Chapter 98: King's Gratitude

"I need your permission to do it."

After a brief silence and pondering over it,  Ajax turned around and uttered, "Please do it."

"Uhh... Actually, I need your help, so you will have to turn around and watch me."

Ajax reluctantly turned around and questioned, "What?"

"Hold his magic circle and slowly move it from her navel to her neck, so I can suck the poison from her mouth."

Zeus handed the magic circle to Ajax, and he did as Zeus instructed him to. 

When the magic circle reached Helene's neck, Zeus pressed his lips against Helene's lips and started sucking the poison.

Ajax couldn't bear to see that and closed his eyes. After about a minute, Ajax opened his eyes when he heard a barfing sound.

Ajax saw Zeus throwing up poison from his mouth and wiping his lips with his hand.

"Is it done? Is Helene safe now?" Ajax asked with a tensed look on his face.

"Yes, she should be waking up anytime soon."

Zeus was still rubbing the back of his finger on his lips as though he wanted to remove the trace of poison.

"I will have to apologize and explain this to my lover," Zeus gulped down in fear.

"And I have to explain to Helene once she wakes up," Ajax sighed and said with a gentle smile on his face, "Thank you, Zeus. I have no words to thank—"

Ajax suddenly stopped, so Zeus looked up at him to see why he stopped and found him looking at the door. Zeus followed his gaze and looked at the door to see Astrea standing on the door, covering her mouth with a baffled and horrified look on her face. 

Both Zeus and Ajax gulped down and glanced back and forth at Astrea and each other.

"Father, why was Master Z-Zeus kissing Dear mother?" she asked.

"I can explain, Astrea. It is not what you are thinking. There was no other choice—"

Zeus stood up and stopped Ajax from saying more, "You are just making it worse."

Zeus walked to Astrea and stared into her eyes. Astrea's face flushed, and she averted her gaze.

'Now I am worried about something else,' Zeus thought to himself.

"Princess Astrea, your—"

"No need to call me princess," Astrea uttered. 

Zeus nodded and said, "Lady Astrea, there was—"

"No need to call me Lady either. Just call me by my name."

Zeus furrowed his brows and glared at Ajax, who just shrugged his shoulder in response.

"Astrea, your mother was poisoned, and it needed to be extracted. And the only option to suck out the poison was from her mouth," Zeus explained.

He didn't even bother to explain the other way to extract the path as he knew it was too disturbing. 

After a brief silence, Astra bit her lips and said, "If you say so, then I believe you."

Zeus was curious about why Astrea was furious and sad. Was it because she saw someone other than her father kissing her mother? Or was it because she saw the boy she liked kissing someone else? Or perhaps because she saw the boy she liked kissing her own mother in the presence of her father?

In either case, Zeus didn't want to know the answer. He was curious but wasn't interested in learning the answer.

"Helene!" Ajax shouted.

Zeus and Astrea looked at Helene and saw she had regained her consciousness.

"Dear mother!" Astrea yelled as she rushed to the bed. "Mother, you are awake!"

Helene tried to get up, but her body was still weak, so she couldn't move. Astrea and Ajax helped her get up.

Helene leaned back on the bed slat and looked at Astrea and Ajax with a bright smile on her face.

She tried to speak, but words didn't come out of her mouth.

Ajax looked at Zeus with evident shock on his face and raised his brows.

Zeus looked at Helene and uttered, "Try again, but this time— slowly."

Helene placed her hand on her neck and opened her mouth to say, "Ari."

Ajax nodded at Zeus, to which Zeus shrugged and said, "I should go now."

He then looked at Helene and said, "Your body is still weak so try not to put much pressure on it."

After bidding goodbye to everyone, Zeus opened the door and left the room. 

He walked through the hallways, where he was glared at by the guards as he passed them.

"Wait! Zeus!" A familiar voice called out to Zeus.

Zeus turned around to see Ajax running at him at full speed.

Zeus ignored Ajax and walked further and stopped at the balcony where no one was around, then waited for Ajax to catch up to him.

When Ajax came into Zeus' sight, he was panting crazily as if he was running for hours.

"Bastard is disrespecting demon's blood," Zeus muttered.

"What is it? I am in a hurry, so I would appreciate it if you keep it short," Zeus uttered nonchalantly.

"I… I…" Ajax would stop panting.

Zeus slapped on Ajax's back, and he stopped panting.

"I want to show my gratitude to you for curing my wife. Tell me, what do you desire? Just say it, and I will grant your any and every wish."

"Just stay away from me," Zeus replied.

"Come on! I am being honest here. Why are you so unfriendly?"

Zeus stared at Ajax for a while and sighed, "I was being sarcastic. What I meant by that is I don't want anything."

"There should be something. Something you can't get even with your limitless power. Name it, what do you want?" Ajax asked with a sincere and calm voice.

"Hmm~" Zeus pondered for a while and said, "Then promise me you won't do anything stupid that might risk your or this kingdom's life."

Ajax furrowed his brows and looked at Zeus in disbelief.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say 'I will grant your any and every wish'?" Zeus smirked.

Ajax smirked and shook his head, saying, "You are a great person, really. It's a shame that you can't be my son-in-law."

"And I am glad my father-in-law is not you," Zeus remarked.

"How is it going with your lover— the high priestess?"

"It's going great. Actually, we are getting married the next month. Here, in the capital," Zeus spoke with a gentle smile.