"Lo-Lord Ruan!! Su-Such a thing is--"

"How about it Miss Aria Devonshire?" Lord Ruan cut Aidan.

Aidan turned to Aria with a worried and frantic expression. If they find out Aria is a witch, who knows what they would do to her?!

Why am I even worrying about this damned witch?! Ahhh! I'm starting to lose it!!

Aidan screamed inside his head while his mind turned into one heck of a mess and is causing a growing headache.

"And if I am?" Aria answered as calm as she could despite looking tensed.

"Well, it depends. We can't have a witch playing goody-two-shoes here in my academy, but if you can prove to me that you are indeed a witch who sided with humans, then I guess I can somehow bend that rule."

Aria looked thoughtful for a moment that Aidan almost thought she was going to confess that she was indeed a witch and the most powerful one at that when she suddenly smiled softly- obviously fake and forced- before she shrugged her shoulders.

"It might be nice if I was as powerful as the witch you thought was me but sadly I loath them and their kind." she denied.

Lord Ruan stared at her for a few moment before he retured to his usual carefree and comical self.

"I see, I see. I am sorry to have doubted you then, little Aria. Both of you may return to your class now, that was all I needed from you." Lord Ruan dismissed them.

"The-Then, we'll be excusing ourselves, Lord Ruan." Aidan bowed and so did Aria before Aidan pulled her along.

"I thought you were gonna confess back there." Aidan suddenly said, with a huff of sigh, when they were out the Reaper's Room.

"Don't be stupid, Aidan. That man, Ruan, clearly knows I am Aria the Witch. He's watching me carefully." Aria spoke and looked really serious.

So even witches can be serious, huh? The first time I met her, she's hardly shown she was serious. She always looked bored, apathetic and uncaring about what's happening around her.

"For now I think it's best if I add more seals on my power. I can never be too sure around that ridiculous guy." Aria muttered.

"Why are you very threatened by Lord Ruan? Aren't you the strongest witch?"

Aria whipped her head towards Aidan and stared at him, thinking he might be joking.

"Just how stupid and naive can you get, boy?" Aria scoffed and shook her head before she walked away.

"Hey! What was that about?" Aidan cried before he followed after her.

Aria pondered on her move. Adding more seals would mean more time to reactivate her full power and that's not a wise move. For all she knew, a witch or demon, who could be on par with her or Fawn could attack her anytime and she won't have to time to fight back or even defend herself if she adds more seals.

What to do?

Aria thought as she chewed on her nails, contemplating which would be best for her and the smartest move.

She felt a light tap to her shoulder and she whipped her head. She found Fleur staring at her worriedly.

"Uh, Yes?" She asked, a bit disconcerted from being snapped out from a deep thought.

"Are you fine, Aria? Ever since you and Aidan came back from being summoned by Lord Ruan, you've been lost in a daze. Did Lord Ruan tell you anything?" Fleur told her.

Aria looked around her and found the others- Deron, Bram, Lila, Ira and Aidan- also staring at her. Having lost herself in a daze, she did not notice the moment she entered their room and silently went to her seat.

"I.. I'm fine. I was just.. thinking about something." Aria answered vaguely so as to lessen their worry.

Why should I not let them worry? What do I care?

Aria thought and sighed as she waved her hands in a dismissing manner, collecting herself and acting like how she used to again- mighty and apathetic.

"It's nothing serious to concern yourselves about. I was simply contemplating how to protect myself against Aidan's idiocy now that he's become my weapon." Aria smirked as she turned to the man mentioned.

"What the-"

Before Aidan could utter a curse, the others burst out laughing at Aria's remarks; with Bram being the loudest and repeatedly hitting Aidan's back.

If you watch them, at that very moment, you might mistake them as childhood friends who've known each other since they were only a babe. The way they relaxed with each other's company, despite only knowing each other for a couple of weeks and months, was so refreshing and warm. Watching that scene, Professor Jin knew they were gonna make a helluva team.

..

.

After class had ended, Aria and Aidan were called up by Professor Jin.

"Yes sir?" Aidan asked, seeing that Aria seemed to refuse to talk to the man.

"Well, now that you've chosen to ally yourself with this lovely young lady here--" Jin started and turned to Aria only to be greeted with an intense glare from her. "Really? I'm sorry I peeped, okay? So now setting that issue aside, I've got a job for the both of you."

"Is this a mission?" Aidan asked.

"Yes, it is. This way, you can strengthen your partnership and trust as well as cleaning up some nasty and troublesome ghouls in the process." Jin briefed them.

"Okay. We'll take care of it, sir." Aidan bowed before the both of them walked away after being dismissed.

..

.

"Where do you go home, witch?" Aidan asked, as soon as they were out their academy's premises.

"To my castle, idiot." Aria answered back.

"Which is in the neighboring city, I presume."

"Is it there? Yes. Yes, it is." Aria replied with a smirk that never fails to tick Aidan's nerves.

"So, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then, your highness." Aidan said with sarcasm.

"Yeah. Don't be late tomorrow, you idiot." Aria said with a slight curtsey, as if responding to Aidan's sarcasm, before she smirked smugly and turned to walk away.

"Ugh. Witch." Aidan muttered under his breath before he turned as well to walk the opposite way.

Tomorrow, he was going to his first mission with the witch he abhorred to the deepest part of his soul and just wondered how things would unfold by then.