Five minutes ago,
After Syrous was frightened and ran for dear life, he planned to wait downstairs, but the place was so crowded with people, almost suffocating him, so he had no choice but to wait outside.
"The hell was that?....Why are there so many people?"
He looked behind him, wiping his sweat, then he looked at the clear sun in the sky; the sunlight was strong, and he blocked it using his hand.
"It's burning hot today; who would believe it was raining heavily just yesterday night?"
"That's how it is; who can predict the weather?!"
Those words came from his side; he lowered his gaze, knowing perfectly well who is the owner of that voice.
"What are you doing here, Belladonna?"
Looking at his face, she felt annoyed for some reason.
"The fuck are you talking to me like that?"
He diverted his gaze instantly.
"I didn't say anything."
"You bastard."
He quickly turned her way, full of anger, "bitch."
The tension between them was so high you could see the sparks.
Daniel came along with the others, disturbing their conversation. He pulled Bella into his arms, his gaze showing full hostility towards Syrous.
"What are you doing?"
"None of your business; stay away, you little brat."
"Who is the little brat? Wait a second...where have I seen you?"
"Ugh!?" Feeling embarrassed, Syrous turned his face the other way and covered it using his arm firmly, saying, "No, we didn't. How can I know a little brat like you? We didn't. We absolutely didn't."
"Really?!"
Still doubtful, Bella slammed his hands; only then did he realize his grip was strong. He almost hurt her, so he quickly let go. Flustered, he said,
"I...I am...sorry. I didn't realize what was happening. I was so focused on driving him away that I forgot. I am sorry."
He kept kneeling and apologizing over and over again, while Syrous, who was watching, felt so dumbfounded.
"Is he still the same rude kid from just now?"
Sylvia said, "That's how men are when they are in love, a bunch of useless shit."
Syrous turned beside him, wondering, "Where the hell did YOU come from?"
The moment his gaze met hers, he was stunned, his brain unable to function properly.
Bright, airy, and soft blue hues that evoke feelings of calmness and clarity, her ponytails like shiny, rich, golden threads, wearing a white dress, he couldn't help but say it out loud.
"Angel!!!"
He was dazed for a while before Daniel punched his head full force, and they started shouting at each other.
-bang-
"Ugh, aw, aw, aw... Why the hell did you do that?!"
"You asshole, what the hell are you doing harassing every passing cat and dog, huh?"
"Did you see me harassing you? No."
"Do you mean I am a cat or dog?"
"Shit, he's hooked." Bella felt worried about Daniel as a former comrade; she knew what it meant to be under Syrous's mercy. She seriously prayed for him.
''My condolences.''
Sylvia looked at her in confusion. "It's not that bad, is it?"
"It's worse than you could imagine."
Her firm answer made her look forward to seeing what was going to happen, especially knowing if Daniel meant to embarrass him, he could, 'Let's see how this is going to turn out; I am quite excited.'
Syrous shook his head, smiling slightly, "I didn't mean anything; you said it yourself."
"What?!"
"First time meeting someone who knows himself that well, respect."
"Fuck you!!!"
Right now his rage finally broke out; he clenched his fists, ready to hit him, but Bella stood in the middle between both of them, raising her hands in their faces.
"That's enough."
Daniel tried to defend himself, saying, but Bella dropped a bomb on him.
"But that shameless man tried to harass you and Sylvia; you don't expect me to stand and do nothing, do you?"
"He's my senior at work."
"Wait…what?!!" He felt his world shattering after hearing his identity.
He turned at Bella, sweating all over, asking, "Am I going to cause you trouble at your work?"
Bella shook it away by saying, "Don't worry about it; he's just my senior, not my boss. The best he can ever do is complain about me to the boss, but I doubt he has the courage."
Feeling wronged, Syrous turned at Belladonna. "Hey...not like you can do any better, not to mention no one can actually talk with him."
He leaned his hand over Bella's shoulder, "Except for that woman, of course."
Bella crossed her hands and gave him a strange gaze. Seeing the scene unfold before his eyes, Daniel couldn't hold back; he pushed Syrous away from Bella, growling at him.
"Hands to yourself."
Syrous didn't like it and said while shaking his hand, "Put a leech on your man, damn it."
Bella quickly pushed Daniel away, clearing his misunderstanding.
"Don't be ridiculous; he is not my man."
Dan felt hurt and curled onto the ground, looking so pitiful; even Syrous pitied him.
Syrous patted Dan's shoulder, saying helplessly,
"Easy there, man, that's just how women are."
Dan raised his dog-like eyes, looking at Syrous, "You think?!"
