"Empress Sidonie, I am willing to give you what you want in order for you to ally yourself with the Hellan Kingdom," William said with a determined look on his face. "I am willing to give you…
"My babies!"
< Deal! >
'No Deal!'
Empress Sidonie used all of her willpower as if her life depended on it, to prevent her other half from taking over her body and accepting William's offer.
She would die of embarrassment if Morgana agreed to William's offer, using her own body and voice to seal the deal.
< Sidonie, listen to me. This is it! This is what we are waiting for! >
'This is not what I want! This is what you Want!'
< You and I share the same body. There's only a thin line between Love and Lust. As long as we do the deed, Darling is ours for the taking! >
'No means no!'
While the two beautiful ladies were wrestling with each other in their shared mindscape, the outside world had already broken out into chaos.
Because Empress Sidonie was currently preoccupied with her other half, her beautiful face was mired with a frown as she looked at William, who was also looking back at her.
Seeing that their Empress was frowning, Prince Jason, Prince Lionel, as well as the Young Officers all thought that she felt insulted by William's words. This gave them the excuse to gang up on William and beat him up to a pulp.
However, before any of them could even enact their plan, the Grand Archmage snapped his finger and a powerful gust of wind pushed the two Princes, as well as the Young Officers a few steps back from their location.
"This is a throne room, not a marketplace where all of you can brawl to your heart's content," The Grand Archmage, Evexius, said firmly. He then addressed the Young Empress who was still looking at William with a frown.
(A/N: You can read the Archmage's name as Eh-Vex-Sus or something similar to this tone. Don't read it as Eve-Zeus.)
"Your Majesty, the representative of the Hellan Kingdom, has insulted you. How should we deal with him?" Evexius inquired.
Empress Sidonie had just finished tying up Morgana inside their mindscape to prevent her from taking over her body when she heard Evexius' query. She immediately shifted her attention back to the throne room as she gave William a look of contempt.
"That was a funny joke, Sir William," Empress Sidonie stated in an ice cold voice that made the hearts of those who love her shudder. "I am not a loose woman. I would appreciate it if you don't mention those things again in the future. Otherwise… I will make you pay the price for insulting me."
William pressed his palms together and bowed his head in apology. "I apologize for my crude words, Your Majesty. It will refrain from saying the same things again in the future."
The red-headed boy was only half joking when he gave his proposal. He had a hunch since their time together in Antheilm that Empress Sidonie seemed to have a split personality. The reason he mentioned that he would give her his babies was to confirm whether this hunch of his was correct.
William wanted to know if he was dealing with a single person, or two people sharing the same body. He came from Earth, so he was aware that such conditions existed. The Half-Elf hoped that Empress Sidonie's other personality would overpower the main personality and agree to his request.
This way, the problem would be resolved without the need for bloodshed. Unfortunately, it seemed that his gamble didn't pay off and only earned him the ire of the Young Empress' dominant personality.
'Now we are back to square one,' William thought as he eyed Empress Sidonie with a smile.
The throne room descended into an awkward silence because no one wanted to break the ice.
Eneru, who was standing behind the elven delegation, made a subtle hand seal that no one in the throne room noticed.
His plan was to finish off William because he felt threatened by his existence. The red-headed boy's mere presence was enough to make Eneru feel suppressed. He had already confirmed that the boy was a Scion of a God whom their race had once hailed as their Eternal Guardian.
Due to the Qilin's strong desire for freedom, he rebelled against the God of Shepherds and refused to obey his command. Because of this, their race was branded with a curse where they would be suppressed by the presence of those who served under him.
This curse was powerful enough to decrease their rank by one realm, which would make Eneru's strength fall to the Millennial Rank whenever William was around.
A Millennial Beast and a Myriad Beast were completely different from each other. Eneru decided to dispose of William because he was a threat to his life and sovereignty.
Suddenly, a snake made out of lightning materialized in front of William and lunged at him. Everything happened so fast that no one in the throne room was able to react on time to the sudden attack that came out of nowhere.
When the snake was mere inches away from William's neck, the red-headed boy lowered his head and… bit the head of the lightning snake!
This sudden development made everyone in the throne room look at William in disbelief.
