"Let's go and have a look around the palace!" Scarlett proposed.
Irish, Aoto, and the others nodded, ready to finally go inside. Many of the people who had gathered felt like they could finally get back to their own work.
Baron went back to his quarters to rest for the night, and Arpeus also left to check on how his newly opened market stalls were doing. The Gorgon sisters, who worked part-time at a nearby bar, had taken the day off for the festival and decided to go enjoy it some more. Cryptus also went back to his duties to make sure the patrols and security were running smoothly.
As Aoto and the others turned to finally enter the palace, a voice screamed through the air.
"Finally found you scumbag! Die!!!"
The next second, a kick came out of nowhere and landed squarely on Aoto's face, sending him flipping backward. Ingrassia instinctively reached for the hilt of her sword, ready for a fight, but then she saw that the attacker was actually a human.
Aoto managed to stop himself from completely falling over. He touched his stinging cheek and looked at the person in front of him. "Prez? You're here too?"
Yumi was standing there with an irritated expression, and what looked like red smoke of anger was practically coming off of her.
She had been holding in her fury for a very long time. Back in their home world, Yumi and Aoto were in the same grade. Yumi was the student president, while Aoto was a rich kid whose father owned the whole school. He was always making a ruckus everywhere and getting away with it.
"Huh? Did I never mention the Prez?" Scarlett said, giving a quick introduction. "She and her whole class were summoned here by the Gwarga Kingdom, but now she's here!"
"What about the rest of the class?" Aoto asked.
"I killed them," Scarlett said, sticking her tongue out slightly in a silly way.
"Sometimes you are just frightening!" Aoto muttered to himself, taking a deep breath.
"It's nice to meet you again, Prez!" Aoto said with a smile, extending his hand toward Yumi.
"Hmph. You better not cause any trouble here, because I'm the real powerhouse now!" Yumi said, shaking his hand but only giving him a sideways glance.
"I've matured a lot since back then, ya know? I'm a hero now!" Aoto replied with a confident smile.
"Okay, okay, I'll see about that!" she said, waving her hand dismissively. She then turned to Scarlett, her expression suddenly serious. "I need your signature on something, it's urgent. Come with me, hurry!" she said, grabbing Scarlett's hand and trying to drag her, but she couldn't move her an inch.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" Scarlett agreed easily. She turned to the others. "You guys go and have a look around. I'll be back soon!" With that, she went inside the palace with Yumi.
Irish's lips twitched slightly, but she quickly hid whatever emotion was trying to surface.
"Well, we're here. Let's go inside!" Xao came forward, taking the lead.
Xao and Li Feng were at the front. Behind them were Reiza and Lunatic. At the very back were Irish, Aoto, Richard, and Ingrassia.
"Isn't your friend a bit... toxic?" Ingrassia said with a dry chuckle, trying to sound casual. "I mean, kicking a summoned hero and a king's representative in the face? Isn't that kind of extreme?"
"Haha... it's nothing," Aoto replied, not seeming to mind. "She's just a workaholic type of girl. You might actually like her once you get to know her better."
For some reason, Irish felt a small sense of relief when she heard that Yumi was a workaholic.
At the same time, Lunatic had something else entirely on her mind. She had just realized something important.
"Reiza calls Scarlett 'wife,' and Irish calls her 'honey.' Am I the only one who hasn't given her a special nickname?" she thought to herself. She immediately decided to give Scarlett a suitable alias that she would use from now on.
As they walked inside, the grand interior of the palace welcomed them. Armor stands, antiques, and weapon stands were placed in different spots, and murals decorated the walls.
The walls themselves had many different paintings, most of them portraits of Scarlett. Xao led them toward the throne room. They saw a black and grey throne made of bones.
Of course, it wasn't 100% bone; other materials had been added to give it shape and make it comfortable. But just by looking at it, it looked more like the throne of an evil ruler than a king.
"Are those bones?" Ingrassia asked, touching the arm of the throne gently. "Why did miss scarlett choose bones? Wouldn't gold or diamond be much shinier?"
"My lady has some unique preferences!" Xao coughed immediately, not telling actually story behind the throne.
After a few minutes, they walked into a large hallway.
"Where do you all want to go now? There's the kitchen and the backyard left, and then there's upstairs!" Xao asked.
"Let's go upstairs," Aoto answered immediately.
But then Irish interrupted. "I'll go to the kitchen. Honey likes food made by my own hands, so I need to see the kitchen!"
"Ummm..." Xao started to ponder, unsure whether to go upstairs or to the kitchen.
But then Lunatic stepped forward. "Leave Irish to us. We'll take care of her," she said with a warm smile. "Maybe we can get to know more about each other this way!"
"Okay!" Xao agreed.
With that, Lunatic, Reiza, and Irish went towards the kitchen while the others went upstairs.
Aoto's group walked out onto a large balcony. From here, they had a clear view of the entire area. Since the royal palace was built on higher ground than the rest of Dreadhaven, they could see even further into the distance. After that, Xao led them through different rooms, introducing the purpose of each one.
Just then, they saw Scarlett walking toward them casually.
"Done looking around? By the way, where are Irish, Reiza, and Lunatic?" she asked.
"They're visiting the kitchen on the ground floor," Ingrassia replied. "Although they should have come back by now. Maybe they're trying to surprise you by making something."
"I should check it out then!" Scarlett said. She turned to Xao and Li Feng. "Xao, show them their rooms. It's already getting late, they should rest now!" she added.
Xao nodded immediately. As Scarlett walked past them, she paused. "Aoto, come with me!" she said, walking away slowly without stopping.
