Linel's anger reverberated through the door he'd just breached, echoing through the hallway.
Bellos flinched, sensing the killing intent, but planned to calmly converse with him after laying Zelda on the bed.
However, the moment he placed her on the bed, Linel's powerful fist slammed into Bellos's face. With a thud, Bellos fell to the floor.
Raphael and Sharon, who had been monitoring the room through the hole outside the door, rushed in.
However, the two remained silent, frozen in place, watching the enraged Emperor.
"Is he dead? He's the lord of the Magic Tower, so he can't die, can he?"
Raphael looked down at Bellos, who struggled to get up from the floor, with worried eyes.
The fist that had breached the door earlier had struck a person.
If the facial bones hadn't been shattered, it was a stroke of luck.
Raphael was afraid to even ask Bellos if he was okay.
Linel's face looked as if he might throw the magic tower lord out the window at any moment.
Indeed, a chilling chill seemed to rise from behind him.
"What have you done to my wife?"
The calm tone added to his already low voice made it even more terrifying.
If he had raised his voice and become more agitated, someone would have actively intervened, but that was impossible.
Even his breathing was chilling.
"She's only briefly unconscious. She's not hurt, so calm down."
Bellos countered, forcing himself to sit up.
His overreaction was somewhat understandable.
But the force of the blow was too strong, and the pain was excruciating.
If Bellos hadn't cast a protective spell on himself moments ago, his cheekbone would have easily collapsed.
Returning from the Valley of Death and using teleportation to see the Emperor, Bellos immediately cast a protective spell on himself.
Even if his bones weren't broken, the shock and pain didn't diminish.
In fact, Bellos briefly lost consciousness for a few seconds before waking up.
"I think I just used teleportation, but where have you been? What have you been doing that Zelda's fainting!"
The more he questioned, the more enraged he became.
Linel grabbed Bellos's collar with one hand, holding his staggering body steady, and growled.
"...We went to the Valley of Death."
Bellos glanced down at Zelda, who still hadn't woken up, and answered.
He would find out eventually.
Zelda had promised to tell him about her trip to the Valley of Death herself, but the situation wasn't favorable.
"...What? Where? Where?!"
He gasped in surprise.
"Are you in your right mind? Where do you think you're taking Zelda?"
Dozens of adult wyverns were flying around.
The waves between the canyons were quite strong, and ferocious wyverns swarmed in and out of the numerous caves that split the canyon on either side.
He'd been to a place like that using teleportation?
Dragging her pregnant body?
What had happened there that she'd returned unconscious?
He tried to regroup, but he couldn't be rational anymore.
Linel tossed Bellos towards the sofa as if throwing his uniform jacket.
"Ugh!"
Bellos flew towards the sofa, hit his side, and fell to the floor, hitting his side against the table again.
"Your Majesty! Calm down!"
He was going to catch someone.
No, he already caught them.
Raphael looked at Bellos squirming on the floor, hugging Linel tightly from behind with both arms, desperately trying to stop him.
"Don't bother me, get out of the way."
He grabbed Raphael's wrist with one hand and pulled it away like swatting a mosquito.
"Oh my, Secretary!"
Raphael rolled on the floor, and Sharon quickly reached out to stop him from rolling any further.
Meanwhile, Linel climbed on top of Bellos, who had collapsed under the sofa.
He grabbed Bellos by the collar again and glared at him with murderous intent.
“If there is even the slightest problem with Zelda’s health, Lord of the Tower... you will not be safe either!”
“Calm down. If you continue to use violence, I will not sit idly by.”
“What?”
“I have already given much to Your Majesty, but I do not wish to give up my body as well.”
“Ha, when you say you gave it to me... are you referring to Zelda?”
Linel looked down at Bellos’ face closely, grabbed his chin, and applied force.
“Ugh!”
For the first time in hundreds of years, Bellos felt like his face might suddenly age from being beaten by Emperor Linel.
“You two... what are you doing?”
It was Zelda’s voice.
Ever since returning from the Valley of Death, Aoshi had been having nightmares.
Dreams of being surrounded by wyverns, having all of his fur ripped out, and being eaten.
What was even more unbelievable was that the nightmares always ended with Moiya and Moni dancing happily beyond the wyverns breathing fire at them.
