The Settlement

"And what exactly do you plan to do so quietly?"

His expressions were cold and his dark eyes were filled with an endless frost. He watched them with a "how dare you mere pests to think you can deceive me" look.

His gaze fell over their clasped hands.

Darkly, he commented.

"You have some nerves."

Knowing how much of a mess that assumption can get her into, Aesther's face paled and she instantly let go of Noah's hand.

"It's not what you think!"

Even Noah was stunned and speechless at such a cold demeanour. He hastily explained.

"I was just healing her," he said but even in his nervous voice, there was an accusatory undertone, "See how much blood is there! How could you make Rose do so much work in this condition?"

Ezrahl's vision dimmed when he cast a brief glance at her skirts.

Aesther cursed inside, she didn't want him to question what sort of stuff she was doing to get that kind of wound and so she immediately spoke.

"It's nothing! Please let it go, Ezrahl. Noah didn't do anything wrong. It was my fault for not telling him the rules―"

"No way, don't say that―!"

"Do you want to get in trouble??" Aesther widened her eyes.

"But you did nothing wrong!"

Ezrahl's brow twitched as he listened to the two.

He had barely said anything and they already assumed the worse and tried to cover up for each other. But could they really be placed at fault when he carried such a threatening gaze and such dark expressions?

"Ezrahl―" Aesther was now really getting worried and uneasy with his silence.

"Your Grace." He coldly cut her off, there was a warning.

She better stay quiet.

Ezrahl glanced at Noah, "Meet me here in the morning."

Noah slowly nodded. He would be gone by that time and since he wasn't a student in the castle, there was no reason he need to obey Ezrahl.

His uneasy eyes glanced at Aesther, "But Rose―"

There was no denying how pleasing to the eyes was the beauty Ezrahl carried but when he was truly mad, this same alluring feature of his would appear as threatening as a devil. He silenced Noah with a single gaze.

"Get lost."

Noah got lost.

Aesther remained uncertain and even the few moments of heavy silence felt like hours with Ezrahl's chilling presence.

"You can leave if you want," he said darkly.

Then return again to fulfil her remaining punishment?

No way Aesther was agreeing to be near him for another day. Not to mention that his dark tone felt like a trap, what if he increases the punishment because he thought she wasn't sorry enough for her actions?

"I will stay here," Aesther said in the most sincere voice she could summon.

Ezrahl'z gaze burned her, piercing her heart and soul. But when she thought he would add more to her punishment, there was only a low scoff. He turned and left leaving behind an air too cold.

Aesther was unable to comprehend what just happened.

However, as she thought more about it, she reached only one conclusion. The Ezrahl she was seeing was not the devil of her future.

Not yet.

The realisation left her feeling strange.

.

.

It was well past midnight when Aesther was done with the library.

Her body was on the verge of collapsing by the time she finished. Instead of just leaving after that, Aesther decided to experiment with her mana a little.

There were several stages of the path to magical cultivation.

The first one was to refine one's spiritual core. This allowed someone to have better control over their mana and the mana around them.

She sat by the open window, feeling the cool touch of the night breeze as she closed her eyes. Aesther meditated, trying to grasp the flow of her mana.

In her former life, these were the days when Aesther was forced to focus on awakening her wolf. The Alpha was obsessed with that. When she repeatedly failed, he became obsessed with reminding her how worthless she was.

Those remarks were like a dagger to her heart.

Leaving a scar that was never healed.

But little did he know, there was no wold to awaken.

Aesther was simply born differently.

Her potential lay somewhere else.

Even though she couldn't awaken the wolf, she was born with an innate potential for spiritual cultivation. Aesther started that very late, but when she did, there was nothing to hold her back.

As her thoughts returned back to the present, she faintly registered the dull warmth seeping through her heart and into her soul.

It disappeared soon.

For a few moments, Aesther felt nothing. But then, a wave of soothing warmth washed over her. It eased all her worries of body and mind. The incredible feeling lasted for a few minutes before it faded away.

Aesther knocked on Ezrahl's study as she yawned.

That's when she realized that it was too late for him to be awake. Ezrahl had been the ideal disciple in past. He would always sleep on time and wake up early.

But then, why were the lights of his study still there?

When no response came, Aesther pushed the slightly ajar door open.

Ezrahl was soundly asleep on his chair, his head resting over the desk while his fingers gently curled around a brush. Some of his raven hair fell over his eyes, the slight mess made his flawlessness appear a little vulnerable.

Aesther watched him blankly.

He looked…peaceful.

…almost innocent.

She shakes her head, despising how her heart sank again. Aesther had made the mistake of trusting Ezrahl once, she was not going to do that.

Aesther slowly tried to take the brush out of his fingers, wondering what made him so angry earlier. Just because someone tried to help Aesther?

Or was he simply in a bad mood?

"...Ezrahl?"

"..."

She leaned in closer, right next to his ears, and now called him again in a gentle voice.

"Ezra?"

He groaned softly at that, his fingers becoming firm around the brush but he still remained asleep.

This made Aesther's lips curl in a mischievous smirk.

"Ezrahl!"

"..."

"You're passed out cold," Aesther remarked as she propped her hand nearby and looked at him, "Now it's time to settle some debts~"

Unaware that someone wants to settle debts, Ezrahl remained soundly asleep. His heavenly features appeared more beautiful than ever.

She pulled out the brush from his grasp and leaned further over the desk to dip it into the inkpot. It would be hilarious to see him wake up with his flawless face tainted with black ink!

Since Noah would board a ship and be gone very far, she can easily blame him and say that she had said the boy sneaked inside the manor when she was about to leave.

There would be nothing Ezrahl could do!

She first drew two thick strokes over his brow, then glided it down to make a moustache. Aesther was shaking with concealed laughter as she tried to continue her masterpiece. But it was too difficult to keep moving when he looked so funny.

Aesther gradually realized that it wasn't just her soul that reincarnated into the past, her mind too became childish to some extent.

But who cares?

At that moment, nothing carried more joy than making Ezrahl look funny.

She was so absorbed in her art and trying to hold back the laughter that Aesther's balance wavered and she staggered over the desk with a low thud.

Aesther had barely avoided falling over Ezrahl. Her heart lurched but nothing could have prepared her for the panic that rose when she felt a sudden coldness on her neck.

She awkwardly lifted her eyes to find a pair of cold hostile eyes pinning her down with a hard gaze.

"..."

"What are you doing?"

Ezrahl asked with bushy brows and a fake moustache.