Vol 4 Chapter 6 (2/2)

Could Dark Sun blush? He can only use ice-cold expressions and a formal tones, right? But it didn’t matter whether Dark Sun had the ability to blush or not―right now he really was, in fact, blus.h.i.+ng!

“Your thoughts are all messed-up.”

Elian paused and looked toward the doorway. Eli and Eloise were standing there, and the former was currently looking at Elian with a scowl.

Upon seeing Eli’s expression, Elian felt kind of awkward even though he knew that the other couldn’t completely figure out what he was thinking. No matter what, no one would be willing to allow a mind reader to stand right in front of them when letting their imagination run wild.

Eli frowned.

Shoot! He couldn’t have read this too, right? Elian wrenched his mind away from that topic and asked, “What took you so long?”

Eloise replied unabashedly, “We were calling Papa Avery, telling him that Dar had already come to school and that he didn’t need to worry anymore! When Papa Avery heard the news, he was so happy that he was jumping around and screaming something about the world finally being safe again.”

Eli continued explaining: “He also gave us some news. Ezart was right, Daren was just throwing a huge tantrum. There really was no problem about not being able to turn on the emotion section and the like.”

Elian froze.

“Actually…” Eli suddenly opened his mouth and said, “When I was in the Princ.i.p.al’s office, I heard Daren’s innermost thoughts, but he warned me in his mind not to tell anyone, or else…”

Following those two last words, Daren had thought for a long time but still couldn’t decide what to do. Eli had nearly followed along with that train of thought, hesitating about whether he should tell the Solaris Emperor, Elian, and the rest of them.

Subsequently, Theodore told him that he had known long ago. This caused the incessantly worrying Eli to get so angry he’d almost vomited blood.

“So that’s how it is, no wonder he was blus.h.i.+ng!” Elian jumped up and shouted, “He’s not Dark Sun, he’s Dar!”

The other two were startled by Elian’s yell. They looked at Elian dazedly, not understanding what he’d meant by ‘blus.h.i.+ng’.

Even Sin yelled, “So noisy!” before turning over and continuing to sleep.

“Let me tell you, just now…”

Excitedly, Elian told the two of them what had happened earlier with the dummy in a systematic and detailed manner. Upon hearing the story, Eloise immediately moved in front of the people and shamelessly took over the chair in front of the peephole. She promptly began wailing, “Oh oh oh! Dar is just too cute when he’s blus.h.i.+ng!”

“Eloise, quiet down a bit,” Eli said leisurely, while staring at her. “You haven’t forgotten what Doctor Avery warned us about, did you? We can’t let Dar find out we’ve already discovered he’s no longer Dark Sun.”

Eloise showed no reaction to this and continued her “Oh oh oh.” It was actually Elian who blurted out with surprise and asked, “Why?”

Eli shook his head and said, “I don’t know the particulars. I only know that this is what the Solaris Emperor ordered.”

Turning her attention back to them, Eloise finally said, “What do you mean you don’t know? Papa Avery definitely said that it’s just a little game a pair of awkward brothers is playing!”

Hearing this, Elian seemed to be at a loss, but in the end he decided to buy Eli’s explanation of not understanding the situation.

“Oh oh oh! Cla.s.s is over. Lance and Dar are going to eat lunch! I want to go too!” As soon as Eloise had finished speaking, she stood up in a hurry and rushed out of the cla.s.sroom like a tornado.

Elian stared blankly before realizing that he and Sin were the ones who really needed to catch up to Dar and Lance, as they were the ones who’d been ordered by the princ.i.p.al to help protect Lance. Elian hastily turned back to shake Sin, yelling, “Hurry, get up, Dar and the rest of them have already left the cla.s.sroom!”

“Dar what? What the h.e.l.l do you mean!” Sin, however, was very angry.

Elian promptly corrected himself: “The target we’re escorting has already left the neighboring area. We need to catch up.”

As soon as he’d heard this, Sin tore off the newspaper that was previously covering his head and face and climbed off the desk, looking grumpy.

Seeing this, Elian gave a huge sigh of relief. Fortunately, Sin did count as someone dedicated to his work.

As he walked out of the cla.s.sroom, Sin muttered, “If I don’t hurry and catch up to them, Dark Sun will have already dealt with all the enemies, and how could I let that happen? How could I let him steal the limelight?”

This isn’t the right time to be thinking about the limelight, is it? Elian sighed and greeted Eli as he, too, caught up with them.

“Dark Sun, there’s something I would like to trouble you with.”

As Daren was eating his third different-flavored hamburger with relish, Lance suddenly spoke, his expression extremely sincere.

After chewing and swallowing a piece of hamburger in his mouth, Daren replied simply, “Speak.”

