Chapter 250 Adler Makes A New Choice.
"Did you ask Arya on a date?" She asked.
"No." He answered calmly.
"Did you talk to her about any future plans that involve both of you together?"
"No."
"Did you tell her that you were interested in a relationship with her?"
"No."
"Did you make her any promises?"
"No."
"Do you love her?"
"No." He replied instantly. Then he looked at her and crinkled his nose as he thought. "I don't think so anyway. I mean, I am fond of her and I find her pretty easy to talk to but she does not make my heart race the way Amara does. I think we both found friendship and companionship in each other."
He breathed out loud and sat up. To her, it looked like his shoulders were straighter than they had been before. He probably didn't realize how much speaking to her and unburdening himself had affected him.
"Are you sure that your heart does not race around Amara out of fear?"
Adler guffawed and laughed silently, with his hand over his eyes.
"You know what, sometimes I can't even tell the difference."
"Hmph, you are a lost cause. It looks like you found yourself a new princess, prince Adler." Scarlet sighed and pouted. She pretended to look pitiful.
Adler tilted his head upwards and laughed at her. "I seem to recall a conversation between us where you specifically said that you were not my princess anymore. You were so vocal and decisive when you said that you were Esong's wife now and I should stay out of your personal business. Why are you pretending now?"
She pursed her lips and looked to the side, "Pssh, I will not defend myself." She replied. "Anyway, I am happy for you brother, it has been my wish that you find happiness of your own and now you have. Assuming that she is willing to forgive you for dumping her that is. If I were her, I would make you grovel."
"Oh yeah, how many times have you made Esong grovel?"
"I was the one who had to do the groveling." She rolled her eyes upwards as if she could not not believe it still. "Aah, maybe it's in our Su blood to grovel. Anyway, now that I know your little secret what about Beord? Does he have a secret ex girlfriend, fiancé or wife that he is hiding from us?"
"Hmph, Beord does not do secret relationships. You know what our brother is like, when he would get a crush on a girl he would talk about her nonstop for days. And when things didn't work out he would mop around the house playing loud horrible music."
He remembered how their mother would pace around Beord's room worriedly and check in on him every five minutes while their father clenched his teeth and enacted a sound barrier around the room.
"I have changed Scarlet." Adler said suddenly.
His words puzzled her, changed from what or who?
"I am not the same man I was when Amara met me and I don't know how she will handle that. I am not on the path of becoming a famous mecha warrior, I have no intentions of pursuing that path ever either because I have become contented where I am. Her father might not be so impressed with me anymore. Amara too, what if she finds my lack of ambition to be one of the empire's glorious heroes lacking?"
She slapped him lightly on the back and forced him to look at her. Seriously, she said, "You are a minister of what will be the most admirable star planet of the Sun star. I don't care what Amara and her father think of you, to me and our family you are a hero. You are my protector and precious brother, you have all the qualities of an excellent mecha warrior and best of all, you are a good man. Moreover, what is so good about being the wife of a mecha warrior? Look at me, I spent weeks filled with worry and I will not relax until Esong comes home. There is nothing exciting about knowing that you could become a widow at any moment. If Amara Leopold does not find these things satisfactory then she is the wrong woman for you and I will be the one punching her for being stupid."
"You are a good sister, little one. I am actually happy that you pushed me to talk about this. I feel so much better now, as a matter of fact let me stop running and return to work. What are you planning to do with the test of your day?"
"Nothing much, I simply intend to do some reading and research. Next month we must begin preparations for planting and then expansion of the town must continue. Folsom told me that the grey star has been the most devastating planet this winter and so many people have lost their homes. I have been asked to take them in if I desire."
"I am guessing you said yes."
She nodded twice, "We need people to sustain the planet otherwise we will end up with empty lonely buildings and no one to live in them. Also it will take a lot of manpower to plant enough food to feed the billions in the empire. At the moment we don't even have enough food to feed three million people."
"Then you should balance the manpower between humans and machines. Machines can work overnight in the fields." He suggested.
"We still have a few unemployed people here, how do you think they will react if I give the jobs to machines? They will be anxious and worried, and they will loathe me. We already had one person set a farm on fire, we don't need another. I actually intend to put shields around the farms next time. It will cost me some money but it's necessary to prevent those with ill intentions from gaining easy access inside."
"You know that a farm worker can be bribed as well to attempt something even with a shield up, right?"
He spoke so logically but all she did was glare at him. She wanted only solutions here, no pessimism.
"I should go and work, most of the beasts have retreated anyway. There is nothing to fear anymore. But,....never mind." He wanted to share his theories on the mutated beasts as he once discussed with Beord.
He thought that since her teacher what the beats were, maybe he knew where they came from. He Also thought that now was the right time to follow them and see where they disappeared to always. But with his sister thinking about the economy and the way forward for their planet to develop, his random thoughts could perhaps best be shared with someone else, like her husband.
"What are you thinking brother?"
"I am thinking about Elroy's request for us all to attend his hockey match. First it was football, then basketball and now hockey. What's next, quidditch?" Adler touched his head as if the thought of his indecisive little brother caused him much pain. "I don't get it, why can't he decide what he wants to do and stick to it? Will he end up becoming one of those monks and live in the temple? Aah, that kid is giving me a headache."
Scarlet smiled and she said, "He is our baby brother, we will continue to support him until he finds his way."
"So, see you at the match." Adler stood up to go.
"Mm, bye-bye." She threw him a packet of ginger snap cookies before he left. He could not have left at a better time because Ramslin had reached out finally.