Alchemist In The Apocalypse: Rise Of A Legend!

Hidden Feelings.

[Ace POV],

*Knock* *Knock*

I was about to read the other texts below when I heard a knock on the door.

Seeing this, I discarded the panel in front of me and turned to face the door, waiting for whoever was on the other side to enter.

When the door was opened, a familiar figure entered the room.

"Emma, What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk"

...

[Adara POV],

'Ugh,' I muttered as I slowly opened my eyes to see a somewhat familiar ceiling after taking a rest.

I prepared to get out of bed and move to the door as I thought back to what had happened yesterday.

I must check on Ace!

I'm not sure when it started, but I remember when we first met.

It was at my 13th birthday banquet.

Coming from a royal family, the number of 'real' friends I have can be counted on one hand.

Everyone else seems to be interested in my identity as the empire princess, except for my family.

My princess this, my princess that, princess, princess, princess!

It irritates me every time I hear that form of address.

I sometimes wish I didn't have the identity of a princess, but not all wishes are granted.

People may think that being an empire princess is something to be delighted about, and I'm not sure about other empire princesses, but I wasn't.

I've even caught some of my 'friends' talking behind my back not once, not twice, but several times.

And what they were talking about wasn't good.

I was the object of many people's envy and jealousy, which I did not want.

All I desired was to have someone to call a "friend."

A 'friend' who is unconcerned about my status as a princess.

I just wanted to be treated like a regular person.

It's strange how you can have everything in the world but not have what you really want.

Everything changed when I met Ace.

I saw his face for the first time at my birthday banquet because my father wanted to introduce me to him.

He only does this to people my age on whom he has a favorable impression.

I've never met Ace, but I've heard of him.

But when I first saw him, the only thing that could describe him was a block of ice.

When my father introduced me to him, I was expecting the usual flattery words when I saw him open his mouth, but he never said anything else besides introducing himself back.

At first, I assumed he was playing the cold hard-to-get, or hard-to-impress type.

After all, he wasn't the first guy I'd seen attempt this. I was expecting him to 'come out of character' when my father left us to attend to other people, but who would have guessed that right after father left, he also left in the opposite direction and ignored me as if I were any other ordinary person on the road.

Seeing this, I assumed he didn't realize I was a princess.

Though I dislike my identity as a princess, my pride was still hurt, so I put him on my blacklist at the time.

Even though I had him on my blacklist, I was intrigued by him because I knew his other identity.

He was Brian Blaze's stepbrother.

Brian seemed more like a tsetse fly to me.

I don't hate or dislike him, but I don't appreciate the fact that he likes me.

Unlike others who are more concerned with my identity as a princess, Brian is more concerned and sees me as someone he likes.

He also calls me by my first name without adding princess.

I didn't stop him because I didn't care, and there was also the fact that he was someone my father liked.

We've also known ourselves since childhood.

He was also the grandson and nephew of an outstanding vassal kingdom under my father's control.

And he tried to use this as an opportunity for him to get close to me which was something I made him fail miserably at.

Even though I pretend to despise him, I consider Brian to be a friend. After all, he was one of the few people who didn't care about my identity as a princess and was more concerned with my identity as 'Adara.'

This made me wonder what kind of person Brian's elder stepbrother is.

Thinking about this, I looked in Ace's direction and saw him serving himself in the area where the food was placed.

Seeing this, I went in his direction and pretended to want to take something myself, while also asking him some questions to which he gave simple answers.

Unlike other boys, even men, who would have been pleased that I was talking with them, Ace had no expression and just kept eating and responding to my question with short words.

I kept asking questions to see how long he would continue with his act.

In the end, I was able to give his face an expression. Though it was subtle and almost impossible to notice if you don't look too closely, I did notice an expression on his face, but it was not what I was expecting.

His expression was one of slight annoyance and irritation.

I was surprised rather than angry when I saw this.

I don't like the title, but I am still the princess of an empire, and that means something.

Even if he was attempting to impress, he should be aware that doing this will only backfire on him.

Thinking about this, I looked in his direction just to see he wasn't there again.

Yes, he ignored me and left me standing in the middle of my own banquet.

I tried to find him, but I didn't see him again, so I assumed he had either gone somewhere far away or had already left the banquet.

Though it left a bad taste in my mouth, it piqued my interest in him. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him again until the start of a new high school term.

Since I begged my father to stop homeschooling me because I was sick of it, and he agreed, allowing me to study at the Royal Academy for a new term.

I was excited because I would finally be able to leave the palace more often, meet new people, and possibly make some friends. It was just a shame and a disappointment that even though I was in a new location, the treatment remained the same.

Everyone was concerned about the 'princess.'

At least Brian was present, so I wasn't completely suffocated.

I assumed school would be the same as it had always been for me in other places until we had a general class and I saw someone I hadn't expected to see.

Ace Blaze.

When I noticed he saw me and ignored me, I was surprised and angry.

I was so agitated that I forced my way into a seat next to him.

At the very least, this jerk should know how to treat a noble lady.

I'm pretty sure he's single.

When we were sitting close together, I kept asking him random questions, much to Brian's chagrin, but Ace showed no interest in anything I said until I accidentally asked him about something related to what the general teacher in class was teaching.

Seeing this, I continued to ask him more questions about what the teacher was saying, and we moved on to broader topics, even silently arguing about a theory he disagreed with.

That's when I realized this block of ice will only show interest and respond to what he's interested in.

What was good, I think, was that even though we mostly talked about theories and topics related to it, I had a good time.

Ace became something of a theory buddy after that, and from there we began discussing subjects other than theory, and despite his lack of interest, he listened.

I'm not sure when it started, but Ace gradually turned into another male I could call a close friend aside from my father, brothers, and Brian.

After I told him to address me by my name because he was so stiff in his posture when greeting me, he became the only person besides my family who cared about the identity of 'Adara' as a person rather than the identity of 'Adara' as a princess.

It was purely a friend relationship until I started having feelings, but that idiot never paid attention or noticed and would occasionally ask me if I was sick when I acted 'weird' to him.

I could only hide my emotions.

I was already in front of Ace's residence as I thought of these things.

I saw Chris in front of the building and noticed he was deep in thought about something, so I didn't bother him and went inside.

I wonder If Ace is awake.

.....

[Ace POV],

Looking at Emma, I asked the blonde-haired girl in front of me with brown eyes what she wanted to talk about. Without replying, she made her way to the seat Anna was occupying before pulling an object from her robe and showing it to me.

It was an orb.

When I saw this, I focused on it and checked its information with the primordial chronicle.

...

[??? ???]

Bound to Ace Blaze.

.....

...

..

...

'What is this?' I thought this when I couldn't see the name on the orb.

It should be noted that, unlike the white, blue, orange, and green orbs I've seen, this one was a different color.

It was pitch black.

......

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