XX

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she decided long beforehand that there will still be some problems that the empire will face even if she decided to use some of her experiences in the first life. But she never expected that her father and his team will be handling those problems, and the empire is not small place...

This expedition will take a while, not just a couple of months. Will be joining the main unit

“I apologize for these circumstances, Lady Aristia” The Duke spoke up, “I wish I could go myself, but the commander of the first squadron can't leave the city” he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Instead, my son and some knights from the first squadron will be joining the main unit” The Duke looked towards his son, sitting beside his favorite white head. Kaysian stood up and bowed to Aristia, with a determined expression.

“We should hurry with the preparations, An you will be assisting us, is that okay?” The Marquis wanted to finish this mission as soon as possible, but of course he has to put the safety of himself and the knights, at top priority.

“Yes pa. I'm free for the day, anyways” Anastacius stood up and replied, he gave Kaysian a pat on the shoulder before walking to his sister on order to give her reassurance.

Aristia suddenly remembered her father's back, out was the last time she saw him before he perished under the emperor's execution.

“When should we mobilize?” The Duke starts to have a serious conversation with the Marquis, as they schedule a meeting for later in the afternoon.

“I'll do everything I can, to make the mission as fast as possible. With maximum security and no space for failure” Anastacius took her hand in his gloved ones, not so tightly. But it was enough to make her forget about her worries for a moment.

Both of the siblings glanced at their father's conversation with the Duke, “Arkint, I expect you will take good care of my children while I'm away”

Aristia and Anastacius felt so loved, seeing their father work about them once they're not in his presence.

“That won't be a problem” The Duke crossed his arms in a silent promise that he will take excellent care of the two siblings. “Even Ruth will be going to oversee the relief operation... So the capital will be quite empty. That reflects the importance of this mission”

Aristia and her father, then became curious about a certain detail. Whereas, Anastacius is fully aware of what, and who, they wanted to know. Anastacius kept a semi blank face as he is not looking at their direction, instead he is in a daze because of staying up the whole night.

“Then who will be going at the assistant chancellor?” the Marquis asked

“His majesty is supposed to appoint someone, but I don't know who it will be...” The Duke was also wondering who might be appointed, then his gaze travels to one of the siblings, who's staring at the corner. “I assume it might be Ruth's eldest son, he will then be able to teach him the way”

“I wonder if that will be the case..” The Marquis replied, while holding his hand underneath his jaw while thinking.

The Duke looked at his friend, questioningly. Kaysian was just watching all of this unfold, when he accidentally took his best friend's cup which was full of coffee, rather than his tea. He took a sip, when he felt the bitter taste touch his tongue, he choked. It took a lot of his will power to not spit it out as he was panicking whether it was poison and if he should swallow it.

Anastacius regains his senses as he realized that he dazed off, he turned to his cup of coffee which resulted to seeing his best friend having an inner war with something. His eyes looked at Kaysian's hand to see his cup...

Coffee is not something this era will enjoy and Anastacius does not think that Kaysian will be able to handle it. To relieve the suffering of his best friend, he sneakily gave him, his handkerchief with sweets and whispered, “Spit it out, if you can't handle it”

Anastacius took his cup from Kaysian's hand and drank a mouthful, while watching him spit out the dark drink. Which made Anastacius grimace from wasting such a divine drink. He rubs circles on Kaysian's back, as the latter pops the sweet in his mouth.

The Marquis and the Duke, did not see what the two were doing but Aristia sure did. And she was confused. The redhead looks like he just came back from death, while her brother is comforting him.

“What is that!?” Kaysian whisper-yelled, he looked traumatized as he stared at Anastacius, who's taking big gulps of that bitter drink.

Anastacius raised his eyebrow, taking the cup away from his mouth and licks his pink lips, which are curled a bit, in satisfaction. Kaysian stares in a daze at his best friend's lips in confusion as to why he's feeling hot all of a sudden.

“It's coffee, my favorite drink” Anastacius answered, rubbing Kaysian's red hair in a doting manner, “You're too young for this, Sian~”

Kaysian felt himself get embarrassed, hearing his nickname from Anastacius' mouth.

(A/n: Ayooo bestfriends don't get embarrassed unless it's a really ridiculous one 🤨📸)

“At any rate, since my dear friends and son will be traveling so far away, how about I hold a farewell banquet?” The Duke announced, looking at the reactions of the people present in the room, “At the Verita Mansion that is!”

There were sparkles surrounding the Duke as he started rambling a bit the details of what will happen at the banquet.

The Duke's son wore a similar expression to his best friend's, a deadpanned gaze towards the Duke. The Marquis on the other hand was speechless, “... You must've down permission beforehand, right?”

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The young La Monique son, wanted to pass out already but he still had to discuss about the work plan for the remaining knights. He removes his head from his best friend's shoulder as the two adults come into an agreement. He bids goodbye to Aristia and Kaysian, who will be escorting her, as he will sadly be stuck between the two adults over again.

“I won't be able to see you out, take care of her Sian and I'll have some time with you, later” He rests his hand on his sister's cheek, while looking at his best friend for a silent promise.

“I will do my best” Kaysian saluted jokingly, but he is serious in his heart about taking care of his sister.

