"And here we fucking go..."

Dorian looked at his phone and saw the notification about the Ambrosia Pact.

He had been sleeping like a log last night due to the exhaustion.

And while he was asleep, Kai had already registered their new group. Now—the new group was acknowledged as the sixth and last group of the freshman. Everyone knew about it since being acknowledged by the academy meant this.

"But I wonder..." Dorian lifted his gaze and stared at Kai, who was going into the dormitory. "How come the academy allowed this to even happen? A Lesser Angel leading Angels—and High Angels should be breaking the established hierarchy."

Perhaps intending to create a group wouldn’t get Kai into trouble.

So, even if he asked the professors how to create a new group, he wouldn’t be punished.

But to actually create a group should put him on a pedestal for all the wrong reasons.

And yet, the professors did nothing. The academy stayed silent. And the grey-masked Angels showed no sign of moving. It was almost as if Kai wasn’t a Lesser Angel anymore, and Dorian did not know how to feel about that.

On one side, he was happy for Kai; yet on the other, he felt like something was wrong.

"I want to say that I’m overthinking it, but there’s nothing good in the future for someone like Kai and me," Dorian cracked his neck and sighed, deciding to put it on the back of his mind. "Regardless, it’s good that we have a group now."

Inside, Kai knew that people must be questioning his situation.

Up until a few hours ago, he was also the same.

But Kai reached a conclusion that he believed explained the situation clearly.

It has its flaws, but it’s the best he could come up with.

From Talitha—he learned that the academy needed a reason for it to take out someone. And in this scenario, the academy and its limbs couldn’t do anything to him because there are good reasons behind why the group members decided to be in the Ambrosia Pact.

Kai wanted to challenge Chester because of what happened in the hive.

Same goes for Matilda, as everyone knew she got into an altercation with Chester, all because he almost sacrificed an innocent man for his greedy wants. For Bryan, he’s the bullied kid in Ichor Legion, so he has every reason to leave and go against Chester.

Dorian is a pariah, so he would take whatever group he gets.

Most of them were united because of their shared dislike towards Chester.

Because of that, the academy simply couldn’t punish Kai for wanting to lead Angels and High Angels. Kai doesn’t really plan this far, but it turns out the incident in the hive worked for him, allowing the group members to have legitimate reasons to be a part of the Ambrosia Pact.

One flaw to this reasoning lay with Bree.

Unlike the others, Bree has no reason to go against Chester, which made her the odd one out.

Then again, Kai believed she was fine to do as she wished simply because he wasn’t supposed to be an Angel, but she decided to become one anyway. A special privilege that she and only she enjoys.

It was the same as back when the academy gave her enough mana ores to open her Second Divine Lock without ever setting foot in the Blood Rite as the others did. Bree was a special case; she always has been.

Also, behind her stood a family powerful enough to make exceptions feel like expectations.

She said she wanted to avoid her family.

That was the reason she decided to become an Angel rather than a Demon.

However, her family’s influence still reached Eventide Academy, making her special.

Regardless of the real reason why the academy didn’t make a move, Kai was simply glad that it had ended well. Now, all he needed to do was prepare himself for the Dragon Ring. And to do that, he would need to hand a lot of Awakened Monsters or even Star Beasts.

It’s time to complete Kaelmorath’s ending.

But before doing that, he had something to do.

Kai took the bucket of flowers with the shimmering purple hues and exited. He didn’t forget to cover the bucket of flowers with a cloth so that it wouldn’t be too eye-catching, and stopped right before a door.

Giving a bucket of flowers to a girl; it’s the first time for him to do something like this.

"Relax... What am I even nervous for?" Kai exhaled through his mouth.

His cheeks puffed as he emptied his lungs in a very long, shaky exhale. And then he knocked on the door after a sharp exhale that temporarily boosted his confidence. Once that temporary boost in courage was gone, he immediately regretted it.

What am I even going to say? I haven’t even thought of that.

Kai wracked his brain, finding the correct words to say when the door was opened.

In the silence that followed, he stood rigid in the corridor, acutely aware that the wrong pair of eyes or a wrong group might round the corner at any moment. Rooms for High Angels are straight from the main entrance, so anyone would see him as soon as they stepped foot inside the dormitory.

And that made his heart pound even harder.

Fortunately, the door was opened before bad things happened.

Kai instinctively hid the bucket of flowers behind him as the door creaked open.

