Capítulo 15: Final Days Pt. 3
"Wait, he still wouldn't admit it after all that time?"
"Nope. He was also going through a rough spot mentally, but that's beside the point. Anyway, after over 6 months of that, she accidentally fully revealed her feelings to him, to which he finally responded properly and told her that he felt that same. However, it was pretty much too late by that point. He was scheduled to leave to Amalfora in two months."
"All that just for him to leave?" Jean was blown away by that, and it showed very clearly on his face, to which she responded with a giggle when she looked up at him.
"Yeah, all that just for him to leave. It's ridiculous, I know, but it's what happened. He would have stayed if he could, but his personal and familial livelihood depended on it. He was a Vespuccian envoy, and if he refused orders, who's to say what might have happened."
"He was an envoy?"
"Yeah. He was actually the son of a count, and they used his intellect very often by making him an envoy with his family. The better Vespucc's envoys appear, the more the receiving nation will be amenable to whatever demands they may have, and what can be better than a magical prodigy?"
"But what happened in those two months?"
"Well, they decided to try and make up for lost time. They were almost hopelessly in love. Their love was tinged with regret for not doing it sooner, but it was still bliss. In a letter he sent her while he was away after they were married, he said that the best point in his life before marrying her was those two months. But, long story short, when he was allowed to, he moved back to Vespucc to be with her, and after he did, they were together until he proposed a year later. And then, of course, they got married, and so on."
"That's... that's a hell of a story."
"I know, right? There..." She sucked in air through her teeth. "...there's obviously some of it I don't like, but it's also romantic to know that their love persisted so long, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, it is. You have good parents."
"I do, yeah. I love them. I love them a lot, and I don't know what I'd do without them. Not only do they possess a lot, but they also worked for it. I know a lot of people just have everything given to them, but although they were both given some, they also worked to make something of it. They both worked to become people worthy of both greatness and respect."
"They do seem like they've earned it. Shame your father was such a coward at first, though."
"It's more than just a shame, but yeah. Unlike him, though, I know how to get what I want," she said as she leaned into him a bit.
After another few hours of snooping around and sharing secrets, Lin had to leave to do her duties and coordinate the hired help, and Jean sat there for a few moments, in a bit of a daze, wondering what was happening. Ultimately, though, he replicated M's route and left his thoughts on it unresolved and left to the lab to find some notes to bury his nose in.
Over the course of the next week, Lin and Jean spent time together every day. He taught her a small bit of magic, but most of it went over her head. She learned very slowly, relative to Jean, so teaching her was a little frustrating sometimes, but he bore through it so that he could see her face light up every time she finally understood something and managed to actually make something glow, explode, change shape, or do anything, really.
Halfway through the second week, only Yun, Jean, and Lin were home. The boys trusted Jean enough to leave on their father's orders to gather certain materials for him, and the other two were more than comfortable around him.
In the afternoon, after dinner, Jean was sitting in the open air on a cushioned couch on the porch behind the house. The front of the house was surrounded by forest, but the back opened to a lake, which the sun reflected off in incandescent shows of glamor. He was studying some of M's notes on voids.
He felt it had some relation to the void he used to see when he saw the hells, but he couldn't understand the notes. He'd have to ask M when he came back. He wanted to try to increase his attributes to help him understand, but his status looked almost entirely the same as it had before the third hell, and he wasn't willing to kill for it.
He tried visiting the property's slaughterhouse to find some lingering spirits, but it was hardly helpful. Each spirit there was worth significantly less than a point of experience, and there wasn't enough to amount to anything worth mention.
Then, Lin opened the door to the house behind him, saying, "There you are. I've been looking for you."
Looking behind him, Jean replied, "You have been? Why?"
"I don't know. Do I need to have a reason to look for you?" She smiled as she sat right next to him on the couch and asked, "What are you reading?"
"I'm reading your dad's notes on voids. I don't understand them, though. Like, how can an absolute void, that has no attributes, exist? To exist, something must have dimensions, and dimensions are attributes. Or is it theoretical? Or metaphysical? Or an impossible ideal? I don't know; I have absolutely no idea. I'm going to keep reading, though."
"Of course! Don't let your stupidity stop you, keep reading as much as you can," she said, shaking slightly, though what from wasn't clear yet.
He scoffed, "Right, thanks for the encouragement." He laughed a little. They settled into a slightly tense silence as Jean tried to read as much as he could, afraid that he would make it awkward if he looked at her directly, and she studied the side of his face. She was distracting him, so it was more than a little hard for him to read, but he tried for several minutes regardless.
Slowly, she started, "Jean..." She paused.
"Yeah?"
She leaned against him and said, "Jean... Jean, I like you. I like you a lot. I wasn't sure at first because you were so strange and I wasn't sure how to take you, and how you screamed at night, it was terrifying, and I thought you were dangerous, but I know how I really feel now. You're funny, and smart, and handsome, and I—I want to be with you. Is.. Is that ok?" She shook and nearly broke under the pressure.
He paused for a moment, stunned, before responding, "Y—Yeah, yeah, that's more than ok." He wanted to reciprocate her feelings but hadn't said that most important part. "But... what about your parents? And brothers? Are they ok with this? I don't want to face them down. We both know I'd fold in a second. I can't stand up to them."
"No, they'll be fine," she quickly assured him. "I told Gao about what I planned on doing before he left, and it took him a few minutes to think, but he said that he'd be fine with that as long as it didn't go too far. I also asked Mom, and she likes you, so she said it was fine, too. My family loves you, Jean, especially Dad. They're more than ok with it." An even greater untold profession lay in her heart. It was more than her family that loved him.
Jean inhaled and stayed silent for several seconds before letting the breath out and definitely replying, "I think it's more than ok that you like me. Honestly?" He paused again, considering his words and the consequences one last time. "I feel the same. I'd love to be with you"
Lin beamed, feeling relief flow through her body as she let out her shaky breath and suddenly hugged him from the side, burying her face below his arm. He grinned, too, and set the notes down before deftly rotating his body to put his back against the side of the couch and his feet up, with her still attached to him.
Slowly, he moved her to his front and wrapped his arms around her, one around her back and one around her waist. She moved to settle her head in the crook of his neck as he hugged her tight. They rested there for quite some time, perfectly content to just feel one another's body heat and hearts beating.
Jean's mind was still a mess, as he didn't know how things took such as sharp turn. He was glad they had, but he wasn't sure why they had. If it weren't for Lin's forwardness, he would have taken M's path and simply ignored his feelings until it was too late. Jean was still a coward at heart. He would never take the initiative. Never.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
GenericPseudonym
GenericPseudonym Another make up chapter for today.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder