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Alexander widened his eyes and gaped his mouth when he heard the response. “What?” he exclaimed. “You’ve been running for eight hours straight? What happened to your carriage? Did it break down somewhere?”

Everard’s heart warmed when he saw that worried look on his friend’s face. ‘That is my friend right there,’ he thought to himself as a soft smile appeared on his face.

He swiftly made Alexander turn around and put his arm around his friend’s shoulder. Then he said while leading Alexander towards the quarter, “No, it didn’t break down.”

Alexander looked at his friend’s beaming face and asked again, “Then why did you run for that long? And how can you even run for that many hours? Are you trying to tire yourself out to death or what?”

Alexander had completely forgotten that his old friend wasn’t the same normal human anymore.

Upon hearing that question, Everard awkwardly chuckled and then disclosed, “Believe it or not but… I can now run more than just eight hours without getting too tired.”

“Ah!” Alexander suddenly felt his heart sinking because he was reminded of how his friend was different now. “Right….” he mumbled, slightly displeased by the current predicament, and kept on lightly nodding his head.

Everard could sense the sudden change in Alexander’s mood. He slowly retreated his arm that was resting on Alexander’s shoulder so as not to make things too awkward between them.

.....

But despite that, he carried on the conversation about the current him so that his friend would eventually accept the new him wholeheartedly. “I actually started my journey yesterday late at night. I started running from my castle until I reached here about half an hour ago.”

Once more, Alexander was taken by surprise. “It only took you eight hours to cover that great distance?” he asked while giving a doubtful look to Everard.

“Yes. I can now run faster than the carriages.” Everard smiled at Alexander and then looked at the path ahead of them.

‘He started his journey yesterday night and not two days before, huh! Why though?’ Alexander wondered to himself in utter confusion.

When he recognized Everard at the gate earlier, he was thinking that Everard might not have received his letter at all – the reason why Everard came to meet him at an earlier date than what was mentioned in the letter.

However, it was now clear to Alexander that Everard came to meet him at an earlier date on purpose and not because of the lack of communication.

He gave a suspicious look to Everard and stopped walking. He then turned to face Everard and asked with an abrupt change in his tone from sweet to stern, “You received my letter, right?”

When Alexander saw Everard slightly nodding his head, he immediately folded his arms in front of his chest and asked with a deep frown, “Why would you come here with such haste when I clearly mentioned our meeting point and everything in that letter?”

Everard knew that if he didn’t clarify himself properly right at this moment, Alexander’s visible doubt would grow even stronger, ultimately creating some unnecessary tension between the two of them.

Thus, he was quick enough to answer, “Actually, I wouldn’t have come here uninvited like this, but the situation demanded it.”

“How do you mean?” Alexander’s stiff body posture eased to some extent. He was open to listening to Everard’s situation.

Everard began organizing his thoughts so that he could reveal just enough information to Alexander without putting his friend’s life at risk.

Alexander, on the other hand, was patiently waiting to listen to the kind of excuse that Everard was about to give. He was going to be the judge of whether the ‘situation’ that Everard mentioned was that dire or not.

After thinking for a while, Everard replied calculatedly, “There’s a very important ceremony that requires my presence tomorrow. The ceremony was fixed a long time ago and I cannot afford to shift it to another date since a lot of people are already invited.”

The frown lines on Alexander’s forehead were slowly disappearing as he listened to Everard.

Everard could also see that he was slowly regaining Alexander’s trust.

Thus, he further added, “I mean, I would have shifted the ceremony to a later date if it didn’t involve a lot of people’s schedules. Since I couldn’t do that, I decided to come here today so that I could resolve the issues between us faster.”

He looked at Alexander’s face with a soft look in his eyes and said, “I don’t want us to become estranged from one another. So, I wanted to come and talk with you as soon as possible. I hope you are okay with me being here.”

Alexander dropped his folded arms and took a deep breath in. He cleared his throat and then gave a nod to Everard. He also managed to pull a smile when he said, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be okay with you being here?”

A huge smile appeared on Everard’s face the moment he heard his friend.

Nonetheless, he didn’t shy away from expressing something that was slightly pricking his heart. “A part of me was afraid thinking you would be angry at me for appearing in front of the gate. You had called me near the border for the meeting and… it made me think that you didn’t want me anywhere near your castle.”

“No! It’s… It’s not–”

Everard saw a flash of fear in Alexander’s eyes. He had always been bad at lying. So, Everard cut him off and said with a huge smile, “I am glad that I was wrong.”

Alexander gulped and then mumbled while looking down at his shoes, “I umm… didn’t want either of us to travel a long distance for the meeting. So, I chose the place that would require both of us to travel for just a day.”

He was only telling a half-truth, which Everard had already seen through. Everard didn’t mind it though. He could understand his friend’s point of view.

Alexander, on the other hand, stole a glace of Everard and said after scoffing lightly, “Now I know that covering the whole distance was no problem for you.”

Everard shrugged and casually said, “Well, now you know.”

The two of them resumed heading towards Alexander’s quarter. They both were silent as they walked at a rather slow pace.

Although Alexander had a lot of questions in his mind, he didn’t know how many of them would be appropriate to actually ask to Everard.

Everard didn’t have many questions in his mind. But he was ready to answer any and every question that Alexander would ask him. After all, that was why he traveled this great distance in haste. To answer his friend and resolve any misunderstanding between them.

They were close to Alexander’s chamber in no time.

By now, Everard was unable to stand the awkwardness between them. And the silence was too hard to bear when he could hear their own footsteps echoing as they walked down the corridor.

“Are you still scared of me, Alex?” he finally broke the silence.

Alexander was silent. He turned his head to take a glance at Everard’s face.

Everard looked sad and also hurt, probably by that silence that spoke louder than words.

And seeing that gloomy and hurt expression of his friend, Alexander sighed and said, “I don’t know what to think and how to feel anymore, Eve. I need answers before I can answer your question.”

Everard spread his arms and then said with desperation, “Then ask me. Ask me anything. And I will answer.”