Lance pulled out an intricately designed envelope from his chest pocket, saying, “In three days I will be performing in a stage play. This is an admission ticket. I would really like you to attend.”

Daren looked at the envelope. At the same time, the microchip in his brain was searching up the meaning of “stage play.”

Smiling, Lance said, “Of course, there’s a reason why I’m giving you this. These are tickets for special seats! They’d be priceless even on the black market, but I’m giving you five tickets at once!”

Daren continued to look at him. In any case, Lance loved talking so much that, even if Daren didn’t ask, Lance would still answer himself.

Even though he had already accepted the princ.i.p.al’s mission and had no choice but to protect someone he hated, what was the harm in giving that person a tiny taste of suffering? Daren thought wickedly.

Even the microchip determined that this was a good choice. If Lance couldn’t stand him and put forth a request to switch bodyguards, Daren didn’t need to protect Lance anymore and he could continue hiding his true strength.

Although Daren did not respond, Lance continued talking, not paying any attention at all to Daren’s indifference. Slightly annoyed, he said, “Someone sent me a rude letter that actually told me to stop this great art. The writer of that letter wouldn’t even hesitate to a.s.sa.s.sinate me in order to accomplish this. Truly an unreasonable situation.”

You’re so annoying, so what’s so strange about someone wanting to kill you? Daren silently retorted.

Lance continued to express his righteous indignation for a while. However, upon noticing that Dark Sun still had not reacted. Troubled by this, Lance reworded his request. “I hope you’ll be able to show up and appreciate this incomparably masterful art form while taking care to protect me.”

Daren glowered at him. He really didn’t want to protect the person he hated outside of the working hours he had agreed to.

“I don’t want to…”

“A stage play?”

He was cut mid-sentence when someone used an unusually excited tone of voice and interrupted him, but Daren couldn’t get angry by the sudden intrusion because it sounded really familiar to him. He turned to look and found Eloise’s face only approximately twenty centimeters away from his own.

Her eyes were sparkling with interest. Tugging on Daren’s hand, she said sincerely, “If you’re going to watch a stage play, you definitely can’t go wearing your uniform or ordinary clothing, so you need to go shopping! Let’s go, Dark Sun, big sister will bring you to the department store.”

Daren furrowed his brows again. He already had so many clothes at home, and there were more and more signs that Gege’s designer would send over a pile of outfits from time to time.

“You can also buy toys at the department store, you know, and I heard that there’s even a toy exhibit that opened recently! There are robots, the newest virtual love game, and also lots of super cute dolls!”

Eloise truly understood Daren’s weaknesses. Basically, Daren had the weaknesses of a ten-year-old.

Eloise, are you a weird big sister who kidnaps little children…? Elian had also come over. When he heard what Eloise said, he really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He too knew that for Daren, those kidnapper-like words were so effective they were second only to suggestions to go eat midnight snacks with everyone.

Sin looked at Eloise with a puzzled expression. Using toys to lure Dark Sun? Toys?

Daren continued to keep quiet, neither resisting nor concurring.

This, too, allowed Elian to confirm once more that the person before his eyes definitely wasn’t Dark Sun. If he was Dark Sun, he would definitely have replied with a single word, “No,” immediately shooting down Eloise’s senseless proposal.

“Okay, then it’s decided! Today after school, I’ll be waiting for you at the school gates!”

Eloise s.n.a.t.c.hed up the admission tickets on the table, then decided the time and place without waiting for Daren to agree. Afterwards, she turned around and called to Elian, “Right, Elian, remember to come with us!”

“Me?” Elian was startled. “What do you want me to go there for?”

Eloise said matter-of-factly, “Because you’re going to buy a set of new clothes to give to Dark Sun!”

“Why do I have to the one to buy clothes for him?”

Elian laughed bitterly. He knew of the Solaris family’s level of wealth, and even if he used up all of the money he could earn in his lifetime, he would only be able to buy the type of clothes that the family, and admittedly himself as well, would never even deign to look at.

“He calls you Elian-ge, you know!” Eloise replied with righteous confidence. “How could you not buy clothes for a cute little brother?”

Elian looked at Eloise suspiciously. She had the rare chance to go shopping with just her and Dar. How could she possibly ask Elian to be the unwanted third guest––and of her own accord?

“Eloise spent the all money she earned buying idol singer merchandise. Not to mention the fact that she can’t afford to buy clothes for Dark Sun, even treating him to a meal would pose a problem for her.”

Eli explained as he walked over calmly.

“Eli!” Eloise growled, fl.u.s.tered.

So that’s how it was. Elian sighed and said helplessly, “So you’re looking for someone to pay, is that right?”

Eli gave a single, affirmative nod.

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