anicia sighed with relief finally getting a break, the fact was that she was also quite conscious of her surroundings.

"Well? Now, what is it?" Ethan grumbled in a rather rude manner.

"Umm... I-i thought that y-you might be having trouble... Sleeping... So..." Anicia muttered in embarrassment as she sneakily looked around and saw the crumpled bed sheets which suggested that Ethan had indeed been sleeping until she arrived.

"Oh well now... *yawns*... As you can see... I am indeed having trouble sleeping... *yawns" Ethan said with blatant sarcasm despite having realized why Anicia had come in the first place.

Disturbing one from their sweet sleep was the greatest kind of disrespect in his book at least worthy of a few snarky remarks as a punishment. From that logic, he was being quite generous with Anicia.

"Tell me, are you scared?" Ethan asked straightforwardly hoping to be done with the little fiasco and get back to sleep.

"N-n.... Yes." Anicia tried to decline at first but seeing Ethan's fixated, impatient gaze; she spoke the truth.

Considering that even Ethan who was mentally an adult felt a bit unnerved by the events that had occurred, it was completely natural for Anicia who was far away from her home all alone without her loved ones to feel afraid after what had happened.

"Then why didn't you go to Naenna or something?" Ethan asked, feeling a huge headache.

"I- I don't know..." Anicia answered sincerely. She truly did not know why the first person who appeared in her mind was Ethan when she felt afraid.

"Alright, you can go sleep on my bed then... I will just sleep on the sofa here." Ethan said with a helpless sigh. He was just dying to sleep.

"Umm... Actually... I won't be able to fall asleep... If... There's no one by my side." Anicia muttered to herself in a faint voice as she awkwardly fondled her fingers feeling extremely ashamed of herself for her behavior.

"Are you kidding me?" Ethan blurted in total disbelief thinking what kind of princess-ish upbringing Anicia must have had.

"Mmm... Please... I feel... Very Afraid!" Anicia said in a pleading tone as tears began gathering in her eyes.

Ethan rolled his eyes and sighed hopelessly thinking how he should explain to this girl that this was simply too inappropriate considering his situation.

"What's wrong? I swear I don't snore at all!" Anicia blurted innocently, puffing up her cheeks.

"Ahh! Fine! Just sleep on the edge of the other side and don't bother me." Ethan instructed after much consideration. Anicia's innocent response made him go with it as he just wanted to have his sweet sleep and nothing else.

Most of all, he understood what Anicia was going through. She had witnessed multiple people die in cold blood along with the suffering of the slums earlier that same day. On top of that, she was completely alone.

Without saying another word, Ethan quickly made a wall of pillows in the middle of the bed and lay down on his right side as he tried to fall asleep again.

Shortly after the sound of rustling fell on his ears as Anicia too snuggled into the right side of the bed she lay down comfortably facing her left.

For some time only the sound of breathing sounded in the room as Ethan gradually began falling asleep, that's when Anicia spoke, "Are you... Not afraid?"

She spoke with curiosity and concern, obviously referring to the assassination attempt on Ethan.

"I may or may not be," Ethan muttered enigmatically, beating around the bush and not giving a clear answer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anicia asked, tilting a bit to her right where Ethan was.

"Just sleep!" Ethan exclaimed.

Anicia flinched from Ethan's sudden fit as she pulled up the blanket toward her face and pouted, feeling wronged.