“Me, meow...! (Go away...!)”
Today, Aoshi woke up from his nightmare while swinging a cotton ball during his nap.
“Why are you so crazy?”
Aoshi opened her eyes to Melanie’s voice, not Rosie’s.
She had him on her lap and was petting him here and there as she pleased.
“Meow? (When did you get here?)”
“Aoshi wakes up kicking like that whenever he sleeps these days?”
Rosie said to Melanie while feeding Rams a bottle.
“I guess he had a dream about fighting. Does he want to be a beast?”
Melanie laughed, shaking Aoshi’s front paws.
“Meow~! (I want to be a beast~!)”
Aoshi bared her cute teeth without realizing it, and he thought of Moiya and Moni.
He wanted to become a beast and crush those evil wyvern babies under his feet. However, Aoshi was so sleepy that his revenge was vague, and his eyes slowly closed at the sight of the loyal hand of the human. He yawned deeply again, stretched out his short legs, and fell back to sleep.
“Your Highness Rosie, I actually came to ask you something.”
Melanie, who had been repeatedly patting Aoshi’s back, spoke meaningfully.
“What is it?”
“When you kissed Prince Norton, how did you hold back?”
“...Huh? What do you mean?”
Rosie, patting Rams on the back after feeding him milk, was taken aback by the question, which could be interpreted in several ways.
“How did you hold back because you wanted to go further? That kiss was so soul-crushing?”
Melanie’s eyes and expression were filled with adventurous curiosity, as if she had discovered a new continent.
“How did Your Highness know it was so soul-crushing?”
Rosie demanded, her eyes narrowing.
“I-I read it in a book.”
Melanie stuttered, unresponsive.
And she even offered an excuse.
If she had heard it from someone else, no one would have suspected her, but the fact that she had read a “book” was quite jarring.
“Your Highness... read a book? Are you asking me to believe that?”
Rosie immediately knew Melanie was lying.
Melanie then confessed the truth, but that surprised Rosie in its own way.
If it were personal experience, it would have to be Hetor, that guy.
Rosie stared at Melanie, her mouth agape.
Melanie’s lips were already twitching, as if she wanted to brag about something.
“When on earth did that happen...”
She was about to ask what had happened, but Melanie’s expression was so blissful that she closed her mouth.
“Last night. He suddenly offered to teach me how to swim. You know, when I said I didn’t want to because it was cold, so he took me to a hot spring?”
“Why all of a sudden, swimming?”
“The road to the Pasha Empire is by boat.”
“You’re not even swimming, so why learn to swim?”
“It’s to prepare for any unforeseen danger. But now that I think about it, hick. Teaching me to swim was just an excuse, hick. I think Hetor might have taken me to a secluded place because he wanted to kiss me, hick.”
Melanie smirked at the end of every sentence, her expression fleetingly thrilled.
Rosie's curiosity was piqued by this sight.
"You... really liked it, didn't you?"
"It was good, but Hetor was too passionate, so I couldn't handle it."
Bellos flinched, sensing the killing intent, but planned to calmly converse with him after laying Zelda on the bed.
However, the moment he placed her on the bed, Linel's powerful fist slammed into Bellos's face. With a thud, Bellos fell to the floor.
Raphael and Sharon, who had been monitoring the room through the hole outside the door, rushed in.
However, the two remained silent, frozen in place, watching the enraged Emperor.
"Is he dead? He's the lord of the Magic Tower, so he can't die, can he?"
Raphael looked down at Bellos, who struggled to get up from the floor, with worried eyes.
The fist that had breached the door earlier had struck a person.
If the facial bones hadn't been shattered, it was a stroke of luck.
Raphael was afraid to even ask Bellos if he was okay.
Linel's face looked as if he might throw the magic tower lord out the window at any moment.
Indeed, a chilling chill seemed to rise from behind him.
"What have you done to my wife?"
The calm tone added to his already low voice made it even more terrifying.
If he had raised his voice and become more agitated, someone would have actively intervened, but that was impossible.
Even his breathing was chilling.
"She's only briefly unconscious. She's not hurt, so calm down."
Bellos countered, forcing himself to sit up.
His overreaction was somewhat understandable.
