The Mech Lord

Leo stood there surrounded by everyone's gazes. His back was drenched in sweat. He was caught up in a situation with only two solutions and both led him to his doom in one form or the other.

[You really are taking you time-nya..] Aiden was worried as well. If Leo didn't do as he asked him to, then that would truly lead to another trouble for him.

[Arthur! You are the best A.I., right? Tell him the right choice here-nya] Aiden asked the guy who shouldn't be biased towards anyone.

[Considering the current situation, it is better to follow Aiden's advice.] Arthur followed up with an answer.

[Yes-nya!] Aiden celebrated, but his smile soon vanished when he heard the reasoning behind.

[The Emperor doesn't seem to be in favor of your relationship with his daughter. It will make him your enemy which is not a logical choice with your strength. While here, he is being supportive which is a very good sign for you. Secondly, if you tell the truth and end up being pursued by the Princess, it would be disastrous for Aiden. The Princess is beautiful and attractive according to the signals in your body. So, it is very likely that you might fall for her and accept it in the end. In that situation, someone will have to watch things that he wouldn't wish for..]

"..."

[...]

Both Leo and Aiden went silent.

This guy sure went dark at it.

[What is this about finding her attractive-nya?] Aiden muttered in a suspicious tone.

'That's just a fact…' Leo sighed, but he understood the situation.

He looked at the people around, and suddenly said, "Yes, I like her."

Christina who was standing beside Leo immediately had her eyes widened in shock. She definitely hadn't seen that coming. She was actually thinking about how to handle the situation and save herself, but who would have thought that it would go like this.

A smile immediately came up on everyone's faces.

Only the Emperor seemed to frown for a bit there. But, his expression changed and soon matched with everyone else.

"What about you Christina?" Viona looked at the beautiful girl with a smile on her face. It was already very clear from her expression that she had already accepted her.

It was really becoming difficult for Christina to face all those expectant gazes which were asking her to say yes as well.

She couldn't help but glance at Leo for a bit.

There was no way this guy was telling the truth. She hadn't had much interaction with him except for the time when everyone was small. So, it didn't make sense for him to like her. Hell, he even seemed very normal to her when they met in the Academy. And, he would just treat her as an acquaintance.

Lovers was definitely not their relation.

It might even be a bit too much to call them friends. They weren't even at that stage.

'What do I do?' Christina was contemplating internally. If she told the truth, she would be getting into big trouble with her parents because of what happened a month ago.

But, lying would get her to stick to this guy whom she barely knew at a personal level.

"Is there anything wrong?" Viona looked at her with a concerned face. She was afraid that her son's love was going to be one sided somehow.

"No..it is.." Christina forced a smile on her face as she once again glanced at Leo. But, the guy just had his eyes turned in the other direction. He was fully prepared to be insulted today.

"..I like him as well.."

But, the unexpected happened.

Leo's eyes immediately widened and he turned his head to look at Christina whose lips were twitching as she smiled at him.

'Sh*t! What now?!' Leo screamed inwardly. He did it to get away from one girl only to be caught by another. He really wasn't prepared for this sh*t.

[...]

Even Aiden was caught off guard. He really had no idea about it. Just when in hell did he become so famous. Wasn't he looked down all the time by the people around?

Hell, even gold diggers weren't approaching him…just what in hell happened today…wasn't the princess, only the crazy girl around him.

He took a minute to gather his thoughts and think it through.

[Calm down, something is wrong. I don't think I have ever felt something like that from her-nya.]

Leo stopped panicking for once and gave a thought about the two times when he had met her. And, it definitely started to make sense.

The first time he had met her, she attacked him thinking that he was the stalker who had asked her out to confess his feelings. If that was the case, she should have not been so angry if she liked him.

'You are right, she has definitely lied.' Leo frowned internally.

[But, why-nya?]

'Who knows, maybe she is in a similar situation like us?'

[Really-nya?]

Leo suddenly realized that their situation was one of a kind. Were there any other people in this world who had their body switched like this? Probably not..

