Mwah!
Kylen swiftly leaned his face forward and silenced his husband's lips with a deep kiss. He absolutely did not want to hear the continuation of that sentence, which implied doubt or the threat of separation.
As the kiss lingered, Kylen's hand slowly slid downward, and gathering his courage, he grasped Arvin's shaft, which was currently perfectly erect.
This is the first time I am holding my husband's shaft directly. Kylen thought with a strange sense of relief, yet at the same time, the foreign sensation in his palm also made him feel so incredibly nervous that his heart pounded fiercely. All this time, I could only look and imagine it. I was truly so curious about how it feels to hold my own husband's shaft. Hehehe.
After satisfying his desire for a moment, Kylen broke their kiss. He looked up, staring straight into Arvin's eyes with slightly ragged breath, but he did not release his grip down there in the slightest.
"If you still feel doubtful about my loyalty to you," Kylen said, his voice trembling yet full of determination, "then bind my soul right this instant. Bind my soul exactly as you did to Davin and to that person named Kaydan."
Arvin's facial expression instantly turned extremely serious upon hearing the request coming from his sixth spouse's mouth.
"Are you truly certain about your decision, Kylen?" Arvin asked to make sure, staring sharply into the youth's eyes because he absolutely did not want his spouse to feel regret in the future. "This is no ordinary magic. Once your soul is absolutely bound to mine, you will never be able to return."
Kylen responded to his husband's heavy question with a sincere smile that radiated an unshakeable conviction.
"Yes, I am very certain!" the bluish-white-haired youth answered firmly, without a single shred of hesitation in his eyes. "Being able to be with you for all eternity is my one and only hope and desire!"
Hearing such a resolute answer, Arvin stared intently into his spouse's eyes, trying to find a loophole of doubt. However, there was only conviction and an immense feeling of love that he could see in the Prince's pair of blue eyes.
Arvin nodded in understanding. Right after they had rinsed each other off with water, he immediately activated the sound-dampening wind magic, creating an invisible dome that blocked his voice from penetrating outside the bathroom walls when he had to give his absolute command to Kylen later.
Crack!
A large and sturdy block of ice formed near them.
"Lie down on it!" Arvin commanded in a gentle tone. "We will begin the ritual process now."
Without objecting, Kylen, who had steadied his heart with his decision, immediately slid down from his husband's lap. He walked toward the block of ice, climbed on top of it, and promptly laid his naked body down.
"Are you ready?"
"I am very ready, Darling!" Kylen answered firmly.
"If you are ready, close your eyes now!"
The youth immediately closed his eyes tightly, obediently following every instruction from his husband.
Arvin extended his right hand forward. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating his mana and soul to bind Kylen's soul.
"O soul whom I have chosen, from this moment forth, I shall bind your soul to mine!" the ancient chant began to flow from Arvin's lips, carrying a magical resonance that made the air inside the bathroom feel heavy. "You shall die as a mortal human, and shall rise again with a soul eternally bound to mine!"
At that exact moment, a magic circle radiating a thick aura of darkness began to appear and glow from beneath Kylen's body on the ice block, and flared on the floor right under Arvin's feet.
From within the magic circle, pitch-black smoke billowed, moving like living tentacles. The smoke of darkness slowly crept up, penetrating into the pores of Kylen's and Arvin's bodies simultaneously. The pitch-black smoke entwined in the air, forming a sturdy ethereal tether, connecting the soul essence between the two.
At the same time, the bluish-white-haired youth's body on the ice block reacted violently. Kylen's breath suddenly blew out very rapidly and raggedly, his chest rising and falling harshly as if his life and soul were being forced and violently pulled out from the vessel of his body.
The process lasted for several tense seconds, before finally... the youth's chest stopped moving. There was not the slightest bodily movement or exhalation of breath indicating that he was still alive. The atmosphere in the bathroom became chillingly silent.
Kylen had died!
The pitch-black smoke enveloping Kylen's body, which was already lying stiff and lifeless, continued to swirl. It was at that moment that Arvin directly implanted his absolute command into the soul he was reshaping.
"My absolute command to you is: remain as yourself, exactly as you were before being bound by this soul seal! Never leak a single secret you know about our family to anyone else without my permission, and lastly... never betray me for all eternity!"
As soon as the decree was finished, the pitch-black smoke shrank rapidly and instantly merged completely into Kylen's body.
Right after the remnants of the pitch-black magic circle faded and disappeared, Kylen immediately opened his eyes and sat up on the ice block. Thanks to the newly formed soul bond, the first thing Kylen felt was not pain in his body, but a connection that showed him his husband's current condition.
He turned his head and looked at Arvin's face. His relaxed expression instantly changed upon seeing his husband's face dead pale and covered in sweat.
"Darling, I... I can feel from my soul that you are extremely exhausted right now." Kylen said after fully awakening, his feelings immediately struck by overwhelming worry seeing his husband's condition. "Forgive me... forgive me because my request has made you this exhausted."
The blue-haired youth forced himself to smile gently at him, even though his breathing sounded ragged and his face radiated immense fatigue.
"At the very least, this exhaustion is not as severe as the moment right before I drank that Elixir of Archmage." Arvin replied in a soft and gentle voice, trying to calm his spouse even though the look of exhaustion could not be hidden from his face. "But, it seems I really must rest right now."
"Yes, Darling. Come here, I will help support your body." Kylen said quickly. His legs immediately stepped down from the ice block, moving forward to close the distance and approach his husband. "But remember, after you wake up and recover later, you must promise to explain to me what that Elixir of Archmage actually is."
"I promise, I will explain it to you later." Arvin answered softly.
As Arvin tried to step forward, his balance faltered. His body began to stagger forward. However, right as he was about to fall, Kylen very nimbly wrapped his arms around him, supporting and holding up his husband's weakened body.
At that exact moment, Kylen remembered Allen's words forbidding anyone to looking at their husband's naked body.
"Darling, wait a moment. I will put on your pants and my pants first."
Arvin nodded in understanding and took his pants out from his dimensional storage space.
Gently, Kylen put Arvin's pants on him. He also put on his own pants so they wouldn't walk out of the bathroom naked.
Once their pants were on, Arvin used his remaining mana to shatter the block of ice and also cancel the sound-dampening wind magic that enclosed them, letting himself be fully supported by Kylen to walk slowly out of the bathroom.
While walking and bearing the weight of his husband's body, the bluish-white-haired youth glanced briefly, looking at his husband's exhausted face with feelings of worry.
Forgive me, Darling. Kylen said in his heart, his chest tightening with deep guilt. Even though I already knew the side effects you had to endure after binding someone's soul to yours. But... I selfishly asked you to perform that ritual on me.