Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 251: Flippant

Roarke noticed there had been quite a clash between the lord and Arkai.

It was subtle. Only someone who had grown up beside the heir would notice. Shorter responses. Tighter jaws. The way Arkai’s eyes went cold whenever his father’s name came up.

Right after the incident yesterday, the lord had tried to summon Cecilia Araceli. His aide had come personally, which was unusual enough, but apparently the Headmaster had blocked the summon before it could even reach her.

Then the lord tried again.

Roarke had watched Arkai’s expression when he heard about it. Something had snapped in those dark eyes. And the moment Arkai learned his father had summoned her, he had immediately decided to follow her north.

Today, when noon hit, the lord’s aide appeared at the Athenaeum again. Looking for Cecilia. Twice, two days in a row?

But Cecilia wasn’t in the Athenaeum. Neither was Arkai. Which meant Roarke had become the next thing the aide could rely on to find them.

Wonderful.

Roarke had absolutely no idea where those two had gone.

Yes, he prided himself on being the Dawnoro Heir’s right-hand man. He knew Arkai’s habits, his patterns, his secret hideaways. But what could he do when his boss didn’t tell him where he was going?

Today, Arkai didn’t have any specific schedule. Just the Headmaster’s office in the morning, and after that, nothing. No clue. No note left behind.

Thankfully, Roarke was being paid extra this month. He could have just dodged the task entirely and not cared at all. But since the extra was coming from Arkai’s own pocket, and not the family fortune, he figured he owed his friend at least a heads-up.

Hey, your daddy’s looking for your girl.

He asked around. The staff, the guards, the students lingering during break. Eventually, he found someone who had seen them leaving toward the city near the school.

Cool.

That was just a direction. They could have gone to the teleportation gate and ended up anywhere in the world. As if that narrowed it down.

But again, extra money this month.

He found them in the city, thank God.

It was almost sunset already.

And the two of them were sitting on a boulevard bench, eating lamb wraps like the most ordinary couple in the world.

What was this cozy atmosphere?

Could it be...?

"Why didn’t you bring your crystal, man?"

Arkai’s head snapped around, his eyes narrowing when he heard Roarke’s voice behind him.

Roarke felt his veins pop.

"Huuuuuuh?" He stood there akimbo, turning up his sass. "Angry I disturbed your little date?"

"Roarke..." Arkai sighed in resignation.

Beside him, Cecilia giggled.

"Yeah, fucker, guess what?" Roarke marched toward them, too tired to care about propriety. "I’m here to tell you your father’s out to get you two. So do whatever you like."

He waved a hand vaguely. "Either go home again with her and get fucked, or quickly get your ass somewhere and get a real chance at a head start to elope. I’ll cover for your asses."

Cecilia laughed even more. It was bright and warm, a sound that made the evening feel lighter. She shook her head, wiping sauce from her lips with her fingers.

"What do you think, Arkai?" Her eyes sparkled with amusement. "Should we elope?"

Arkai looked at her and something flickered in his eyes.

Roarke could swear he saw the man actually considering it.

"Brother!" Roarke’s voice climbed an octave. "I was kidding! Don’t be serious!"

"Ahahahahah—" Cecilia doubled over, hugging her stomach, her laughter echoing off the buildings around them.

"If..." Arkai’s voice was calm. Serious. Light, somehow, as if discussing a real possibility. "If you want to elope... where would you want to go? To the Edengolds? Or... to wherever that Alicei transfer student is?"

Cecilia shook her head, still smiling. "You’d be sad. So we won’t elope." She stood, brushing off her clothes. "Let’s go to your father now. I’m interested in what he wants to say."

Arkai closed his eyes briefly.

Sadness hadn’t escaped him yet. Not after his speculations and theories, and his desperate attempts to understand her. He wished it was that easy. Wished he could just be hers without complication.

But of course she would think he’d get sad if he left everything for her. Of course she wouldn’t ask him to go that far.

Cecilia finished the last bite of her wrap and stood fully.

"Alright. Let’s go."

Roarke was a bit unnerved by her bravery. It had been like this yesterday too. The way she faced the lord of the house with no fear at all. She was almost scary.

"Are you sure, though?" he asked, genuinely uncertain.

Cecilia turned to him and smiled. "Oh, did he ask for me only, or with Arkai?"

Roarke shrugged. "Initially, just you. But when his aide found out Arkai was missing too, he wondered if you two were together." He waved his hands. "Just! Go! Together! ...To be safe, you know."

"Thanks." Cecilia’s smile brightened further.

Roarke felt his nerves ease, just slightly. He smiled back, helpless in the face of that warmth—

...then caught Arkai glaring at him.

Why? Let him guess. It must be for receiving too much of Cecilia’s smile.

Roarke wiped the smile off his face immediately.

Remember, Roarke. You’re getting paid extra this month. Don’t have a crashout, even though you totally deserve one for this treatment. He whispered to himself.

"Ah, go! Go, you two!" He made shooing motions with his hands. "Don’t involve me. Go!"

He watched them actually start walking toward the teleportation gate location in the middle of the city, grumbling under his breath.

Cecilia turned back. She waved at him and smiled.

"Stop smiling at me!" Roarke snapped. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Heheheheheheheh..."

Arkai observed Cecilia closely as they walked.

Only after they turned a corner, away from Roarke’s prying eyes, did he ask.

"Do you... like him too?"

Cecilia turned, tilting her head. "Yeah. I do."

Arkai forced his face to remain neutral. He forced the scowl not to show, but his eyes narrowed anyway.

"You want to make him one of your... ’boyfriends’ too?"

To help her conceive that specific child?

Cecilia chuckled. "He’s handsome. But not as handsome as my boyfriends." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Oh.

So they had to be handsome? How handsome, exactly?

"I like him because he’s a good man." Cecilia smiled up at him. "And I like him because you like him."

Hm.

"Will you add more... boyfriends later, then?" The question came out before he could stop it. "If someone more handsome comes along?"

Cecilia scoffed. "Someone like that doesn’t exist."

More handsome than Arkai, Oathran, and Eastiel? Ha. Who? Caledfwlch himself? But perhaps even that was debatable. Anyway, she wasn’t the Goddess of Beauty, so it wouldn’t work out.

Suddenly, the horizontal scar on her neck stung.

Ouch.

Cecilia’s hand flew to her throat, fingers pressing against the faint line that marked where she had drawn blood in that frozen field, in that desperate ritual to save Oathran.

...th-they... they were listening?

The thought flashed through her mind, half-panicked, half-disbelieving. Those voices... Caledfwlch and Morgen, the divine presences who had warned her... were they watching? Listening?

Oops.

Or maybe it was just her own guilt. A phantom sensation, conjured by her flippant dismissal of the gods’ existence. Who could really know with these things?

Ouch! It stung again!

[Cecilia... please don’t offend the deities...]

The System’s voice in her mind was almost plaintive, caught between exasperation and genuine concern.

Cecilia pressed her lips together, suppressing the urge to laugh.

Fine.