Now that everything was done, it was getting late, and Leila was feeling like hitting the sack. The girl even wondered if travelling across the world had finally caught up to her, as she felt tired.
"Where will I be sleeping?" The blonde asked Marcus as she noticed that it was a room for one guy.
"Here." He got into his office chair.
"This is your room…" She replied, starting to get uncomfortable.
"Indeed. Do you think the school clubhouse has a guest room?" He joked, before motioning to get into bed.
"So sleep here, I have things to do, so that I will be working." He moved to face his computer screen, which turned on by itself.
The girl didn't say anything as she watched him go through a familiar motion.
Before long, he forgot about her even existing, and instead, he was drawing something.
'Did he just start designing…'
Her mouth slowly opened as she saw a shape take form.
'Is that a plane?'
Regardless, she started feeling silly just standing there.
Her eyes went to the bed. It started to look quite inviting…
'Whatever!'
The girl grimaced as she ended up moving to the bed.
Then all of a sudden, a fresh T-shirt ended up landing on the bed.
"You can use that as your sleepwear." He said, looking at her for a second.
"...Fine…"
The blonde sighed as she took the t-shirt before walking to the bathroom next door.
In the bathroom, she changed out of her military uniform and walked back to the room, where the lights were off and instead a night sky projector was on.
It was dark, but not pitch black; it was good enough to sleep and, at the same time, it was good enough to move around in case one needs to.
The girl looked around. This was the first time she saw something like this.
She wondered if it's a Britannian thing, because Europia United doesn't have such an item.
Regardless, she sneaked into the bed and tried to sleep, but the bedsheets smelled like him…
And her brain started to wander towards that direction.
Her gaze went to him. With the angle she had, the girl watched him look very serious. It was like he was in his little world.
Leila watched him, and the girl realised that there was no stopping. This guy, a few hours ago, laid waste to Euro Britannia and Europia United forces, took pictures of the African continent, and now he is at home, continuing to work like nothing has happened.
After calming down… she realised that it was humbling to her.
This guy was on a completely different level when it comes to his drive.
'Is this what one needs to create those things?'
Regardless, she just looked at him before she realised that she was staring.
Then she shook her head as she realised that she was developing something right here!
'Stupid Leila! He literally kidnapped you from your army! You can't do that!'
Yet, she can't stop doing that!
Regardless, after a while, her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep with the sound of the computer hum in the background.
~~~
"Hn…"
The blonde girl's eyes snapped open as she realised that she had dozed off!
She slowly moved into a sitting position and looked around. It was still dark… but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" The blonde realised that he was gone.
Her eyes went to the bookshelf, where the lift to his workshop is located.
'Did he return to his workshop?'
The girl frowned. The guy should be tired…yet.
'Why am I worrying about him?' Her frown deepened before she got up, found her slippers and walked to the bookshelf.
She looked around, trying to figure out how to access the lift. There should be a button or some sort of mechanism to open the doors.
Before she gave up, the doors opened on their own.
'Should be the AI…'
The girl walked into the lift that took her down to the workshop level.
Once there, she saw a similar view… only a more prominent night sky projector and holograms all over the place.
It looked like he was putting together a puzzle that was his plane.
"You know… It's late, and you should get some sleep." She said with crossed arms.
"You should sleep instead. Once morning, I will take over." He said to her.
That moment she realised that he was not going to sleep because of her taking over his bed, an excuse to continue to work
"You… *Sigh*..."
"Just come with me to the bed…" The girl sighed, ending up accepting these strange circumstances.
"Don't you own a successful business? The amount of money should be enough to own a decent-sized estate," the girl reasoned, not understanding his fascination with living in a clubhouse.
"Most of the money I earn is to keep my junkyards running." He replied.
"...Junkyards?"
"Yep, I pay Japanese to bring me metals and so on, the same metals I use for building and research." He explained before expanding on this.
"Not only is the income not that high from my Anaheim business front, as I give prosthetics to soldiers dirt cheap."
Leila nodded before frowning at him.
"And yet, you slaughtered those soldiers without care. Quite the hypocrisy." The girl replied with crossed arms.
"Hah, that's what humans are. It should be obvious that we act in our own best interests at that moment. For example, you surrendered yourself to me, instead of fighting to the death."
"That's different." She countered
"Not at all, I was at my weakest when I was taking care of you. My sword was away, you could have disabled me and taken my weapon, and then of my machine, you could have been a hero."
Marcus explained a hypothetical scenario to the girl, who had several expressions going through her mind.
"...As if… I would attack someone who is taking care of me. Besides, I doubt I could steal something like your advanced machine that has self-awareness!" Leila countered, she has the decency not to attack someone who is taking care of her!
"Maybe. But that's you getting the best of your situation. You didn't care about your status in the military when I was taking you away. At that moment, all you cared about was survival, not your principles." He shrugged, making her feel that he drove a nail into her 'theory'.
"Principle is great and all that stuff. But it only works when you're comfortable in your situation and are in control." He shrugged at her calling him a hypocrite, when she is one as well.
"...Fine…" Leila huffed, not liking the idea that he got her on ropes, especially when she is wearing his t-shirt and is sleeping in his bed…
"Now come with me, we are going to sleep." She motioned for him to come with her.
"Sure~."
His voice made her grimace; he sounded like he was going to enjoy this!
"We can share the bed, but no touching!" She replied with an embarrassed look.
"All I can promise are hugs." He smiled, making her look away with even redder cheeks.
Damn him and his bluntness! Can't he see that he is making her question her life choices!
A short elevator trip, they were back in his room, and the blonde girl got into his bed and moved close to the wall, making space for Marcus, who ended up in the bed and quickly pulled her for a hug and then closed his eyes and started to snooze.
Leila, who turned stiff like a statue for a second, wondered if he would do something else, but to her surprise, he was already sleeping just a couple of minutes into this!
'...This guy… he has no self-preservation or something?' She wondered if this was the case, because they only met today, but he is already acting like that!? Isn't he afraid that she could plan a long-term revenge? After all, he shot her and then kidnapped her!
Yet…
'...Ugh!!!'
He makes no sense, and it just makes her want to know more about him!
It may annoy her, but in turn, it makes her more curious!
The guy is like sweet poison to her mind; the longer she is around, the harder it is for her to imagine how she could escape!
~~~
Leila looked at Marcus, or more precisely, his little sister. Now she knew why he wanted to crush the Britannian Empire and, more precisely, his father.
She recalled what happened to the Empress, now that she witnessed first-hand that his sister got broken legs and couldn't see, on top of all that, he was exiled to Japan and THEN attacked the said country.
It made her blood boil, and it's not even her family!
It only makes her distaste for the Empire grow.
"...Umm…" The brown-haired little sister of the prince could tell that there was something else with her brother.
"Nunnaly, this is Leila, she is my new assistant and secretary. She is very special to me." Marcus said with a grin.
Leila grimaced when she heard that! Can't he not do that!
"...What about Milly?" Nunally was confused; she thought that the other blonde girl was his 'special'.
"No idea, she keeps running away from me, that is why I got Leila." He shook his head.
"That's because you are constantly teasing her!" Nunally pouted; she had heard many times about this from Milly.
Leila looked at Marcus. So he is not only blunt but can tease to the point that a girl runs away.
"Well, I call it the counter-tease as she is ruthless in school." The Inventor Prince replied, he is well prepared for this 'conflict'.
"Please, Miss Leila, I apologise for my big brother's sassiness; he is a bit weird."
Marcus rolled his eyes when he heard Nunally apologising for him!
"It's fine, and call me Leila, we will be seeing each other a lot." The blonde smiled, turns out his little sister is sweet! Nothing like her brother!
"Oh, wow… your accent, where are you from?" Nunally curiously asked.
"Europe."
"...Europe? Big brother, how did you…" The girl asked him.
"Flying with my new toy." He replied with a shrug.
"...I-I see… please, I want to remind you that he can be a workaholic, his inventions speak for themselves." The girl explained to Leila.
The blonde smiled, but her smile was strained. If only this sweet girl knew what her brother had built.
"I know, I already saw his workshop and was picked up by him."
"...Oh, I see. I have never been to his workshop." The girl pouted at her brother.
"I told you to try opening your eyes, Nunally. It has been years, if you can see it, it will be much better for you." He rolled his eyes, making the blonde look at the younger girl.
Now she was curious…why?
"Anyway, Saeko take my sister to school, I shall do that as well, once I get a uniform for Leila."
The maid who was standing behind Nunnaly bowed and began to assist the girl with her daily walking exercises.
The exoskeleton of her legs makes them work, strengthening her leg muscles.
Leila finally noticed the smooth-looking prosthetics the girl had on her legs.
Her eyes perked up; she now knew why he made Anaheim make prosthetics and those exoskeletons!
It's related to his sisters.
'He truly is a weird guy…' She smiled while thinking about that.
"She isn't blind, then she doesn't open her eyes?" The blonde asked after seeing the pair leave.
"Trauma, after seeing mother's…corpse, she couldn't open her eyes anymore." Marcus narrowed his eyes while saying that.
"...I see… that should have been a traumatic experience." Leila had a sorrowful look; she had a familiar experience with her birth family as well.
"Indeed, but she has to overcome it and open her eyes, considering I fixed her broken legs already, it's more dangerous now to walk instead of using a wheelchair." The Inventor Prince sighed, it's getting depressing for him, as his tech can't help here...