Because he come back

'Don't answer. Don't answer', unlike Carla, Ema was having a hard time.

Her lips were trembling. She wanted to turn away, but she overcame it by focusing on what was most worthwhile.

Carla put something sweet on her lips.

It tasted like a rainbow.

"This is good too..."

"Isn't it? It doesn't even look like a grape", the two finally relaxed.

Out of the corner of their eyes they noticed the beautiful woman who had said that. If it was a looks competition they would feel intimidated, but it wasn't.

She looked like a predator, but for some reason, she hadn't found her prey yet.

"Fools...", for a moment Diana imagined a mother disappointed with someone's daughter. "Eighty, a hundred years?... I recognize weak women just by looking. Honestly, I can't understand how you got here."

While Diana ignored it, she seemed to take a step towards them. Without raising her voice, the young woman thought it best to set a limit. Here, they were all the same, after all.

"We came by car, of course."

In the silence she smiled. Diana didn't.

Because the soft-looking woman kept moving towards her. Step by step, until something hit her face.

The slap was soft but still devastating. At a speed greater than the car they had come in. It threw her to the ground like a doll falling from a child's hands.

Reality finally happened. Diana couldn't have been more wrong about equality.

As she stood on the ground and saw the legs of some of them, their clothes, their looks...

Even their expressions and their bearing. They were all different. There wasn't a single person who was 'similar' to the other. They all seemed charismatic and brilliant. Each star had its own secrets to keep.

And what did she have?

They weren't the same.

It seemed like an eternity, but she realized it little by little, as she stood up and felt tears filling her eyes against her will.

That slap was much stronger than an ordinary person's. Maybe she didn't have that strength. But at least she had the courage.

His hand hit her before she could think or even get up. She hit her hard, but it was all so strange. Diana hadn't expected to hit.

The woman was faster, stronger.

But when her hand touched her face, it was like watching a predator become a bunny.

The force made her stagger and fall a few steps away, in a way that only a princess or an actress could imitate.

Diana's lips opened in a silent 'O', as she watched a pair of attendants help their lady to her feet.

"How did you do that?"

Carla came to her side. A faint scent of jasmine and lemon. Even though she had been drinking, she always seemed to know what to do.

She had a delicate handkerchief soaked in a glass of water and wrapped in some ice cubes.

"Ouch..." Diana sighed in relief and pain. "The corner of your eye... is going to get swollen."

She didn't think much about it, but she felt her hand being touched. On her right, Ema was holding it like a child looks at a strange little animal.

"She didn't even blush. How did you send her flying?", when Diana was about to answer with a smile, she felt her other hand being held.

A feeling of security spread through her, and her fingers were intertwined.

"It was magic. Probably from Erin... as an apology, maybe."

It was Nero. As always, he didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Diana followed his gaze to the supported woman, then to the group of fairies accompanying her mother-in-law. She even smiled and said "Bye-bye" in her direction.

Breaking away from Ema, Diana returned the apology.

"Why apologize? It wasn't her fault."

Nero nodded softly. He had barely arrived and already looked tired.

"Of course. It wasn't..." he agreed, touching her face gently. All the pain disappeared as he looked into those eyes. The magic he had used had helped a little too. "...But she could have stopped it."

"It's nobody's fault."

"Of course not..."

Over his shoulder, she could see a shadow falling over the woman's face. Diana didn't know who she was, but she seemed to have seen hell freezing over in those few seconds.

Nero's gesture and behavior showed genuine protection and dedication.

Diana realized that this attracted more attention than her exchange of blows.

"She seems to know you..."

"A lot of people know me."

"Playboy."

"Yes. Call me whatever you want... but stop getting into fights."

He had a smile. Diana felt accused. This would be the moment when she would throw a glass of water in that scoundrel's face.

"She started it. I'm innocent... aren't I, Carla?"

For some reason she said that louder than she should have.

She felt aware of all the eyes around her. She could feel the eyes dividing between Erin and Alice's group, who looked like a pair of crystals shining in the dark hall.

And both were coming towards her.

Diana wanted to hide her face in the deepest hole in the earth. Nero knew that. Even Carla and Ema looked like two scared chicks. That's why he let go of her hand and took a step forward.

"How are you, Duchess?"

The silence lasted a little longer than usual.

"Nero... I don't think we need formalities. I just ask that you move out of the way, please."

Diana found a frog somewhere in her throat. Her eyes widened when she heard that woman.

It was impossible that that sweet voice was the same one that had accused her minutes before.

Nero approached with light steps, as if he knew better than anyone how to calm a dragon.

"I can't do that and I don't think you need to take it any further."

"I need something more than your empty words," she spat between her teeth, with all the elegance and sweetness that comes from the most vivid poisons.

Nero nodded. At that moment, Diana felt that the scene had taken on proportions much larger than her heart could handle. But even with the eyes on him, Nero was still a playboy.

Her playboy.

When they were face to face. Two lions fighting for territory, Diana feared for an instant, she realized that not everyone there could be dealt with easily.

Everyone waited for the next words, but when Nero leaned in two feet away from her ear, there was no sound.

It was simply a majestic and private gesture. As if he were whispering secrets, but his lips did not move.

For a minute they were silent.

Over her shoulder, Diana saw his eyes. Blue but as dark as the night. Staring at her as if they wanted to destroy her someday.

Those eyes closed. Her nature calmed down. And the dragon snorted, parting the air with her hand, as if she were brushing away an annoying and yet interesting fly. Disdaining her playboy, but still responding to what he had to say.

"I will come to collect those words."

Simply smiling, she decided to leave.