Chapter 91 Conversation III

Just as Val left the room, Valarie came rushing in as if she had been waiting outside for her brother to leave him alone. She didn't say anything and looked very desperate as she rushed towards him while clutching her hands into fists.

Zavier was unsure of what to say so he kept his mouth shut and let her do what she wanted.

Valarie practically jumped into his bed and hugged him so tight that he was gasping for breath.

Zavier felt that this must be an attempt to kill him since it sure as hell didn't feel like a hug.

But soon he felt the force lessen as he was able to breathe again. He noticed a reddish hue color Valerie's face as well.

She had not intended to hold him so tight but in her nervousness she had ended up suffocating the patient.

She held him in her embrace for a while and was not planning to let him go any sooner. What Zavier didn't know was that Valerie didn't want him to see her face that was now cherry red. That was the reason that she was refusing to let him go.

Zavier enjoyed the treatment that he had never received before. The place he had been resting his head at was surprisingly soft and mushy. So he didn't have any qualms about her holding him longer.

"I am so sorry. Please forgive me for the way that I have treated you so far. You have to know that I never intended to do so. Even if you didn't have magic you would still have been an important part of our family."

Zavier didn't say anything in response. He had always felt that she was distant and antagonistic towards him. It wasn't easy for him to acknowledge what she was trying to tell him now.

"I didn't do it because I wanted to or because I actually feel that way about you. It's because I had to do it. It was all part of the plan. I had to follow the plan to ensure your safety. Ever since you came here, you have had to be protected from external enemies and I was left as the last line of defense for you. My cold attitude towards you was a means of throwing off the enemies into letting their guard down."

Zavier could feel her sincerity from the strength of her hug and the way she was desperately trying to explain herself even though she had done nothing wrong. Just that was enough to tell him how much she actually cared about him and what she had had to endure by pretending to be that cold towards him.

Zavier had started to understand the true reason for her cold attitude towards him in the past but he was unable to utter a word after he had witnessed the change in attitude of Valerie. He was unable to believe what he was seeing. He was being held so close by Valerie who had never even looked at him without showing her utter disgust towards him as if he was some kind of an untouchable freak or a pile of dung that would have dirtied her eyes.

Valerie thought that Zavier did not want to believe what she was trying to tell him as he was not responding to her at all. Valerie grew terrified at the fact that she might not be able to convince Zavier to forgive her. She had never imagined a scenario like that. In fact she had always been very fond of him and now that he had revealed how talented he was, she had grown to love him even more.

Not to even mention the number of times he had saved her from life threatening situations by putting his own life at stake. She was unwilling to see him look at her with wary and vigilant eyes.

She decided to explain herself further so that he would be able to understand her circumstances and would be able to forgive her as well.

"I am sorry that I had to act like that towards you. It has always hurt me so much that I had to look the other way whenever you got bullied in school or on your way home from school. When I had to ignore you on the dining table and in the school I had to pretend as if you were a bone stuck in my throat, you can't imagine how it hurt my own heart to do so. I could never put you in danger so I had to stick to the role given to me for your protection. I know that it is hard for you to believe me but rest assured that this is the cold and hard truth that I have been hiding from you. We wanted you to have a normal childhood where you could make friends and laugh and make merry with others your age without doubting their intentions for getting close to you."

Zavier this time lifted his head and looked into her trembling eyes. He could see how flustered she was, how wronged she felt and how afraid she was thinking that he might not forgive her for her transgressions against him, just from that one look in her eyes and her expressions.

He still refrained from saying anything. He wanted to hear more from her after all she wasn't as composed as Val and might let out some other key fragment of information that might be useful in him trying to locate his enemy.

"Thankfully, I don't have to do that anymore. I can just show my true feelings about you. I can pamper you as much as I want. I can favour you to my heart's content now that you have revealed your power. This has put us at ease and we can now focus on developing your fighting prowess so that you can protect yourself but you have to make sure to never use that self harming skill ever again."

Zavier nodded this time in response. This was the first time that he had given any response to her remorseful confessions.

Valerie felt that all the happiness had fallen into her lap at that moment. She could see that it wouldn't be long before Zavier would forgive her for what she had done before.

Before she could express that happiness to Zavier, she heard him mumbling something in his mouth. He seemed dissatisfied as well from his expression.

In fact Zavier had been hoping that she might give him some crucial clue but it appeared that she had only been following orders and the mastermind behind the plan for his safety was the only one who knew all the details about him and his enemies. Or it could have been that the girl was more capable and composed than he was giving her credit for.

Whatever the reason might have been, Valerie had not let anything slip up even in her flustered state. That had been the true reason for the dissatisfied expression on his face that Valerie had caught earlier.

Valerie had used her heightened sensitivity and had heard what Zavier had been mumbling in his mouth.

"Humph…let me guess…this must be another one of those top secret plans that you are not allowed to divulge any details about."

Since Valerie had heard what he had said despite it being not his intention, she nodded to him as an answer to his question though she too was slightly embarrassed.

