61 Chapter 61: The lady in Pink

"WHAAAT?"

Everyone looked at Zelal amused by his thought process. Zelal tried to shrink his presence as if he was saying, "I'm not here."

"You thought he was gay?" Hak snorted in incredulity.

"And that he was interested in that dumb head." Jinha cracked up till tears started appearing on the edges of his eyes. He couldn't help it.

'Gay? He just had to use the one word Zeno hates the most. God knows how many have asked him this question.'

Zeno stood there folding his hands while his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He stood there impatiently tapping the floor while he listened to his friend's laughter. He was this close to throwing this idiot along with his dumb brother deep down the gates of Hell.

Liz tried to control her expression but finally couldn't hold it in when she saw how comical this situation was. Her laughter captivated Zelal that he slowly withdrew his gaze from Zeno and glanced at her. Her face radiated in happiness, those delightful chuckles made him daze at her dreamily.

Seeing that his friends had no plan on stopping, Zeno cleared his throat irritatedly. Jinha coughed when he received Zeno's glare but soon his eyes brightened with a glint of mischief.

He curiously looked at Zelal and raised a question, "How did you even come to that conclusion? Like what did he do?"

Zelal turned his head away from him when he realised that this guy was making him fall deep into the waters.

'Hmph! I don't need to explain it to you. Why should I curb your curiosity?'

Hak nodded his head and said, "Me too. Come on, tell us what did he do?"

Seeing that Zelal didn't look at either of them, Hak turned to ask Liz, "Aren't you curious too?"

Liz raised her eyebrow when they sprang the question onto her but she had to agree because she was curious too, "I'm curious too."

Zelal's ears twitched when he heard that his woman was curious too. He sighed and reluctantly turned his head and nodded gently at her.

Hak and Jinha high fived each other and grinned at Zelal. But their eyes had a slight bitterness at his favouritism.

Zelal ignored them and retold what happened last night and how he came up with that conclusion.

Right, after he finished another round of laughter erupted inside the hall.

"God! I can't believe you."

Zelal tried to muster up a smile, he scratched his chin in embarrassment until he felt a cold gaze on him. He peeked sideways to meet Zeno's cold eyes which stabbed him from all sides, he instantly shivered in fear.

Zelal gulped before he folded his hands in front of him and bowed, "I'm sorry!! It's all my fault, I shouldn't have recklessly come to my conclusions before confirming the situation." 

"Huh?" Zeno growled. His low voice echoed inside the hall that Zelal looked up anxiously.

Zelal gulped nervously as he watched Zeno hit the pillar fiercely, effectively blocking his escape. He couldn't believe that he was in a kabedon position [1] and that too it was sprung upon him by a guy much less.

He cried pitifully deep inside his heart. 'My heart wouldn't bleed if the other party was Liz. Why did it have to be a guy?!'

Zeno smirked coldly, "So what are you waiting for?"

His words woke Zelal up and he glanced at him sceptically. Noticing Zeno smirking at him, he felt like he was in front of Hades, getting ready to be thrown into Hell or Heaven with a wave of his hand.

"H-huh?" Zelal widened his eyes in horror and looked at the rest, pleading with his eyes to help him. But, the rest acted like they didn't see his silent plea.

'No...Nope...Never... We don't want to face an angry lion.'

They looked away from Zelal as they mutually agreed on this.

Zelal gulped petrified as he surrendered to his fate. 

....

Usui rapidly moved towards the location mentioned by the little guy on his horse. He couldn't help but doubt his directions when he realised the path he was following because he was approaching none other than the path towards the Forbidden forest.

He didn't know whether he should applaud the princess or criticise her on how daring she was to come here alone with no guards by her side. Even though the forest was said to be a dangerous place, it was very easy for anyone to plot against her if they come to know about her secret dwelling.

Usui squinted his eyes when he saw a white object outside the forest. As he neared the forest entrance, the white object turned out to be the princess horse which was tied outside the forest entrance.

Abruptly he stopped his horse from entering the forest and got down. He caressed the horse as if telling it to wait for a while before he turned to look at the forest intensely while gripping the hilt of his sword.

Even if it was proclaimed that the inner regions were far more dangerous than other regions, with all kinds of higher-level spirit beasts dwelling in it. The outer regions are comparatively safer with only levels one to three beasts. They usually leave humans alone if they find them pose no threat.

But no one can guarantee that the higher ones wouldn't start showing up in the outer regions. That's why it's dangerous for anyone to enter the forest alone unless they are on a suicide mission.

The more further you penetrate, the powerful ones start coming out. The middle regions and the inner regions are usually the places where every academy dispatched students for practical exposure. 

Usui glanced at the white horse which was feeding on the little grasses. He saw the emblem of the crystal kingdom on its body.

'Ha! So she's here.'

He sighed in relief. Judging by the atmosphere, he relaxed a little knowing that she was safe since the forest as silent as a graveyard.

He smiled to himself as he made his way into the forest. He explicitly remembered the directions the little guy insisted on him following. So as he entered the pathway, he turned right, after walking for a few lengths, he saw a small pathway covered with fallen leaves.

Passing through the pathway, he saw rabbits hopping around nibbling on grasses, heard the chattering of squirrels from their nests. He could also hear the leaves rustling against each other along with birds chirping on the trees and a distant sound of a river flowing which in return created a perfect harmony.

He lifted his face, letting the light and shadow dance across his skin. He inhaled its earthy smell and continued on, delighting in the sound of his feet sliding through the fallen green leaves which decorated the pathway.

'No wonder she comes here alone. The relaxed atmosphere adds to the feeling of serenity ingraining happiness right away.'

A low humming sound disturbed him from his impressions. He turned to look in its direction and saw some fallen flowers decorating the pathway. The beautiful tune was heavenly but at the same time, it had a touch of loneliness in it. 

As he walked in further, following the voice, his heart ached in agony as he thought of what the person must have gone through to sing a tune which should have been a happy one instead of a sad tune. He forgot all about the directions the little guy insisted on and continued following the tune mindlessly.

Soon, he reached in front of an entrance which was blocked by the tree leaves. He could smell the light fragrance of flowers from behind the tree leaves, which tickled his nose and compelled him to hurry quickly. He brushed aside the leaves, clearing the view in front of him.

As his eyes landed on the magical place, he was spellbound by its breathtaking beauty. His eyes strolled around the vast sea of baby's breath flowers which gave off a delicate atmosphere. In the middle of the magical place, stood a white pavilion with pale pink flowers gliding all over the white pavilion giving off a beautiful contrast to the magical place.

His eyes finally landed on the figure who was dressed in a pink dress with a cloak over her shoulders. Her hair was left open for the breeze to play with her strands while her eyes were closed as she hummed softly while caressing something on her hands. His eyes couldn't focus on the thing on her hands as it refused to move its gaze from the fairy in the meadow.

The fairy seemed to not realise that an intruder had entered as she was lost in her fairy world. The tune touched his heart deeply that his feet unconsciously sauntered towards the pavilion slowly. As soon as he arrived in front of the pavilion, his eyes widened as he recognised the figure. 

Shocked he called out to the fairy, breaking her connection from the fairy world, "Hazel?"