But the force of the blow was too strong, and the pain was excruciating.
If Bellos hadn't cast a protective spell on himself moments ago, his cheekbone would have easily collapsed.
Returning from the Valley of Death and using teleportation to see the Emperor, Bellos immediately cast a protective spell on himself.
Even if his bones weren't broken, the shock and pain didn't diminish.
In fact, Bellos briefly lost consciousness for a few seconds before waking up.
"I think I just used teleportation, but where have you been? What have you been doing that Zelda's fainting!"
The more he questioned, the more enraged he became.
Linel grabbed Bellos's collar with one hand, holding his staggering body steady, and growled.
"...We went to the Valley of Death."
Bellos glanced down at Zelda, who still hadn't woken up, and answered.
He would find out eventually.
Zelda had promised to tell him about her trip to the Valley of Death herself, but the situation wasn't favorable.
"...What? Where? Where?!"
He gasped in surprise.
"Are you in your right mind? Where do you think you're taking Zelda?"
Dozens of adult wyverns were flying around.
The waves between the canyons were quite strong, and ferocious wyverns swarmed in and out of the numerous caves that split the canyon on either side.
He'd been to a place like that using teleportation?
Dragging her pregnant body?
What had happened there that she'd returned unconscious?
He tried to regroup, but he couldn't be rational anymore.
Linel tossed Bellos towards the sofa as if throwing his uniform jacket.
"Ugh!"
Bellos flew towards the sofa, hit his side, and fell to the floor, hitting his side against the table again.
"Your Majesty! Calm down!"
He was going to catch someone.
No, he already caught them.
Raphael looked at Bellos squirming on the floor, hugging Linel tightly from behind with both arms, desperately trying to stop him.
"Don't bother me, get out of the way."
He grabbed Raphael's wrist with one hand and pulled it away like swatting a mosquito.
"Oh my, Secretary!"
Raphael rolled on the floor, and Sharon quickly reached out to stop him from rolling any further.
Meanwhile, Linel climbed on top of Bellos, who had collapsed under the sofa.
He grabbed Bellos by the collar again and glared at him with murderous intent.
“If there is even the slightest problem with Zelda’s health, Lord of the Tower... you will not be safe either!”
“Calm down. If you continue to use violence, I will not sit idly by.”
“What?”
“I have already given much to Your Majesty, but I do not wish to give up my body as well.”
“Ha, when you say you gave it to me... are you referring to Zelda?”
Linel looked down at Bellos’ face closely, grabbed his chin, and applied force.
“Ugh!”
For the first time in hundreds of years, Bellos felt like his face might suddenly age from being beaten by Emperor Linel.
“You two... what are you doing?”
It was Zelda’s voice.
***
Ever since returning from the Valley of Death, Aoshi had been having nightmares.
Dreams of being surrounded by wyverns, having all of his fur ripped out, and being eaten.
What was even more unbelievable was that the nightmares always ended with Moiya and Moni dancing happily beyond the wyverns breathing fire at them.
“Me, meow...! (Go away...!)”
Today, Aoshi woke up from his nightmare while swinging a cotton ball during his nap.
“Why are you so crazy?”
Aoshi opened her eyes to Melanie’s voice, not Rosie’s.
She had him on her lap and was petting him here and there as she pleased.
“Meow? (When did you get here?)”
“Aoshi wakes up kicking like that whenever he sleeps these days?”
Rosie said to Melanie while feeding Rams a bottle.
“I guess he had a dream about fighting. Does he want to be a beast?”
Melanie laughed, shaking Aoshi’s front paws.
“Meow~! (I want to be a beast~!)”
Aoshi bared her cute teeth without realizing it, and he thought of Moiya and Moni.
He wanted to become a beast and crush those evil wyvern babies under his feet. However, Aoshi was so sleepy that his revenge was vague, and his eyes slowly closed at the sight of the loyal hand of the human. He yawned deeply again, stretched out his short legs, and fell back to sleep.
“Your Highness Rosie, I actually came to ask you something.”
Melanie, who had been repeatedly patting Aoshi’s back, spoke meaningfully.
“What is it?”
“When you kissed Prince Norton, how did you hold back?”
“...Huh? What do you mean?”
