Having made up her mind, she gave her answer.
“Fine I will accept your gift since you can also be considered my first and only friend”.
Aster was happy to hear her accept the ring, he liked Aria but unlike Lilia and Alice he couldn’t be so physically intimate with her, so he would take his time get to know her better and then start with his conquer, after all he still had time before things could change between him and Lilia who was his main focus.
Aria saw Aster with a bright smile on his face and felt happy to have found a true friend, she then remebered what he told her about going back to his family and she wanted to know when will he return to the inn.
“By the way when will you return to Ghaleria?”.
Aster contemplated things for a moment before answering.
“Hmm, the idea is to come back in a day or two but it honestly doesn’t depend on me”, he could already see his mother clinging to him for at least a whole day after he returns, and then she might or might not let him leave after that.
Aria thought that he would probably have to inform his family about everything that had happened during the time he had been away, which was understandable considering he was quite young.
The rest of the day passed without any problems, Aria wanted to play domino so Aster spent the whole afternoon playing with her and when night came, they had dinner together before saying goodbye.
The next day Aster got up a little earlier, he had already told Lilia to pick him up at the entrance of the bloody forest near Ghaleria, when he left the room and went down stairs, he saw the owner of the inn at the reception and approached her.
For the sake of the act he had speak with the “owner” to infrom her he will be out for some days.
“Good morning, I’ll be back with my family for a few days, please take care of Aria while I’m gone”, he said.
Aria was grinning from ear to ear behind her disguise but on the outside, she just laughed a little and nodded.
“Very good young man, I will make sure to treat her well in your absence but do not take long to return who knows, someone might see her and want to take her for himself”.
Aster knew that Aria was just teasing him, but he couldn’t help to reply with a threatening voice.
“Hoh really? if you value your clients then I recommend that you make sure they keep their hands away from Aria otherwise I will personally break their legs if I see them disturb her”.
Aria put a worried smile on her face, even though Aster spoke with a playful tone Aria could tell he was not joking which just made her more curious about Aster’s background, after all this inn is property of the Ghale family and even if on the surface their strongest cultivator was only at the star formation realm, they were still a force under the protection of the ruler of this world the Wolfstein family.
Before things got out of hand she answered in a hurry.
“It was just a joke young man since we have made a deal of course I will respect it”.
But on the inside, her heart felt sweet hearing Aster worry about her.
Aster finished saying goodbye and left Ghaleria, after walking for a while he reached the point where he agreed to meet with his mother and sat on a stone to wait for her.
Not even five minutes had passed when he felt a pair of soft mountains press against the back of his head as a pair of arms hugged him from behind, before he could say anything, Lilia pressed him against her body.
“My beloved son, how have you been? Did you miss mommy ♥?”.
Aster responded quickly, “mother I’m fine we can continue to catch up at the castle”.
Lilia could sense that her son was being shy and she smiled.
“Why the rush, could it be that you are embarrassed to be seen with mommy?”.
Aster shook his head.
“Of course not, it’s just that I don’t want anyone other than me to see my mother’s beautiful smile”.
Lilia listened to her son and her face blushed a little, then she said in a sweet voice.
“It seems like a few days in the outside world have made my son realize how lucky he is to have such a beauty as a mother hehehe ♥”.
Aster rolled his eyes to himself, “ughh looks like I’m going to have to make her happy or else she won’t let me go so easily”.
Lilia took Aster’s hand and they both disappeared, the next thing Aster saw was the corridor that led to his mother’s room in the castle, then he felt Lilia release his hand as she ignored him with a slightly angry expression on her face.
Aster sighed, knowing what she wanted.
Without saying anything, Aster simply hugged his mother from behind, although there was still a great difference in height Lilia felt as if her whole body was being embraced on the warmness of her son, just when she was about to stop faking being angry to Aster, she heard him saying.
“I missed you mom”.