Deus screamed in pain as Maelsa used a magical whip of some sorts to hit him all over his body. His body looks like it's almost flayed, too painful for me to look that I just stared at the ceiling instead.
His wrists are tied together and is connected to a chain hanging from the ceiling while his ankles are tied on chains that are connected to the floor.
I don't understand why Maelsa is torturing a prince, especially a ruler from another territory.
What gives him the right to do that?
Unless....
Maelsa is not what he seems.
Now I understand why Leon can't do anything about him.
He's dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
But the pack doesn't seem to be scared of him, especially Lion. In fact, they are staring at him with intense hatred and fury that they are trying to get under control.
They should as I have a feeling that we don't stand a chance against Maelsa for now.
I can feel Lion trying to keep calm in which I snuggled towards him that he took a deep breath and held me tightly while nuzzling my neck.
He continued to carry me in his arms, a clear act of defiance against Maelsa who had ordered him to place me on the floor earlier.
The rest of the pack positioned themselves around us as they already have an idea what might happen to me since Lion had disobeyed Maelsa's order.
Despite the horrible scene in front of us, they aren't afraid of the possible situations that might arise because of their defiance.
They finally had enough.
Sly caressed my hair as if he is silently reassuring me that he's beside me in case that Maelsa might torture me again because of their defiance.
To our surprise, Maelsa looked amused at their reaction that suddenly, several chairs appeared behind the pack as he told them to sit as he wants to discuss something with them while continuing to whip Deus hard that blood and pieces of his flesh splattered all over the floor.
Lion tenderly positioned me sitting on his lap then embraced me tightly while looking at Maelsa with intense suspicion mixed with hatred.
I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing despite the seriousness of the current situation as the rest of the pack moved their chairs too close to Lion that we seemed like sardines even though the room we are in is spacious.
Then Maelsa began to speak.
....
The magic stone of transformation.
It turns out that it is found in the Land of the Deserters, not the area of the enemy territory where the war recently happened.
While Maelsa continued to talk about something, I suddenly have a moment of realization.
He caused the war.
Though I don't know what he actually did but I know he DID something just to justify going to war with another territory.
Just to find something which turned out to be the transformation stone that he just mentioned.
The pack doesn't seem to notice his slip of words but I did unfortunately.
Or maybe he did it intentionally just to see if I noticed?
As Maelsa began speaking in another language, I soon became engrossed in my thoughts.
This is definitely NOT good.
Maelsa is up to something.
I'm positive that it is not Leon who wants the magic stones, though at first he seems like he is desperate on getting the magic stones.
Not to mention that Leon seems to have multiple personalities in him as I recalled his attitude towards me and the pack. The pack, especially Lion have a civil yet distant relationship with him, typical between a Chieftain Monarch and its citizens.
I probably must be overthinking whenever I have thoughts like how Leon became cruel or cold whenever Maelsa is around.
These are all speculations as I need to investigate more just to be sure.
But he seems okay to be with like the time the pack went off to war and Maelsa was in another territory.
Not to mention when we trained the warriors and also when we tried to get rid of the pests.
I remembered the look in his eyes when he pitied me as Maelsa tortured me in return for setting Lion free.
It's been a long time since I meditate that my thoughts are all over the place. I can't concentrate.
Though it's quite silly of me having deep thoughts here.
Good thing I decided to set aside my thoughts for now as Maelsa turned to look at me with a mysterious smile on his face.
Now what?
He said he doesn't need to explain more about the power of the magic stone as I must have an idea already of its purpose.
How did he know?!
That freaks me out!
It's as if he read my thoughts.
He seemed to have noticed that I looked at him warily as he laughed loudly, telling me that I must've forgotten about the spies he sent to keep an eye on me and the pack.
Oh.
I forgot about that.
The spies must have seen me using the control stone.
They can't blame me for being paranoid and overthinking a lot of things because I became like that after all the bad experiences I had.
I told everyone that the magic stone of transformation cause changes towards your physical appearance and also it can cause environmental alterations transmutation or in short, change the environment using magic.
Maelsa nodded after I've done speaking, commenting that it's a huge shame that I'm not a magic user as I would definitely be brilliant and he would be interested in training me as I have deeper understanding with magic than most of the dimwits that he had to train.
Um.
I just read about it.
I didn't protest though as the pack, especially Lion looked so proud upon hearing that.
I'm quite touched to be honest.
Even though I hated Maelsa, his compliment made me feel warm inside.
But it disappeared when he told us that he will not remove my neck cuff as he needs to make sure we did our job properly.
