After returning from the Library, Ethan was greeted by a relieved Luna, who was waiting for him in the Common Room of Dud Manor.
“I see, so you spent the night in the Library,” Luna commented after seeing the books in Ethan’s hands. “Did you find anything that might help you in tomorrow’s duel?”
Ethan nodded his head in affirmation. However, his stomach chose that time to growl once again, making Luna giggle.
“Have breakfast first,” Luna advised. “After that, let’s have a strategy meeting about how to defeat Lily tomorrow. Ah! Before I forget, Chloe is also looking for you. She went to the Garden to see if you were there.”
“Chloe came to look for me?”
“Yes. Maybe she wants to talk to you about tomorrow’s match as well.”
Ethan smiled because he understood why Chloe had come to see him so early in the morning. She was worried about him.
“I’ll just drop these in my room and go to the Garden,” Ethan stated. “Have you eaten breakfast, Luna?”
“Yes,” Luna answered. “Though I have a feeling that Choe hadn’t eaten yet either, so the two of you should eat first before we have our strategy meeting.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Ethan agreed.
He then hurried back to his room before leaving the Dud Manor once again to head to the Garden to look for his cousin, Chloe.
When he arrived at the Garden, he immediately saw the person he was looking for.
The young beauty with light-brown hair was currently having a chat with Ruby, and her Fairy Friends. All of them had serious expressions on their faces, which made Ethan wonder what they were all talking about.
When Ethan got near them, the first thing he heard was Ruby telling Chloe that the Fairies that had refused Ethan’s offer of candies in exchange for kisses had a change of heart.
After watching the battle in the Grand Coliseum, and seeing Ethan use Oberon’s Descent, they were now all very hyped up about making the entire academy know about “Fairy Supremacy” and were very keen to kiss the handsome teenager, in order to help him win in his next duel.
naturally, that was only half the reason why they wanted to join in the fun. The other half was for the sweet candies that they could get in exchange for their kisses.
Of course, Chloe had misgivings about this part. Although she didn’t consider the Fairies to be her rivals, the thought of Ethan kissing them had started to weigh on her head.
“There’s no need for the Fairies to kiss Ethan in tomorrow’s match because I will be the one kissing him instead,” Chloe stated.
“What?!” Ruby’s eyes widened in shock after hearing Chloe’s declaration. “Sorry, but this is not possible. Ethan is now our Sugar Daddy and we already called dibs to his candies. Even if you are his cousin, we won’t allow you to monopolize our source of sweets!”
“That’s right!” another Fairy raised her small fist in objection. “Ethan is our Sugar Daddy! Find your own Sugar Daddy!”
“We won’t allow you to take him away!”
“Yes! We already have an agreement. Outsiders are not allowed to interfere!”
The Fairies all made their dissatisfaction known, and some of them even started to pull on Chloe’s hair, making her cry out in pain.
“W-Wait! You got the wrong idea! I mean, I will give you the candies instead of Ethan,” Chloe said hurriedly because she thought that the Fairies would really gang up on her and attack her with magic. “Nothing will change. You will still have your candies, but you girls are no longer allowed to kiss Ethan.”
The Fairies stopped pulling Chloe’s hair and glanced at Ruby, whom they considered to be the spokesperson of their group.
“Even if you offer us candies, the answer is still no,” Ruby replied with her arms crossed over her chest. “Now that everyone has seen how strong Fae Magic is, they must understand that we are not Fairies they can mess with! This is for the sake of our Fairy Supremacy! We demand regular tributes not only from Ethan, but all students of the Academy!”
“Yes! That’s right!”
“Fairy Supremacy!”
“Candies for all!”
Ethan could no longer stand idly and see his cousin in her current state. Because of this, he cleared his throat to catch everyone’s attention.
“Chloe, I heard you were looking for me,” Ethan said with a smile. “Have you eaten? Why don’t we have breakfast first?”
As soon as the Fairies saw Ethan, they immediately swarmed him like bees and started to demand candies from him.
The teenage boy, who had already expected this scenario, took out several bags of candies from his storage ring and gave every fairy one bag of candies.
“Ethan, you’re the best!” Ruby happily took the bag of candy and made it float with magic. She then kissed Ethan’s cheeks before flying away in order to share her candies with the rest of her sisters, who were in other places of the garden.
The other Fairies copied Ruby’s gesture and they all kissed Ethan’s cheeks before flying away.
When the last fairy had left the scene, the handsome teenage boy glanced at his cousin, who was looking at him with a pout.
“Let’s go, Chloe,” Ethan said as he reached out to hold Chloe’s hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m really hungry.” 𝔬𝒱𝑳xt.𝒸𝚘𝓂
“Hmph!” Chloe averted her gaze, but she didn’t shake away Ethan’s hand that was holding her own.
The teenage boy could only smile bitterly as he walked towards the Dining Hall of the Academy while holding Chloe’s hand.
The two walked in silence for several minutes until they reached their destination.
Deep inside, Chloe understood why Ethan needed the Fairies’ help during the tournament. However, she still felt conflicted about it.
While she was deep in thought, Ethan’s voice reached her ears.
“You know, Chloe, if I had a choice, I would not resort to something like this.”
Ethan spoke without turning around to look at her. However, she felt his grip tighten a bit, as he held onto her hand.
“Believe me when I say that there is nothing between me and the Fairies,” Ethan added. “This is just a business transaction. I’d rather kiss the Fairies than kiss the Witches in the academy. I’m not that kind of person.”
After speaking his mind, Ethan no longer spoke and simply walked while holding Chloe’s hand. He had a clear conscience, and he didn’t need to explain anything to anyone. But, Chloe was different.
Ethan didn’t want her to misunderstand his intentions because the two of them had grown up together, and he trusted her very much.
“I know,” Chloe commented after a minute had passed. “So, aside from Luna, you haven’t kissed anyone before, right?”
“No,” Ethan replied.
“Understood.” Chloe then held Ethan’s hand firmly as they walked side by side. “Just don’t go kissing random girls in the Academy or I will tell Grandma about it.”
“I won’t.” Ethan chuckled after hearing Chloe’s threat. “Grandma will definitely slap me with her flip flops if I do such a thing.”
Chloe imagined that scene in her head and couldn’t stop herself from giggling.
However, she still couldn’t help but worry about the future.
With the nature of Ethan’s Origin Magic, and his good looks, it was highly possible that there might be other girls, who would readily offer their lips in exchange for something more precious than a bag of candies.