Syrous felt sorry for him; he looked at Bella with a wronged expression, asking,
"Why are you doing this to the little man?"
Dan nodded at the side, agreeing with his words, and Sylvia also joined in.
"He's actually right. I mean, why is it you seem to pretend not to care whenever this topic is brought up for discussion?"
"I didn't." Bella felt wronged but couldn't defend herself; she wanted to change the topic, drawing their attention towards something else.
She looked at Syrous, asking, "The game is already over; what are you still doing here?"
"Game?.... What game?!" Baial asked
"Now that you mentioned the games, I think he also participated in the Cup of Glory," Baial said, trying to squeeze her memories to know where she met him.
"I honestly can't remember..." She turned to Sylvia, asking her, "Have any clues?"
"Is this a fish memory? Look carefully; he is the overweight player who suffocated his opponent."
After Sylvia said that they finally remembered him, Daniel took the opportunity to ask him,
"What's your weight exactly?"
"None of your business..." Then he turned at Baial, saying, "And I didn't come here because I wanted to; he dragged me here."
"He?!...Wait a second..." Feeling confused about it, she took a second to process the information in her mind, then she shouted, "Eeeeeh...you mean him? How is that even possible?! Find a more convincing lie at least..."
"Do I seem like I am joking right now?"
Seeing the look in his eyes, she knew he was serious, but she had all the right to doubt him. "You can't blame me either; this makes absolutely no sense."
"If it weren't for the fact that I was terrified out of the room, would you think I would be chatting with you so leisurely like I am doing now?"
"So what exactly is he doing up there?"
"You ask me, I ask who?... We met that kid Serenity, and the next thing I know, we are here."
"Wait a second, Serenity, how the hell did you meet her?"
"If you don't believe it, go see for yourself. They are on the second floor, but you're responsible for what happens next.... I mean, if you die, you can't blame me." He pointed at the stairs inside the cafe.
"Is the world really such a small place? We were just talking about her," Baial asked.
Sylvia patted her shoulder, saying, "Small or not, we are still going up there."
"You got a point"
Although still doubtful, Bella followed anyway. They sneaked into the second floor, and sure enough, he was more than right.
Bella's eyes widened from what she was seeing; Ash was holding her hands full of concern.
"Either I am sleeping or I am seeing things."
"You tell me about it. I never thought Serenity had a boyfriend," Sylvia said.
"This is actually quite exciting," Dan said. He was hardly hiding his creepy smile.
"Clearly we are not on the same page." Then Bella turned at Syrous, seeing his complexion worse than hers; his jaw dropped to the floor, stiff, just like a stone. "Oh, now that's the normal reaction."
They kept watching till Ash sat beside her; from their standing point, they seemed like they were kissing. They tried to catch a clear view but ended up being discovered.
Daniel said, "S...sorry about the mess."
"We can go if we're troubling you," Sylvia said, feeling awkward.
All of them tried to retreat as fast as they could but were stopped with Ash's deep, commanding voice.
"Stop right there."
They knew there was no escaping it, so all of them obediently sat across from Ash and Serenity, all looking at the floor, feeling ashamed.
while Belladona and Syrous stood behind Ash as he was preparing Serenity's coffee, and Bella happened to witness that she felt something was off, she leaned towards Syrous and whispered,
"Is he still the notorious villain we know?!"
"How am I supposed to know?!... We better shut up or we won't be able to see the light of day tomorrow."
"Sounds reasonable to me."
Suddenly Ash spoke with his intimidating voice.
"You better give me a reason why you were spying on us, or none of you is leaving here alive…"
Ash switched to threats immediately, making the kids shiver in fear, as they felt the intense killing intent that was directed at them.
'The fuck is he going to kill us?' Sylvia thought, feeling every ounce of her body screaming; for the first time, she felt fear like never before; she couldn't even raise her eyes at him.
Daniel, on the other hand, sat calmly in the face of such killing intent, speaking calmly, "We are Serenity's classmates. We heard she was here with some man, so we came to check; that's all."
Meds, the surprised stares from the others, Dan didn't even flinch, staring right at Ash.
Serenity, seeing all of these events unfold right before her eyes, gave him a creepy stare that made him feel cold all over; he quickly looked at her with wide eyes.
'What the fuck was that feeling just now....'
Noticing his strange behavior, Ash glanced at him, then back at Serenity, leaning on his right arm while holding her injured hand with the other, then asked in a low, rumbling growl,
"You know him?!"
Serenity gave him a side eye, thinking, 'The vinegar king is jealous again.' She placed the cup in her hand on the table, smiling. "I do know them."