Rosie, patting Rams on the back after feeding him milk, was taken aback by the question, which could be interpreted in several ways.
“How did you hold back because you wanted to go further? That kiss was so soul-crushing?”
Melanie’s eyes and expression were filled with adventurous curiosity, as if she had discovered a new continent.
“How did Your Highness know it was so soul-crushing?”
Rosie demanded, her eyes narrowing.
“I-I read it in a book.”
Melanie stuttered, unresponsive.
And she even offered an excuse.
If she had heard it from someone else, no one would have suspected her, but the fact that she had read a “book” was quite jarring.
“Your Highness... read a book? Are you asking me to believe that?”
Rosie immediately knew Melanie was lying.
Melanie then confessed the truth, but that surprised Rosie in its own way.
“I’m sorry. I’m going overboard with the joke. Actually... It's from personal experience.”
“Oh my goodness. Your Highness!”
“Oh my goodness. Your Highness!”
If it were personal experience, it would have to be Hetor, that guy.
Rosie stared at Melanie, her mouth agape.
Melanie’s lips were already twitching, as if she wanted to brag about something.
“When on earth did that happen...”
She was about to ask what had happened, but Melanie’s expression was so blissful that she closed her mouth.
“Last night. He suddenly offered to teach me how to swim. You know, when I said I didn’t want to because it was cold, so he took me to a hot spring?”
“Why all of a sudden, swimming?”
“The road to the Pasha Empire is by boat.”
“You’re not even swimming, so why learn to swim?”
“It’s to prepare for any unforeseen danger. But now that I think about it, hick. Teaching me to swim was just an excuse, hick. I think Hetor might have taken me to a secluded place because he wanted to kiss me, hick.”
Melanie smirked at the end of every sentence, her expression fleetingly thrilled.
Rosie's curiosity was piqued by this sight.
"You... really liked it, didn't you?"
"It was good, but Hetor was too passionate, so I couldn't handle it."
The way she looked embarrassed after saying it was quite something.
"How passionate?"
Rosie asked with an envious look.
She wasn't dissatisfied with the gentle and gentlemanly kisses of Prince Norton, but after kissing him, it felt like someone had snatched the book from her while she was reading the most interesting part.
Her mouth always felt itchy afterward.
So Melanie's comment about the kiss being too passionate sent a ripple through Rosie's otherwise tranquil kissing routine.
“I thought, ‘Is this guy trying to tear my lower back out while we’re kissing?’”
Melanie whispered, her voice laced with shyness, and Rosie’s eyes, listening, were filled with envy.
“That... passionate kiss?”
“Yeah.”
“It was your first kiss?”
“Yeah.”
Melanie said playfully, but it didn’t seem like a lie.
“You said you kissed so passionately, but didn’t you get any further?”
Rosie asked, imagining Melanie’s passionate first kiss, which she said felt like her lower back would be pulled out.
“I wanted to see the end!”
Melanie said with a look of regret as she slammed the table.
“But?”
“I said my wrist suddenly went to the back of my head and almost got stuck?”
“Why?”
“Something kept getting in our way while we were kissing and getting in the way of us.”
“In the hot springs?”
“Yes, so I thought the branch was floating, so I was waving it with my hand to move it aside, but Hetor suddenly got angry and pushed me away, right?”
The more she thought about it, the more disappointing it became.
Melanie’s expression soured, and Rosie tried to comfort her.
“Oh my, why did he suddenly lose his temper after kissing so passionately? He really is strange.”
“I don’t know. He's been avoiding my gaze ever since.”
“What interrupted your relationship? Was it a branch you hit with your hand?”
“I don’t know either. It was definitely a branch, but when I opened my eyes, there was nothing there.”
Melanie pretended to break the branch with both hands and groaned.
“I think I prefer a feeling of regret and frustration over passionate contact.”
Rosie sipped her lukewarm tea, and Prince Norton came to mind.
“Aha, Prince Norton, is that how you do things? He seems to be as gentle as he looks.”
“...”
Rosie nodded unconsciously at Melanie's words, then wrinkled her nose.
She couldn't understand why she felt so bitter.
"But, Your Highness, you don't know how good it is that we're not fighting over a man and being jealous,"
Melanie said, eating her strawberry cake. Rosie wholeheartedly agreed.
