Ch.131130. Summer Vacation (4)

# 130. Summer Vacation (4)

The words Leo blurted out.

“Buy one too, I’ll get it for you.”

It took Aelin a moment to process what he had said.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I said buy one, I’ll pay for it.”

“But still, that’s…”

To her credit, Aelin didn’t immediately accept the offer.

It seemed she was conscious of the fact that these were Dren’s weapons, likely costing an amount she couldn’t even imagine.

Of course, Leo didn’t particularly care about that.

“Just get one, don’t worry about the money.”

Then he continued in a nonchalant tone.

“It’s not even that expensive anyway.”

“…”

Of course, she couldn’t just accept it even if Leo said so.

Others might have, but Aelin wasn’t like that.

Leo seemed frustrated by her hesitation and sighed deeply before speaking to Dren.

“Really… this is annoying. Mister, do you have any decent staffs she could use?”

“Staffs? We have plenty of those.”

“Show me some good ones.”

“Mister, wait a minute!”

Dren started heading somewhere.

Aelin tried to stop him, but Leo blocked her.

“Are you satisfied with what you’re using now?”

“W-well, not really.”

“That’s why I’m buying it for you.”

Hearing that, Aelin finally seemed to give in.

“Ugh… okay, thanks…”

“You should have said that from the start, always using that cheap staff.”

“You still lose to me with that cheap staff…”

Aelin’s timid provocation.

Normally, Leo would have responded loudly, but not this time.

“I didn’t lose to the cheap staff, I lost to you, because you’re stronger than me.”

“Oh… that’s true.”

Aelin seemed momentarily flustered, not expecting such a response.

Meanwhile, Dren returned with several staffs, and Aelin examined them carefully.

“Which one is the best here?”

As expected, Aelin prioritized performance over appearance.

Of course, all the staffs looked luxurious.

Dren pointed to the leftmost staff among the luxurious ones—a pure white staff that resembled midwinter snow.

“This one has the best performance, Magic Power 90 with 20% Mana Capacity.”

“90?!”

“Yes, 90.”

Aelin couldn’t close her mouth, shocked by the overwhelming figure of Magic Power 90.

Her reaction was the complete opposite of Leo’s calm demeanor.

“Why are you so surprised? Albert’s sword is over 150 combined.”

“That’s different from this.”

“90 isn’t that high, right?”

Dren spoke in the same calm tone as Leo.

“90 is high, plenty high. But there are many that are higher.”

“See? I told you it’s not that high.”

“How powerful is the Princess’s staff?”

“Um… as far as I know, it’s Magic Power 140 with 30% Agility and 30% Mana Capacity.”

It was certainly an item that could be described as “broken.”

Moreover, even its design was nearly perfect.

Of course, it was also an expensive weapon to match.

“That one is really… even I think it turned out well.”

Dren seemed to be recalling that staff, both his creation and her weapon.

Leo ignored Dren and asked Aelin.

“So, will you take this one?”

“Um… yes, I’ll take this.”

Having made her decision, Aelin picked up the staff.

“Wow…”

Picking up the staff, Aelin was as delighted as a child receiving a birthday present.

Of course, she was trying to hide it, but couldn’t completely conceal her joy.

“How is it?”

“Um… thank you.”

Aelin’s shy expression of gratitude.

Leo’s face immediately turned red upon hearing those words, and he tried to hide it.

Aelin asked Leo, who had suddenly turned his head away.

“Hey… what’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“N-no, it’s nothing like that.”

Leo calmed his flushed face and slowly turned back.

Then he handed his card to Dren.

“Payment now, full amount.”

“Do you even know how much it costs?”

“Doesn’t really matter.”

Aelin was amazed at Leo’s spending habits.

“Is it okay to spend like that?”

“I wouldn’t if it wasn’t, and besides, do you know who I am?”

“I guess… imperial family members really are different…”

Indeed, both she and Leo possessed wealth far beyond comparison with ordinary people.

It was something she already knew, but since neither of them was the type to flaunt their wealth, she had momentarily forgotten.

“You’re a proper noble yourself, even bearing a title at your age.”

“Still can’t compare to you…”

Certainly, even though Aelin’s status had risen due to recent events, Leo was born into the imperial family.