Here we go again.
Suddenly, he grinned wickedly as he told the pack that they better make sure to keep an eye on me as the place we are going to are quite hungry for females.
Right.
He must be joking...
Oh.
I remembered one of the earliest conversations I had with Lion in which he told me that the deserters have no females and they mate with other classes or species.
Maelsa then chuckled as he continued on warning the pack that I will be extremely vulnerable as besides facing the deserters which has two types, the wild and civilized, the place is also famous for causing hallucinations and mirages.
Then he cheerfully informed us that the place also is rich with all sorts of wild beasts and monsters that even Ghost who was a former explorer, has no idea as he hasn't visited the place yet.
The pack's faces looked like they are already stressed upon hearing Maelsa's information that I tried comforting them when Maelsa notified me that I should bring lots of antidote as almost all of the strangers who visited the place died from poison.
Now it's the pack's turn to comfort me.
If it weren't for the fact that I'm helping the pack with their mission and this stupid neck cuff, I'm definitely staying in the territory.
And to make the place sound more uninviting, Maelsa told us that he doesn't know the actual location of the magic stone.
And to bring lots of water in our journey though we don't need to since Lion and Orm knows water elemental magic.
He gave a signal to the pack to leave as he began to torture Deus while murmuring all sorts of words like failure in his job or something, I'm not too sure as I tried ignoring the sounds of Deus groaning in pain.
But I do feel sorry for him.
We were about to step outside the door when Maelsa told us in a tired voice that Deus will be going with us, along with his consort.
Despite the pain, Deus informed us that Bubu is NOT his consort much to the pack's amusement.
....
The pack soon became busy with the preparations as they made sure that someone capable will be doing their jobs as the journey that we are having will take a long time.
Bubu is on a hunt for partners as she is on one of her moods for doing vulgar activities.
Leon is also busy as he tried to help the pack on finding capable staff for their replacement as the work itself is too much to be handled by a single creature.
He knows about that then why did he made the pack work alone in their position without someone assisting them?!
That Leon!
....
I brushed my hair while sitting on the bed as I just finished taking a bath. Honestly, it felt kind of lonely not having someone beside me while I'm sleeping. I'm used to having one of the pack sleeping beside me as they kept insisting on keeping me company.
Except recently as they were too busy even to sleep and they kept on drinking energy potions as if they were drinking water.
I visited the pack, including Leon who all looked pleased seeing me bringing them all sorts of treats and food. I always left quickly as soon as I arrive, much to their dismay though I promised them that I would spend time with them as soon as they are not busy anymore.
My room smelled like I'm inside a flower shop as all sorts of flower arrangements are placed in all the corners of my room which was given to me by Alpha when he visited me earlier. He begrudgingly told me that he can't stay for too long as several bores are demanding his attention.
He nearly lost control again when he kissed me deeply, almost removing his pants when we heard several voices yelling his name outside the window of my room.
Honestly, I can feel that he is much worse than Lion in being a lust god. I can just imagine my early death if Lion will allow him to go all the way with me.
.....
I was about to go to sleep when I heard someone singing outside the window of my room.
My room has a balcony so I went out and looked down and saw Orm singing while looking at me, with Hludwig playing some kind of instrument.
What...
Orm....
I can feel myself tearing up as he kept on singing beautifully, as several creatures hurriedly went outside the palace to look at the spectacle.
I smiled at him as he told me that he made that song for me and that he wants to show everyone that I'm his mate, making me blush while the spectators made all sorts of astonished voices with some cheering him on.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the rest of the pack walking towards the crowd as they seemed curious about the spectacle. Same with Leon, Deus and to the delight of Bubu who kept on jumping in front of the crowd, annoying those beside her.
I don't like being the center of attention but for now, I will swallow my discomfort and to be honest, I feel touched by his grand gesture.
Then Orm sang a romantic song declaring his feelings for me while gesturing me to go to him.
I don't think he meant that I should jump from the balcony but at that time, I was so enchanted by him that to the amazement of everyone, I jumped from the balcony towards Orm who hurriedly used a floating spell as his face clearly showed that he didn't expect my impulsive action.
As I floated towards him, he smiled tenderly at me as he tried to pull me towards him.
He carried me in his arms as he kissed me softly while slithering towards the direction of his room.
What Orm did became popular for males to woo the females they are planning to bond with. Thankfully, none of the females copied my impulsive action, much to my relief.
We ended sleeping in my room as Orm's bed was too small for everyone to sleep on.