"Is that so?!"
Her words only made him increase his killing intent even more; this time Daniel was also affected; he clutched his chest from the pain.
Syrous was out of breath looking at the two sitting in front of him. 'What are you doing, dear ancestor? We're trying to survive over here.'
Before the situation gets out of control, Serenity tried to calm him down; she placed her hand over the one that was holding hers.
"Just for your information, those kids have quite some special magic, especially that boy over there."
She turned her gaze at Dan, who was oblivious to all that was happening; apparently everyone was busy surviving.
Ash looked at Daniel's eyes, full of anger, then looked at Serenity again, asking, "Is that all?"
Serenity smiled at him softly, "What else?... Don't tell me you thought I had a crush on him or something?... Let me tell you I am not interested in stealing people's hearts."
After saying that, his anger calmed, and he retracted his killing intent, allowing them to finally breathe.
Sylvia and Daniel were still trembling; they leaned over the table to support their body weight; their bodies were shaking to make it even hard to sit straight.
"Bwaah...hah, hah, hah...I was going to die." Sylvia looked at the two beside her that lost consciousness and then turned at Dan, noticing how strangely he was staring at Ash. She shook him with her hand, asking,
"Are you okay?"
Daniel slowly raised his hand, pointing at Ash in a trembling voice, he said,
"A...Ashoran...De Vulgate"
Those words shocked all the people present, altering both Syrous and Belladonna to show their weapons. The next second, you see Syrous's spear and Belladonna's needle on Daniel's neck, both looking at him as if they wanted to devour him.
The huge fluctuation of mana altered the sleeping Mariana and Baial; they woke up screaming.
Mariana couldn't hold her ground and collapsed. "Kyaaa ... what the hell is going here?"
Baial turned to Serenity for answers, but all she met was complete ignorance.
"Tell them to stop, or they might kill him."
"..."
Ash calmly asked, "Kid, do you know me?"
'I can take both of them head-on if I had to, but....' Daniel hesitated to answer, but seeing the gaze in Bella's eyes, he knew nothing could save him from death if he ever said a single wrong word, but his fear wasn't because of either Syrous or Bella but rather Serenity and Ash, who were calmly observing from the side.
He started explaining, "Ashoran De Vulgate is the crowned king of Avalor; your majesty had a match with my father, king of Protego, about a year ago. I was there at that time, so I naturally know your highness."
"A year ago you said..."
Ash stayed silent for a minute, deep in thought, while everyone was holding their breath, till he finally talked.
"The match a year ago wasn't opened for more than two royals from every side, and if I remember correctly, Protego people were the king himself and the crown prince, so if you're not lying, that makes you the crown prince, right?!"
Sylvia thought about his question and was horrified. 'What seemed like a harmless question is in reality a ticking bomb. If no, then the protegos disclosed a royal secret, meaning a direct war with the Avalor, and if yes, tahen it's a lie everyone knows they never appointed a crown prince. Either way, it's a trap.'
While everyone was on guard, Daniel removed a chain that was around his neck and placed it over the table with his fists still closed on it, saying, "I am indeed the crown prince of Protego, third prince Daniel Vastator."
Once he opened his fist, the ring with the eternal flame engraved on it was revealed, shocking everyone in the room; this ring is the sole identity of the crown prince.
"Just what the hell kind of secret did I stumble upon?" Baial swallowed her saliva, her eyes wide open, barely holding on not to collapse again, crying about her bad luck, 'This entire group, not a single normal person, all are royals, a king to be and now a crowned legitimate king, I am done for...'
Sylvia gritted her teeth, thinking, 'That motherfucker has actually secured the throne while we were asleep.'
Serenity smiled faintly, "No wonder I had that familiar feeling; it's indeed the eternal flame."
Dan seemed surprised at her answer and asked her, "You know about the eternal flame?"
Serenity closed her eyes, saying, "Who knows?"
Her answer left him nowhere; he felt as if he was scammed. "What the hell was that?"
"It truly is the eternal flame...." Ash calmly said and waved with his hand for them to remove their weapons.
Dan took the ring and wore it back on his neck. "I hope the events of today won't get out, after all the news about the crown prince is still not disclosed to the public yet."
Ash asked, "Since you are the crown prince from that time, then neither of them stands a chance against you, so I am curious why you didn't fight back."
Ash's sudden question took them off guard; both Syrous and Bella stared at Dan with wide eyes. Daniel unconsciously looked at Bella, words unable to get out. Serenity noticed the way he looked at Belladonna and smiled.
"Isn't it obvious? "