“This is a celebration for my daughter’s wedding announcement with none other than today’s champion— Zach!” Aquitius announced in a loud and cheerful voice.
The hall was silent until one person clapped, and the other followed.
“Wait a minute! What’s this all about?!” Zach shouted. But no one heard him because of the noise of the claps and gossip.
Zach turned to Aurora and saw the dead-panned expression on her face.
‘I expected this expression, but still…’
Zach frowned his face in anger because he was annoyed to the point that he couldn’t care less about anything.
“Wait a damn minute!” he uttered.
He didn’t shout as he did before, nor did he say it out loud. He simply uttered, and everything went silent.
They all could feel anger in Zach’s voice, and that was enough for them to lose their shit.
Zach glared at Aquitius and said, “I never agreed to this! What are you on about?”
Everyone, including the players, stared at Zach with a confused and puzzled look on their faces.
“Uhhh.. marrying my daughter was a reward for winning the event,” Aquitius asserted.
“Since when?!”
“I announced it when the event started. Did you miss… oh!” Aquitius suddenly exclaimed. “That’s right. You three arrived late, so you must have missed that.”
“…” Zach stared dumbfounded at the sixth, Aquarius, and the players.
“It’s true, dude,” a player uttered.
“Yeah. You are so lucky, man,” another player said to him.
“What? You tried so hard to win even without knowing the prize?” another one uttered.
“Damn! I am so jealous of him,” another one said.
“He already has two hot girls with him, and now a third one. My man is a playboy,” one said.
“I wish I could have fun with—”
Before the player could complete his sentence, Zach glared at him and shut him up.
“Wait a minute…” Zach turned to the sixth and Aquarius and said, “You are offered your daughter as a reward?”
Zach uttered in disbelief, trying to comprehend the logic behind that.
‘How could a father offer his daughter as a prize?’
“I would never do such a thing.” the sixth shook his head and said, “I did set her as the prize, but with her consent.”
Zach glanced at Aquarius to see her nodding in response.
“If she had refused, I wouldn’t have done that. Even if Starlord had won, and my daughter said she didn’t want to marry him, I wouldn’t have forced her. If she ever said to me that she wanted to marry the weakest person in this kingdom, I wouldn’t ask the reason why.”
“My daughter’s happiness is most important to me…” After a brief pause, the sixth turned to Aquarius and continued, “Even more important than this kingdom.”
“…”
‘So Aquarius willingly wanted to marry me? But I still don’t understand. I am more confused now.’
At first, Zach was going to talk about Aquarius to Aurora and ask her if she was okay with it. He was considering accepting Aquarius’ proposal. However, now Zach learned that she was given to him as a prize.
‘Does she love me because I am strong and I won? Or does she genuinely love me?’
Of course, Aquarius only wanted to marry Zach because he was strong. She needed his seed to continue the royal bloodline. However, she fell in love with him when Zach rejected her and didn’t give in to temptation.
Zach had unknowingly won Aqaurius’ heart, but Aquarius had yet to impress Zach. And after the sixth’s announcement, it was highly unlikely to happen.
“I refuse to marry your daughter!” Zach asserted out loud.
Everyone looked surprised, but Rilu looked the most surprised for some reason.
“…May I ask why?” Rilu asked in a low voice.
“She is not my type,” Zach replied nonchalantly.
“Pardon me, but I think my daughter’s beauty easily surpasses the two girls behind you,” Rilu asserted.
“I wasn’t even talking about the beauty.” Zach sighed. “I like rude and arrogant girls, and your daughter is nowhere near my liking.”
Aurora smiled inwardly after hearing that.
‘I think I am rude and sometimes arrogant too…’ Aria thought to herself while looking at Zach.
“That is not a valid reason, Zach,” the sixth quipped.
“…” Zach rubbed his hand on his face and muttered, “So I need to provide a valid reason?”
There was no real reason why Zach didn’t want to marry Aquarius. He simply didn’t feel like marrying a girl he didn’t love.
Zach looked at the sixth and asked, “Let’s say, hypothetically, if I agree to marry your daughter. What would happen?”
“You will get married, of course!” the sixth answered with an awkward smile on his face.
“No. I mean, what would happen to me? Will I be able to go back and continue the game? Or will I be stuck here as a new king?” Zach asked with a knowing look on his face.
“Well…” the sixth averted his gaze before answering. And that was enough for Zach to realize what the sixth was planning.
‘Yeah, I am not marrying her,’ Zach decided.
“Yes, you can go back!” the sixth asserted.
Zach was caught by surprise because he did not expect to hear that. He thought he finally had a reason to reject the offer, but not anymore.
“I… can…?” Zach asked with a puzzled look on his face.
‘Why would he agree to that? Isn’t he giving me his daughter so this kingdom can get a new king? If I can leave, then I don’t see why… he would agree…’
“You can go back to the surface once you impregnate my daughter,” the sixth asserted in a calm voice.
‘What’s wrong with this dude?’ Zach sighed and face-palmed himself.
‘Now we are back to square one where we started,’ he sighed.
Zach needed to find another reason to not marry Aquarius.
After pondering for a while, Zach came up with a reason, but it was risky.
‘I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. But… let’s do this.’
Zach took a deep breath and said, “I can’t marry your daughter because…”
Zach grabbed Aria’s hand and pulled her close to him before saying, “Because I am already married to this girl!”
***
Total players in the game- 403220.
0 new players logged in.
39 players died.
===
Author’s Note- How will Aurora react to this?!
~~~
[End of the month special shoutouts!]
«Honorable Mentions»
1)huralk. 2)kecocan. 3)Nero_51
(Top three golden ticket contributors.)
4)devilincross. 5)Pointbreak
(Top gifts giver.) (Honorable Mentions will be made once at the end of every month.)
(All the names mentioned in this chapter will be used in the novel in the near future!)