The wealth he was born with was beyond what most could achieve.

“I’m a bit of an exception.”

“That’s what I mean by different.”

“Just a moment…”

Afterward, Leo spent some time examining the items in the store.

As if looking for something specific, he crouched down and rummaged through boxes filled with items.

“What are you looking for?”

“Oh… nothing.”

Whether he couldn’t find what he was looking for or not, he soon stood up.

“Don’t you want to buy anything else? Like armor or accessories?”

“It’s fine, what I have now is enough.”

Although she said it was fine, there were many things she wanted to buy. Accessories or robes were things she’d like to have.

But she couldn’t afford them.

Of course, she couldn’t say “I can’t buy them because I don’t have money.”

‘If I say that, he’ll probably buy them for me like before…’

She didn’t want to be more indebted to him, so she pretended everything was fine.

Fortunately, Leo didn’t seem to notice her lie.

“Really? Then let’s go now.”

Leo and Aelin said goodbye to Dren and left the store.

“By the way, what were you looking for earlier?”

“Ah… I had my eye on something before, but it wasn’t there.”

“Something you had your eye on?”

“Yeah, nothing special, just a regular item.”

It probably wasn’t just a regular item if Leo had his eye on it, but she decided to let it go.

‘He probably wouldn’t tell me even if I asked.’

And there was no need to know anyway.

Instead, Aelin asked a different question.

“Can I go now? Seems like we’re done here, I don’t have anything to buy, and you’ve bought what you wanted.”

Indeed, their business was finished now.

Actually, it was hardly business at all.

It was strange that Leo had called Aelin for shopping he could have done alone.

But it seemed Leo’s business wasn’t finished yet.

“Wait a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

As Aelin was about to head toward the elevator, Leo stopped her.

Then he spoke in a rather serious tone and voice.

“If you have time… would you like to go see a movie?”

From the beginning, from the moment she received his call, the question that had been lingering in Aelin’s mind was:

‘Why bother?’

Leo’s words just now were almost an answer to that question.

Aelin pondered for a long time after hearing those words.

‘Suddenly? Now? Why?’

And those thoughts led to a question.

‘Does he… like me?’

A long time ago, when he first started bothering her, that was the first thought she had.

Of course, she wasn’t particularly interested back then.

They weren’t even in the same class, let alone the same grade, so all she knew about him was that he was “the Emperor’s son.”

But now the situation was different.

Since then, they had crossed paths quite a bit and gradually grown closer, to the point where they could now be called “friends.”

And in that process, Leo had also changed, and consequently, Aelin’s assessment of him had changed.

Originally, she thought of him as…

‘A kid who acts big because of his connections, looking like a parasite.’

But now…

‘He’s still weak, but he’s trying hard to catch up to me. And he’s kind of handsome too…’

As they became friendlier and closer, getting to know various aspects of each other, she developed some affection for him.

Even if it wasn’t quite to the point of liking him, she could at least watch a movie with him.

“Sure, I’d like that.”

And with that level of affection, she was now a bit curious.

‘Does he… really like me?’

***

At a late hour when the sun had disappeared and the moon had taken its place.

At that late hour, a boy entered a mansion, breathing heavily.

“Haa… haa.”

“Oh… young master! Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine.”

The maids in the mansion were worried about him, but there was one person who wasn’t.

That girl asked the boy who was receiving treatment from the maids.

“Hey, where have you been until now?”

“I went to clear a dungeon, and it took longer than expected…”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a question… what kind of girls do boys like?”

The boy tilted his head at that question.

“That’s all you want to ask?”

“Shut up and answer.”

“Usually pretty girls, especially when you’re young.”

“Then… am I pretty?”

“That’s all you want to ask?”

The boy seemed reluctant to answer that question, and it was obvious enough to be visible.

“Do you not want to answer?”

“Just so you know… Leo likes you, so don’t worry.”

“Hey! You really!”

“Calm down, but why?”

“No… forget it, it’s my fault for asking you.”

Afterward, the girl left with a strangely satisfied expression.

But the boy found her behavior puzzling.

‘What’s with her… why is she smiling…? It’s annoying.’

The girl was smiling brightly as if she had heard the answer she wanted, and the boy muttered while watching her smile.

“I wonder if she’s done what she needed to do today…?”