Chapter 163: The Noble and the Cadet

Hearing such a strange answer, no, meeting such a peculiar person made Clara perplexed yet unknowingly magnetized by the man behind her family's fences, in an event even she was not aware of, she became interested with the motives of the man, he was like this animal, an animal no one have ever seen before, and even though that is such a bad analogy, every person that knows Clara is aware that no man ever showed interest in her, thus the woman's analogy.

_I wonder what's the underlying meaning of such a seemingly profound answer._

Clara remained unmoving even though she have a lot of questions in her mind, afraid that she will disturb the work of the cadet/amateur artist, however, it seems like the cadet is yet to start painting, in fear that he will offend her, after all, she is well known not only in the territory but in the whole Stardust to have a complex about her worsening condition.

The cadet asked.

"So, is your silence a yes, my lady?"

Clara was startled, embarrassed even, as she thought that the man already started painting, causing her to halt her movements entirely, she even posted in what all the elegance her meager self-confidence can muster, she nodded slightly, covering the lower part of her mask to hide any inkling of shame on her worm filled face.

"Thank you, my lady!"

The cadet replied with vigor, as if excited in the prospect of being able to paint the woman in front of her, another reason of perplexion for Clara. Thus, their first meeting went like that, the man painted her with great attention, and in Clara's every question, asking him if he was still there, the man will reassure her, it was just a simple answer of "Yes, I am still here.", yet for Clara, such a response was somehow comforting, as if she finally found someone who is not instinctively afraid of her eyes.

It was something new, it was something refreshing.

On that day, the two star crossed lovers met, with a repeated "Are you still there?" and "Yes, I am still here." conversation that lasted for supposedly long and painful yet satisfying hours for both of them, or at least for Clara, actually, so satisfying it was that when the man finally stopped painting, bid farewell and called it a day, Clara cannot help but mutter,

"I forgot to ask his name."

_________

After that day, the once boring and monochromatic days of Clara became colorful and brimming with life, hours that seem to last for eternity became too short for her to expend, she started to talk with the cadet, not only seeking words of assurance that he is not playing around with her, she soon knew of his hobby, passion and his reason on becoming a soldier, he wanted to paint battlefields, he said.

It was a very vain motivation, like a teacher becoming one so that they can take revenge to the kid of their aunt that belittles them when they were still a kid, but, in the perspective of Clara, such vain people are the most admirable ones, after all, its not like being a soldier is easy, and yet, because of his true passion, painting, the cadet was able to endure all of that training, the fire in her heart was rekindled.

Clara wanted to be like that. She realized her shortcoming when Clara was a child; she wanted to absolve her parents of the burden coming from her, but in that period, what did she do?

Nothing.

Clara just waited for their results, she never took action herself.

The man in front of her just made her realize this mistake, the mistake of passivity, the mistake of wanting change to happen but not seeking it out of one's own hands.

Clara wanted to know the person who made her realize these things, she wanted to know even just the name of the man she might never be able to see.

"Cadet, what is your name?"

Clara finally mustered her courage, at that time, her whole body is trembling, as if to contain the floodgates of embarrassment welling up from her very soul that is caused by her years of isolation, this embarrassment, she decided to vanquish, thus, she asked his name, the name of the man that have made her a decisive person.

However, expectations often differ from reality, the man who is painting her sighed.

"I... no, my lady, you don't need to learn of my name... I already finished painting you, and I can sense that you are back to your former self."

In the man's voice was a glaring tone of sadness, as if what he said is technically the truth, but not the true reason of his refusal to answer, and Clara that is sensitive to the tones of different voices as she use most of her time to learn emotions through voices, immediately knew that the man's response is nothing but rubbish.

"You... you're lying... I know that you're just painting as an excuse... you, when talking to me... it feels like your voice sparkles with stars... but now, it feels like you are... saying goodbye...?"

The voice of Clara trailed off behind her mask, and a grave expression appeared.

"You're going away?"

Again, even though the cadet knows that she will not see his response, he nodded.

"Yes... Truthfully, these painting sessions is just me wasting my time. You see, I am kind of talented and was given a graduation certificate from the military academy even in my first year, and I requested for me to not be assigned for a year so that I can paint several pictures.."

The man shook his head.

"Ah... but that is not the reason... You see, at first, I just found your mulling post by your window very interesting... but when I started to talk with you and hear your naive yet wonderful description of what you think the world is outside... I was magnetized by you slowly, until I..."

Clara could hear the trembling of his voice, yet she did not interrupt him.

"I think I really like how you were able to look at the world very positively, I think you were the opposite of me... I... I think I have fallen in love with you."

Clara went silent, she couldn't believe her ears.

"Love...? You love... someone like me?"

The lady cannot help but question, yet what she hears is a sigh.

"Don't call the person I love 'someone like me"."

Silence reigned between the two, but then the man continued.

