Chapter 256: Her Best Friend
Irene stood up from where she had been eating as well. Surprisingly, Felix offered his hand, silently requesting the bowl from her. She almost hesitated to give it to him, wondering silently if it was because he was being strangely chivalrous towards her after discovering her secret.
But she considered how close they were before everything seemed to have fallen apart, and she realized if there was someone she shouldn’t doubt, it was Felix. If she wanted to go on as normal, she needed to meet him halfway.
Her bowl was in his hands, and he brought it to the kitchen. She noticed he never went beyond the small hallway that acted as a doorway. It was clearly a place he hoped to never set his eyes on again.
At the thought, she had to turn and leave, or she felt as if she would get emotional.
The girl sought her father, and, with some strange sort of paternal instinct, he met her eyes almost right away. She nodded at him once. It was all he needed to know that the situation she was going into wasn´t one that needed to be read into further.
He trusted his daughter. He trusted Felix as well.
However, Arthur silently agonized over things he never thought he would have to worry about when Irene became insistent on upholding the secret of her gender. People were going to misconstrue the way she interacted with others from that point forward. After all, they lived in a society where men and women seldom were friends.
Since he saw no other knights or apprentices seeming to think twice over Irene leaving with Felix, he decided he would pay it no more mind after that.
When Irene was in the hallway and soon joined by Felix, she wordlessly walked towards the back entrance as she always had before. Their going on rides didn´t need to be described or explained. They always did the same things.
Of course, the only difference was who the two of them had wound up after the war.
Surprisingly, it was Irene as a girl and Felix as a quiet, serious man with internal and external scarring he would likely never move past in his lifetime. After all, lifetimes were so unbelievably short.