The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era



WULFRIC entered the suite and the first thing he did was to look for the bar. When doing the renovations for this floor to turn it into a suite, he specifically said that there should be two things that they should not forget—the theater room and the bar.

Since the suite was just a whole floor, the design was very simple. A common living room, a bedroom with a walk-in closet and bathroom, a theater room, an entertainment room, a kitchen, pantry, and dining area. There was also the bar and two spare bedrooms.

Of course, this place was not as good as his mansion on Alluna. But it would do its purpose.

Wulfric quickly found what he was looking for. He walked towards the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He downed that glass in one gulp. He sat down on the bar stool before pouring himself another glass. 

When he left Aster's apartment, he didn't think of going somewhere and just directly went here. Since he came back to the capital by himself and with just a single spacecraft, he couldn't exactly go to the military base here at the capital to live there. That would be like encroaching on another army's territory.

It was fine before, since Beowulf was docked there while their army was staying at the capital. But it's different when it's only him. His next option was the palace. And that's the last place he would pick to stay in. He really didn't want to deal with Cynric. So, this suite was perfect in times like this.

He poured another glass of whiskey and simply turned on his Terminal to get his mind off certain things. But the moment he opened his [Cyberspace] account, the first thing that he saw was a picture of Aster wearing a white suit, looking so beautiful and mesmerizing.

His feed was filled with the same pictures but in different angles. His feed being filled with nothing but everything related to Aster was not so surprising. After all, the other was the only account he's following.

He swiped down and stared at the pictures. They were all from the same event that happened just this evening. Based on the posts and comments, it was from a launch party for the new perfume line of EMMA. And as the ambassador of that new perfume line, of course, Aster had to attend.

After he read that, he only just realized that Aster was actually wearing the same clothes, minus the suit jacket. The other had already removed his make-up and hairstyling. That's why he didn't notice that he just came from an event.

Aster must have been so tired, and yet he still went to his apartment to pester him like that. Next time, he should check first whether the other had an event of if he just came from a shooting before visiting him. That way he wouldn't bother the other.

As he was browsing through his feed, reading different articles regarding EMMA's event, a particular article caught his attention. It said that Aster met not only Cassius Grimaldi but also Anthony Grimaldi. And that the two were very satisfied with the result of the advertisement. They commended Aster for a job well done.

The official account of a reputable fashion news site published the article. Although there wasn't any picture of the three together, this site was credible enough for people to immediately believe them. And Wulfric also had no doubt that it was the truth.

He stood up abruptly, almost pushing the glass in front of him off the bar counter. Wouldn't this mean that Aster just met his uncle and grandfather a few hours ago? He assured him that he would protect his parents' secret, but something like this happened without him even knowing. Aster wouldn't think that he's too useless, right?

When that thought crossed his mind, a certain question that Aster asked earlier also flashed at the same time.

[Why are you going so far for me?]

This definitely fell on the realm of 'going too far'. Who, in their right might, would first think that they're useless in that situation? Granted that there were indeed times that he was not in his right mind, but those times and these were very different situations.

It's not only that, the fact that he would defend Aster on [StarNet] as if his life depended on it was already a cause for worry. Not to mention the fact that he always wanted to spend time with the other. If he could, he would stick to Aster's side like glue just so they could be together all the time.

Although he lacked EQ, he's not that stupid and dense to continue to insist that this was all for the name of 'friendship'.

A good example were the members of Fenris Squad. He considered most of them as his subordinates, but Leland, Hil, Edmund, and Slade—those four. He could reluctantly admit that they were his friends.

Using the term 'friends', he would never make an account on [Cyberspace] just to defend them online. Heck, he didn't even want to spend every hour of the day with them.

So, what made Aster so special?

This question ultimately just brought him back to the other's question to him. Which he still didn't know the answer to.

Wulfric sat back down on the bar stool, feeling frustrated.

He downed another glass of whiskey. Before he knew it, he had already emptied the whole bottle. Seeing that, he stood up and took another bottle. This time, he chose a much stronger alcohol—a bottle of absinthe.

Drinking one glass after another, it didn't take long before he emptied it once again.

Because of his physique, it's hard for him to get drunk. But maybe because of the effect of alcohol, he did something that he would never do under normal circumstances. He dialled Hildred's Terminal number.

A few seconds later, Hil's face appeared on the virtual screen. The other furrowed his brows upon seeing him. "Please tell me, this is not another mission."

"I need your advice."