While Rosie tucked the sleeping Rams into bed, Melanie rose from her chair and put Aoshi down.
"I'm going to go now."
"Already? Let's finish dinner and go."
Rosie checked the time and grabbed Melanie.
"No."
"Why?"
"I need to hurry and wait for a chance to kiss him."
"!"
Rosie's gaze, watching Melanie so casually reveal her desires, was not only surprised and appalled, but also a little respectful.
For the first time, Rosie felt she had something to learn from Melanie.
So she desperately held on to her.
"Stay longer. Tell me more about last night."
“Let go of this. If you’re bored, Your Highness, you can just call Prince Norton. I told you I have work to do.”
Melanie burst out laughing and left Rosie’s bedroom with a solemn expression, as if ready for battle.
Linel’s face, which was sinking closer and closer as if he were about to devour Bellos, froze at Zelda’s voice.
“Are you okay?!”
He raised his head and looked at her.
Zelda was sitting on the bed, her upper body raised.
“You two look like you’re about to kiss?”
It was a posture that could be misleading at first glance.
It looked like they were in a fierce fight, didn’t it?
‘No, one side was getting beaten up,’
She thought, examining the two men’s faces. She had to break up the fight first.
“To witness my husband and his friend rolling around! Get away from each other, quickly!!”
At Zelda’s shout, the two men locked eyes and fell apart, their teeth chattering.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Why did you faint? Are you hurt?”
He jumped up from Bellos's body and ran at the speed of light to the bed where Zelda was, asking,
"I just fainted for a moment because of the Incarnation Sword. Didn't my friend tell you?"
Zelda tried to calm him down, but then noticed the bleeding on the back of his hand.
"What's wrong with your hand?!"
"Oh, it's nothing."
"It's bleeding!"
"Don't worry about it. It's just a small cut."
Sharon looked at Zelda and nodded at the door with a hole in the middle.
Seeing this, she grabbed Linel's hand.
"It's nothing! The blood is flowing like this!"
Bellos felt sullen at the sight of Zelda worrying about Linel.
'Did he use the protection spell for nothing? That Emperor bastard has blood on his hand, and now Zelda is worrying him so much.'
As for injuries, he was the one who was hurt the worst, having been beaten so badly that his face was shattered by Linel.
Zelda, without any hesitation, wiped the blood flowing from Linel's hand with her palm.
And at that moment...
"Ah, ah... ah...!"
A headache erupted in her head.
Zelda lowered her head and closed her eyes.
Then, her mind felt as if it would split open, and then suddenly, as if in a vivid dream, she saw herself and Linel before her eyes.
Unfortunately, the memories that came to her didn't last long.
After a few seconds, Zelda slowly opened her mouth with a confused look on her face.
"I think the memories... have come back..."
But the gaze in her eyes as she stared at him was unusual.
Linel suddenly became ominous.
"Zelda, what memories are you remembering that make you stare at me with those wide eyes? Huh?"
"Your Majesty. Did we... meet before we were married?"
Zelda asked, her eyes brightening.
Rosie asked with an envious look.
She wasn't dissatisfied with the gentle and gentlemanly kisses of Prince Norton, but after kissing him, it felt like someone had snatched the book from her while she was reading the most interesting part.
Her mouth always felt itchy afterward.
So Melanie's comment about the kiss being too passionate sent a ripple through Rosie's otherwise tranquil kissing routine.
“I thought, ‘Is this guy trying to tear my lower back out while we’re kissing?’”
Melanie whispered, her voice laced with shyness, and Rosie’s eyes, listening, were filled with envy.
“That... passionate kiss?”
“Yeah.”
“It was your first kiss?”
“Yeah.”
Melanie said playfully, but it didn’t seem like a lie.
“You said you kissed so passionately, but didn’t you get any further?”
Rosie asked, imagining Melanie’s passionate first kiss, which she said felt like her lower back would be pulled out.
“I wanted to see the end!”
Melanie said with a look of regret as she slammed the table.
“But?”
“I said my wrist suddenly went to the back of my head and almost got stuck?”
“Why?”
“Something kept getting in our way while we were kissing and getting in the way of us.”