'I mean like your love problem..' Leo corrected himself.

[I don't love her. I am just being logical. So, don't twist your words-nya.]

'I wonder who is actually twisting them-nya.' Leo retorted while mimicking the guy.

[Yo-] Aiden was about to rage when a voice rang out.

"Why don't we make it official then?" Ragen suddenly spoke.

His words made both Christina and Leo's faces change in horror.

"No!" The two simultaneously spoke.

Even Leo understood the meaning official much less Christina. Making it official was the same as marriage if they exaggerated it a bit. Once it was official, there would be no turning back.

There were even some cases where a girl would be considered a widow when the guy died before the marriage if they had made it official. Leo didn't know if this practice still was followed or not. But, he sure wasn't interested in taking the risk or finding out about it.

The people around looked at the two in surprise, seeing a strong reaction of objection from them.

"Why?" Christina's father suddenly asked as he looked at his daughter.

"Dad…we haven't told anyone about it because….we didn't want this to happen…" Christina muttered while sweating.

"Yes…" Leo chimed in as well and continued, "We still want to…live like this…and not burden each other by making it official…"

"Yes….we made a promise…" Christina nodded before looking at Leo with a forced smile.

"Sure we did.." Leo's lips twitched as he returned that smile.

"We would like to achieve something in life…before starting this officially…right?" Christina asked Leo, and he nodded his head in return.

There families just exchanged looks with each other. Even though it was not like this in their generation, the times sure had changed. The people today had different thought processes.

"Well, I don't think there is a need to hurry then…" Edgar was cool with it. And, the rest of the two families didn't mind it as well. It was after all their decision.

Obviously, this was only peaceful because they were happy with the selection that their children had made. If not, things might have been different.

"You guys can go upstairs and talk. There is nothing fun with adults to talk about." Ragen laughed.

[This b*stard, one day. I would kill him for sure-nya.]

Viona seemed to agree with that as well, and asked Leo to show Christina the house. It had been a long time since she visited. The last visit was years ago, when she was a little girl.

Leo led Christina upstairs, and two entered his room.

The moment Leo closed the door, he found her staring at him with a serious look in her eyes.

"What was that all about?" She finally asked Leo with a frown.

"I can ask the same." Leo sighed as he came around and took a seat on the couch. He then asked her to take a seat as well.

The two of them looked at each other before Leo finally broke the silence. He was the one who started it by lying first, so he felt it was his responsibility to go first.

"I had no choice. There is someone whom I have to ignore. I kind of used the rumours between us for that. And, now I can't deny it or else she might find out about it." He sighed.

"Are you talking about Rebecca?" Christina asked in surprise. She had heard about Princess having a crush on Aiden, and then she was even asking her if the two really had a thing going or not. So, it was not that easy for her to guess.

"I will leave that to your imagination." Leo calmly replied. He couldn't admit it to it with Aiden releasing threatening purrs. He was sure the little guy would bite him if he admitted it.

Leo then looked at her and waited for her to speak.

Christina had a complicated look on her face and she finally spoke after a bit of hesitation, "Actually, I have a boyfriend."

Leo's eyes widened in surprise.

"My Mother had been trying to match me with different guys or asking me to go on blind dates. And, a month ago, my tongue slipped and I revealed about it to my mom in anger."

"What's the problem in it then? They looked very supportive even for you dating a useless person like me." Leo asked in surprise, and Aiden's little face twitched inside the storage capsule.

"Well, it's different here. You are not only a noble but also the son of Sir Edgar." Christina shook her head. "But, my boyfriend is actually a commoner.."

'Does that really matter?' Leo asked inwardly.

[A lot. People would call her crazy if you release this information in public-nya.] Aiden definitely was shocked. Her situation could be said to be not much different from what it was between him and Rebecca.

"But, I still don't understand why you are lying about us here?" Leo asked her, still a bit confused about it. Wasn't this just going to make things more difficult for her?