A Chemist's Interstellar Saga

Chapter 161: Lady Aria
Chapter 161: Lady Aria

Arix noticed no one recognized her and chuckled quietly. Putting on a dignified yet delicate expression, she looked at Elio and said, ”You must be Elio? I’ve heard a lot about you. Weren’t you supposed to be a bit chubby?”

Elio’s heart skipped a beat. ’She knows me! She’s so gentle and cute! Oh my God, I think I’m in love!’

Feeling both nervous and shy, Elio quickly denied, ”Don’t listen to them, Aria. Do I look fat to you? I’ve always been this slim.”

”Really? Then I’ll buy that for now, Elio,” Arix said, covering her mouth as she smiled, like a real lady.

Seeing her smile, Elio cracked a foolish grin as well. Cirilla and the others looked at Elio, speechless. ’Wasn’t he just complaining about being too skinny? Now he’s worried about being called fat?’

Varden eyed Elio with disdain, then turned his gaze to ”Aria,” the new girl. Something about how she called ”Elio” felt familiar, like his mischievous cousin Arix.

The more Varden thought about it, the more suspicious he became, his gaze deepening.

Arix, chatting with Elio, felt uncomfortable under Varden’s intense stare. She glanced at him and, seeing him playing with his opticomputer, breathed a sigh of relief.

’It must have been my imagination.’

Varden, meanwhile, was reading a chat with Fleur on his screen. After seeing a recent message from Fleur, he smirked, understanding the situation. ’Oh, so that’s how it is. Let’s see how long you can keep this up, Arix.’

Varden laughed to himself, his face becoming even more gentle and kind. ”You’re Aria, right? Funny, I never heard Aunt mention you,” he said, interrupting Elio’s conversation with Arix.

Everyone was stunned, especially Elio. He was annoyed but too afraid to confront Varden, the usually cunning one.

Arix’s eyes twitched, her whole body tensing up. She swallowed hard and said softly, ”You must be Varden. It’s no surprise you haven’t heard of me. I’ve always been in the Empire and rarely come to the Alliance.”

Varden raised an eyebrow, smirking. ”Oh, is that so? No wonder. I was thinking how much gentler you are than Arix.”

Arix’s eyes darted around, feeling awkward. ”Is... is that so? But I think Arix is also very gentle.”

Varden laughed inwardly but kept smiling. ”Then you must not know Arix well. She’s lazy, gluttonous, always sleeps in, and gets starstruck by handsome guys.”

”Is... is that so? I think you must be mistaken, Varden. Cousin Arix is not like that. She’s very gentle and cute,” Arix said. Her forehead started to throb as she suppressed the urge to punch Varden. And she grinded her teeth as she spoke.

”Oh, you really don’t know her, do you? Let me tell you, she’s a real tigress! When she gets fierce, it’s terrifying. She can scare the kids next door to tears,” Varden said with a grin, emphasizing the word ”tigress.”

Hearing Varden badmouth Arix, Cirilla looked up, feeling annoyed.

’Stay calm, stay calm, I can’t get angry while acting...,’ Arix tried to convince herself, but her anger hit its peak, like a volcano erupting.

”Varden! Who are you calling a tigress?!” Arix glared at her cousin, feeling her small canine teeth itching.

”Oh, done acting now, my dear cousin Arix?” Varden said, looking smug and teasing her.

This sudden twist left Cirilla, who was about to defend Arix, stunned.

”Arix? ”

”What are you talking about?”

Cirilla and Elio both looked at Arix in shock.

Even Zephyr glanced up at Arix before returning to his beloved energy gun.

Elio’s heart shattered as he realized the truth.

’Where did my gentle goddess go? How did she turn into the fierce Arix?’ he thought, feeling devastated. In these short ten minutes, poor Elio experienced the full cycle of love and heartbreak.

Realizing she had exposed herself, Arix’s anger vanished instantly, like a bucket of ice had doused her flames.

She carefully observed the others’ expressions: Varden looked smug, Elio seemed disillusioned, and Zephyr remained indifferent. Only Cirilla had narrowed eyes, as if ready to punch someone.

Arix shivered in fear. Quickly, she tried to laugh it off, ”Ahahaha, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you all. I thought I’d give you a surprise. So, did it work? Were you surprised?”

”Arix, keep surprises like this to yourself next time,” Elio said, almost in tears. He thought he had met a gentle goddess, only to find it was Arix in disguise.