“In the hot springs?”
“Yes, so I thought the branch was floating, so I was waving it with my hand to move it aside, but Hetor suddenly got angry and pushed me away, right?”
The more she thought about it, the more disappointing it became.
Melanie’s expression soured, and Rosie tried to comfort her.
“Oh my, why did he suddenly lose his temper after kissing so passionately? He really is strange.”
“I don’t know. He's been avoiding my gaze ever since.”
“What interrupted your relationship? Was it a branch you hit with your hand?”
“I don’t know either. It was definitely a branch, but when I opened my eyes, there was nothing there.”
Melanie pretended to break the branch with both hands and groaned.
“I think I prefer a feeling of regret and frustration over passionate contact.”
Rosie sipped her lukewarm tea, and Prince Norton came to mind.
“Aha, Prince Norton, is that how you do things? He seems to be as gentle as he looks.”
“...”
Rosie nodded unconsciously at Melanie's words, then wrinkled her nose.
She couldn't understand why she felt so bitter.
"But, Your Highness, you don't know how good it is that we're not fighting over a man and being jealous,"
Melanie said, eating her strawberry cake. Rosie wholeheartedly agreed.
While Rosie tucked the sleeping Rams into bed, Melanie rose from her chair and put Aoshi down.
"I'm going to go now."
"Already? Let's finish dinner and go."
Rosie checked the time and grabbed Melanie.
"No."
"Why?"
"I need to hurry and wait for a chance to kiss him."
"!"
Rosie's gaze, watching Melanie so casually reveal her desires, was not only surprised and appalled, but also a little respectful.
For the first time, Rosie felt she had something to learn from Melanie.
So she desperately held on to her.
"Stay longer. Tell me more about last night."
“Let go of this. If you’re bored, Your Highness, you can just call Prince Norton. I told you I have work to do.”
Melanie burst out laughing and left Rosie’s bedroom with a solemn expression, as if ready for battle.
***
Linel’s face, which was sinking closer and closer as if he were about to devour Bellos, froze at Zelda’s voice.
“Are you okay?!”
He raised his head and looked at her.
Zelda was sitting on the bed, her upper body raised.
“You two look like you’re about to kiss?”
It was a posture that could be misleading at first glance.
It looked like they were in a fierce fight, didn’t it?
‘No, one side was getting beaten up,’
She thought, examining the two men’s faces. She had to break up the fight first.
“To witness my husband and his friend rolling around! Get away from each other, quickly!!”
At Zelda’s shout, the two men locked eyes and fell apart, their teeth chattering.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Why did you faint? Are you hurt?”
He jumped up from Bellos's body and ran at the speed of light to the bed where Zelda was, asking,
"I just fainted for a moment because of the Incarnation Sword. Didn't my friend tell you?"
Zelda tried to calm him down, but then noticed the bleeding on the back of his hand.
"What's wrong with your hand?!"
"Oh, it's nothing."
"It's bleeding!"
"Don't worry about it. It's just a small cut."
Sharon looked at Zelda and nodded at the door with a hole in the middle.
Seeing this, she grabbed Linel's hand.
"It's nothing! The blood is flowing like this!"
Bellos felt sullen at the sight of Zelda worrying about Linel.
'Did he use the protection spell for nothing? That Emperor bastard has blood on his hand, and now Zelda is worrying him so much.'
As for injuries, he was the one who was hurt the worst, having been beaten so badly that his face was shattered by Linel.
Zelda, without any hesitation, wiped the blood flowing from Linel's hand with her palm.
And at that moment...
"Ah, ah... ah...!"
A headache erupted in her head.
Zelda lowered her head and closed her eyes.
Then, her mind felt as if it would split open, and then suddenly, as if in a vivid dream, she saw herself and Linel before her eyes.
Unfortunately, the memories that came to her didn't last long.
After a few seconds, Zelda slowly opened her mouth with a confused look on her face.
"I think the memories... have come back..."
But the gaze in her eyes as she stared at him was unusual.
Linel suddenly became ominous.
"Zelda, what memories are you remembering that make you stare at me with those wide eyes? Huh?"
"Your Majesty. Did we... meet before we were married?"
Zelda asked, her eyes brightening.
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