"O-okay!" Aoto followed Scarlett, while Xao and Li Feng led the others to show them their rooms.
Aoto soon caught up to Scarlett, walking beside her. He looked out through the large windows at the sky, which had two moons hanging in it.
"Quite exciting, isn't it?" he said softly. "Knowing that as far as your eyes can see, that land is yours? You literally built a kingdom for yourself. I never thought this would happen when you left us!"
"Even I never thought I'd be here," Scarlett replied, but she didn't finish the sentence because she herself didn't know how to.
"Yes, just like you didn't even realize you started doing a catwalk?" Aoto said in a teasing tone, pointing at Scarlett's waist and the graceful way she was now walking.
"Wha-what? Of course not!" Scarlett panicked slightly and stopped walking that way. "The Prez and others argued that I should walk like this because it suits my status. It's not like I wanted it!" she tried to justify, but Aoto just grinned, not taking any of her words seriously.
Smack!
Scarlett smacked him on the back of the head out of frustration. "Quit grinning like that all the time! You know how the rest of the world is doing right now. Be more serious!" she scolded and changed the topic immediately.
The moment Aoto heard her words, his cheerful expression immediately turned dim. He looked down at the floor.
"Yes. Although the situation looks better than expected, it's actually like a bubble. Once it explodes, all the kingdoms might go into an uproar!" he sighed deeply. "I thought I almost died back then. I don't know what will happen in the future!" he added.
Scarlett felt the atmosphere turn way too serious. She immediately waved her hands, trying to dismiss it. "Forget about these things while you're here. Focus on enjoying your time instead. Let's just change the topic!" she said.
The corner was already here. They turned right and then slowly descended a staircase.
"Actually, I had some questions!" Scarlett finally said.
"What?"
"Umm... is there any change in me? I'm not talking about my appearance!" Scarlett questioned, her voice a little hesitant.
"Hmm... what's with that question out of nowhere?" Aoto raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Well, I've killed quite a lot of people. I have so much power, money, and manpower now," Scarlett said in a low voice.
Of course, there was more to it than that. She couldn't just tell Aoto everything. She couldn't tell him how she had killed a small girl by biting her neck, or how she had tortured the girl's parents in public. She couldn't mention the weird dreams where she saw an alter ego of herself, or all the other things that might have changed her without her even realizing it.
Aoto thought for a few seconds and then said, "Well, the only change I can find is that you appear more confident and talkative. Maybe after interacting with so many people, you naturally gained it!" he answered.
"More talkative?" Scarlett thought to herself. Somehow, Aoto's answer made sense.
Back in their home world, she used to mind her own business. It wasn't that she was an introvert or bad at making friends, but she just felt no need to. Even she and Yumi rarely had any conversations.
Compared to that, she was indeed more talkative now. Another thing she noted was that, She was flirty now. She would flirt with Seiira or any other beautiful single woman she could find, and she even teased men if she was in the mood.
"I have another question, but you better be serious, and don't give me any of your lame ideas!" Scarlett said, her gaze flickering with hesitation.
"Is it about your relationship?" Aoto guessed.
Scarlett paused immediately. Her expression told Aoto that he had hit the mark right on the head.
"Yeah. Unlike you, this is my first time being in a relationship, and especially with three people at that," she admitted, her voice low. "Everything is going well now, but I don't think this peace will stay for long."
Aoto nodded, his expression turning serious. "Okay, but didn't I tell you about this last time? You're supposed to act like you're interested in them, but not too much. Let them run after you, and later on, you can say you can't choose just one of them. And it would be good if we all four live together! And BINGO! " he reminded her. "Although the situation will be a mess for some time, it'll soon turn out very good. You have to let them know that you're the husband and they are the wives!"
Scarlett chuckled lightly, scratching her cheek and looking away. "I remember, but you also said something about not accepting only one's love or... having intercourse with them?"
Seeing Scarlett's guilty expression, Aoto's eyes slightly widened, and his voice grew a little louder. "Wait, you already did? How did it even work? You don't even have—"
Smack!
Scarlett gave him another smack on the head.
"Can't two females do the deed?" she said, a little annoyed. "And one is an Oni and the other is a succubus. How long do you think I could have held them off?"
Aoto immediately changed his tune. "I mean, you shouldn't have just accepted their love completely. It was already a good thing that Irish didn't completely marry you, it was just an engagement!" he said with a serious tone.
Scarlett finally saw the door to the kitchen and looked at Aoto. "So what? What difference does it make?"
"Well, it flips the whole point of view," Aoto replied. "Now you're the wife, and they are the husbands who will want you as a whole!"
But Scarlett didn't take him seriously. "Stop scaring me. Didn't you see how well they acted earlier? Nothing much will happen!" she said, stopping in front of the kitchen door.
"Well then, enjoy yourself!" Aoto raised both of his hands in surrender and turned back to take his leave.
Scarlett didn't even give him another glance. She just chuckled lightly to herself, extended her hand, and opened the door to the kitchen.
But what greeted her was pure chaos. Food materials, vegetables, and fruits were scattered everywhere. On the ground, Irish, Reiza, and Lunatic were fighting each other.
Reiza's long legs were on Lunatic's face, while Lunatic was biting Irish's arm, and Irish was punching Reiza's side. It was hard to even tell who was fighting who.
But then, they all saw Scarlett standing by the door and froze.
Scarlett's lips twitched. "My bad, I take my words back!" she said to herself and immediately closed the door, resting her back against it.
BAM!
A huge aura leaked out from behind the door like an explosion. The door shattered into pieces, and even Scarlett was sent flying several meters away, crashing hard onto the nearby pillar.