It was almost funny how quickly the courtyard had emptied after that.
Medea was somewhere being patched up or sulking that she almost died for someone else's love confession. Xenos didn't know, nor did he care—and now, he was standing beside Gaia, alone, in the manor gardens.
"It's so, so, so beautiful!"
Gaia's voice cracked with joy as she spun her hand around, watching the sunlight glint off the ring on her finger.
She turned it one way, then another, as if it were the most magical thing she'd ever seen.
"Is it?..."
Xenos smiled softly.
"I'm glad you like it."
Before he could say anything else, she lunged forward and hugged him tight enough to make his ribs groan.
"Thank you…"
Xenos took a moment before awkwardly raising his arms and patting her back.
'Man, I feel like a bastard doing this… is this guilt?'
He didn't get guilt often; he didn't do guilt. But seeing her so genuinely happy, so completely unaware—yeah, that made something twist in his gut.