"As I was saying, I don't want to confess these feelings to you because my assignment in the military requires out-of-the-country missions and, in the off chance that you reciprocated, I cannot promise my presence in your highs and lows... I'm sorry."

Another silence resounded, but this time, it is accompanied by the painful footsteps of the man, Clara wanted to say something, but perhaps still felt insecure and apprehensive about the idea of someone falling in love with her, or she is simply a coward who doesn't trust people because of her anti social tendencies, so in the end, she remained silent and obey the tears accompanied by some of the accursed worms living of her eyes falling with it.

Needless to say, she regretted her silence on that day, and once again, she have fallen into depression, she can feel it at that time, she just needed to reply, she just needed 4 words to make the man stay, now, all she can do is to cry for the man she never learned the name, the man that she knew is waiting for an answer eve though he said that he doesn't want one.

Indeed, as long as their lifespan is, elves are still mortals, and mortals are breathing contradictions.

Just like that, the months passed, Clara wanted to do something about her parasitic disease, and yet she failed to do anything, not when her only motivation, seemingly more than her parents or even the well being of herself is now gone, without her being able to reassure him that she will wait.

In short, Clara, for the second time, has given up on herself, but it was as if the world itself wanted her to stop her dramatic bullshit, for just a month of the relapse of her depression, her father burst open the door of her room, he ignored her sulking and then shouted.

"KING AERENDIL IS HERE, MY DAUGHTER! HE WANTED TO MEET YOU!"

Clara was stunned.

The King? His Majesty? The strongest and smartest man of Stardust?

"Why?"

Clara tilted her head to the side, announcing her confusion. She even thought that she was being pranked by her father, but when a tall elf, taller than her father, entered her room, she could not help but stand with her mouth agape.

"Because I may have found a way to slowly corrode the life force of the worms inside your eyes."

Clara, despite not having a pair of functional eyes, widened them in surprise, for the false prophet, the first and only king of Stardust, Aerendil Stardust, was here!

"My... Your.... Lord..."

Clara prostrated herself as she stammered, not knowing what to say. She was in turmoil, for at one second she was depressed and in the other second, she needed to pay respect to her king, yet Aerendil did not even acknowledge her.

"No, we don't have time for that, as I said, I feel like I found the root cause of the worms, this worms is called Philophthalmus Sapienogiganticas, they are fluke worms, but instead of fish they primarily target humans, the vessel is unknown, but in any case, they have a high egg drop rate, resistant to any physical and elemental magic, so I thought of a solution."

Clara will be honest: King Aerendil sounds like a nerd at that time; he was even panting a little as if excited to explain his hobbies.

"We have to blast your eyes, and for better coverage, your whole body with mana. This will make it so that the population of Sapienogiganticas in your eyes that already replaced your oculars and their eating capacity have already exceeded your supposed-to-be-maxed level regeneration skill will slowly be eliminated."

The father of Clara interrupted.

"Isn't this great, Clar- Mrgh!?"

He was slapped in the mouth by the King, who once again had a grave expression.

"Please be quite, this treatment has a lot of risk, for one, it is highly experimental and no matter how much you trust me, you have to proceed with caution, also, even if it succeeded, the eyes is a delicate organ, so if we blasted it with a lot more mana than what the eyes can take, then we will be in deep trouble... besides..."

King Aerendil was conflicted, but soon, he sighed, seemingly resolved.

"I have someone follow the man who painted you, and you two seem to be close but have some falling out of a sort and now, he is kind of depressed, so besides giving you the mana blasting treatment, I want you to be trained as a militant, the mana treatment will be long and even if it succeeded, the residual mana needed to be spent by you, so, besides inviting you to be the first patients of the first mana blasting treatment, I have the ulterior motive to train you as a soldier, first to stop making one of my most talented soldiers in the slump while also being concerned of you."

"These are the circumstances. I will give you time to decide, but please do remember all of these catches."

Clara did not hesitate, he looked at his father, who let her make the decision.

"I will go, My Lord."

Clara was touched that a king would openly reveal his intentions and that a scientist would reveal the dangers of a borderline experiment. That is what one called sincere, however, she did have a question.

"But will I be able to see him again?"

Aerendil nodded; the two nobles did not even notice the peculiarity in their actions as they naturally accepted the offer of their King.

Just like that, Clara went to the royal lab, at this time, she was subtly put on an illusion by Aerendil, thus she did not questioned why her heart needed to be replaced with a crystal, and even if she did, all of the worms in her eyes really disappeared and the only downside is that, her eyes will occasionally bleed, but she did not worry about that and also accepted the offer of a military position as she was able to obtain a weapon familiar, something rare in Genesis.

And again, she never noticed anything peculiar about her actions, which made Aerendil chuckle every time she saw her to secretly ridicule her foolishness.

Clara is not aware of the true motives of her benevolent king, for she has only one thing on her mind.

_I must serve King Aerendil, for the well-being of the cadet... and to see him again._