The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

Chapter 614: JUST BE YOURSELF

That conversation he had with the three Grimaldis certainly almost drained him. He knew their reaction to Wulfric wouldnʼt be all that positive. The only reason that they probably didnʼt react as violently was because he managed to remind them what their priority should be.

Since their priority right now was meeting his mother, that superseded their worry for him. If not for that, he would probably be forced to stay overnight there, where the three would lecture him about how bad a relationship with Wulfric would be.

Anyway, at least that was over now. The next part would be the really hard one, because itʼs where he had to talk to his parents. But before that, he needed to inform Wulfric about his conversation with the Grimaldis. After all, Wulfric needed to talk with them too, so they could coordinate how the Grimaldis would travel to Delryria stealthily and unnoticed.

He had to wait until he got back to his apartment before he could call the other. Itʼs not like he could call him while in the Grimaldi mansion or while in the car. It was better to contact him here in his apartment, where he could be sure of the privacy.

Astrid opened his Terminal and send a video call request to Wulfric. He didnʼt even have to wait a second before the call was accepted. Wulfricʼs handsome face popped up on the screen.

”Good evening, Wulf,” he greeted first. ”Iʼm not disturbing you, am I?”

”No, how can you disturb me? You are and always will be a welcome distraction,” Wulfric said rather straightforwardly.

Now that made Astrid smile. ”I talked to them, the Grimaldis. They agreed, well, sort of, to work with you to meet my mother. I told them that you will contact them later so you can coordinate the details.”

Wulfric looked surprised at first, but then his expression turned serious. ”Iʼll do that later. So, how was it, your conversation with them?”

”Hmm, as well as it could be, I guess?” Astrid said. ”They really have a bad impression of you, though.”

”Everyone has a bad impression of me,” Wulfric responded, trying to appear nonchalant. But his next question revealed that he cared more than he let on. ”So, how bad was their impression, exactly?”

”Well, we didnʼt really get into the details, as I made them focus on what should be the priority right now,” Astrid said. ”But the few things they did mention werenʼt exactly in your favor.”

A look of worry flashed across Wulfricʼs handsome face. He seemed to want to ask something, but hesitated. Astrid could easily see what was going on in the otherʼs mind. So, to help him ease his worry, he said;

”Donʼt worry, my opinion of you is pretty much formed at this point. No matter what others say, it wonʼt change easily—unless, of course, you do something to change it yourself.”

”Is your opinion of me very positive?” Wulfric asked in a tentative manner.

”Letʼs just say that if itʼs not, we wonʼt be having this conversation at all.”

That put a wide grin on Wulfricʼs face. ”Really? How positive is it?”

Astrid raised his brow. ”Ask again, and I might think youʼre just fishing for compliments.”

”One or two compliments wouldnʼt be too bad,” Wulfric said with a playful smirk. ”But I wonʼt force you, since Iʼm feeling very generous right now.”

”Why, thank you.”

The two looked at each other and both just laughed.

”Do you have any advice on what I should or shouldnʼt do when I speak to the Grimaldis?” Wulfric asked after a while.

”No, actually. Itʼs enough to be yourself. Itʼs not like their opinion of you would immediately change if you try to impress them. And it might even have a negative effect, since they will know youʼre only doing that because you have a hidden motive.”

”How will they know that I have a hidden motive?”

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Ah, right. Astrid forgot to tell Wulfric that he told the Grimaldis about his ʼintentionsʼ. So, he told Wulfric about it and how it came about. After he spoke, Wulfric only blinked, looking very speechless.

”Youʼre not mad, right?” he asked.

”Of course not,” Wulfric quickly said. ”How could I be mad at you for that? Itʼs not like you said anything untrue.”

Even though Astrid already knew that Wulfric would say that, he still let out a sigh of relief. ”Since thatʼs the case, you can see why thereʼs really no need for you to try to impress them, as it might just backfire on you. So, being yourself would be the best course of action.”

”That certainly wouldnʼt be too hard.”

The two of them talked a bit more before ending the call.

Astrid closed his Terminal and muttered softly, ”Good luck, Wulf.”

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Wulfric let out a long sigh. Although he tried to show a carefree attitude in front of Aster, he was actually very worried.

Under normal circumstances, he would not care much about how the Grimaldis saw him. But if these people managed to gain Asterʼs motherʼs forgiveness, then they would become a permanent fixture in Asterʼs life. That meant Wulfric would be seeing them more often than he cared to. Perhaps their opinion would even start to matter to Aster in the near future.

So, even if he wanted to just be himself, it would be difficult not to feel compelled to act otherwise.

But things had already reached this point, so he just had to face it head-on. If they saw how sincere his feelings were towards Aster, surely, they would view it in a positive light.

Right?

With that determination, Wulfric started a plan on how he would go about this. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldnʼt really think of anything.

So, he decided to just wing it and proceeded to establish a private line to contact Duke Grimaldi.