William ignored their gazes and grabbed the wriggling snake, which was doing its best to break free from his mouth.
A crisp crunching sound that was similar to someone eating potato chips resounded inside the hall as William ate, and chewed the lightning snake's head like it was some kind of snack.
After eating its head, he then proceeds to eat the rest of its body like a pretzel.
< Experience Points Gained: 10,000 >
William burped as he glanced at Eneru who was looking back at him as if he was looking at a monster.
"Can you make a bigger snake?" William inquired as he smacked his lips in satisfaction. He was looking at Eneru as if the latter was a Seven-Starred Michelin Chef from a famous restaurant. The Half-Elf was also very tempted to seize and capture Eneru, but he knew that the Qilin was not someone that would go down easily.
Although his rank was suppressed, he had stayed in the Myriad Rank for hundreds of years and was a veteran when it came to life and death battles.
The people inside the throne room felt their liver itch when the red-headed boy ate the lightning snake as if it was a delicious snack.
Prince Jason frowned because this was the first time he had seen someone accomplish such a feat. He even wondered if what William ate wasn't really a lightning snake, but an illusion that Eneru had made on a whim.
Prince Lionel had a dumbfounded look on his face as he stared at William as if he was some kind of rare creature. He had already investigated many things about him, but the information he got didn't tell him that he was capable of eating lightning!
The Grand Archmage Evexius rubbed his chin as he contemplated whether or not he should also try eating one of the Qilin's Lightning Snakes to see if it was really as delicious as the boy proclaimed it to be.
The one that was surprised the most was Eneru, who was responsible for making the snake materialize and attack William. He thought that what had happened during Jekyll's escape was just a fluke, but it seemed that not only was the Half-Elf able to suppress his rank, his power was also ineffective against him as well!
While everyone was staring at William with bewildered expressions, there was someone inside the throne room who was not amused by the attempted murder of the person she secretly loved.
"You dare attack a guest of my Empire inside my throne room?" Empress Sidonie said in a tone laced with killing intent. "You dare look down upon my presence?"
Her heart almost jumped out of her throat when she saw the lightning snake lunge to bite William's neck.
Morgana who was currently tied up inside her Mindscape screamed in anger, and her anger was Sidonie's anger as well. For someone to attack the one she loved in her presence was tantamount to stepping on her pride and dignity.
Her eyes glowed with power as the power of her Sin broke out from her body. Elandorr and the rest of the Elves had to use all of their willpower to prevent themselves from being Charmed by her powers
Eneru immediately unleashed a stronger Aura to shield the Elves from the overwhelming power that flowed out of the Young Empress' body like a flood.
"You disappoint me, Eneru," a man who seemed to be in his late twenties appeared beside the last step, leading to the Empress Sidonie's throne with his arms crossed over his chest. "How could you sneak attack a junior like that? Don't you have any pride as a Myriad Beast?"
The man had broad shoulders, muscular arms and a heavy torso that seemed to have limitless strength. He looked at Eneru in disgust and his disgust was evident in his choice of words.
Eneru narrowed his eyes because he had recognized the person that appeared in front of him.
"You sure like to talk like you're someone important, Nero," Eneru sneered. "A little cat like you thinks you have what it takes to talk big in front of me?"
Nero, the white-haired man chuckled as he walked towards the Elven Delegation. He brushed off Eneru's insult like it was the whining of a loser, and eyed the Qilin with eyes filled with ridicule.
At that moment, two more people appeared inside the throne room, flanking Eneru and the Elves on both sides.
The newcomers were a woman with long, purple hair, and a teenager boy who seemed to be in his late teens.
Nero and his two acquaintances stood a few meters away from the Qilin who seemed to be preparing to use its ability to escape, and bring the Elves with him.
William felt a tingling sensation run down the base of his spine, because his appraisal skill had allowed him to see the names and the ranks of the three people who made Eneru feel threatened.
'Three Myriad Beasts,' William thought as he, too, raised his guard. Although Nero and his colleagues were only looking at the Qilin, Eneru, William could tell that they were also subtly paying close attention to him.
The red-headed boy knew that if he were to do something stupid in their presence, the first one to be struck down would not be the Arrogant Eneru, but him.