From the gap, Bree poked out, and her eyes flickered, seemingly surprised to see Kai standing right in front of her door. But she recovered faster than Kai snapped out of his trance as all the words he thought about seconds ago evaporated from his mind.

"Yes?" Bree raised a brow. Her voice wasn’t friendly, and cold at the same time.

"I-I was wondering what you were doing," Kai smiled sheepishly, but in his mind, he was cursing himself for saying something dumb like that. "I... I mean the second class was about to start soon."

"Okay, Kai. I appreciate you reminding me," She smiled a little. Polite, not like the usual. "Is that all?"

Kai wracked his brain even more when he saw the door gap was getting smaller.

But he ran out of things to say and was too nervous to think.

"I brought you this." He eventually let out a sigh and revealed the bucket of flowers, bringing it from behind. He took off the cover, and the lustrous purple petals immediately caught Bree’s eyes. "Thought these flowers would suit you."

"Because they suited me?"

"A-And also because I wanted to apologize again for the thing."

"The thing?" Bree raised a brow tauntingly, finding amusement in seeing Kai’s awkward face.

"You know, the thing..." Kai scratched the back of his head, words failing him. He stared at Bree and found her face was unchanging, still with a raised brow. "Are you really making me say it out loud?"

"I don’t know what you are talking about," Bree replied, faking innocence.

And she didn’t even bother hiding it as her voice cracked a little.

"Okay, I apologize for giving Matilda the last Crystallized Teardrop of Argus. It was really an emergency, but I should have at least run by you first or right after. Instead, I stayed silent—and you had to hear about it from her. That wasn’t fair."

Only when he said it out loud did tenderness return to Bree’s face.

She pulled the door open again and accepted the bucket of flowers. Her eyes still fixed on him with that playful glint as he lifted the blooms closer and breathed in their fragrance. Her facial expression softened with pleasant surprise as the scent was still perfect.

It was the exact one she loved.

"How did you know I’d love this?"

"You always wear flowery perfume, so I thought you’d love flowers."

Bree’s lips curled a little, finding satisfaction to realize that Kai had been paying attention.

Not that she was trying to make him notice, but it felt good that he did.

"Since you apologized so sweetly, I guess I have no other choice but to forgive you."

"I’m done talking if you’re still going to be a nuisance about it."

Kai turned to leave, annoyed that he had to say what he did out loud like that, but Bree caught his hand before he could take a step. Before his mind could catch up, she rose on her toes and pressed a soft peck to his cheek.

His hand flew to the spot, eyes rounding as he stared at her in utter surprise.

"I’m really happy that you came," Bree said bluntly, and her normal, beautiful smile returned to her face. One that could easily melt the heart of any man or even woman. "And I really love the flowers. Never expected you would do something like this."

"Y-Yeah..." Kai scratched his cheek with a finger, flustered. "It just came to me."

"I’m still angry that you gave it to Ma—"

"My apology doesn’t stop at this. I’d try completing one achievement in the factory and share the spoils with you," Kai interrupted before she could finish, already intent on compensating the Crystallized Teardrop of Argus with another. "I don’t know if I’m able to, but I’ll try."

Since he was going to go hunt anyway, Kai thought he’d do this for Bree, too.

Striking two birds with one stone.

He recalled an achievement tied to slaying a large number of Awakened Monsters—which was perfect for where he stood now. The harder achievements, the ones that demanded Star Beast kills, were still well beyond his grasp.

So, this is the best thing he could do.

Bree paused for a second.

Just seconds ago, she was about to say that she forgave him fully since he went out of his way to apologize like this. No need for her to prolong the matter; as Kai said—he gave the vial away because it was an emergency.

Not because he favoured Matilda.

Hearing him planning to compensate her more came as a shock.

But it was a really sweet one that gave her butterflies.

"You’re so sweet," Bree hugged Kai’s arm in excitement.

"Eh...?" Kai looked at her in shock. "Let go! We’ll be dead if people saw you be like this."

"It’s like you’re my Leander," Bree whispered, not hearing a single word from Kai’s mouth.

Her mind was filled with the story of a famous lover in the past between Leander—and Hero. It was a well-liked tale by women as Leander swam through dangerous water to meet with Hero every night.

Such romance.

"Just that, don’t die on me, okay?" Bree hugged his arm tighter. "If you die, then we’re going to be exactly like them."

"What are you even saying?" Kai wailed, still trying to push Bree away.