Chapter 133 - 133 What a heart wants

133 What a heart wants

The way how Vale looks at her makes Anne flustered and tried so hard to hide her face. Brom looks at the two of them and, as usual, scratches his head and just shrugs it off.

“Well, primary captain, you wanted to be here… helping. What are you doing standing there in front of the room owner?”

Vale was indeed staring at Anne. He never thought after two years, once a pretty teenager already become a beautiful young woman in his very eyes. He can’t believe his eyes, and with all of his strength, tried so hard not to run into her and hold her tightly, although he was already free from the bewitched spell.

“How is this possible?” Muttered Vale, while Anne and Brom looks at him with a frown.

“If you come here to help, please help me rearrange the bed, but if you’re here just to see my face, I guess you got what you want already.” Said Anne with her hands on her hips.

Vale looks around the room. “Where do you want to put the bed?”

“Besides the window on the right, but I want to save some space so I could paint them tomorrow.” She pointed at the place, and before Anne instructed the three of them, Vale cast his wind spell and put the bed into the position easily.

Anne glared at him while Brom rolled his eyes. He even whispered to his primary captain, “Seriously?! Do you really want to brag right now? Why not paint her whole room, then?”

“Err… what? you can do that?!” Anne’s mouth gaped open when she looks into Vale.

.....

Vale takes a look at her and chuckles, “Anne, I maybe a primary captain, but I can perform the miracle here.”

She raised one of her eyebrows and smirked at Vale. “Just as I suspected.”

Vale looks around the room, and once again talks to Anne. “I could help you paint everything in just one second using my wind spell, but of course, still need the liquid color to be here. So yeah, in a sense, Brom was right.”

Giving Vale a smile, Anne reluctantly said, “No need. I’ll be painting the room tomorrow by myself. I’m sure you’re too busy to help.”

“I am not…” Said Vale, giving a slight pause on his words, “Busy at all tomorrow… shops will be open at eight, I could take you to one of the good tool shops in the capital, I’ll be here at eight.”

“Ugh… fine!” Muttered Anne, not even trying to look in Vale’s direction.

Brom saw their interaction. Somehow, the old feeling that he remembered came back. How Vale looks at Anne with a softer gaze and a warm smile on his face, even though the smile never blooms like it used to, the softer look in his eyes remains the same. No doubt in Brom’s mind that Vale still has strong feelings for Anne.

Darla came back with Nathan and the cleaning staff. They carried most of the furniture that Anne could use, like a study desk and a wooden chair, and also two small wardrobes. Other furniture, like the kitchen set and lounges, is only available for the captain ranks and above. Anne felt a bit deflated when she knew she couldn’t have a kitchen set until Darla whispered to her something so brilliant that she wanted to copy it immediately.

“You know, they don’t want you to have a kitchen set, but you could always put a kettle with fire orbs inside,” Whispered Darla to Anne, “Oh, and maybe buying a cup set, would be fantastic when you have a few friends visiting here.” She then gave a wink at Anne.

“How about if we built a small table and a few chairs as well? This room could accommodate as much.” Added Brom, which is rare, where he spoke with much excitement.

The excitement of Darla and Brom, gave a smile on Anne’s face, she took a sigh and arrange all the furniture, when they were done helping Anne, it was almost midnight already, the cleaning staff was gone two hours ago, also Nathan who will have a shift tomorrow. The remaining people on the rooftop are Brom, Darla, and Vale. To show how grateful she was, Anne make them some butterbread and caftea.

They took the luxury of sitting on the wooden floor of the shed, chatting about some small things like what were they doing when they have their shifts coming or even what happened when they were on their shifts. Brom told the three of them about the time he lead his new team to their first hoard, one of his sub-captains spells full protection while crying so much. The sub-captain is noble and quite close to his mother.

“Wait, don’t tell me? He calls for his mother when he was crying?!” Said Vale to Brom.

