Chapter 619: Side Story 1. The Twilight Zone - 1
Sitting on the flat boulder where his ancestor--ancestors--created the Templar of Arms Master which later became House Ishtera, Zein stared at his hand while stroking the platinum hair leaning on his shoulder.
"Why are there two of them?" he asked, glancing at the esper’s hand on his waist.
Bassena flinched and replied hesitatingly while hiding his blushing face. "It’s...supposed to be wedding rings."
"I see..."
Bassena swiftly raised his head and straightened his back. He grabbed the guide’s shoulder and stared intensely at the blue eyes. "I’m not stingy, okay? I just--"
"I know," Zein chuckled and flicked the esper’s forehead.
He looked at the ring again and remembered hearing Bassena say he had something that his mother made for him. Zein didn’t really know anything about jewelry, but he could tell the rings were very personal.
The body was a delicate carving of a landscape, with a diamond carved as a mountain placed in the middle. There was a trace of slight tampering, which Zein reckoned came from a size altering. But it was very smooth and honestly, Zein was amazed that Bassena got his size correct to the millimeter. The ring was fitting very nicely, and he wondered if Bassena had measured his finger at one point before the operation started.
He looked at Bassena and smiled at the thought of the esper keeping these rings for years, going over and over about the ’perfect’ situation to propose only to end up having it in a raw field surrounded by wild plants and weeds.
"You probably have been wanting to use this ever since you received your mother’s inheritance, huh?" Zein brushed the platinum hair away, only to remember that the scar above the forehead was no longer there.
Really too bad; it was a scar Bassena got from the dungeon that allowed them to meet each other for the first time.