”Got it,” Arix said awkwardly, coughing to cover her embarrassment. She quickly changed the subject, ”So, why are you all here together today? Is something going on?”

”There are two reasons. One is that we wanted to see you, and the other is a bit harder to explain,” Elio said, calming down a bit as he spoke. Luckily, he was naturally easygoing and quickly put the earlier disappointment behind him.

”What could it be that even you all find hard to say?” Arix’s curiosity was piqued. These four were not only heirs to major families but also considered the best of their generation in the Alliance. If they found something tricky, it had to be serious.

”Well, we’ll discuss it when Drexel arrives. Speaking of which, where is your brother?” Elio asked, puzzled.

Thinking of Drexel being forced to train, Arix rubbed her nose and said, ”It’s a bit complicated. Give me a moment, I’ll go rescue him.”

She then opened her opticomputer, tapped a few buttons, and started contacting Thaddeus. The others exchanged curious glances and then looked at Arix expectantly.

The call connected quickly, and Drexel’s screams, like those of a pig being slaughtered, could be heard through the screen. Thaddeus’s kind voice followed, ”Arix, I’m busy torturing your borther. Have no time to talk now.”

”Dad, I need to talk to him. Can you send to the garden?” Arix asked sweetly.

”Sure, I’ll send him right over,” Thaddeus agreed without hesitation.

”Thanks, Dad. Goodbye,” Arix said, ending the call.

When she looked up, she saw four pairs of eyes filled with curiosity. Arix blinked in confusion and asked, ”Why are you all staring at me?”

”No, we weren’t looking at you. We were looking at what Drexel was doing. So, what was happening to him?” Elio asked, his curiosity burning brightly. From Drexel’s screams, it sounded like he did something embarrassing that made their dad furious.

”Uh, don’t ask me. This is really hard to explain,” Arix quickly shook her head, refusing to answer.

Seeing that they couldn’t get any information from Arix, the group reluctantly dropped the subject.

Arix sighed in relief and then turned her attention to the Celesterror egg in Cirilla’s arms.

The egg was bright red with golden patterns. It was clear that this was no ordinary egg.

”Cirilla, is that a Celesterror egg?” Arix asked curiously.

Cirilla nodded, gently stroking the eggshell. ”Yes, this is the egg the female Celesterror Lord entrusted to us before she died, the day we were surrounded by insectoids.”

At the mention of that day, Arix’s expression soured. It was a dark moment in her life.

Thinking of a certain crazy and twisted insectoid, Arix’s face darkened further. She hoped never to encounter him again.

Arix shook her head and then asked, ”It’s been a month since that incident. Isn’t the father coming to get his egg?”

As soon as Arix said this, Cirilla seemed to remember something important. She quickly placed the egg in Arix’s arms.

”Cirilla, what are you doing?” Arix asked, bewildered, holding the suddenly handed-over Celesterror Lord egg.

”I almost forgot something crucial. Arix, can you check this egg? Its psychic power seems to be problematic, and that’s why it hasn’t hatched yet,” Cirilla said with concern, furrowing her brows. She had been taking care of this egg for a month and had grown attached to it.

Hearing this, Arix didn’t hesitate. She immediately channeled her Vita psychic power into the egg to check its condition.

As soon as her psychic power entered the eggshell, Arix realized the situation was serious. The little life inside the egg was losing its psychic power and vitality. If she had been any later in discovering this, it might have become a dead egg.

Arix looked up at the group, her expression serious. ”It’s quite serious, but fortunately, we found it in time. It can be treated.”

”That’s great news! How do we treat it? Should we start now?” Cirilla asked, looking at the Celesterror Lord egg nervously.

Arix nodded, ”Yes, let’s start now. It will take about an hour.”

”Do you need my help?” Varden asked quickly.

Earlier, Varden had also checked the egg but could only sense that the psychic power seemed to be weakening gradually. He hadn’t detected anything else unusual.

”No need. I can handle it by myself. I’ll start the treatment now. Just make sure no one disturbs me,” Arix instructed them.

”Got it, Arix. We’ll make sure you’re not disturbed,” they all nodded seriously.

Feeling much more at ease, Arix nodded back and placed the Celesterror Lord egg on the table. She then closed her eyes and slowly channeled her psychic power into the egg.

As soon as her psychic power entered the eggshell, Arix’s consciousness followed it, finding herself beside the curled-up little hatchling inside.