Even after beating Kaera in a duel a month ago and robbing her of her 'pocket money' in a bet, she was still an active thorn in his side.
It's almost like she made it her life's mission to keep Lillianna from any and all people she considers 'dangerous' or 'harmful.'
And… as it happens, Arvell was at the top of her list.
Arvell threw Kaera a smile with a tinge of mockery.
"Do you need something? Or are you here to make another donation?"
Kaera's face flushed with anger and embarrassment while glaring venomously at the Arvell.
She was about to retaliate, but she quickly stopped herself by digging her nails into her skin to control her emotions.
'If I do anything here, then Lillianna will find out about our duel.'
The last thing Kaera wanted was for her friend to know about the duel with the silver-haired youth before her.
Knowing Lillianna, she would certainly get mad at Kaera for starting their quarrel, and then she'd no doubt try to mediate between her and Arvell.
However, that wasn't why Kaera didn't want her to find out.
She didn't know why but deep in her heart, she didn't want Arvell near the person she valued most.
It was the feeling one would have when trying to keep a loved one away from their hated enemy.
But… Kaera herself didn't know why she felt this way.
The image of a smiling man with bright fiery hair passed through her mind, causing her eyes to temporarily lose focus and glaze over.
A face that belonged to someone she had loved deeply while growing up, someone she would never see again.
All because of that damned war!
A war broke out over that bastard!
There was no way Kaera would ever forgive him, even if he was nothing more than a rotting corpse.
Now, someone who reminded her of that hated person and shared the same name, no less, was trying to get close to her friend.
A friend who was equally torn up as her due to the events of the war, there was no way Kaera could allow him to get even remotely close.
Remembering her objective, Kaera shook her head and turned to Lillianna.
If she could, she would have changed the team rosters to swap her spot with Arvell, but alas, that was impossible since she needed a valid reason.
"Remember, Lillianna, even if they're your own party members, you should keep a close eye on them. After all, you are the princess of this country, so all kinds of people will try to latch themselves onto you."
Even if she couldn't protect her friend in person, the least she could do was at least warn her.
Marisa looked at Kaera angrily as if offended by her words.
On the other hand, Julius didn't seem to care much, being too engrossed with the book he was reading.
"Kaera, you're acting too worried, and not to mention a little rude. These three didn't do anything bad for you to call them out like that." Lillianna replied while giving her group members an apologetic look, "sorry, she's just a little overprotective of me."
Kaera shook her head in defiance, refusing to back down.
"Even so, you should still be careful. There's no harm in simply being cautious."
Arvell just threw Kaera a bored look before sighing and shrugging his shoulders.
"Don't worry, we're not going to eat her or something. At least I don't plan on doing so."
'At least not yet,' Lykos quipped.
A vein bulged on Arvell's forehead.
'Please just shut up.'
August, sitting on Arvell's shoulder, chuckled lightly at their back and forth.
Kaera looked at August with a soft gaze before throwing one last glare at Arvell and walking back to her group.
Over the past month, August turned into a celebrity in their class, with most girls wanting to pet his sleek black fur.
However, August adamantly refused all of them, even jumping out of the way whenever they tried to pick him up, so they were forced to ultimately give up.
Taking the rest of her group members, Kaera entered the left-most tunnel, leaving only two tunnels left.
Lilliana smiled ruefully before turning to her group.
"I'm sorry about her. She just cares about me a lot and often ends up going overboard. So please forgive her for her earlier words."
Marisa looked like she wanted to say something but shook her head, replacing her angered look with a bright smile.
"If your high- I mean, Lillianna personally asks this, who am I to say no?"
Arvell and Julius, on the other hand, just nodded lightly in response.
'Still showing kindness to everyone around her, Lily's still the same as ever,' Arvell thought to himself with a smile, 'but she's far more dignified than before. It forces me to remember that she's grown a lot these past few years.'
Arvell turned to his group and pointed to the right-most tunnel.
"We should get going too."
Lillianna, nodding her head in agreement, began walking towards their chosen pathway, serving as a cue for the others to follow as well.
Arvell's eyes flickered with a mysterious light as soon as they stepped into the tunnel, but he didn't let anything show on his face.
'Something is watching us.'
He could feel the gaze of something watching their every movement, but he couldn't precisely pinpoint where.
Arvell wouldn't be so worried if it was just that, but the real cause for concern was something else.
It was faint, but Arvell could sense a trace of killing intent from that gaze.
However, it didn't look like whatever it was planned on attacking them, so Arvell couldn't really do much about it.
Despite knowing that whatever was looking at them could probably put up a decent fight, Arvell couldn't suppress the slowly-forming smile on his face.
'It looks like our 'fun little field trip' is about to get much a lot more complicated.'
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