Death, Devotion, Dissonance

"You alright?" Evin asked, though he was already checking out her body for injuries.

"I'm fine," Bella replied, panting heavily. "Just let me rest for a bit."

Aside from her tired expression, Bella wasn't hurt, bar the few bruises and cuts here and there. As long as there weren't any serious wounds hidden behind her clothes, she was fine. But judging from her expression, she seemed completely fine. 

Although Parsh's attacks looked quite intense to Evin, apparently the man was holding back. He was probably much more skillful than he let on as Evin could imagine how hard would it be to avoid hurtind Bella in a mock fight, while also having to deal with four different flying invisible swords.

"Hah, I told you the boy was talented," a voice echoed through the training area, sounding pleased. 

Evin saw the Viscount coming over from the manor with some servants. Evin looked around and seemed to notice Arelyn and her boyfriend looking at him through one of the windows as well. 

"My Lord," Komarokh greeted. "We're pleased to have you visit us." The rest of the guards saluted as well and following that, Komarokh asked. "Did you need something from us?"

"No need for such a grand display," Velpin waved his hand. "I just came over when I heard some loud bangs in the area is all."

"I'm sorry for my spell making so much noise," Evin replied, realizing what he'd done so early in the morning.

"No, no. I'm glad I came over. It was a long time since I've witnessed such an interesting fight," Velpin's voice oozed with excitement. "If possible, could you tell me how you were able to shoot out those stone bullets so quickly? And those explosions… How are you able to create them without gathering fire first?"

"Ah, about that…" Evin replied, wondering how he should refuse.

"My Lord, it's rude to ask mages details about their spells," Elune spoke. "Even if you're close to them."

"Ah, of course, of course," Velpin sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed. 

Evin wondered why the man needed to learn spell details so badly, if he wasn't a mage. From what he said, Velpin seemed to already possess some knowledge about spellcasting. Evin thought about it a bit, before deciding that people could have hobbies.

Anyhow, the Viscount made some conversation with the guards, thanked them for their services, and left. Komarokh, Elune and the normal guards dispersed to their posts soon enough, the non-mages looking somewhat more cheerful for having the viscount come over to encourage them personally. 

They might've found the man friendly and encouraging, but Evin was more focused on why Velpin didn't bother to speak a single word to his daughter, who was lying on Evin's lap the whole time. 

'Well, there are reasons she's trying to kill him, I guess,' Evin shrugged and helped Bella up, creating some water from the air for her and putting it in a cup of ice.

Daishan and Parsh approached him next, both wearing smiles.

"Hah, told you he'd be useless. Can't even deal with one me, even with Daishan deciding to do nothing."

"Says man who fight seriously in battle with children," Daishan replied in her trademark broken western.

"You call that going serious? Hah, that wasn't even half the arms I could create!" Parsh replied. "And what about you? Can't even deal with one little mageling. Did you have to stop casting at the end of it, so you can pretend you weren't trying your hardest? Ha-ha-ha. These kids might believe you, but you can't hide your panicking, sweaty expression from me!"

"Battle was over already when you created two pair of arms!" Daishan retorted. "And the boy wasn't that serious either."

"I assure you, I was serious enough," Evin replied.

"Whatever, little mageling," Parsh laughed. "Now that you've lost, you have to break up with Bella as we promised."

Evin's eyebrows creased, wondering when he had said something like that. Then, realizing the man was messing with him, he replied smilingly. "No can do."

"Don't mess with me, kid! Stay true to your words."

"I don't remember saying anything like that and even if I did, I'm sure I simply lied to you."

"Tsk, Bella, can you hear this boy so smugly talking about his dishonesties? I'm telling you now so you won't regret it when it happens. He's definitely going to lie to you and cheat on you."

"Shut up, Parsh," Bella replied in a tired tone.

"And did you notice how he only sent a stone bullet to save you when you were fighting me? If I was your boyfriend, I'd immediately come over to help you the moment I see you in danger. Fuck whatever consequences."

"I wouldn't want to be with someone who fusses over my every little thing. A man should be able to trust his beloved, instead of trying to keep her safe from everything, you know?" Bella replied, energy returning to her voice. "And also, don't ever talk like as if we're dating. It's disgusting."

"Wha- That was just a figure of speech! An example! Don't call me disgusting for it!" 

"Even without doing that, you are disgusting anyway," Daishan added.

The three began bickering among themselves for a while, before eventually dispersing to eat breakfast. 

Evin's holidays entered a certain routine after that fight. He would wake up, join the guards in their morning training, watch Bella spar with the three mages, and mostly accompany her through the rest of the day. Sometimes going sightseeing, sometimes talking, or sometimes doing nothing in particular.

They had just begun dating, so Evin wasn't feeling bored of Bella, like Endra expected him to. They were still learning new things about each other, and from each other as well. Even with Endra holding lectures in his head occasionally, he was still ignorant of certain things, and Bella was always happy to share her knowledge. 

Of course, these debates didn't always end in a pleasing tone, as both he and Bella had very different opinions and were very confident in them as well. For Evin, it was because most of his knowledge came from the Voice, who arguably had the most informed conclusions. As for Bella, she was confident in her upbringing as a noble, and tended to consider Evin's education incomplete. Evin did not try to correct her by saying that most of his knowledge came from the Voice, as it felt wrong to admit to it somehow.

But even if they tended to argue about some things, Evin never let it go out of hand. Endra always told Evin how different people had different thoughts and that there was nothing Evin could do about it, so he wasn't going to try forcing Bella to see the world the way he did. 

Unfortunately, Bella did not think the same as him and was always trying to change Evin's thoughts one way or another. For better or worse, she was exceedingly true to herself, and did not like to change her mind about things.

Because of this, Evin tended to just admit she was right, even though he didn't feel that way deep inside. But although this worked at first, Bella was starting to get pissed off more and more each time Evin agreed with her. 

Evin asked Endra for help, but the latter didn't care enough to answer, saying that he wasn't some kind of marriage counselor to bother.

There was another problem that was becoming apparent in the relationship: Bella's negative view of Evin's mother.

Although Bella acted as if she didn't care about Lora, Evin could tell how her voice turned strained changed whenever she was mentioned. Without her knowing, she turned grumpier than usual, and she would start complaining to Evin about random things. 

Because of this, Evin was having a lot of trouble breaking free from his promise to spend the rest of the holidays with her. 

He finally managed to visit his family again after two weeks, right before the holidays ended, but he could feel that they were expecting him to come sooner. Regardless, he tried his best to help them out, and promised that he was going to meet them once a week when the Academy started. He could have two off days a week during his studies, and Evin planned to use one for Bella and one for his family.

Thus, Evin's hectic holidays ended and Evin resumed his studies in the Academy.

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