NoGift

Chapter 13: goodbye, for now

AURUM excitedly checked her luggage one more time, making sure that she didn't forget anything. They're going to depart for Amexem today. Since Amexem was located in another continent, they have to board a ship to reach their destination. It would all be a new experience for her.

Although quite honestly, she still felt a bit nervous about living in another country. After all, she hasn't even experience living in this country. There were a lot of factors that scared her. But the thing she feared most was that she might do something that would cause trouble for her brother. She didn't want that, not after all the things her brother had done for her. So she's going to make sure that something like that wouldn't happen.

There was a knock on the door. She answered and told the person knocking to come in. Felicia entered her room. Unlike before, Aurum doesn't feel that annoyed anymore whenever the maid was around. She probably had gotten used to her existence. Which was a good thing. Since Felicia would also come with them to Amexem. Aurum couldn't really stay annoyed with her everytime. And besides, she found out that Felicia was not that bad. She acts pretty stupid sometimes, but that's fine. Because she genuinely cares about her and her brother.

"Young Lady, do you need help packing?" Felicia asked with a sunny smile on her face.

"No need. I'm done."

"Then let me take it outside."

Felicia picked up the two luggages and walked out of the room. Aurum followed her.

"Do you know where my brother is?"

"The Young Lord is talking with the Duchess in the study."

They were probably talking about the trip and the place where they're going to stay once they arrived at Amexem. Once downstairs, Felicia put her luggage together with the other luggages. She was about to ask Felicia if she was also already done packing when a servant ushered in a red head boy. Aurum immediately frowned when she saw the boy. On the contrary, when the boy saw her, his eyes visibly shone.

"Lady Aurum," he greeted running towards her.

"Why are you here?" she asked, frowning.

Mishla stared at the most beautiful girl in his eyes. The happiness he felt after seeing her again was immediately replaced by sadness. Because she'd be leaving today. Not just to another town but to another continent! If he had known earlier, he would have visited the Hanover manor everyday. But he didn't because he didn't want to appear too persistent. He doesn't want his goddess to hate him. But none of that matters now. Because she's leaving. All he could do now was to say goodbye. And he would do it with a smile.

"I heard you're leaving today, so I just wanted to see you off. And you know, talk to you before you go."

Aurum wanted to tell him that there's no need for that. She doesn't really like to deal with this boy. But then she thought how he personally went here just to say goodbye, it would be terribly rude of her if she just sent him away. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Ahm, Young Lady, I'll leave so you and Lord Brightmore could talk properly," Felicia interjected first. "Shall I bring snacks and tea?"

"No need," Aurum answered. Felicia left them after that. She looked back at the Earl of Brightmore. "So?"

Mishla scratched the back of his head. "I heard you and your brother are going to stay at Amexem for seven years. That's quite a long time."

"And?"

"So, ahm, could- ahm, could I contact you while you're there? You know, from time to time." Mishla almost smacked his face. Man, he sounded so lame.

Aurum furrowed her brows. "Why would you want that?" she asked, a little confused.

"Because... because I- I want us to be friends! Yes. Right. Friends. And we can't be friends if we don't have communication." Now Mishla just wanted to double slap himself. Yup, it's official, he's really lame. But he already started this lame reasoning, so he might as well continue. "So, could we, be friends?"

Aurum stared at the boy in front. He looked flustered and embarrassed, like he knew that he was asking something silly but he didn't care anyway since he really wanted to be friends with her. This was the first time someone asked to be friends with her. "You do know what I did three years ago, right? and you still wanted to be friends with me?"

"I don't care about that," he said immediately, not even thinking twice.

And Aurum found that he really meant it. Somehow, that decreased her irritation of him quite exponentially. She doesn't have the heart to refuse him. "Once a week. You could contact me using a defero crystal once a week."

Mishla felt like he had been given the most amazing gift just because Aurum agreed. "Yes, thank you!"

"If that's all, you could leave."

"Can't I go with you to the harbor?"

"No."

Mishla knew Aurum would refused. But he didn't feel disappointed. After all, she already agreed that he could contact her. That's already a huge gain. "Okay. Then I wish you a good travel. And oh, I almost forgot, here." He took a paper bag from his space ring. "Winter asked me to give this to your brother."

This was actually the reason why Mishla found out that his goddess was leaving today. Winter asked him if he could give something to the Duke of Hanover. Probably because his friend knew that once he learned that Aurum was leaving today, he wouldn't hesitate to run over here. After all, he didn't exactly hide his fascination towards Aurum.

