Chapter 267: The Things You Didn’t Smell

"Don’t you think Alpha Orion and Sophia look better together instead?" Joren asked them.

The question hung in the air between them. It couldn’t be right.

Laia’s brows slowly pulled together.

Nia blinked once.

Then both of them turned to Joren in perfect unison.

"...What?" Nia asked.

Laia tilted her head. "Why do you think that?"

Joren shrugged, completely unbothered by the two pairs of eyes drilling into him. "I’ve just... had suspicions for a while now."

"A while?" Nia repeated.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Laia crossed her arms. "Based on what exactly? Vibes? Coincidence? Or are you just saying things to start drama?"

Joren shook his head. "No. Not stuff like that."

He hesitated, then added casually, like he was commenting on the weather:

"Sophia smells like Alpha Orion sometimes."

Laia turned sharply to face him. "What?"

Nia’s eyes widened again. "Wait... what did you just say?"

He pointed lazily with his nose. "Her scent. Sometimes it’s... mixed. You know when you stand near smoke too long and you carry it with you when you leave? That’s how the scent is."

Laia stared at him like he’d grown extra ears.

"You could smell that... and you didn’t tell us?" she demanded.

Joren’s lips tightened slightly. "I didn’t think it was a big deal."

Nia scoffed. "Not a big deal?"

He shrugged again. "You guys said they’re just friends. So I thought... maybe their scents got entangled because of proximity or something. Training alone. Spending time together. It happens."

"You thought we all knew that?" Laia pressed.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Nia laughed under her breath, shaking her head. "Well, clearly we didn’t."

Laia turned away from him, rubbing her chin as if she were sorting through something heavy in her head.

"You’re telling me..." she muttered, "...that Sophia smells like him sometimes and you thought that was just normal?"

Joren tilted his head. "Is it not?"

Nia looked at him flatly. "Not unless they’re glued to each other, Joren."

Laia wasn’t listening anymore.

She was thinking.

Really thinking back about everything.

The first day the training session started, Orion had only come to train Sophia. It was because of Sophia, even though indirectly he trained them all. Whenever he was training their group, he always spent more time with her. They joked with each other freely, and even before Sophia started training with them and before they became friends, she was the only one that Orion had given the test.

He always seemed to watch her, and now she was thinking that maybe the test they had some days before was because of how tired Sophia was and maybe Orion wanted to do something to convince her to rest.

And he was also extremely proud of Sophia whenever she fought. It was right in their front the whole time.

"How..." Laia exhaled slowly. "How did we miss that?"

Joren snorted. "I honestly don’t know how you guys did."

Nia glanced at him. "You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?"

He shrugged again, the corner of his mouth twitching just a little. "Maybe. At least for the first time, I’m aware of something you guys aren’t, or rather weren’t aware of."

Laia rubbed her face. "Okay, but wait... how did you notice her scent and we didn’t?"

Joren shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe I just noticed it because my nose is a bit sensitive, or maybe it’s because you guys weren’t paying attention?"

Nia gave him a look. "He’s being a smartass about this."

Joren shrugged. "It’s not my fault you guys weren’t paying attention."

Nia chuckled. "You are lucky I like you."

Before Laia could respond, Garron’s shout ripped across the training grounds.

"Shortswords! Stop socializing and start moving! You think Orion disappeared for you to gossip?"

All three of them flinched at once.

"Yikes," Nia muttered.

Laia grabbed her short swords with a quick spin. "Alright, alright. No more gossip."

They positioned themselves in a triangle — equal spacing, no instructors hovering, just the three of them.

Laia went for Nia first.

Steel clashed, sharp and clean.

Their blades kissed once, twice, then broke.

Joren circled them, watching their footwork.

"You’re overstepping, Nia," he called.

She rolled her eyes but adjusted her stance.

As they moved, Laia spoke again.

"So... about what you said."

Clash.

"About Sophia."

Spin. Another clash.

"You really think... there’s something serious there?" she asked.

Nia grunted as she parried. "It’s obvious, sis. We were just willingly blind to it all."

Nia circled around Joren.

"Honestly," Laia said, stepping back, "I kinda feel pity for her that she’s with Alpha Orion."

"Why?" Joren asked.

She shrugged. "Because that means she has to deal with Holly forever."

Nia snorted. "If Holly tries her nonsense then we’ll genuinely help Sophia deal with her."

They all laughed, then fell into silence, their blades doing the talking instead.

Then Laia spoke again.

"How do you think Micah will take the news?"

"Micah?" Joren repeated.

"Yes. If we tell him," she said.

Nia grimaced slightly. "I can only imagine. And we even encouraged him to go ahead."

"I blame Joren for this. He could have at least brought up his observations earlier," Laia said.

Joren blinked. "Would you guys have listened to me?" he asked them.

Laia and Nia turned to each other, then back to Joren. "To be honest, probably not."

"See?" Joren said to them.

The other two chuckled.

"How about we go visit Sophia later?" Nia asked. "I miss having her around, and we wouldn’t be good friends if we didn’t visit her, right? I also want to tell her about what happened with Holly and how Laia almost killed her," Nia said with a dangerous laugh.

"I haven’t said this before, but you know I’m scared of you guys, right?" Joren asked them, making them laugh.

"That’s the worst lie ever, Joren," Laia said to him. "We had no idea you were scared of us before."

Nia and Joren laughed at that.

"I like the idea... maybe we’ll stop at the kitchens first to get something for her," Joren told them.

"We’ll go after training. I’ll tell the others," Laia added.

"And... um... what do we do about Micah?" Joren asked them.

Nia and Laia turned to each other, then back to Joren. "Goddess knows!" they told him.