Eren followed Estelia out of the Auction House, where the carriage was already waiting. A servant opened the door, and Estelia entered first. Jenia was about to follow, but Eren slipped in ahead of her, leaving her momentarily stunned.


    "What are you doing? Get out!" she quickly retorted, grabbing his hand to pull him from the carriage.


    "Stop pulling me," Eren countered, resisting her tug and pulling back. Though Jenia was strong, he was not weak in the strength department, especially at his current level.


    Jenia couldn''t budge him. Her hand kept slipping as she tried to maintain her grip. Finally, her hand gave waypletely.


    With no one to pull him back, the force Eren used to brace himself propelled him forward. Estelia was also shocked, seeing Eren falling straight at her.


    She thought about attacking him to send him flying back, but she remembered that he was her father''s guest and couldn''t kill him. Moreover, it was clearly an ident.


    It happened so fast that she didn''t have time to react, and subconsciously closed her eyes. However, the impact that she was expecting, didn''te.


    She slowly opened her eyes, and saw Eren''s face right before her, his lips merely inches away from hers to the point that she could even feel his warm breath brushing against her lips.


    His hands were next to her, but they weren''t touching her. Instead, they were resting on the walls of the carriage, which Eren had used to stop himself on time.


    "Are you alright?" he asked gently, looking deep in the eyes of the girl.


    Estelia slowly nodded in silence, her mind being in aplete mess.


    "That''s good. I couldn''t bear to see you hurt." Eren took off one hand from the wall, and tucked Estelia''s bangs behind her ears before pushing him back with his other arm.


    He walked past her, and set down in silence, not saying anything else. But Estelia couldn''t avoid getting the scent of blood. She looked at his hand, and saw his fingers were bleeding.


    She looked back, and saw that there was a sharp edge of the wall, which also had a trace of blood. To protect herself from his fall, he had hurt himself instead.


    Moreover, even when he tucked her hair, he didn''t use his bleeding hand. He didn''t evenin that her friend had caused all this.


    "You are hurt..." she said, frowning. She had thought that Eren was going to take advantage of the situation to touch her when he was falling, but he didn''t even try to do that.


    Instead, he seemed worried that he might hurt her if he crashed on her, for which he tried everything to stop, even hurting himself.


    "It will heal on its own. I''m not that weak." Eren nonchntly answered, not even ncing at his bleeding finger.


    "You fool. You can''t even protect yourself. What''s the point of protecting me?" Esteliained, but still, she moved closer to Eren on her own. "You are a guest of my father. I don''t want him toin that I caused you to get hurt."


    She brought something out of her storage, and grabbed Eren''s wrist. She ced his bleeding hand on herp, and started applying a healing medicine on his wound.


    Jenia stepped inside the carriage, almost about toin about Eren when she saw a scene that made her jaws almost drop. She rubbed her eyes repeatedly, finding it hard to believe the scene that she was seeing.


    Estelia was sitting right next to Eren, their shoulders and legs touching. His hand was on herp, and she was applying medicine on him.


    "W-what are you doing?" she asked, almost on the verge of crying.


    "He is bleeding. I am helping him," Estelia answered, as she continued applying the medicine.


    "How can he bleed out of nowhere? He''s acting! He''s trying to take advantage of you!" Jenia eximed, almost on the verge of yelling.


    Estelia took a deep breath, and looked back at Jenia. "I am not a child. You think I can''t differentiate between reality and act? I''ve been seeing it for a long time. And for a moment I even believed your words. But it''s clear that you seemed to have some enmity for him!"


    "You''ve been trying to prove him wrong all this time. Can''t you just let thest go for a moment?! Stop acting like a child!" She retorted angrily.


    Both of them were older than Eren, so Estelia couldn''t believe how childish Jenia was behaving before Eren, just because he touched her once.


    Even after she repeatedly asked her to let the past go, it was clear that she had already made up her mind about not forgetting. For Estelia, it was truly too petty.


    "I''m just looking out for you," Jenia said softly, her eyes filled with hurt.


    "I don''t need anyone to look out for me. I am as old as you!" Estelia shouted. "The carriage will return to my home. Your home is on thepletely opposite side. I think it would be better if you returned home for now, and think about your behaviour."


    Jenia bit her lip, looking a little taken aback. Although it was true that her home was in the opposite direction, she still didn''t like the fact that she was basically being kicked out of the carriage for a man.


    "I-"


    "We can talkter. I need to return. After the failed auction, father must be waiting for me." Estelia didn''t even give her a chance to reply.


    Jenia had no choice but to step out of the carriage, taking onest nce at Eren and Estelia. This time, Eren didn''t make any mocking gaze, only looking at her with pity.


    Once she was out, the door of the carriage was closed by the servant and it started leaving, going back to the First Primordial''s Pce. Jenia could only watch the carriage leave until itpletely disappeared from her view, abandoning her.