Chapter 55: Sister-In-Law?
The border gate leading into the Association’s inner sector was as bustling as ever. Biological transport ships docked one after another, offloading a steady stream of passengers onto the plaza.
Ares stood near the primary transit entrance with his hand clasped behind his back, running Zeke’s words through his head for the tenth time.
"A deceptively lethal doll, huh..."
He could easily work with concrete description. "Short, "tall," "wearing a red coat," or "carrying a scar on the left cheek"--those were traits a person could actually use to scan a crowd.
But a doll?
Did the Admiral mean a literal toy? Was he supposed to look for a passenger carrying a porcelain doll in her arms? Or would a real walking doll appear before him?
And what on earth did ’deceptively lethal’ imply?
He was still turning the riddle over in his mind when the newest transport ship finished its docking sequence. The heavy pneumatic doors hissed open, and the passengers began filtering down the ramp.
Then, his gaze locked onto her.
She walked with a kind of unhurried, natural confidence that most people spent their lives trying to fake. Her face was, without a shred of exaggeration, the most striking features Ares had ever beheld in his entire life. Her pale skin and exquisitely beautiful face looked almost too perfect to be real.
Ares blinked in astonishment.
Beneath that deceptively beautiful appearance--the kind that could practically strike a man blind--she possessed a pair of cold, dull eyes that held the deep color of the milky way.
And for some unknown reason, his senses became hyper-alert, as if an extremely dangerous predator were slowly approaching his position.
Wait.Could this tiny girl truly be the person from the Academy whom the Admiral wanted to meet?
She looked so young. She was far too young to hold any real position at the school. A visiting professor’s assistant, maybe? Or--
Could she really be a student?
Before he could finish that train of thought, she was already walking toward him. She had apparently picked him out of the bustling crowd just as easily as he had spotted her.
"Are you the escort the instructor sent?" she asked, stopping a few feet away.
Ares straightened spine fast. Clearing his throat, he plastered on the brightest, most charming smile he could manage on a short notice. "That’s me! The Admiral sent his most loyal subordinate personally to bring you to him."
Hearing this, Aisha’s calm expression finally shifted into a trace of mild surprise.
"Admiral?"
"Oh, right, you probably didn’t know," Ares said, his face practically glowing with pride. "Your new combat instructor happens to be the Association’s youngest Admiral! He is young, handsome, and still completely single. I can guarantee that on my life as his friend!"
He extended a polite hand. "Ares Nico, Lieutenant of the Golden Scale, serving directly under Admiral Zeke Valaerion."
Aisha barely registered the rest of his enthusiastic words.
Their mysterious combat instructor was actually the Admiral of the Association.
That explained a few things.
It explained the absolute ease with which he had stood against Nykos without so much as flinching. If he held the rank of Admiral, that made him the second most powerful figure in the entire Guide and Sentinel Association.
But why on earth a man of that caliber at their academy, acting as a combat instructor?
And then, another chilling thought followed right behind it.
He knew everything. He knew about her hiding her real strength, and he knew about her connection to Nykos--a connection she persistently wanted to deny. The fact that he had told her to come to the Association headquarters today...
What if this whole thing was a trap?
According to what she knew, the Empire had been desperately trying to capture Nykos for a long time. It was true that the Association did not align themselves with the Royal Family or the Emperor, but that didn’t mean they would continue to tolerate him.
Once the upper echelons learned that Nykos was involved with her, a perfect piece of bait would be made to capture him.
And that bait would be her.
Aisha kept her expression steady, but her mind was already spinning rapidly. She searched for the best path of retreat, her gaze subtly dropping toward the weapon strapped tightly around the man’s waist.
Then, she forced her thoughts to a halt.
She reminded herself not to panic prematurely. In the worst-case scenario, she would simply use absolute force to tear her way out and disappear before anyone in this city could deploy their forces to stop her.
For now, there was nothing to be gained by blind speculation.
"Lead the way," she spoke calmly.
Ares, oblivious to the lethal calculations running behind her indifferent face, happily gestured toward a luxurious hover car waiting at the curb.
The vehicle moved with extreme speed. Endless rows of sleek towers and grand plazas blurred past the window before the hover car finally slowed down, coming to a halt in front of a heavily secured private residence.
Ares led her inside the estate, chattering enthusiastically the entire way about the Admiral’s various achievements.
Finally, he stopped before a pair of heavy doors and pushed them open.
"Here you go," he said, stepping back with a grin to let her pass.
Aisha stepped through the threshold.
"Please take good care of the Admiral, sister-in-law!" Ares tossed out these words without a playful wink, slamming the doors shut before she could even form a response.
The sound of his retreating footsteps echoed rapidly down the corridor.
Sister-in-law?
She was still trying to process the absurd title when her eyes swept across the layout of the room. A massive bed stood in the center, flanked by a mahogany desk stacked with neat military files.
Weapons of various shapes and attributes hung prominently on the walls, and a set of grand mecha armor was displayed on the opposite side. This layout did not resemble a parlor meant for receiving guests at all. It was clearly a person’s private bedchamber!
At this moment, the faint sound of running water drifted over from the adjoining room.
"..."
Connecting the layout of the room with the parting words Ares had left behind, Aisha immediately understood that she had been swindled.
She inwardly cursed.
Without a second thought, Aisha decisively turned around, preparing to leave before any awkward situations could happen. However, before her hand could touch the door handle, the bathroom door swung open.
A dense wave of hot steam rolled out first, followed immediately by a figure stepping into the room.
Aisha’s breath caught in her throat.
Admiral Zeke walked out of the steam without a single piece of clothing or a towel wrapped around his hips. Droplets of water were still trailing down from his wet hair, sliding over his broad shoulders and pooling along a slim waist lined with tightly packed, hard abdnominal muscles.
The moment his feet touched the bedroom floor, Zeke also halted his steps, surprised by the sudden presence of another person.
"What are you doing here?" he inquired, his low voice carrying a hint of confusion.
Aisha didn’t answer his question right away.
Before her brain could issue the command to look away, her gaze had already instinctively locked onto his exposed skin.
Faint, thread-like black lines trailed intricately along his collarbone, disappearing beneath his shoulder before curling down to wrap around his forearm. Right in the center of his chest, directly above his heart, a mysterious gemstone flickered with an intermittent glow. It color was a deep, dark blue, appearing almost pitch-black in the dim lighting of the bedroom.
She could not identify the origin of that gemstone, but she was incomparably certain about the nature of those root-like lines covering his body.
Miasma!
However, unlike the violent and erratic miasma she had witnessed within Nykos’ mental landscape, the dark energy inside Zeke appeared thoroughly tamed, resembling a beast that was currently deep in slumber.