Zanya stopped talking and started collecting the fruits and Leon crouched down as he too, started piling the fruits in his arms to help her carry them all back to the castle.
Zanya then really looked at him properly for the first time and she realized that his brows were thick and dark, his hair were even darker than his brows as it was wet.
As if he noticed her eyes scrutinizing him closely, Leon spoke without averting his gaze away from the fruits he was picking. "Apologies for what I did earlier," he said in a gentle tone and then he lifted his head and looked directly into her eyes.
Their eyes met. Zanya looked a little surprised at what he said but before she could respond, the man rose and turned his back from her. "You fly back to the castle first and I'll follow after you." He said and Zanya creased her brows a little as she stared at the back of this vampire with the strange but beautiful purple eyes.
Without a word, Zanya then spread out her wings and finally, the two of them left the forest in silence and returned to the castle with their arms full of the fruits that Zanya had picked.
When they entered into the castle, the vampires were all staring at Leon with curious and intense eyes, most especially Levy, who looked a little upset that he was not the one who had accompanied the light fae. He had been looking for the opportunity to get close and better acquainted with Zanya.
"What happened, hmm, Leon?" he asked as he circled Leon, staring at Leon with meaningful eyes, as if he was dying to interrogate the half-blood on what had taken them so long to go out and come back to the castle.
But Leon simply brushed him off and quietly put the fruits the fae had picked onto the kitchen table. There were all sorts of fruits in different colours none of them had ever thought were actually edible. The half-blood was expressionless, and Levy just could not read anything interesting as he scrutinized his face closely.
"Geez… at least tell us something will you?" Levy could only sigh, giving up quickly on Leon, knowing that it was never easy to make Leon talk, unless it was something involved with his duty and very important matters. "And here we thought we're now as close as brothers with you." He complained with his dramatic voice and Leon was forced to look at him.
He looked at the others as if curious if all of them, the original members of Prince Gavriel's men, were actually telling each other everything. But the others told him to ignore Levy. "Don't mind him. He just wants to hear some gossip." Reed said.
However, Leon faced Levy and spoke. "You want to know what happened?" he started talking and Levy's eyes twinkled, and he furiously nodded his head, "she picked fruits from the trees while I waited on the ground."
Levy waited for what comes next but when Leon did not say anything anymore, Levy could no longer hold his mouth. "And? And? Come on, don't leave me hanging!"
"And after she was done picking the fruits, we gathered them up and returned here immediately." Leon's voice was bland and his face as blank as a sheet of paper.
Levy blinked. "Come on, man. Don't leave the interesting part out, will you? Something certainly would have happened on your way here, right? Right?" Levy pushed and prodded like an irritating child.
Leon's brows creased as if he could not understand what Levy was trying to say. "We only travelled back in silence. That was all. There were no other interesting things that happened on our way back."
Silence reigned as Levy fell speechless, his mouth opening and closing like that of a goldfish. Seeing Leon's expression, the man was certain that he was only telling the truth and it frustrated him to no end. "Seriously, Leon?! Don't tell me you didn't even try to start a conversation with that beauty?"
When the half-blood remained silent, Levy ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated that he almost pulled his hair out. "Geez, man. I can already imagine the awkward silence. Must have been so uncomfortable…" He muttered as he shook his head and pulled a long face at Leon.
Leon's eyes narrowed a little. On their way back, she was flying above him in the sky while he was running on the ground. He knew he could have tried speaking with her as she did not try to hasten her pace as they were travelling back. But Leon did not find the talking at all necessary. And the silence was not awkward at all, at least for him. He also thought the little fae was not uncomfortable with the silence too. All in all, they had quite a comfortable journey back to the castle.
Suddenly, Levy tapped on Leon's shoulder. "Next time, you should remember not to treat a lady the way you treat us, man. It's not a problem when it comes to us but when it comes to the ladies, especially a fair lady like Zanya, you must do your best to entertain her… I guess I'll be giving you lessons on how to entertain a lady –" Levy rambled on and on as Leon's face stayed blank as he stared at him.
"Quit with your 'good advices' Levy." Zolan's voice echoed out and they all looked towards the source of the voice. Zolan was escorting the princess as they headed to the dining hall.
"I'm just giving wonderful words of wisdom to our dear brother here. Since it seems as though he doesn't have much experience with girls like our little Reed right here." Levy smirked as he jabbed his elbow into Reed's side. That only caused Zolan to let out a heavy sigh. Levy was the two most flirtatious ones amongst all of them. It would not be wrong to say that he would change the women beside him as often as a person changes clothes.
"Words of wisdom, your ass…" he replied through telepathy, "we don't need another hardcore womanizer like you, so stop preaching and spreading your teachings to others – at least not right here and right now."