Chapter 209 - 203. The Little Prince
Bassena cursed his decision of not telling Zein about it sooner.
He swore--he swore he had no intention of hiding it. He would tell Zein himself later, if Rina didn’t casually blabber about it. And he had wanted to immediately talk to Zein about it, but like perpetual bad luck, the other girls were coming inside before he could ask Zein for a face-to-face. And then they immediately went for dinner so Bassena lost the timing even further.
Zein didn’t seem angry or anything though, but Bassena knew the guide could hide his feelings well under a poker face if he wanted to. He didn’t particularly feel like he was in the wrong, but he also recalled how Zein looked at him regarding the fact that he was hiding Celestia’s attempts.
And now, he felt like he had stepped into an even bigger blunder.
He was still a nervous wreck when they came back to the suite. Lex and Jock were considerate enough to leave the two alone and immediately went to their own hotel rooms. And now, Bassena faced the awkwardness of having to explain himself.
He had no idea where he should start, but surprisingly, the one who start the conversation was Zein instead.
"Is it your mother’s family?" Zein asked as he took a bottle of water from the fridge. His tone was light and casual, which actually surprised Bassena more. It made him unable to respond immediately, and Zein repeated his question. "The one from an Old House; it’s your maternal family, isn’t it?"
"...yeah," Bassena replied weakly.
"Mm," Zein gripped the bottle and unscrewed it while walking to the bedroom. "I thought you still use Vaski because you don’t know your mother’s maiden name?"
"I didn’t..." Bassena said, following Zein to the bedroom. "I knew about it a few years ago, when I attend the Continental Sentinel Summit. They came to me and told me about my mother’s origin then."
Zein drank the water while digesting this new information. The Sentinel Summit was a global event, and unlike the annual gathering in Eastern Federation, only held once every four years. Since it was a continental event, representatives from all four nations were gathering there, so it was easy for Bassena’s maternal family to meet him during that. If his lousy memory recalled it correctly, the last Summit was held three years ago, which means...after Bassena annihilated the Golden Viper.