Chapter 385: Give Me A Proper Answer!!

[A/N: Apologies for the late upload. I got sick so I kinda just rested for the most part.]

"You, Claire," Adrian said softly. "You are someone who takes your job incredibly seriously, but you do have a deeply playful side, which I did notice. I’m not gonna sit here and act like I didn’t see it. It’s just that I intentionally sort of ignored it because I didn’t want to make our working dynamic awkward. And even during the dance we shared at Aria’s birthday party... let’s just say that I really, really enjoyed it."

Claire’s breath hitched slightly.

"You are serious, you are highly responsible, you are very mature, and you give me a feeling that I can comfortably rely on you for multiple things," Adrian continued honestly. "Because here’s the main part: I have personal problems that I’ve never really told anyone about. I get distracted very easily, but I also get really, really obsessed over certain projects at certain times. And you have the discipline that I naturally lack. So, I’ve had thoughts a few times that maybe you could be the one to help me get back on track whenever I need it."

He looked her in the eyes, wanting to say the words: "Like a perfect partner."

But he didn’t since serena would feel bad and he genuinely did not know who he liked more. They had their own unique things about themselves.

"I did legitimately consider asking you out too," Adrian admitted. "But I pushed the thought back due to Aria. I just did not know how she would react to that."

Adrian slowly turned his head to look down at Serena.

"I haven’t known you quite as long as I’ve known Claire," Adrian said gently. "But you give this distinct feeling to me. It’s just this natural, overwhelming urge to protect you. I know that it might feel slightly wrong or condescending to you that I feel like this, but I do not mean that you are weak. It’s more like... I know exactly what you’ve been through with the nobles ever since you were a child. So there are times whenever I look at you where I just want to walk over and give you a nice, warm hug."

Serena’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red.

"You are also pretty mature, calm minded." Adrian continued. "While Claire here... my great, trusty General... is pretty hot-headed and hot-blooded..."

Adrian suddenly glared playfully at Claire.

"I literally ordered her to run away today," Adrian scolded lightly. "And this idiot stubbornly stood right in front of me."

Claire immediately looked away, her face already burning a bright, embarrassed red.

Adrian looked back at Serena.

"You, on the other hand," Adrian praised softly. "I feel like if I ever directly told you to run and go to safety, you would actually do it. Because you understand that if you do not have the capability to help in a fight, you would only become a massive burden. Because I would also have to think about keeping you safe while simultaneously trying to beat the enemy. They could easily use you as a hostage to get to me. So I feel like you are the exact type of person who would actually make things much easier for me in terrifying situations like that."

Just as he said that, Claire looked incredibly annoyed. She glared right back at Adrian.

"I only stayed because I loved you!" Claire snapped defensively. "I just couldn’t force myself to run away and leave you! Firstly, I did not know what sort of feelings you actually had for me, but I just desperately wanted to keep you safe! I did not really know whether you wanted me safe or not, so I put my job as the first priority! As your General, and as your personal Knight, it is my literal job to keep you safe whether I died or not! I did not think about it from the perspective of a wife!"

Adrian just smirked weakly from the runic plate.

"Wife, huh?" Adrian teased.

Claire’s face instantly went from slightly red with anger to a bright tomato red with fluster.

Her voice completely lost its commanding edge, dropping into a super soft, incredibly meek tone.

"Oh, shut up."

Adrian chuckled weakly.

He slowly looked over at Claire, who was still wincing and clutching the side of her dented armor where her ribs were broken. He let out a soft sigh.

"Get your ribs fixed first," Adrian said gently. "We’ll talk later about this whole thing."

Claire nodded slowly, her face still burning a bright shade of red.

"You still didn’t give me a proper response," Claire pointed out as she looked at him.

Adrian took a deep breath.

"Well, my proper response for both of you right now is that I just need to ask Aria how she genuinely feels about having you two in the family," Adrian answered honestly. "But personally? I would love to have you two by my side. It’s just hard for me to... how do I even properly explain what I’m feeling right now?"

His gaze suddenly turned incredibly focused. He just stared blankly at the dirt floor of the tent as he spoke his thoughts out loud.

"I genuinely never expected that you guys would actually come in here and confess to me," Adrian muttered. "I really never thought that would be something that would actually happen. I mean, yes, you have flirted with me," he said, glancing up at Claire.

"Well, that was just..." Claire stammered. "It was really hard for me to actually bring up the courage to do it at first. But I only had that problem at the very start. After I broke the ice, I just went along with it. It wasn’t that hard."

Adrian shook his head.

"I’m not talking about that," Adrian replied softly. "The thing is, I just really did not expect this to happen today of all days, so it’s kind of incredibly sudden for me. But yeah. I do like you guys. Both of you. So please, just give me a little bit of time to sort things out, and I promise I will give you a proper answer."