The slightly insulting way Cassian urged them to stop wasting time brought a look of displeasure to Ereon's face. He glanced toward Thalassa, hoping she would say something. Instead, she climbed back into the vehicle, returning to her human form. Her hair and clothes were still wet, causing the fabric to cling suggestively to her skin.
The mermaid nodded at the man inside.
The carriage, which was still far too brightly lit on the outside, resumed its course.
The general clenched his fist, but quickly signaled for the other soldiers to follow him back.
"General!" one of them called out, stopping him.
Ereon turned around with an anxious and irritated expression. "What?"
"We can't abandon our post. We were ordered to patrol…"
The leader's brow furrowed.
"You all continue with that. I have to follow the tutor back," he said, not giving the others a chance to argue. He immediately began swimming toward Azure at an impressive speed, quickly catching up to the vehicle with an arrogant expression on his face.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Thalassa had quickly dried herself to avoid wetting the interior. Her expression was complicated.
The silence grew awkward. Even Xana, who usually lightened the mood, didn't know what to say. She looked back and forth between her owner and the other woman in confusion. Wasn't everything fine before?
"Did that ugly guy cause that much disgust?" Xana murmured to herself, tilting her head curiously. "Xana doesn't think it was that bad!"
"It's because Xana doesn't understand the pain of unrequited affection," Cassian drawled lazily, opening one eye to look at the mermaid.
Thalassa shot him a withering glare in response. He simply shrugged and asked instead, "Are you ignoring him to avoid upsetting him, or have you already rejected him and he just won't give up?"
Xana's ears perked up with curiosity. Things had suddenly gotten interesting, and the wolf girl couldn't wait to hear Thalassa's answer.
"He proposed to me… Our families are quite close. You could say we've been friends since we were little, but that only made it impossible for me to see him as anything more than a brother or a friend."
Cassian made a gesture as if he was about to tease her again, but Thalassa threw the first thing she could grab at him. "Don't laugh! He's a gentleman, unlike you."
"Are you still mad about that time I grabbed you by the neck?"
"Don't play innocent. You're shameless. It seems like you've already forgotten what you did in front of me just a few days ago with Xana right here in this carriage."
He couldn't hold it in and let out a short, muffled, almost inaudible laugh.
Thalassa's shoulders slumped in defeat. Xana sat beside her to console her, wrapping her long wolf tail around the mermaid's waist and draping an arm over her shoulder to pull her into her lap.
"There, there, everything will be fine, Thalassi. We'll let you join our next fight, so don't feel bad," the wolf girl comforted her, gently stroking her shoulder in a protective manner.
Thalassa's face, now resting in the wolf girl's lap, completely twisted at those words. She looked toward the man across from her and, sure enough, he already had a mocking smile ready. She closed her eyes and turned her head deeper into Xana's body, refusing to interact any further with these two people.
Xana took this as a sign that she had successfully helped her. She unwrapped her tail from Thalassa's waist and began wagging it excitedly, looking at Cassian as she waited for some words of praise.
But Ereon Maris's forced entry prevented her from receiving it.
The man had caught up to the carriage and, without asking for permission, opened the door and stepped inside.
He looked at the woman he loved in a state of vulnerability he wasn't used to seeing and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Then he turned toward the man sitting opposite and sighed in relief, thinking to himself that Thalassa would never get too close to other men.
He moved to the empty space beside Cassian and sat down. The latter simply raised an eyebrow; he didn't seem pleased at the idea of sharing his space with this man either.
"So…" the general's awkward voice sounded inside the carriage, "are you acquaintances of Thalassa?"
Cassian completely ignored the question, while Xana answered enthusiastically, "Yes! Xana is Thalassi's friend!"
"Xana, huh? Thank you for taking care of Thalassa all this time. I'm sure it hasn't been easy for her." The mermaid in the wolf girl's lap shifted uncomfortably at those words but made no move to turn her head or respond.
"Mmm, Xana took good care of Thalassi! Owner also takes good care of her!"
"Owner?" Ereon's gaze shifted toward Cassian, who remained silent. "May I ask who you are?"
"Cassian," came the reply—but not from him. It was Thalassa, who had finally recovered from her earlier embarrassment. She straightened up elegantly, leaving Xana's lap to sit properly. "Cassian Varkas, Ereon. He is the son of a count from the Demor Empire. He is the owner of this thing," she added, gesturing with her hands at their surroundings.
"A count?" The general raised an eyebrow, uncertain. But then his eyes widened with delight. "Haha, so the son of a count. Of course, that explains why you have such a strong-looking maid. Though I thought humans didn't mix too much with other races. You must be an exception in your empire." As he spoke, he raised his hand and began patting Cassian's shoulder.
The hand touching his shoulder was carefully followed by Cassian's violet eyes, which conveyed an ominous feeling.
Thalassa, on the other hand, watched the entire exchange with wide eyes, shifting her gaze from Cassian's face to the hand casually patting his shoulder as if they were lifelong friends.
"Ereon! The young master doesn't like being touched too much."
The general looked at the blue-haired woman curiously, stopping his hand. "Oh, really?"
Cassian yawned, but his reply was strangely calm: "She's exaggerating. Of course I'm not going to cut your hand off just for touching me."
Ereon looked completely confused.
He blinked several times but forced himself to say, "Young Master Cassian certainly knows how to joke…"