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HILDRED sighed helplessly when he heard the question.  "Wulf, friendship isn\'t something that could be forced.  Just like any relationship out there.  It\'s something that should be build from the ground up."

"Then, how should I build it?" Wulfric asked, his confusion could totally be seen on his face.

Hildred shrugged.  "How would I know?  People just naturally become my friends. It\'s probably because of my charm."  He turned to Edmund.  "Right, Ed?"

[Should I just say yes?  Yes, I should just do that.] – Edmund thought before nodding.

Hildred looked proudly at Wulfric, as if saying, \'see, what did I tell you?\'. 

Wulfric resisted the urge to just directly punch Hildred\'s annoying face.  "Then, why are you telling me to build up the friendship when you don\'t even know how yourself?!"

"Because I think that\'s what Astrid would want," Hildred answered.  "He\'s the one you wanted to befriend, right?" 

Wulfric couldn\'t deny what the other said.  Because Hildred was right, Aster would definitely not want him to bulldoze his way into being friends with him.  Just like Hildred said, it should be a process.  But realizing that didn\'t mean that he could understand it. 

He scratched his head quite forcefully.  So, what should he do now?

Seeing his frustrated expression, Edmund couldn\'t help but offer his opinion.  "Ahm, General, maybe you should think of him as a friend first before thinking of ways to befriend him?"

Wulfric glanced sharply at Edmund.  "Are you saying that I\'m not thinking of him as a friend?  What else should I think of him as?"

He couldn\'t understand why he suddenly felt panicked by what Edmund said.  Because what he heard from what he said was that he\'s not really thinking of Aster as a \'friend\' but something more than that – whatever \'that\' might be.  And he didn\'t like it.  Because it felt like he was tainting Aster for some reason. 

Edmund was startled by the general\'s sharp gaze.  Thinking that the other might have misunderstand what he said, he readily explained, "What I meant was if you think of Astrid as a friend, then your actions towards him will be much more genuine.  It wouldn\'t look force.  Being treated sincerely, nobody would hate that.  Right?"

Hildred suddenly patted Edmund\'s head.  "Aww… our Ed is saying such mature things." 

Wulfric became quiet for a second.  What Edmund said truly made him think.  So, was that how he should do it?  Just be sincere and everything would flow in the right direction?  But why did he feel that it was still not enough? 

"To add to what Ed said, you should not do anything extreme.  Like spending money and buying Astrid the most expensive gift you could think of.  Or even producing some kind of movie or tv show for him to star in," Hildred added.  "If you do any of that, it\'s like you\'re buying your friendship with him.  Just like what Ed said, it\'s better to just be sincere."

Wulfric was actually thinking of buying some kind of gift for Aster, like something symbolic to commemorate their meeting.  But hearing what Hildred said, that idea was quickly extinguished in his mind.  He now suddenly felt that if he did buy something and give it to Aster, it would only look like a transaction.  Which he didn\'t want.

Wait- maybe if it didn\'t involve money, it would alright?  Like making the gift himself.  It would also show his sincerity.  Then, he was entangled again.  Because he didn\'t have the right skill for that. 

No matter.  There\'s plenty of time to think of a way.  Now that Aster was in the capital and would probably remain here until his studies ended, there\'s no reason why he couldn\'t visit him.  Of course, he wouldn\'t visit every day.  The other might just find him annoying. 

Aside from that, maybe he should also extend his army\'s stay in the capital.  At least until he and Aster became friends.

"Oh, yes, before I forget.  Wulf, do you not recognize the Townsend twins\' mother when you first saw her?" Hildred suddenly asked.

"No, should I?" Wulfric responded, wondering why Hildred suddenly brought that up.

"Well, I think she\'s the supposedly dead daughter of Lord Grimaldi." 

Both Wulfric and Edmund were shocked to hear that. 

The thing that happened between the Grimaldis and the Lancasters twenty years ago was widely known to everyone in the Empire.  One of the sons of the Lancaster Duke who had a good reputation amongst the nobles and the masses turned out to be a sociopathic serial killer who enjoyed torturing and raping women. 

Wanting to break her engagement with him, the only daughter of the Grimaldi Duke accidentally found that out and was killed in the process.  A young soldier with a promising future exposed Cecil Lancaster\'s dark secret to [Starnet] and then vanished right after. 

In short, it was a mess.  Especially after those in the military\'s high position found out after much investigating that Cecil Lancaster\'s first victim was actually the late Duchess Grimaldi.  It was no wonder that Duke Grimaldi did everything he could so the Lancasters would at least be punished for harboring and protecting such a monster.

Even the former Emperor was so angered that he stripped them of most of their powers.  But these last few years, the Lancasters were slowly making a comeback.  Which was mostly because of the support of the current Emperor.

Wulfric\'s expression immediately became serious.  "Are you sure about this?"

Hildred nodded.  "You know how good I am with faces."

"If- if it was revealed that she\'s still alive, wouldn\'t this be bad for the twins?" Edmund said, a bit of worry in his voice.

"Exactly," Hildred agreed.  "So, what would you do, Wulf?"

"What else?  Make sure that this information will never come to light.  And that those Lancaster dogs would never find out about it," Wulfric said without hesitation.  "This information should never get out of this aircraft, understand?"

"Don\'t worry, General.  My lips are sealed," Edmund said, patting his chest.

Hildred smiled.  "Of course, me as well."

He actually didn\'t expect such an answer from Wulf.  If this was before, he might have already used that information to blackmail Astrid into being \'friends\' with him.  This showed that the prince was already showing signs of emotional maturity.

It seemed like Astrid Townsend was indeed their lucky star.