Zach, Aurora, Aria, and Aquitius the sixth, were on their way back to the palace on a floating mattress. Aquarius and Rilu left in the carriage before them.
Zach pulled Aurora using her pinky pinder and whispered, “Thank you for cheering for me.”
Aurora didn’t say anything and simply nodded in response.
“…” Zach raised his brows after seeing Aurora acting like that. ‘Why is she acting so distant? I don’t remember doing something that would have made her upset.’
After wondering for a while, Zach thought, ‘Maybe she is just shocked to see me chop Starlord into pieces?’
‘It wasn’t my first time killing anyone. I have also killed a few people in the real world.’
Zach glanced around and saw all the citizens were still booing him.
‘Well, I don’t blame them. To them, it’s just like someone came into their house and killed their family member. I feel a little sad for killing Starlord, but I don’t regret it.’
‘Don’t hurt others, but if they hurt you first, then mess them up.’ Zach remembered his father’s motto.
Zach assumed Aurora was acting like that because he killed Starlord, but that wasn’t the case at all.
When Zach and Starlord’s fight started, Aurora was anxious and couldn’t stop shaking.
Aria noticed her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I feel so anxious,” Aurora replied while hugging herself.
“Why?” Aria asked with a puzzled and confused look on her face. “We both know Zach is strong, and he can easily win.”
Aurora bit her lips and replied, “You won’t understand it because you don’t love him.”
After hearing that, Aria felt a sharp sting in her heart for some reason. She was angry at Aurora, but she didn’t know why.
But she wanted to fight back, so she said, “Weren’t you the one who said I love him too?”
“Yeah. I think I was worrying too much,” Aurora replied without taking her eyes off the arena.
“But why did you even think that I was in love with him?”
“You always glare at us whenever we kiss or hug each other,” Aurora remarked.
“No, I don’t.”
“You do.”
Suddenly, Aria remembered the kiss she received from Zach when he was trying to save Aurora.
“Just like how you were glaring at me when Zach kissed me?” Aria remarked with a smirk on her face.
“That wasn’t a kiss,” Aurora retorted.
“But our lips touched, and I even played with his tongue…” Aria touched her lips and muttered, “I still remember the feeling.”
Aurora glared at Aria because she heard that.
“A kiss without a feeling is not a kiss,” she asserted with a little angry look on her face.
For some reason, Aria felt amused after seeing Aurora being jealous.
This was what happened when Zach was thinking about dinner.
After a while, they all reached the palace.
“Please, make yourselves home,” the sixth asserted. “Feel free to do whatever you want in the palace.”
“Just curious, but where are all the guards, and how did they suddenly appear that time?” Zach asked in a calm voice.
“Oh… well… actually…” The sixth spread his arms and said, “Every citizen who is above age 16 is a guard. So basically, this entire kingdom is my army.”
“However, I don’t force them to do the work of the guards or ask them to protect the palace or patrol around the kingdom. Nobody hardly commits any crime in my kingdom. It’s a peaceful place… and I would like it to stay that way,” he added.
“Oh!” Zach remembered how they passed through many citizens when they were walking in the palace. ‘So they were guards.’
“It’s a good kingdom,” Zach asserted. “Your citizens must respect you.”
“Well… things are heated now because you slayed the strongest champion of his kingdom but didn’t worry about it. You did what you had to do. Anyone would have done the same,” the sixth reassured Zach, even though Zach did not need any reassurance.
“You can go rest in your room. The dinner will be ready in a few hours, and there will be a celebration of your victory.”
Zach had noticed the sudden change in the sixth’s hospitality, but he didn’t worry about it much. He had far greater things to worry about.
“Uhh..” the sixth stroked his beard and asked hesitantly: “How long do you plan to stay?”
“It’s nearly evening. So we will rest until night, eat dinner, and sleep,” Zach responded in a calm voice. “Then, I want to look around the kingdom and enjoy the scenery, so we will stay here in Ribel for tomorrow too.”
“…” the sixth was both scared and delighted.
“So… we might leave for Atlantis tomorrow night.” After a brief pause, Zach said, “That reminds me, you are going to undo the seal, right?”
“Of course. I promised!” the sixth answered instantly.
“What about the fifth? He deceived us both and gave me an invalid task.”
“There is no need to worry about my older brother. My little brother will handle it,” the sixth replied with an awkward smile on his face.
“That’s nice.” Zach turned around and looked at the sixth from the corner of his eyes before uttering, “I don’t want to kidnap your wife, after all.”
After saying that, Zach entered the room and closed the door on the sixth’s face.
Upon entering the room, Zach tried to talk to Aurora, but much to his surprise, she hugged him and started kissing him. Then, she pushed him on the bed and continued kissing.
Zach had no idea what was going on, but he let Aurora kiss him because he was enjoying the wild side of Aurora.
At the same time, Aurora glanced at Aria from the corner of her eyes and smirked at her.
“…!”
That’s when Aria realized that just as she felt amused to see Aurora’s reaction when Zach had kissed her, Aurora also felt amused to see Aria’s reaction whenever she kissed Zach.
The only difference was Aurora could tease Aria all the time by kissing Zach, while Aria could only watch.
***
Total players in the game- 403409.
0 new players logged in.
122 players died.
===
Author’s Note- Aurora is confirming whether Aria truly loves Zach or not!
Thanks, @Atrax, for the gift!