Reincarnated As The Heroine?! I refuse!

91: An Unsuspected Peck On Her Lips

Then she uttered something incomprehensible. "....I feel violated....." Fortunately, Oliver was not able to hear her words. She felt it was not the first time something touched her lips in the same manner, but she did not know how and when. She couldn't quite remember.

The sensation and tenderness were similar, which made her look up to see Oliver's cyan eyes that only stared intently at her. Then she heard her chest beat a little faster under his intense gaze. For some reason, he made her feel very special. Unfathomable, she kept herself quiet as she listened to her accelerating heartbeat.

In another moment, his hand was around her waist, "Just... let me hug you, please..." Was all he said and laid his lips on her soft hair.

Her face was gently embraced onto his chest that revealed hard muscles from physical training. Although it was a hard surface, Lea found comfort to his rapid heartbeat that was in accordance to her's. She felt warmth. Being cradled as such was quite comfortable.

She was starting to get used to physical touch as of late. And she felt anxious at the thought. She didn't know if it was good or bad, but she understood how others show their affections now.

To love is to care and think for the other person's benefit. To accept them for what they are, and save them when they needed saving. To stay by their side with patience and empathy. A love so genuine that it would be hard to doubt it never was.

She smiled at the thought of how much she learnt from the men she only thought as capture targets. They became great companions, enough for her to hope for their safety and happiness.

Her brother remain special in her heart as he is the only family she has got left. It is without a doubt that she has more people she cares now. She felt happy at the thought, and returned Oliver's embrace by lacing her arms around his chest. Then she breathe deeply.

["Please, take care of yourself too. Don't get lost somewhere without warranty... Be safe."]

Her thoughts filled with concern, the small joke she made caused Oliver to chuckle softy, brushing off a few strands of her hair. "As you wish, Lea Rain..." he whispered under his breath.

"Keep Hamsphant with you too..."

Her soft mutter caused Oliver to open his cyan eyes with a frown. "You would need the beast...."

"We'll be fine, but Hamsphant... It is mating season after all."

"But why with me?" He softly asked, his voice a whisper.

She smiled mysteriously, revealing a set of dimples. ["Phoenix and her make a wonderful family."]

"Hamsphant's a girl????"

Lea snorted at his point, missing the key point of her response. With a smile on her lips, she replied, ["Yes, and I believe so is your Phoenix."]

Oliver was relieving the memories of the many times Hamsphant antagonized him for wanting to reach out for Lea. He felt he had lost big time. "But, a family??? How...?"

She glanced into his eyes with bemuse, ["You'll see..."]

He could only gape at Lea's playfulness. She was intent on not telling him more of it at all. The two beasts were of different species altogether, but remembering Victor, he was enlightened.

And just when he was gonna hug Lea once again, "*Cough* *Cough*" He heard a familiar cough. With a sigh, he turned around to meet Bright's raised brow, as well as Victor's unusually stern face. His lethargic aquamarine eyes gone and replaced with a glare and accusing gaze.

"If I didn't know better, I would have thought Oliver here was Lea's boyfriend. But thank god I know better than that!!" Bright begun with his hands in the air while seemingly thanking the non-existent gods. "Tsk tsk. Come, come." He called and casually grabbed Lea's wrist.

With a frown, Lea felt the strange tension in the air. She felt a similar sensation before, but she felt anxious of the intensity this time. Without further ado, she bade Oliver one last goodbye as he hauled himself aboard Hamsphant.

["Congratulations."] Was what she thought to Hamsphant. The beast then wailed joyfully. Without word, Lea and the beast had a mutual understanding of what was to come.

Before flying in the air, Hamsphant wrapped Lea with her trunk and gave Lea a hug. They were both thankful for their meeting. Both have done each other favours that they were capable to provide. They were sure to meet once again.

With Hamsphant and Phoenix's last orchestra, they left amidst the clouds in the sky.

Having observed the supposedly heartwarming scene, Bright felt something important just occurred that he had missed completely. But it was immediately replaced with a question.

"What to do for now?"

"Sabrina." And with her uttered words, Bright looked forward to the future. He then gave his nod, only to raise another question aloud. "Our ride?"

At his words, Lea smiled an unusual mischievous smile that gave Bright a fright. He felt he had to utterly refuse whatever words her mouth would utter next, but it was too late as his consciousness felt a great leap.

The next moment, he was by the port. "HOW???!!!"

"A successful theory." Was all she said and disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving small bright particles where she was.

In an attempt to do the same, Bright ended up draining most of his essences. It might have been his inexperienced skills at manipulating essences with imagination, but teleportation was beyond what others could simply imagine without the fundamentals of the process. And, it required abundant amount of essences to engineer.

After his attempts, Lea instantly appeared once again with Victor's hand in one hand, while a black cat in her free arm. The latter looked displeased.

Releasing both baggages, Lea observed within her and realized how seamless the essences felt. The absorbed Spirits greatly helped with her essence absorption and intimacy with her surroundings. It was much easier to analyze her surroundings as if they were letting her know of their senses by themselves.

It seems most effective with non-living things and plants. Beasts rarely contain much essences, while humans are mostly in control of their thoughts.

With a smile on her face, she glanced towards Bright's flabbergasted expression. "A fly will get into your mouth and cause you to grow an alien in your finger if you don't close it occasionally." Her voice stoic, but her ruby eyes were in amused in contrast.

To her joke, however, Bright hurriedly closed his mouth and stood up to watch his surroundings. "How do we get---"

His words hang in the air upon Ashe's appearance.

"Hey. Time to go?"

Lea smiled with expectations in her eyes. "Sure."

Bright couldn't keep up with the events and could only hope nothing too dangerous would befall them. Then he looked to gain a comrade from Victor, only to be met with serene aquamarine eyes.

He could feel how Victor did seem to have any worries at all. His lethargic indifference made Bright feel quite at ease. His worries, however, does not end there.