Chapter 317: Maybe Destined to Be
"Alice, right here."
Ayaka raised her hand for Alice to see.
Alice, who had just walked inside the cake shop, turned toward the voice. Holding seven bags in both her hands, she walked toward her.
"Madam Ayaka, this cake shop, who told you about this place?"
That was the first thing she said.
"My daughter. She really likes this place."
"Oh right, this is indeed a common talk between all the girls in my batch."
Alice, while sitting down, looked around the shop.
"Leon did not come yet?"
Ayaka said. "No. Well, he did say he will join us later, so we can wait if you want to."
Alice thought for a second.
But no matter how much she wanted to wait for him, the aroma of caramel and vanilla had already reached her nostrils.
"Uh... how about we wait for him after ordering something? I will order on behalf of him too."
Ayaka smiled. "Ooo~ that is nice of you. Do you know what he likes?"
"Eh? Not really. I will just order whatever seems good."
Alice kind of knew that Leon did not have that much of a sweet tooth. That guy liked caffeine stuff for some reason.
She picked up the menu and looked through it.
"Wait, they have coffee cake? What the heck are those?"
Just by reading the name, Alice’s tongue already went bitter.
Ayaka said with a smile.
"Order anything you want. It is all on me."
Alice beamed up instantly.
"Thanks so much! They all look delicious though, it is hard to choose from."
Ayaka giggled. "Haha, then why not order everything? We can take it all, and if something is left, we can share it with your other club members."
"Hooooo! You are a genius, Madam!"
"Mhmhm."
She nodded proudly.
Alice looked down at the menu, and then at the prices printed beside them.
"Uhh... but should they really be this costly? These are just cakes, not gold-plated bricks..." She muttered under her breath.
Ayaka waved her hand casually.
"It is fine. I am rich."
Alice just wanted to hear those exact words.
"Then I do not mind if I do." She immediately called the waitress over.
"Hello miss, what would you like to order?"
Alice flaunted the menu in front of her and said. "Give me everything in this. From here... tooooo here."
"...."
"And make it fast." She added three seconds later.
The waitress’s eyes twitched at first, because that section of the menu held over 120 different varieties of pastries.
She then glanced at the purple haired lady sitting in the front seat.
She did not say anything, but her hesitation was clear.
"Is there a problem?" Ayaka asked calmly.
The waitress’s eyes fell on the sigil embroidered on her coat.
House Rudward.
Then she must be Ayaka Rudward, the business tycoon of Liora.
"O-of course not, madam. Consider it done right away."
As the waitress hurried away toward the kitchen with the absurd order in her hand, Ayaka leaned onto the table, resting one hand against her cheek, and asked Alice.
"So, Alice. Is it true that there have been rumours about you and Leon back in Eclipse?"
Alice did not expect her to ask this at all.
’Is she not getting way too friendly here?’
Not like she hated it though.
"Rumours, you say?"
"Yeah. Tia told me he even brought roses for you."
’Hmm, this Tia, I need to give her a piece of mind.’
Alice slumped down against the chair.
"Sigh... that was when I was admitted to the infirmary. Well, he did bring me red roses, and I still do not know how the hell he got to know that I like red roses. So I am guessing this is where the rumours came from."
"Huh. Is that so."
Ayaka looked visibly disappointed at the answer.
Knowing Leon personally, Ayaka was sure that Leon would not do something like bringing a girl roses if he did not have some ulterior motive behind it.
’Maybe he wanted something from her...’
Both Alice, and Eula. Leon had been exceptionally close to the both of them in the entire Eclipse batch.
Ayaka was wondering what exactly went on inside that boy’s head.
He was a total mystery.
When Leon was just a brat, he had proposed to Rinna in front of everyone. And then after a few years, he changed completely.
It was as if Rinna did not even matter to him anymore.
Ayaka thought about it quietly.
’What had changed him though?’
And what had made him and Eula get this close to each other?
’Did they share something in common?’
Well, yes. They both did.
And that was to bring down injustice from this rotten kingdom.
Was that not why Eula created the Twilight Order in the first place? And was that not exactly why Leon had joined it as its Eighth Head?
But then again...
They were also personally close to each other, far closer than any other members of the Order.
Ayaka had a small suspicion that Eula was hiding something from the entire Twilight Order, and it was something big.
And she had only told Leon about it.
’What are those two up to?’
Ayaka narrowed her eyes slightly as she stirred her cup of tea.
She had built her entire life on reading people. On understanding their motives before they even spoke. On predicting the movements of merchants, nobles, and politicians before they made their first step.
But Leon Valentine...? That boy was different.
Every time she thought she had figured out his angle, he would do something that made no sense at all.
From little things like bringing red roses to a girl he did not want anything from. Or joining a criminal organization when he could have simply lived his life as a Duke’s son.
....or searching for the Evana City and and actually finding it.
’Just what are you, Leon Valentine?’
"Madam Ayaka?" Alice’s voice cut through her thoughts.
Ayaka blinked and looked up.
Alice was staring at her with a slightly worried expression.
"You spaced out for a while there. Is everything alright?"
"Ah. My apologies, dear."