Zach was genuinely surprised because he never expected Victoria to actually join Aria. But he was happy regardless.
Victoria placed her hand on Zach's face and moved her face close to kiss him, but she stopped when their lips were about to touch.
SIGH!
Aria sighed in disbelief and shook her head at Victoria as she said, "I knew you wouldn't be able to do it."
Victoria bumped her head on Zach's chest and muttered, "This is torture."
"Then you should become a masochist and get used to it since you will be seeing this every day, all the time once you join our party," Aria remarked with a grin on her face.
"Especially Aurora since she is Zach's favorite," she added.
Mentioning Aurora made Zach miss her even more.
"If Aurora was here, she would be sitting between you two…" he muttered with a distant smile on his face.
"Say, what's the reason she didn't come to the dungeon expedition? And why did you suddenly decide to marry her?" Aria asked with a curious look on her face, but then said, "It's okay if you don't want to tell, though."
"It's not that." Zach shook his head and said, "I just thought it would be better to show it to you rather than telling. Because it's hard to explain, and I suck at explaining."
After a brief pause, Zach uttered, "Aurora… she lost all her stats and skills."
"…" – Aria.
Victoria looked up at Zach's face and asked dumbfounded, "…. what?"
Zach turned to Aria and said, "Do you remember eating crepes at Kayden's house?"
Aria nodded and said, "I don't know the names of the sweets, but there were a few varieties of them, yeah."
"When I was going to ascend to the first realm, Aurora wanted to ascend with me. She had already met the level requirements, but her physique was low."
"I was still stupid at that time and neglected Aurora's feelings assuming it was just temporary, but I had fallen for her by that time. I thought it would be better if she ascended at her own pace since that would be the best for her."
"I…" Zach let out a weary sigh and continued, "I decided to ascend without her, and I didn't even tell her because I didn't want her to feel betrayed."
"That's the exact opposite of what you were trying to do…" Victoria commented.
"I know. My stupidity has no limits," Zach scoffed softly. "But just as I was about to ascend, Aurora came. She told me everything."
"And that was…?"
Zach glanced at Victoria and asked, "Did you ever receive a quest where you were told to do something you would never do, and completing that quest gave you random rewards?"
Victoria nodded a couple of times before saying, "Yes."
"Aurora was given physique points as rewards. But instead of doing something, she made a promise— that was never to eat a crepe for her entire life," Zach uttered in a disdainful tone.
"Honestly, I was angry when I heard that considering how much she loved crepes. I was angry at myself too. But she didn't have time to think about it, so she made such a promise in a hurry." Zach lowered his gaze from Victoria and muttered, "The penalty for breaking that promise was that her stats and skills would reset to default."
"…!"
"So she lost everything," he completed.
"Then you should have brought her to the dungeon!" Victoria exclaimed. "We could have helped her."
"Her progress also reset, so she would have to start the dungeon from the first floor again." Zach sighed and continued, "I wanted to bring her to the dungeon with me, but she wasn't in the mood."
"Besides, she said I should join you since she didn't want me to upset you in order to please her," he said with a slight smile on his face.
"…thinking about her rival even a time like this… stupid…" Victoria mumbled quietly, but both Zach and Aria heard her.
"But I still don't understand how that led to you deciding to marry her all of a sudden?" Aria asked.
"She thought I would leave her behind and ascend without her. Actually, she wanted me to ascend with you because she didn't want to drag me down…"
"That idiot…!" Aria gritted her teeth and uttered out of frustration, "If I knew this was the case, then I would have smacked some sense in her."
"We can't blame her. She grew up in an environment where she was always surrounded by people. She got special treatment and what not. Her reaction and action were completely normal for her."
Even though Zach didn't like how Aurora wanted him to ascend without her, he still defended her. He understood her feelings, which was a sign that he was growing mature.
"She was scared to be alone. Then again, everyone is afraid to be alone," Zach muttered with a distant smile on his face.
However, upon looking at Aria's face, he regretted saying that.
Aria had been alone for thousands of years without any contact. She knew better than anyone how it felt to be alone.
Zach didn't know what he should say to cheer her up, so he gently squeezed her breasts and asked in a calm voice: "You okay?"
Aria nodded and said, "I am going to yell at her once we go back. But I wonder how she reacts when I kiss you in front of her."
"She will probably get horny…" Zach muttered with a soft scoff.
"That reminds me…" Aria kissed Zach on the lips and uttered in a low voice: "When are we going to do it?"
"Do what?" Zach decided to play dumb because he wanted Aria to say it.
"You know…. Make love…." Aria muttered with a little flushed face.
"I was going to suggest a threesome with Aurora once we go back home, but I think we shouldn't. I want to have normal sex on our wedding night, at least."
Zach smiled at Aria and said, "We can do it now, but I don't think this is the right time."
"Why?" Aria shot a glance at Victoria and said, "I don't really mind doing it here."
"That's not what I am talking about. We have to go out when floor 90 is cleared."
"…!" Victoria had forgotten the main goal of going into Aria's domain. She was there to call Zach and Victoria.
"It's already cleared! Let's go!"
***
Total players in the game- 1,396,942
0 new players logged in.
15 players died.
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Author's Note- Name any random word in the comment.. Part 2.