Chapter 106: Rin Has No Tact
Chapter 106: Rin Has No Tact
Elyn’s POV
Vaelory gave her a look. "I’m still confused."
"Why are you even pretending to be shy? And why are you following Naviel around?" Rin asked Vaelory.
I almost cried then because Rin had no tact. She couldn’t just ask the question softly or maybe perhaps when Naviel wasn’t in the room?
Vaelory turned to her in shock. "W-What are you saying?"
"Oh, stop with the pretense."
Vaelory’s eyes quickly darted to Naviel, then back to Rin.
"I’m not pretending. I have no idea what you are saying," she told Rin.
"Okay then, let me explain it to you in terms you can understand. I’m saying that you have been orbiting around Naviel like how the stars orbit around the moon. Do you think you have a chance with him or something?" Rin asked Vaelory.
Morthen cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses. "The stars do not orbit around the—"
"Shut up, Morthen. No one asked you," Rin told him.
Morthen gasped but respectfully shut up. I’m sure even he knew that if he continued, then Rin may have likely dealt with him instead, and it was better to stay clear of her than fall into her trap.
Vaelory gasped, scandalized. "Where did you even get that idea?"
"You’ve been moving around him. It was obvious," Rin told her.
"I’m just being helpful! And you shouldn’t say things like that when the Queen is working—we should all be helping the Queen," Vaelory said, pointing at me.
At this point, I wasn’t even pretending to go through what I was going through before. I was into what was happening the same way every other person in the office was.
Rin crossed her arms. "The only person you’re helping right now is Naviel."
Naviel just stared with a bored expression. He yawned tiredly. His expression definitely screamed that he didn’t care what they were talking about nor about what they were saying. It screamed he just wanted to sleep and rest—that was it.
Vaelory bristled at Rin’s comments, or perhaps it was because Naviel looked uninterested. "You don’t get it at all," Vaelory told Rin. "It’s basic comprehension. Naviel is helping the Queen with her work, and I’m helping Naviel, making his work easy, thereby making it easy for Her Highness, which means I’m helping Her Highness by helping Naviel, who is helping Her Highness."
I have to say, I was impressed by that logic. Who’d have thought Vaelory had it in her to come up with a sound but stupid logic like that? Certainly not me.
Rin scoffed. "If you really wanted to help the Queen, you’d stop following Naviel around like Azerion follows the Queen, attached to her hip."
Azerion, who had been sitting on the edge of the desk swinging his legs while eating from the snack box and glaring intermittently at Zorathys, perked up. "The Queen and I are together," he said firmly. "So we move together."
Zorathys stared at the boy lazily. "You imprinted on the Queen," he said flatly. "That does not mean you are together."
Azerion glared right back. "It means we are."
Zorathys rolled his eyes so hard I was surprised they didn’t get stuck.
"That doesn’t mean you guys are together at all."
"It does."
Zorathys, seeing this was a conversation he wasn’t prepared for nor did he have the energy for, decided to ignore Azerion. I was thankful for that because I could only imagine how chaotic everything would be if there were two arguments going on in the office right now.
Meanwhile, Rin and Vaelory were still going.
"I’m not following him," Vaelory insisted. "He just happens to be in my orbit. I was drawn to him. We happen to work in the same space."
Rin stared at her. "That is the dumbest explanation I’ve ever heard."
"You wouldn’t understand," Vaelory shot back. "You’re a demon."
Rin shrugged. "Maybe not. But I do understand that you’re pretending to be shy around him. You’ve been tucking your hair behind your ears all day—and your hair is in a bun."
Vaelory flushed. "Some strands escaped! I’m just tucking them back."
"You’re lying."
"I’m not."
"You are."
"I’m not!"
"You are!"
"I’m not."
"You are."
Having had enough of the argument, since it seemed they didn’t have anything else to say to each other, I spoke up.
"That’s enough, you guys."
But they didn’t hear me, or maybe they just chose to ignore me—I didn’t know.
They kept going, voices overlapping, irritation climbing like a bad song stuck on repeat. My head throbbed. The names on the page swam. The air felt thick with their argument, which was fucking useless right now.
I looked up slowly.
"Enough," I said again, sharper this time.
Still nothing.
That was it. I had work to do... funny how when I was paying attention to their business, I forgot about the work, but now that they had resorted to this, I had work to do.
"SHUT UP. THE BOTH OF YOU."
Immediately I said it, everyone in the office turned to me with wide eyes. Even Zorathys turned home from where he stood, but his eyes were perfectly half-lidded like normal.
I stood, palms flat on the desk, and glared at Rin and Vaelory. "Get out. Both of you. Now. Go stand outside the office."
They turned on each other immediately, pointing at the other.
"But she started it!"
They said in perfect sync, and for two people who were always arguing, I was surprised.
I didn’t say a word, though. I just stared at them, and they seemed to get the message.
They grumbled, muttering under their breaths, and shuffled toward the door, bumping shoulders and shoving each other like angry children. The door slammed shut behind them as they left, and silence descended in the office.
Ignivar exhaled slowly. Morthen cleared his throat. Naviel looked like he’d just survived a battlefield.
Zorathys smirked faintly from his corner.
I sat back down, picked up my pen, and returned to the papers as if nothing had happened.
And let me tell you, within minutes, we discovered the missing link. Perhaps Vaelory and Rin were the problem after all.