On My Way: The Demon King Made Me His

Chapter 63: He missed some chances

"I was sure that you would be here dear," Aenon came for Milan and ended up in front of the cottage Aiden was drunk and asleep. 

"Pa," Milan whispered, slowly slipping her hands from his and tiptoeing towards the door. She gushed her father and stepped out of the tiny cottage to not wake the Grand Prince who needed some rest. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I wanted to talk to you about something before we took off to get your sister back home, you were not in the palace so I was sure you would hanging around him," 

"Like always, " Milan said and smiled. "Sorry Pa I know I always disappointed you in everyway but sometimes I can't help it," she said. "Though I wouldn't stand upto sister's level you can trust me I will always be around you anyway,"

"Stop it Milan, why do you think like that? How are you any less than Aqua? You two are the two pillars of the Water Kingdom in the future, how can you a princess have such a feeble mind, instead of staying strong without giving upon anything," he told her.

"Pa am trying hard, you I lack in many ways," she said.

"You're not, I won't make you do anything unless you want to, but you're not less, tell me when you wish to take training or cultivate more I can help you, but if you don't want to, it doesn't make you weak, a princess doesn't need anything else when she is born already with all the abilities, you don't know about it since you never used it," her father told her. He wanted her to know the facts that can't be erased instead of feeling low. "Your sister suffered too much in the name of a stupid cause, for an unworthy king, tell me have you seen me or your mother ever happy? Have you seen your sister happy?" 

"I have, and I also stole them away not being aware of it," she said, growing pale as tears filled her eyes. She did not regret it, but she wished she could have stopped little things from happening as possible. 

Aenon looked at her in wonder. He couldn't understand a word she said. 

"When Aiden joined her during her training session in the dungeons of Master Lin, she was happy, she always hated the dark slimy places, it has been giving her serious conditions, but when Aiden knew about it,  he did not care about how difficult it is going to be for him and joined the training constantly begging the master to take him. Aiden did work hard and tried to reach Aqua's level and he did in few months for the sake of her. Aiden trained together with her for few years, am sure you don't remember that period. That was the first time Aqua fell in love. She left musing in the wardrobes of Sea Palace and all of them were about feelings and love. She never knew that I read them all," Milan smiled and looked at her father. "She did fall for the Grand Prince, she dare not let him know for veena second afraid of you, afraid of master and afraid of herself, she wrote in those musings,  she was afraid because she was sure for some unknown reasons that she would die before anybody else seeing how desperate Emperor was for her, but she wasn't aware of my feelings," Aenon was surprised to know the buried stories of Aqua. And it indeed was true. 

"Aiden," she ran towards him when she saw him in her room while they were training under Master Lin in his dungeons near the Vast Sea. She understood how hard he must have worked to reach her stage of cultivation and meet with her. For Master Lin the division was important between the levels if cultivation one achieved and he would never let the lower ones reach out to the higher ones. But Aiden made it, for her, to be with her. And Aqua was relieved to see him while she was falling deep into loneliness and depression, hating everything and living alone. Aiden brought her back to who she was, restoring her, protecting her. 

"Are you happy to see me?" He asked her. She nodded for the answer. He gave her a bracelet and a ribbon he bought for her and settled down. She noticed the red fresh wounds on his back through his white clothes caused from the whip lash and the lightening taking the punishments all along. It crushed her heart. She didn't ask for his permission and removed his top with her powers. Aiden sat shocked and did not flinch when she touched those wounds with her fingers. He felt a drop of tear on his shoulder that slowly slid down his back. He turned around and hugged her making her sit down next to him. 

"Am fine, really," he said while the skin hurt him. "See am smiling," he said trying to comfort her. "You know what a person I am when am in pain," he tried to remind her how he used to whine every time something hurt him when they were young. She tried to smiled as he wiped her tears from the eyes. 

"Oh yes, I remember, " she managed to say. 

"How are you any different?" He asked her suddenly. "You think I can't see those healed scars on you skin?" He asked her. "Si don't worry about these okay, since we can train and spent time together,  let's have some fun,"  he tickled her and she moved away from him. They were supposed to keep pin drop silence inside the dungeons. "Milan gave me some packed preserved food, let's dig them tomorrow, " 

"Poor thing," Aqua said and agreed to him. The dungeon days were no longer a prison for her. And the musing she wrote to pass time took a different turn and she started writing love poems unaware of her own feelings until one day she faced it. She confronted her feelings on the day watched him train with another woman, she confronted her feelings when she saw him smile happily and used sword techniques, she confronted her feelings when she felt a tiny pinch of jealousy stirred inside her body.

"Oh my god," she said. "I like him?" She asked herself. She was shocked to know about her own heart. She that day decided to never let the world know about it. But she didn't know how sharp her sister's brain could me since she was never aware that Milan also liked him. 

"I love love poems these days," Milan said one day trying to dig from her sister's mouth. "I want to present it to someone," At first Milan didn't know that Aqua was wiritng them herself nor that she liked him. She just wanted to tease her sister for having a weird taste all of a sudden until she witnessed the two of them spending a lot of time together but neither was they together. Milan got confused. She tried to open up to her sister and failed. 

Suddenly Aqua started keeping distance with Aiden soon after he was titled the Grand Prince.  She didn't get closer any longer and limited drinking and outing with him. Days passed and changes were evident while Aiden kept trying her best which broke Milan's heart. But she got used to it. She got used to loving him from the distance. Though the sisters often had heart to heart conversation they would never discuss about Aiden nor about love life. 

"Milan," One day Aqua made a conversation. "If you can give up on something easily, it means it was never meant to be yours, if you can't, then it is yours and you must get it by all means, remember that, never waste your time," she said. Her face looked clean and she was smiling as she said. But Aqua felt hurt a little ti give up on her first love for her family, her kingdom and her sister. That did not make her feel bad. And moreover she never made any promises nor let Aiden know anything about it. She was glad she made the right choice on her own without complicating things. Milan understood that quickly and hugged her sister.

"Are you sure?" She asked Aqua. 

"Why wouldn't I be? Ofcourse yes!" She replied and asked Milan to bring her more snacks from kitchen. 

Eventually Aqua grew distant with Aiden but still kept him as her best friend. After all no one can replace someone very easily right? But nobody expected Aqua to go school someday and fall for the Demon King. 

Aiden was so shocked to listen to everything that had happened in the kids' life. He wondered if this could be true and how the life if the youth around the universe is like. He couldn't believe how he got such two daughters like Milan and Aqua. He couldn't accept that Aiden meant a lot to everyone in one way or another. 

But neither Aenon nor Milan was aware that Aiden was listening to everything.  She thought she put him to sleep. But he never was. He just laid drunk listening to everything with his sharp ear from the moment the king approached his daughter. 

Tear ran down the face of Aiden while he laid with his eyes close. His heart broke even more. How could she be like that? He thought. "Why did you do this to me?" He asked Aqua. He slowly got up from the coat and wanted to find Aqua immediately. He but accidentally hit on the teapot and it fell down making Milan rush back into the room and he was caught.

"AIDEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She asked him raising her voice unexpectedly to hide her fear of thinking that he might have heard everything. "Why are you not asleep?" She questioned him and walked towards him. 

"I..I, you know I," he searched for words and he couldn't believe that he felt scared of her. "Wait," he said. But she cornered him and made him stand against the wall. He looked at her closely for the first time. "I.. wait.. let me.." he struggled. And suddenly they heard something on the doorstep and turned together to take a look at it.