The eldest La Monique gave them, Kaysian and Aristia, a smile. This was one of the few moments where you see an unrestrained smile on the boy. That smile was rare and precious, only reserved to those who are close to him.

“I'll be going back inside again”

The young man walked back inside the room while waking his hand.

As he reentered the room, he saw the two adults having a serious talk about the expedition. He stood aside, waiting for the two to notice his presence as he did not want to intrude in their conversation.

“An, come here”

Thankfully, after a few moments, his father noticed him and gestured him to sit with them.

Anastacius gave a nod, before obeying his father.

“I have some queries about the expedition”

The two men looked towards him, who had his hands raised. The Duke nodded, letting him ask his questions.

“How much people are estimated to join this expedition?

Can I have the map and be the one to plan father's route?

And can I send a few of my people to join this expedition?”

The Duke and Marquis looked surprised at his questions, “You want to plan out my route -” “You have your own people!?”

The Marquis looked at his friends in dissatisfaction for being cut off, while the latter is more focused about the young man having his own people.

“Yes and yes”

Anastacius looked at them blankly, with a hint of seriousness.

“I have some theories about multiple places you might be going through and the unit's safety is not fully assured, I'm aware that the squadrons may be able to handle any rising problem but I'm not sure about the rest...I know that with my skill, I can find a faster and safer route”

He looked toward the Duke before explaining about his people, “My people are not knights who are under this squadron, thus they only follow me and my orders”

“We can't just let anyone in the unit... but since it's coming from you, we'll surely find a way” The Duke pondered for a moment, he is aware of this young man's abilities and he always does what is best for those he loves. He decided to let his Majesty handle it, the emperor does love this kid.

The three put aside the last question for now and continued discussing about almost every possibility of what the unit will be facing, the moment they leave the capital.

Anastacius will present situations, that may sound preposterous but its not entirely impossible, and he will question on how they will face it. Ambushes, natural disasters, spies within, etc. They covered all of those for hours until they realized how Anastacius is in dire need of sleep.

“We've covered all that is needed, let's finish this meeting alright?” The Marquis proclaimed looking at the bags underneath his son's eyes.

The Duke nodded in agreement but Anastacius thought otherwise, “We still have to tackle a couple more things, though...” He looked at both of them.

“There's still a tomorrow for it, we can even discuss it with the rest of the people joining the unit” The Marquis comforted him, ending this meeting without a hitch. “This meeting is now over”

Anastacius stood up and thanked the two adults for their time before heading outside. He stood aside some trees, facing his gaze to the sky. “It's already morning”

He sat underneath the trees shade, leaning against the trunk to support his figure. His eyes were slowly shut, silently appreciating the cold breeze of nature, and before he knew it. He fell into a deep slumber.

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After Kaysian escorted his best friend's sister, he started looking for Anastacius. Both of them have been very busy with their own lives, that they haven't been able to spend much time together like when you were kids.

“An, where are you...?”

He muttered as he walks around the training grounds, then he saw a tuft of white hair peeking from the side of a tree. He's not entirely sure if that's the person he's looking for, or a knight with a similar hair color.

He kept his footsteps as quiet as possible, as he went around the tree to meet with a sleeping Anastacius, looking relaxed and comfortable.

“Silly, you should've worn warmer clothes if you're going to take a nap” He sighed in amusement.

He decided to sit beside Anastacius, and look at the scenery in front of them. It's quiet relaxing, there's no sounds of people, only the birds chirping and the trees swaying from the wind can be heard.

He then felt a weight on his shoulder, from the corner of his eyes, the shade of white blocks his view of that direction. He breathes in the scent of Anastacius, oddly relaxing him.

In the end both of them fell asleep, uninterrupted until it was time for lunch.

Anastacius opened his eyes first, feeling his body is refreshed and hungry for proper food. Then he realized that there's something warm, his head was resting on. He turned his gaze to see the sleeping expression of his best friend.

He didn't know why Kaysian is here, but he's thankful for the company of a person who's not blood related to him.

Kaysian felt something nicer on his shoulder, which made him wake up. He suddenly remembered that he fell asleep with Anastacius. Turning to his direction, Anastacius gave him a bright and thankful smile.

“Silly Sein, you should've woken me up... How about we go to the city for lunch?”

(A/n: do you want me to make a chapter about their afternoon? ⌓‿⌓)

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It was the day of the banquet, multiple carriages were pulling up at the front of the Verita Mansion. As a blue carriage stopped, a young lady with white hair stepped off the vehicle.

“Welcome Marquess Keirean, young master Anastacius, and lady Aristia” A maid, wearing glasses, greeted them with a bow, “I will show you to the reception hall”

They entered the mansion, with the maid leading them.

“Lady Aristia, this way please” She pointed to a direction, where the young master lives in, “The young master is waiting for you”

Anastacius watched her sister, happily walk towards the lion's den.

“I'll go see Allendis!”

“I'll see you later, Ari”

Anastacius waved to his sister, while their father wore a serious expression. Once their precious lady is no longer within their sight, they continued their way to the reception hall.

“Please don't let him be in there, please don't let him be in there”

The Marquis stared as his son, whose been muttering the same phrase, over and over again.

Once they stepped in, Anastacius' eyes dart over the crowd to see if a familiar green head is there. And sadly he did see two men with long green hair.

'Fuck'

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