Chapter 231: Sweet Soup
It was like the universe wanted to back up Arix’s gut feeling—her mom called at that exact mont.
"Mom," Arix said sweetly, answering the video call with a soft smile.
Fleur’s response ca back with just as much warmth. Her eyes crinkled with affection as she asked, "Arix, did you just get ho?"
"Yeah, Drexel and I just got back. Evelyn’s making us so lunch," Arix replied with a small laugh, keeping things light and easy as they talked about ho.
"Good, have your lunch first. Afterward, you and your brother should co over to the Empire," Fleur suggested warmly.
"Wait, what?" Arix blinked in surprise but didn’t push for details. Instead, she just nodded and agreed, "Okay, Mom."
But Drexel, who had been quietly listening, wasn’t so thrilled. "Mom, we JUST got back, and we haven’t even had a chance to relax."
He had his mind set on gaming after lunch, not making so trip across the galaxy to the Empire.
Fleur, however, wasn’t in the mood for his complaints. Her tone turned icy, and there was a sharp edge to it. "You want to rest? How about I give you a good spanking and arrange for you to rest in bed for half a year?"
Drexel gulped nervously, imdiately backing down. "Uh, right! Just rembered, I’ve got sothing to take care of at the Empire too. See you after lunch, Mom."
Arix laughed at his quick surrender. She steered the conversation to sothing more cheerful before she and Fleur wrapped up the call.
Once the video call ended, Drexel slumped into his chair, a look of frustration clouding his face. "Mom must be bored out of her mind. I get why she has to go to the Empire, but why drag us along? The cha competition is right around the corner, and now we’re stuck doing this."
Arix, sensing his reluctance, offered kindly, "You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I can handle it myself."
After all, this was about her engagent, and her brother’s presence didn’t really matter THAT much.
But instead of feeling relieved, Drexel shot her a confused look. "Wait, why do you need to go to the Empire anyway?"
He absentmindedly scooped up a spoonful of sweet soup and took a sip.
Just as the flavor hit his taste buds, her answer made him nearly choke.
"Oh, nothing too crazy, just going to get engaged," Arix replied nonchalantly, sipping her soup with a contented look.
"Pfft!!!"
Drexel sputtered, coughing for a solid few seconds. When he finally caught his breath, he stared at his sister in disbelief. "What did you just say you’re doing at the Empire?"
"Getting engaged. To Cassian," Arix replied, calm as ever, still enjoying her sweet soup.
Drexel froze for a mont before slamming his hands on the table, fury radiating off him in waves.
Without a word, he grabbed Arix’s arm and started pulling her toward the door.
"What are you doing? I haven’t finished my sweet soup!" Arix protested, glancing back longingly at her half-eaten dessert.
"Sweet soup! Is that all you care about? You’re about to be sold off, and you still have an appetite?" Drexel, for once, completely lost his cool.
Seeing him so mad, Arix kept quiet, letting herself be dragged along.
"Mr. and Miss Kering, aren’t you going to finish the soup?" Evelyn called out as she brought another dish to the table, only to see the siblings rushing out.
"We’re skipping it. We’ll just have so nutritious fluid instead," Drexel snapped, still fuming. "After all, we’re so poor we’re selling off our daughter. We don’t deserve to eat real food."
Evelyn watched Drexel storm off, a mix of confusion and curiosity etched on her face. "I’ve never seen the him this mad," she comnted softly, more to herself than anyone else.
anwhile, on the jump ship.
Drexel sat, arms crossed, his expression dark and brooding. His usually warm eyes were now icy cold.
Arix hesitated, chewing on her lip before finally speaking up. "Drexel, I think you might be misunderstanding. My engagent to Cassian... it’s sothing I agreed to..."
But she couldn’t say for sure if Cassian was just as willing.
Before she could continue, Drexel cut her off, his voice tight with emotion. "It doesn’t matter if it’s voluntary or not, Arix. You’re only too young, and still studying! How could Mom and Dad let this happen? We just found you after losing you for decades , and now they’re trying to marry you off?"
His voice cracked on the last word, and, much to Arix’s surprise, tears welled up in his eyes. He was struggling to make sense of it—how their parents could be okay with their sweet baby girl getting engaged. ’Are they really putting so kind of advantage over family?’
His thoughts spiraled, and in that mont, a crimson hue clouded his vision as his psychic power surged wildly, spiraling out of control.
In the psychic realm, Sheer, who had been dozing, snapped awake, sensing the sudden turmoil. "Drexel! What’s going on? What happened?" Sheer’s voice was urgent, but no response ca from Drexel.
In the real world, Arix quickly noticed sothing was very wrong. Without wasting a second, she wrapped them both in her psychic energy, using Vita’s power to try and calm the storm raging inside Drexel.
"Drexel, snap out of it! I’m not the one being forced here—Cassian is!" Arix yelled, her voice cutting through the chaos as she focused on soothing his psychic energy.
Drexel, in the midst of his outburst, suddenly froze when he heard that. The violent surge of his power faltered, and a flicker of clarity returned to his eyes.
In his psychic realm, Sheer let out a relieved sigh as the disturbance around them began to settle. Muttering, Sheer drifted back to sleep.
Drexel blinked, his voice still rough with emotion as he asked, "Arix, what did you just say? Cassian’s the one being forced?"
Seeing Drexel finally calming down, Arix relaxed too and nodded, taking a deep breath before explaining everything from the beginning.
The more she explained, the more Drexel frowned, his face scrunched up in disbelief. "Are you seriously telling
Cassian’s like... so rare safety raft you’ve gotta marry to keep you from crumbling?"
"Why would I lie? Mom and Dad know all about it too. Cassian’s already given up so much for . So when we get to the Empire, don’t make things harder for him," Arix said, her tone protective.
Drexel fell in silence.
Now, he was starting to believe that Cassian really was getting the short end of the stick.
The engagent hadn’t even happened yet, and Arix was already defending him like this.
But knowing that Arix wasn’t being coerced, Drexel finally felt at ease. As for Cassian being the one forced?
Well, Drexel thought with a smirk, if Cassian was being forced by Arix, he might as well count himself lucky.
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