Yes, everyone.
Orm was about to go inside his room while carrying me when the rest of the pack nonchalantly marched inside his room, making themselves feel at home as they began complaining that the bed doesn't have enough space for all of us.
To prevent the pack from brawling as Orm looked like he was about to transform to his ultimate form, I told them that all of us should sleep in my room as I have a surprise for them.
The surprise was me making some bedtime snacks for them. Of course they loved it a lot that I became more enthusiastic in spoiling them that I ended up brushing and braiding their hair, even Sly who was used to letting his hair flow freely.
I told them all sorts of experiences I had back in my previous world and also the time when I was young. While I was talking to them, I made each of them a hair tie and gave it to them. Since that day, Sly tied his hair once in a while though most of the time he kept the hair tie inside his treasure chest.
As it was still too early to sleep and the pack seems to be full of energy because of the energy potion they drank earlier, I decided to make each one of them a bracelet.
They looked at the bracelet kit that I brought from my previous world with curiousity as plastic beads didn't exist in this world. I didn't tell them though that their gems are much better than the plastic beads that I'm using as they thought that the beads must be some sort of treasure as they touched each of the bead with reverence.
They looked overjoyed at seeing the bracelets I've made, especially with their names on it as they told me that my written language looked exotic and asked to teach them someday.
After several moments of conversation, it's me who got sleepy first. I murmured that I want to shop for some stuff to bring to our journey as I closed my eyes, feeling Lion holding me as he gently laid me down beside him.
I can feel the pack nuzzling me all over my face and neck as they told me to sleep well as they will sleep beside me.
My bed is big enough to fit all of us as Leon gave me the best room in the palace, besides his room of course.
I can already picture out how we positioned ourselves while all of us are sleeping together as all of us sleep together from time to time.
As always, Lion and Sly are at each side of me. Orm's spot is at our feet as he takes a huge amount of space with his tail. Alpha and Ghost are above our heads. Our position is like a pentagon with me at the center of it.
I admit that the first time we slept like that made me feel awkward. But after several horrible experiences and nightmares, sleeping with them made me feel secured. I want to punch myself in the past everytime I recall myself saying that I don't want a harem.
I don't call it harem. I call it my family. They are my beloved family that I cherished more than my life.
Whoever gave me this opportunity to come to this world in the first place, I am definitely, eternally grateful to you.
....
I went shopping for almost an entire day with Ghost and Puma, who kept on grinning at me when she saw the growing number of mating marks I have.
While Ghost is busy paying for all the stuff he bought, Puma whispered, asking me on when is Ghost planning to do the secondary ritual with me, much to my embarrassment as despite her whispering, the shop we are in is empty except for the three of us as we are the only customers.
Puma reassured me that Ghost won't hear us as he was busy talking to the shopkeeper. I was relieved at first but when he glanced around looking at the stuff that the shopkeeper pointed, I noticed that his face is very red.
That Puma!
Ghost definitely heard us!
It was definitely awkward for me by the time Puma left us.
Since I felt like I'm about to blurt anything that comes into my mind, I hummed a random song instead when suddenly, Ghost stopped and told me that he wants to rest for awhile.
We saw a magical fountain nearby and sat down on a bench near it. I continued humming the song when I looked up and saw the beautiful sunset.
It's so beautiful.
This world is truly magical.
Looking at the two suns kept on reminding me of the fascinating world that I currently live....
My thoughts were cut short when Ghost suddenly kissed me. He held my face gently while he kissed me slowly, as if we have all the time in the world.
He doesn't need to say anything as I can feel his feelings towards me with his kiss but to my surprise, he told me that I am his light, his sun and the reason why he looks forward each day. We continued to look at the sunset silently as we held hands.
....
Bubu hyped me up on the clothes that I bought as all of them looked very flattering on me. Ghost and Puma were a great help in choosing clothes for me that are appropriate in a desert environment.
Deus made steeds for everyone except for me and Bubu as he told me that I can share with him, much to the pack and Bubu's annoyance that she bit him on his leg, making him yell in pain.
The rest of them began bickering in which I grinned at Bubu, who understood quickly on what I was planning to do.
With confidence, I smoothly got on a steed and held out my hand towards Bubu, smiling sweetly at her while holding the steed's tie with my other hand.
I can see the shocked faces of the pack and Deus towards us as Bubu smirked at them as she got on the steed with my help.
She teased them by embracing me behind my back while making all sorts of faces towards them though I get the feeling that she is only half teasing them.
Then we set off first.