Chapter 111: White as Snow

He was absentmindedly scanning the schedule Aaron had just handed him when something seemed to catch his attention.

"Wait..."

He looked up.

"Why did you cross out Neige's bedsheet change?"

Around the table, no one paid much attention at first.

Breakfast was proceeding in an unusually calm atmosphere. Plates were being passed around, coffee cups refilled, and Aaron, true to himself, was simultaneously managing the logistics of the entire barracks without appearing to make the slightest effort.

Standing at the end of the table with a stack of documents under one arm, he was distributing the week's schedule with the terrifying efficiency of a general preparing a military campaign.

"Because it's not necessary," he replied simply.

Nicky frowned.

"What do you mean, not necessary?"

Aaron looked up from his papers.

"Neige hasn't slept in her bed for two days."

The silence that followed was immediate.

Total.

Absolute.

Even the cutlery seemed to hesitate.

Blanche felt her brain stop functioning.

Completely.

For one endless second.

Then two.

Then three.

Only then did the information reach the rest of the table.

Her fork slipped from her fingers.

It bounced off her plate with a particularly loud metallic clang.

Wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

Every head turned toward her.

Of course.

Because the universe hated her.

Blanche froze.

Her face perfectly still.

Inside, however, everything was on fire.

Had Aaron really just said that?

Like that?

In front of everyone?

Without preparation?

Without warning?

Without even giving her the decency to die quietly first?

She slowly lifted her eyes toward him.

Aaron continued handing out schedules with the calm composure of a man who had no idea he had just dropped a nuclear bomb in the middle of breakfast.

Or worse.

Of a man who knew exactly what he was doing.

Which was even more alarming.

"Oh."

Nicky blinked.

Then looked at Blanche.

Then Aaron.

Then Blanche again.

"But..." Nicky continued, "you've been here for the last two days, haven't you?"

"Yes," the young woman answered defensively.

"Were you out camping?" Glen suggested.

"No."

The couple exchanged a glance while Blanche stared at anything except them. Aaron kept distributing papers, still standing. Blanche shot a silent plea toward Argy, who snickered before nodding.

"Well... apparently it's my responsibility to break the news to you all..."

Derek elbowed him.

"Ow!"

The grumpy uncle rolled his eyes.

"Let her talk. I'm curious to hear what she has to say," he added mischievously.

Blanche bit her lip nervously while Aaron waited in silence, his arms crossed. She understood that he was giving her a choice: dodge the question... or own it.

"I'm a dark mage," she began, scratching the back of her head. "I can travel through time, as everyone knows. So... some people's past is probably my future. In that future, Argy arrived here when he was very young. I helped him as best I could, and from what I understand... I became his mother."

The silence that followed was one of the most awkward moments of Neige's life.

Her other self, meanwhile, still remembered the bathtub incident perfectly well.

"And what does your bed have to do with being Argy's mother?" Nicky asked, puzzled.

"Well... if I'm Argy's mother and Aaron is his father, then..."

Nicky looked around at the others in confusion while Glen stared back and forth between Aaron and Argy, mouth hanging open.

"So... the barracks?" the elf exclaimed.

"Belong to Neige, yes. We're living in her home."

"Wait, wait... can somebody explain what I missed?" Nicky protested.

"You're really slow on the uptake, kid," Derek grumbled before leaving the dining hall.

Blanche took pity on the blond's lost expression.

"I slept in Aaron's room."

"Huh? But why?"

Glen shot his partner a teasing look. Understanding finally hit Nicky.

"Oh... you two are... Oh!"

Blanche nodded before returning to her breakfast.

"I'm completely lost," Nicky continued, looking at Aaron. "I thought your wife was a Diamond Drakion?"

Blanche slapped a hand against her forehead. Glen pinched the bridge of his nose. Argy, laughing hysterically, came to his friend's rescue.

"Well, yeah. That's Mom. The Diamond Drakion is Mom."

"Nicky's the one who spilled the beans," Aaron murmured without taking his eyes off Blanche.

She bit her lip.

She hadn't forgotten their agreement.

Which meant her handsome brunette was likely going to step things up...

"What did you do this time?" Glen exclaimed at his partner.

The pixie could be slow sometimes.

"It's not his fault," Blanche intervened. "The first time I came here, I asked questions about the scales. Nicky told me Aaron was very attached to the person who had given them to him. Then when I saw the photographs... I realized it was his wife. So technically... me. Well, my future self."

Or her past self. The joys of space-time paradoxes.

"The photographs?" Glen asked.

"Dad has an entire wall covered with pictures of Mom in his room," Argy explained. "But nobody ever goes in there."

"Awesome!" Nicky exclaimed. "Another Drakion on our side! Although... you don't really look like one."

"Technically, I'm not one yet," Blanche blurted out—and immediately regretted it.

Nicky stared at Aaron, confused.

"Drakions are born human until they come of age," Aaron explained.

"Yeah... why do I feel like you're all still hiding something from me?"

"The coming-of-age part, in this context," Saphir said as he appeared out of nowhere, "works a little differently for Drakions. It involves a good old-fashioned..." He smirked. "Neige is as innocent as freshly fallen snow."

Blanche pushed her plate away, her stomach twisting.

Damn it.

Her private life, for heaven's sake.

Nicky snickered before falling silent beneath his friend's murderous glare, then tried to tease Aaron:

"So you've had this goddess in your bed for two nights straight and you still haven't—"

"Do not finish that sentence," Aaron interrupted in an icy tone.

Nicky immediately shut up.

"Besides, it doesn't only matter in this world," Glen observed while studying Blanche.

He had just identified the worst possible problem.

Blanche closed her eyes uneasily before leaving the room.

She didn't want to meet Aaron's gaze.

Would he move faster because he was afraid of not being her first?

Or would Kiyan abandon the Otherworld again to prevent that from happening?

She noticed Derek leaning against the hallway wall near the door.

Judging by his expression, it was obvious he hadn't missed a single word of the conversation.