"Damn it…she heard me…"

This time Zavier was prudent enough to not say it out loud to keep Valerie from hearing what he had been thinking.

Zavier had been very cross with her and had always wondered why she treated him so. He thought that maybe she did that because she considered him to be weak and unworthy of her attention the way he was then but all his assumptions had been proven wrong.

In fact, Valerie might have been the one who cared about him the most. She had even been willing to compromise her relationship with him just so she could protect him. She was willing to protect someone who would obviously hate her due to her actions sooner or later and yet she had not hesitated to take on the job.

While Nadia and Kacie enjoyed an amicable relationship with him, she had to oversee them as an outsider or a parent. She had never been able to become a part of the family that was always in front of her. It must have been hard for her too.

This was what made Zavier feel helpless. At the same time he was moved by her sacrifice and her care. He had no option but to forgive her for all the things that had eventually turned their relationship distant and sour. Just the close hug at this moment was the perfect depiction of the feelings that she had kept bottled up all this while.

"It's all right. I know that you had no other option at the time. I forgive you. Let's start fresh, that is if you want to."

Valerie was so happy that her smile spread so far on her face that it was about to escape the confines of her face if it grew any wider. Her face was flushed red like that of a ripe tomato. She had only now come to notice how brash her actions had been and in what state the two were currently in.

If anyone else had seen them at this time, they would have thought that there was an ambiguous relationship between the two of them. Thankfully for her, not a single soul was around to witness the sight of the powerful Valerie blushing so fiercely.

Even though Valerie was embarrassed, she didn't dare move away from Zavier for fear of him seeing her face as warmth spread all over her cheeks. She could imagine how she must look at the moment.

The decision of letting bygones be bygones was an easy one for Zavier. He remembered why Alissa's parents had stopped her from earning magic ever since she was a child. At one time, he had even wondered whether her parents were biased against her or whether they were doing this for some selfish reasons. Only after his attempt to teach her magic did he understand the truth regarding her. She had that monster inside of her that was threatening to not only her but to those around her. In hindsight, no parent would harm their own child knowingly no matter how aloof they might be regarding their child.

The latest mission had only confirmed his suspicions. The trauma from the death of his clone had almost left Alissa paralyzed which had led to the monster wreaking havoc everywhere in its berserk state. Witnessing the destruction that Alissa was capable of once the monster inside her was unleashed; Zavier could understand what her parents had been trying to do.

They had been trying to protect her with all their might even if that caused paint to their child. It was at least better than being labelled as a monster and shunned by the society. Even now he wasn't sure what treatment the government would have towards her and when would he be able to see her again.

Therefore, Zavier didn't judge his own situation from his perspective like he had with Alissa's. Just like Alissa's parents, his own family that included Val and Valerie had gone to great lengths to produce a scenario where he could live normally without fearing for his life. He had no right to judge them based on all the efforts that they had put in and the lengths that they had gone to.

Val had even personally taken care of the assassins that had come after him and in return he had only asked him to live like the kid that he still was.

It was only now that he understood why Valerie had never moved out of the school. It was so she could keep an eye out for him. Even though she was a talented mage who was infinitesimally closer to becoming an S rank mage, she had never properly trained to become one. Instead she had taken on a teaching job.

Zavier felt that all the pieces were now falling into their places. Some things that had not made sense to him previously were becoming crystal clear.

Zavier remembered that just after the assassination attempt on him had succeeded, Valerie had taken over their classes from their usual class teacher.

"Tell me something."

Valerie made a muffled sound that reverberated in his chest as her face was quite close to his chest. The sound gave Zavier a feeling that she was asking him to go ahead and ask her what he wanted so he did exactly that.

"Was the reason that you took over my class to protect me too? Or was it just a coincidence?"

Valerie struggled for a bit because Val had forbidden her from talking on this topic with Zavier. But she couldn't tell him off after he had forgiven her for everything that she had done to him. Whenever she remembered the things that she had had to do, she felt so remorseful that she wanted to bury her head in the sand in shame.

"Hmm…Val had found evidence of another assassination attempt and had to go around tracking the assassin so he asked me to stay close to you at all times so that I could get rid of the assassin if he ever came back."

Zavier nodded in response as if he had expected the same answer. At the same time, he was grateful that she had truthfully answered him. He had almost expected that she would refuse to answer like Val but she had surprised him a bit.

Zavier decided that he wouldn't blame his family no matter what. Just like with Alissa's family, he knew that there must have been some unknown reasons that his family was being so cautious.

Val had made it clear to him that he wasn't strong enough to handle the truth which was the very reason that they had been protecting him while hiding the truth from him at the same time.

The princely treatment was only until the moment he was strong enough to face his enemies head on.

Therefore, Zavier had decided that there was no point speculating meaningless conjectures until he had the strength to handle the reality. Only searching blindly for his enemies would not have led him anywhere. So he had to be focused on increasing his strength and stop wasting his time on imagining his enemies everywhere based on baseless conjectures.