Anna furrowed her brows and asked, "Why would an Elder want to talk to you? Is it related to the search mission?"
"Uh, it may be." Max shrugged before closing the door and walked inside, not waiting for her to ask anything more.
Anna stood there looking at his back with a strange expression on her face. For some reason, she felt that he was hiding something, and it made her feel a bit uneasy in her heart.
'Forget it. If it's something I should know, he will tell me himself.' She sighed and shook her head, not bothering to think too much about it, and followed after him.
…
Flavia had finished eating her food by now. Seeing Max and Anna come back, she stood up, smiled at Anna and spoke in her sweet voice. "Thanks for the food. It was very delicious."
Hearing her compliment, Anna happily giggled, "Hehe, I'm happy you liked it. If you don't mind, you can have dinner with us from now on."
Flavia's heart stirred when she heard her suggestion and looked toward Max, who was looking at her with a smile.
Although she wanted to agree very much to it, thinking about her current appearance, she felt insecure and opened her mouth to decline her offer. "No, it's alright. I don't want to trouble—"
However, before she could finish her sentence, Anna hurried to her side and whispered in her ear, "You stupid girl, don't be in such a hurry to decline. I'm doing it for you, so you have an excuse to meet him and deepen your relationship with him. If you don't stop being so shy and take a step forward, you might lose him to someone else."
Flavia's expression changed, and she panicked when she heard this. "You… what are you saying? I don't…"
"Don't bother denying it. Do you think I can't see your feelings for him?" Anna cut her off once again.
"I'm telling you the truth. If you like him and don't want to lose him, you should be a little more open about your feelings for him." Saying this, Anna sighed and a complicated expression appeared on her face.
Flavia went silent when she heard this and lamented in her heart, 'Do you think I don't want that? But how can I do it with these?' She reflexively touched her face.
Noticing this, Anna understood her insecurities. She wanted to say something that it didn't matter but didn't in the end.
Max watched their interaction without saying anything. He also wanted Flavia to accept her offer. However, when he saw her hesitating and touch her face, he also understood what she was thinking and chuckled lightly, "What are you hesitating for? Hurry and agree. I'm sure you don't want to miss her delicious food."
Hearing him, Flavia stopped hesitating as a determined glint flashed in her eyes and nodded toward Anna, "Thank you. I would love to have dinner with you guys from now on.
"That's the way." Anna winked at her playfully.
Seeing this, Flavia blushed slightly and hurried to bid farewell to them.
"Let me accompany you to your dorm." Max offered with a smile.
'Hm?' Reflexively, Anna narrowed her eyes at Max when she heard this and felt a bit irritated in her heart.
However, when she realized this, her feelings were a mess as she thought, 'What? Am I feeling jealous? Isn't she my friend who I was trying to create opportunities for so she could meet him daily a moment before? So, why am I feelings jealous now?'
Flavia felt her maiden heart throb when she heard his offer. However, out of embarrassment, she shook her head, "It's alright. I can go by myself. You should rest, as the past days must have been quite exhausting for you."
"Don't worry about it. I've to go and meet an Elder now, so I can conveniently accompany you."
"A-Alright then." Flavia relented after hearing this.
Bidding Anna farewell, who nodded to them absentmindedly, both went out and walked toward girls' dorms.
After walking silently for a while, just as Max was about to take out and give the beauty pill to her, Flavia spoke while looking ahead, "So you went to the Ninam city?"
"Yeah."
"I heard that there are many things that we can't easily find in our human kingdoms."
"That's right. There were indeed many things easily available there." Max nodded.
"So… did you bring something for… ahem, your friends?" Although she tried to sound casual, Max could notice the slight anticipation and embarrassment in her voice.
The corner of his lips curled upwards upon hearing this and he shook his head, "Nope, not for everyone."
"Not for everyone, huh?" She muttered in a low voice before falling silent. She wanted to ask if he brought something for her or not, but couldn't as she would sound greedy.
Seeing that she was too embarrassed to ask, Max smiled, "But I brought something for you."
"R-Really?" She turned toward him and exclaimed. Seeing that her reaction was out of ordinary, she embarrassedly coughed, "I mean, you did, huh?"
"Of course. How could I forget about you?" He chuckled lightly and stopped walking. Seeing him stop, Flavia also stopped in her tracks and looked at him in anticipation.
Not letting her wait anymore, he waved his hand and took out the small wooden box before he grabbed her soft hand and placed the box on top of her palm.
Flavia curiously looked at the box and found that it wasn't the same as the one Anna had and knew that it didn't have a spatial ring. However, she was still very happy as it didn't matter to her as long as he brought something for her since it showed that he really valued her as a friend and didn't forget her.
With her beautiful black eyes brimming with happiness, she asked, "W-what is in it?"
"Open and see for yourself." Max smiled.
Seeing that he wasn't willing to tell her, she slowly opened the box and just as she did, a strong medicinal fragrance hit her that seemed to have a calming effect on her.
Instinctively, she took a deep whiff of it before looking at the finger sized pill and glanced at Max in confusion and asked, "What kind of pill is it? It seems to be of the higher grade."