Mishla wondered why Winter just didn't go here by himself. But he didn't have the time to ask because he immediately ran here. Because if he didn't, he's afraid that he might miss his goddess.

Aurum frowned when she heard the name of the second prince. But she still accepted the paper bag. After that, Mishla said goodbye to her. She looked down at the bag she's holding, then opened it. She saw a defero crystal inside and a small note. She took the note and read it;

'This is a defero crystal that directly connects to mine. If you have any problems or need anything, don't hesitate to contact me.'

Aurum furrowed her brows even more after she read that. She couldn't help but remember her talk with the king because of that.

[Five days ago, At the Royal Palace]

"I'm glad you are finally able to control your Mana, Lady Aurum," the king said to Aurum, smiling.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Aurum was wary, she doesn't really know why the king wanted to talk to her alone. Was it just to check if she really was able to control her Mana? That she's not dangerous anymore?

"How did you do it, if you mind me asking?"

Aurum looked down, making sure the king wouldn't see anything in her eyes. "My brother helped me. He keeps me calm, Your Majesty."

"I see."

She wasn't really sure if the king believed her. But since he didn't really say anything after that, she would just assume that he did.

"So, you met my son, Winter. What do you think of him?"

Aurum was confused by the sudden change of topic. How did the king suddenly ask about that? But she still needed to answer. She tried to remember the prince but all she could think of was his iceberg expression. "I think His Highness has a very powerful Gift," she just chose to say that since she really couldn't think of anything.

"I agree. He has a powerful Gift, just like you. I hope once you returned from Amexem, you could get along with him," the king said, still smiling at her.

Aurum tried her best not to frown. She's young but she's not stupid. It was obvious the king wanted her to have some sort of connection to his son. But what and why? That's what she didn't understand. In any case, she doesn't like it at all. So she just bowed her head and nodded.

=====

Aurum read the note in her hand again and couldn't help but crumple it. Did the king ask the second prince to do this? Do the royal family want to have some kind of connection to their family? No. She wouldn't allow that. She walked outside the manor. When she reached the garden, she sat down, picked up a stone and crushed the defero crystal.

----------

Argent followed her mother out of the study. They just finished talking about all the details of the trip. Outside, they immediately saw all the luggages. Then they saw Aurum coming in from the outside.

"Did you go somewhere?" Argent asked when she walked towards her sister.

Aurum looked down and answered, "I just walked around the garden."

"Are both your luggages here?" Anthea asked her daughters. They both nodded. "You didn't forget anything?" They shook their heads. "Good." Then she put all the luggage in front of her in her space ring.

Argent was still amazed by the existence of this so-called space ring. She couldn't help but wonder how it really worked. It subverted a lot of her scientific belief. But then again, many things in this world tended to do that.

After a while, all of the servants gathered to bid them farewell. One of the most emotional was Nelly.

"Felicia, don't forget to contact us when you get there. And always take care of His Grace and the Young Lady," Nelly said after hugging Felicia.

Felicia resisted the urge to cry, but her eyes were still filled with water. "Yes, Mum." She turned to her father.

Gregory put his hand on Felicia's head and rubbed it. "Do a good job there."

"Yes, Dad."

"I'll leave everything here to you, Gregory," Anthea said to their butler.

"Rest assured, Your Grace, I will take care of the lord's estates while you're gone."

Anthea doesn't really worry about that. Gregory's management ability was top-notch. That's why she's confident to leave everything to him. She turned to her daughters. "Shall we go, then?"

Argent turned to her sister. "Ready?"

Aurum, in turn, held her hand. "Yes."

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Winter looked outside the window of his room. The Blackbournes probably already left right now. He really wanted to personally go to Hanover manor to say goodbye. But he wasn't confident that he could contain his emotions. Especially since he doesn't exactly know what he feels. He looked down at the defaro crystal in his hand.

Would Argent Blackbourne contact him?

Winter really wished he would.

*****

Mini-theater:

Winter: (sitting in the corner, drawing circles on the floor) Why did Aurum crushed my defaro crystal? How would Argent contact me? It's not like I want to connect with her. I just want to connect with Argent! ( )

Mishla: You can't blame my goddess for this. It's your fault for not going there and giving it to the duke yourself. Look at me, I gathered my confidence and succeeded! ()

Winter: (glared at Mishla) Shut up! ()