As a vigorous young man who had just tasted the sweetness of love, how could Rhodes possibly resist when Mira softly called him "husband" the mont he woke up?
Without a second thought, he pulled her back into his arms, hands gliding playfully over her body.
Mira let out a startled gasp but didn’t resist right away. For a mont, she was swept up in the warmth and affection.
However, before things could really escalate, she managed to grab Rhodes’s mischievous hands and held them firmly.
"Stop that. Don’t you have to go to the Council today?"
"I could go tomorrow," Rhodes replied lazily. "They just said to drop by soon. It’s not like they gave a deadline."
For a while, he had believed he’d broken his habit of procrastination... and sleeping in. But clearly, so tendencies were making a coback.
Mira frowned, not buying it. "I need to go back to the guild. There’s still a lot to handle."
Rhodes glanced at the clock. "It’s still early. Only eight."
Mira shot upright in bed. "Oh no!"
Being late wouldn’t usually matter. But this ti, everyone else had stayed overnight at the guild while she and Rhodes had gone out... and didn’t return until morning.
Everyone would definitely guess what had happened.
Mira liked gossip well enough, and didn’t mind being the subject once in a while, but this kind of attention would absolutely kill her with embarrassnt.
She scrambled out of bed, grabbing one of Rhodes’s jackets and searching for her own clothes.
When she found them, her face darkened. There was no way they were wearable anymore.
With an awkward glance at Rhodes, she held out her hand. "Clothes."
Rhodes smirked and handed her a fresh set. He had spares for Mira, of course, all brand new, top to bottom.
This was the kind of situation where backup clothing ca in handy.
But he still took a ntal note to upgrade the lingerie next ti. The ones he bought were nowhere near as sexy as what Mira had been wearing.
Big mistake.
Mira changed quickly and darted into the bathroom to wash up. She moved through Rhodes’s place like she owned it, he even had her toiletries neatly arranged on the shelf.
She’d originally planned to wake early and make breakfast to show off her girlfriend skills, but now there was no ti for that.
Mira felt mildly defeated. Another chance to impress him, wasted. Even though she had plenty of wins already, it still stung a little.
Rhodes lay back in bed for a bit, pillowless and thoughtful, before sighing and dragging himself up to get ready.
While he brushed his teeth, Mira had already finished washing, cleaned up her clothes, and left for the guild on her own.
But as she passed Goodman at the gate, the old man’s "I understand, I understand" expression nearly made her explode from secondhand embarrassnt.
She bolted down the street like she was fleeing a battlefield.
Rhodes didn’t mind. He strolled out at a leisurely pace, bought a simple breakfast, and headed off toward the Council building.
The sun was shining, and his mood was bright.
After all, so things had to be faced eventually, might as well face them with a smile.
Back at the guild, Mira stood before the entrance, psyching herself up.
She pushed the doors open and walked in.
The guild was exactly as Mira had feared, many people were already awake.
And many of them were actively rousing others to start working.
Laki, Lisanna, and Kinana, who usually helped with serving and cleaning, had already begun their duties.
As soon as Mira stepped through the door, her entrance drew several curious glances.
So noticed that she had changed into clean clothes and innocently assud she had simply gone ho early that morning to freshen up.
Lisanna imdiately jumped to that conclusion. "Mira-nee, why didn’t you call to go back and change too?"
Caught off guard, Mira stamred a little. "Ah—well... I saw you were sleeping so soundly. I didn’t want to wake you."
Just days ago, she had been the doting older sister who clung to her little sister. Now she was lying to her without batting an eye.
"I want a shower too," Lisanna muttered. She tugged at her sleeve, noticing a faint alcohol stain from the previous night’s chaos. Though it had dried, the sll still lingered.
Mira quickly turned her attention to tidying up the guild. "Finish up quickly. You should head ho and change as well."
"Mmm," Lisanna replied, nodding and returning to work. But after a few monts, she glanced around and asked, "Where’s brother-in-law? I haven’t seen him all morning."
"He went to the Council. Didn’t he get an invitation?"
The words rolled off Mira’s tongue more naturally now. She didn’t even pause in her work.
"Oh, right!" Lisanna blinked, then smiled, genuinely happy for her sister. "That’s great, Mira-nee."
Mira responded with a soft smile.
Lisanna froze. "...!"
Sothing was definitely off.
Her sister had been gentler than usual lately, but the expression just now, it was different.
Charming? Dreamy? What was the right word?
Lisanna couldn’t quite pin it down. Maybe Mira was just overjoyed with Rhodes’s recent achievents?
anwhile, Rhodes had arrived at the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council.
This wasn’t his first visit, but sothing felt different this ti.
There were more guards stationed outside. The air felt tenser. The mages and staff he passed by seed more self-important than usual.
As soon as Rhodes arrived at the entrance, two frog-n erged to greet him.
"Mr. Rhodes, please follow us."
He gave a slight nod. "How will the test for my magic power be conducted?"
"It will likely involve the MPF, Magic Power Finder, a asurent device currently used only within the Council. Later, several Councilors’ Thought Projections will arrive to observe the testing process in person."
"What are the test standards?"
"Apologies, sir. Since this is the first ti such a test is being administered under these circumstances, even we aren’t sure."
Rhodes nodded again and didn’t press further.
Beneath the Fiore Branch headquarters was a wide, disc-shaped building with a floating structure above it. Normally, business was conducted in the upper halls, eting rooms or courtrooms accessed by elevators.
But this ti, the frog-n guided him to the open disc platform below.
A unit of nearly a hundred soldiers was currently in the middle of training. Under their captain’s orders, they were rotating through various offensive and defensive formations.
"This is one of the Enforcent Unit’s training grounds," one of the frog-n explained. "Please wait here."
He then went ahead and spoke briefly with the captain.
The captain glanced over at Rhodes, gave a command to his troops, and had them fall into orderly lines before stepping aside.
He motioned for two of his subordinates to head to the storage room. Monts later, they returned with a large box and set it in the center of the training grounds.
The soldiers, now standing at the edges of the field, turned their eyes toward Rhodes, clearly curious.
They recognized the box. It held testing instrunts used occasionally in the unit. Was that young man here to take the entrance test for the Enforcent Unit?
But that couldn’t be right. Even if a recruit were joining, there was no reason to clear the entire field like this.
Unless... was he soone important? Maybe connected to one of the Councilors?
So of the sharper-eyed soldiers recognized him from recent rumors.
Wasn’t he Mirajane’s boyfriend?
Wait, no, the latest gossip said they were already engaged!
Tch. Just thinking about it made so of them grit their teeth in envy.
...
Bonus @2400
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