The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

That conversation he had with the three Grimaldis certainly almost drained him. He knew their reaction to Wulfric wouldn't be all that positive. The only reason that they probably didn't react as violently was because he managed to remind them what their priority should be.

Since their priority right now was meeting his mother, that superseded their worry for him. If not for that, he would probably be forced to stay overnight there, where the three would lecture him about how bad a relationship with Wulfric would be.

Anyway, at least that was over now. The next part would be the really hard one, because it's where he had to talk to his parents. But before that, he needed to inform Wulfric about his conversation with the Grimaldis. After all, Wulfric needed to talk with them too, so they could coordinate how the Grimaldis would travel to Delryria stealthily and unnoticed.

He had to wait until he got back to his apartment before he could call the other. It's not like he could call him while in the Grimaldi mansion or while in the car. It was better to contact him here in his apartment, where he could be sure of the privacy.

Astrid opened his Terminal and send a video call request to Wulfric. He didn't even have to wait a second before the call was accepted. Wulfric's handsome face popped up on the screen.

"Good evening, Wulf," he greeted first. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"No, how can you disturb me? You are and always will be a welcome distraction," Wulfric said rather straightforwardly.

Now that made Astrid smile. "I talked to them, the Grimaldis. They agreed, well, sort of, to work with you to meet my mother. I told them that you will contact them later so you can coordinate the details."

Wulfric looked surprised at first, but then his expression turned serious. "I'll do that later. So, how was it, your conversation with them?"

"Hmm, as well as it could be, I guess?" Astrid said. "They really have a bad impression of you, though."

"Everyone has a bad impression of me," Wulfric responded, trying to appear nonchalant. But his next question revealed that he cared more than he let on. "So, how bad was their impression, exactly?"

"Well, we didn't really get into the details, as I made them focus on what should be the priority right now," Astrid said. "But the few things they did mention weren't exactly in your favor."

A look of worry flashed across Wulfric's handsome face. He seemed to want to ask something, but hesitated. Astrid could easily see what was going on in the other's mind. So, to help him ease his worry, he said;

"Don't worry, my opinion of you is pretty much formed at this point. No matter what others say, it won't change easily—unless, of course, you do something to change it yourself."

"Is your opinion of me very positive?" Wulfric asked in a tentative manner.

"Let's just say that if it's not, we won't be having this conversation at all."

That put a wide grin on Wulfric's face. "Really? How positive is it?"

Astrid raised his brow. "Ask again, and I might think you're just fishing for compliments."

"One or two compliments wouldn't be too bad," Wulfric said with a playful smirk. "But I won't force you, since I'm feeling very generous right now."

"Why, thank you."

The two looked at each other and both just laughed.

"Do you have any advice on what I should or shouldn't do when I speak to the Grimaldis?" Wulfric asked after a while.

"No, actually. It's enough to be yourself. It's not like their opinion of you would immediately change if you try to impress them. And it might even have a negative effect, since they will know you're only doing that because you have a hidden motive."

"How will they know that I have a hidden motive?"

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Ah, right. Astrid forgot to tell Wulfric that he told the Grimaldis about his 'intentions'. So, he told Wulfric about it and how it came about. After he spoke, Wulfric only blinked, looking very speechless.

"You're not mad, right?" he asked.

"Of course not," Wulfric quickly said. "How could I be mad at you for that? It's not like you said anything untrue."

Even though Astrid already knew that Wulfric would say that, he still let out a sigh of relief. "Since that's the case, you can see why there's really no need for you to try to impress them, as it might just backfire on you. So, being yourself would be the best course of action."

"That certainly wouldn't be too hard."

The two of them talked a bit more before ending the call.

Astrid closed his Terminal and muttered softly, "Good luck, Wulf."

----------

Wulfric let out a long sigh. Although he tried to show a carefree attitude in front of Aster, he was actually very worried.

Under normal circumstances, he would not care much about how the Grimaldis saw him. But if these people managed to gain Aster's mother's forgiveness, then they would become a permanent fixture in Aster's life. That meant Wulfric would be seeing them more often than he cared to. Perhaps their opinion would even start to matter to Aster in the near future.

So, even if he wanted to just be himself, it would be difficult not to feel compelled to act otherwise.

But things had already reached this point, so he just had to face it head-on. If they saw how sincere his feelings were towards Aster, surely, they would view it in a positive light.

Right?

With that determination, Wulfric started a plan on how he would go about this. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't really think of anything.

So, he decided to just wing it and proceeded to establish a private line to contact Duke Grimaldi.