Brom nodded his head, “Worse, he called for his mommy.”

All of them were laughing hearing Brom’s confession. The night is getting late, although no one realized it.

Darla was next, she tell her story about their time with one captain, “One time, when I got into my shifts, the captain and the sub captain asked me to go and check one meadow, he told me that there was a report of a gargator lurking.”

“Really? And then what happened?” Asked Anne to Darla, she was already invested in the story.

“So, I go into the meadow with my axe ready in my hand.” She tells her story, while the other three, looking at him with curiosity, “turns out there’s a couple making out on the meadow, their sound of… uhm mating being misunderstood as the sound of the gargator.”

Another set of laughter came afterward. Vale was chuckling but sometimes. His eyes took a glance at Anne, her laughter, her face, and the cute twinkle on her nose whenever she got excited or curious about their stories. Vale misses all of this about her, especially with her mature face.

A shadow came from outside of the shed. Darla calls for their weapon immediately while Brom and Vale are ready to cast some spells. The shadow turns out to be a huge salamander. Vale knew the familiar right away.

“Naron? What are you doing here?” Asked Vale to Xavier’s familiar.

‘Primary captain Vale, you have been summoned to the usual pub and have a drink with my master and captain Henry.’

Anne’s heart almost skip a beat. She wanted to ask Vale about a name that has been missing from Naron’s words. Anne doesn’t know that the crown prince is trying to avoid her by joining the new guard’s field training. Vale stands up and huffs.

“Alright, I’m coming! Tell him, Naron..” Said Vale with a slight annoyance.

Naron disappears, and when they clean their trash. Darla looks around the room and realizes.

“Wait! Oh, sh*t, who has a moonsun dial right now?” Said Darla unexpectedly.

Vale takes out his moonsun dial and announces the time. “Twelve thirties. Why do you ask?”

After hearing the time from Vale, Darla curses and runs to the stairs immediately. She didn’t even say goodbye. Which makes Brom just shrug his shoulder and followed Darla. Vale and Anne were alone. They look so awkward, which makes Vale excuse himself in a rush. Anne waved her hand at a person who didn’t even look back at her. She let out a sigh and closed her door.

Meanwhile, Vale rushed into the pub, thinking about how to explain everything to his friends, about the new feeling that blossomed inside of him. When he reached the pub, Henry and Xavier had already begun their chain of drinking. Vale cleared his throat to announce his arrival. The others, with their tipsy face, turn around and shouted so louder one of the pub servers almost drops his glass.

“Heeeey!! Our primary captain! Finally!”

Vale looks at them, and a grin came on his face. “You two already begin without me?! You jack*sses!”

The party begins for the three of them. Chain drinking is their way to celebrate any occasion for the four of them. Today is the celebration of Henry getting reassignment as the captain. They were singing, dancing, and getting drunk, afterward dancing on the bar while some women check into Xavier with his broad shoulder, shoulder-length black hair, and his golden eyes. Henry notice they were staring at him.

“Dang! Look, Xavier, some of your fans!” Teased Henry.

Vale took a peek and chuckled, “Some of them actually not just a fan, but his conquered for two years.”

“What?! some of them were you, lovers?!” Henry stared at him with a mouth gaped open.

“No, just… uhm… drinking friends, that’s all.” Said Xavier with a glare.

“Shut up! I can’t believe this! Xavier took all of my past glory!” Henry gruntled while looking at the woman who was mesmerized by Xavier’s presence. Henry looks at Vale, and asked him a question, “What about you, Vale? Got any girlfriend lately?”

Vale shook his head and smiled. “No, not yet, but I have met with an amazing young woman today.”

Henry’s intrigued by it, while Xavier stayed quiet, “Really? Who is it?”

Putting his cup onto the table, Vale then stared directly at Henry. “Oh, a new recruit for the main hospital, and with her mesmerizing purple color hair.”

After what Vale had said, Henry jumped from his seat and attacking Vale like a maniac.