Cleo and Micah

Cleo had taken her first step towards stepping away from her brothers influence as she walked away with the cat Mink but she noticed something about them. "Uhm.. those clothes."

The cat Mink smiled in response and replied. "Oh these? They have become quite popular lately and they are my favourite place to buy from."

Cleo hesitated before saying. "My second eldest sister owns the place that you got it from and apparently she was behind the designs."

The cat Mink revealed a satisfied look. "Then it must be fate that brought us together. What kind of person is your sister?"

Cleo lowered her head. "She is very brave unlike myself. I could not do a thing back there."

The cat Mink shook his head. "No, you did great. You should not put yourself down like that, the problem is that brother of yours. Did you see that stink eye he was giving us? Although it does not scare me, I can imagine that he will take his anger out on you later so how about you we get to know each other better? My name is Micah and I am from one of the marquess families."

Micah had watched everything that happened from up in the tree and he had seen how Cleo wanted to help the others but she was held back by her brother.

After witnessing the result of her going against her brother, he quickly figured out the current situation between them both.

He determine that Cleo was kindhearted and brave while her brother was determined to succeed but he looked at others like disposable chess pieces and even his own sister was among them.

Micah was not going to act until he saw how the brother was acting strangely, although others could not see it, he could from the angle he was looking from.

Just to spite Milo, Micah took both the prey and the sister but he was keenly aware of what Milo's look meant as both left.

Now that he had taken the first step, he could not just move on and leave Cleo to deal with the repercussions.

Since he had already chosen to take her hand then he would have to take responsibility for her so he had already decided to form a relationship with her.

When he heard that Cleo was part of the safe family as the person behind the many products he loved, he was interested in Cleo even more and wished to get to know her.

Cleo blushed a little and answered. "I am Cleo Meridian. Although my family is not as high ranking as yours, it is still not a very small family and has a long history. I have not been able to do much yet within the family but I have been learning how to wield a sword and fight."

Micah looked interested. "That is good enough, I watched you from far away and saw that you have good instincts and skills. All you lack is real experience and that can be fixed quickly."

Cleo nodded excitedly and her eyes lit up. 'He is so encouraging and nice. I want to stay with him longer.'

After they had turned in the corpse of the boar, they headed back into the forest and they both chased after some wild prey but Micah kept his distance and commented. "It is important to target the legs first to stop their movement and chances to run away. Most would go for a killing strike from being hidden but you need to have excellent timing and precision to do so."

Cleo unsheathed her sword as she approached a lizard and passed by it.

She avoided the bite and the tail whip but then slashed towards the leg which cut it deeply.

As the lizard was harmed and lost its balance, it did not give up as it rolled towards her and turned its body so it could bite her but Cleo jumped up into the air to escape.

Her body rotated and then she held her sword to cut in a circular motion so when she came back down, her sword blade came crashing down towards the exposed neck of the lizard which had been unable to move or stabilise itself. "Fu.."

Micah clapped as he watched her land the killing blow. "Well.. I knew this would happen since you seem to possess some talent but you did pick it all up quickly."

Cleo hesitated as she looked at the corpse then back at Micah. "Um.."

Micah looked at her and asked. "What is wrong?"

Cleo continued to hesitate and then finally gained the courage to ask. "Um.. I know that our partnership is over now that I have killed it and when we hand it in but if possible… can I stay with you a little longer?"

Micah thought to himself. 'Ah.. I cannot just let her go now. She has grown attached to me and to be honest, I quite like her company too and she is quite cute.'

He then nodded as he smiled towards her. "I will gladly accompany you. We have lots of time to spend together before the end of the competition. If you want to, I can send you letters or we can arrange for us to spend more time together in the future?"

Cleo looked overjoyed. "Really!?"

Micah looked at her excited and innocent display and sighed internally. 'She is so different from the other noble girls I have met. It is no wonder that I have a soft spot for her and do not mind being around her.'

He then held onto the lizard corpse and started to pull it while Cleo held onto the other part of it. "Of course. I mean it."

Cleo's joyful smile which formed as a result if the confirmation caused Micah to stare at her in a daze. "Ahem.. you should smile more."

Cleo did not hear him since he did not talk clearly enough. "What?"

Micah coughed and said. "No.. nothing. We should go quickly since the blood will only attract predators."

Cleo nodded innocently and kept up with him. "Un."

Although the both of them met for the first time, they seemed to have found something in each other that they liked and found themselves to be quite compatible.

There was even a subtle hint of one of them being slightly attracted to the other while the other was still far too innocent to realise the others feelings or her own.

Cleo had just escaped her brothers shadow so she still had yet to fully understand herself and have confidence in herself.

Her age was also not yet suitable for dating so most of her questions were out of pure innocence as she wished to be friends with Micah while Micah was already considering something else.

As they were walking back, Micah put his hand on his chin. 'How can I deal with the brother and give her protection.. is that the only way? I really did not want to use that method to ask her but I may have to do so.'

Micah had already judged her as a suitable candidate for an arranged marriage between noble families since he liked her, she got along well with him and he quite liked her too but he wished to consider a bit longer over the matter and offer her a proper proposal.

Unfortunately the situation with Milo would not go away anytime soon so he was considering using it as an excuse.