CHAPTER 226: STUNNED

"I’ll take care of you, okay?" Coco hummed out, her eyes twinkling with delight.

Who knew that one of Coco Hughes’ husbands would have a house in the main city? She was so lucky! Coco thought, squeezing Zaque’s hands on her own.

But she threw all of this away the moment she decided to be a douchebag! Coco mused, smiling brightly as she pulled her hands away from Zaque’s, turning to the other mediators who were staring at her and Zaque.

"Since he wants to come with me to the main city, I’ll be borrowing Zaque in the afternoon to get a permit from Chief Salamandara." Coco said, looking straight in Heiren’s eyes.

Zaque is the first husband so he holds more power than the rest of Coco Hughes’ husbands in the house, but if Zaque is not in the picture and has something he needs to do, then Heiren will be the second person to go to.

So, Coco was directing her words to the second husband.

That’s how this kind of harem works, right? Coco thought, not wanting to be disrespectful towards the other husbands and wanting to not create a rift between the mediators who were obviously good friends.

"Why are you telling me this?" Heiren asked, his eyebrows furrowed in agitating confusion.

It was annoying for Heiren that the Coco before him has been nothing, but thoughtful and caring towards him— buying ingredients that give him and the others the nutrients they need, and ultimately buying him new appliances for the kitchen.

She came to their lives announcing that their wife had died and she took over, that she came from another world, that she wants to be responsible for Coco Hughes’ misdeeds.

He thought that she won’t be doing anything big because no one should believe an alcoholic and abuser, but..

"Because you’re the second husband." Coco answered truthfully, the tone of her voice was matter-of-fact, like what she just said was the most basic information in the whole world.

"Doesn’t the second husband have to be the one to go to when someone in the house needs something? Especially when the first husband is not available?" Coco asked, tilting her head slightly with a genuine curious look in her eyes.

The mediator felt his heart skip a beat at the words that left Coco’s lips, his eyes widening in surprise.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his whole body reacting instinctively to the unexpected statement due to him not expecting her to say that, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit taken aback by her boldness.

His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, rendering him speechless for a moment, his thoughts racing as he tried to make sense of what he had just heard

Of all people to hear those words from, he just has to hear it from the woman who had caused him and his friends great pain— emotionally and physically, not caring if their mental health was as broken as it could be.

But it’s not really her, right? A small part of Heiren’s mind spoke up, making his eyebrows furrow.

He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing the thought away, not wanting to cause a scene between him and Alhai, especially when he had also experienced Coco Hughes’ forceful advances.

However..

She said that she’s not Coco Hughes, right? She came from another world. She’s someone else now. She is not the one who hurt us so we can trust her. The voice continued to speak, disregarding Heiren’s desire to get it out of his head.

Heiren’s eyebrows furrowed and glanced at Zaque, catching the red haired mediator’s cheeks flushed with color and a certain look in his eyes as he stared at Coco.

Don’t you want to look at Coco like that? The voice in his head asked, making Heiren flinch in his spot as he looked away from Zaque to look at Coco instead, the hair on the back of his neck standing up.

What’s up with his mind today? Heiren wondered, clearing his throat and straightening his posture.

"I was not expecting you to know that.." Heiren finally answered Coco’s questions, "You said that you’re not the Coco Hughes we married so how come you know that kind of information?"

"You’re doubting Coco?!" A certain fairy exclaimed, but her outburst was ignored.

"Well.. There is this thing called polygamy in my world where a person gets married to more than one spouse at a time." Coco answered truthfully with a hum, scratching the back of her head.

"Polygamy..?" Alhai asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but there was this twinkle of curiosity in his teal colored eyes.

"Yes? The most typical forms of polygamy in my world have been polygyny, in which a couple of wives share a husband.. And there’s this rare opposite that is called polyandry, in which a couple of husbands share a wife." Coco answered with a smile, pleased to see the curiosity in Alhai.

Alhai looked satisfied with the information he heard, nodding his head in understanding and mumbled under his breath a quiet, "Fascinating.."

What a typical reaction for a bookworm. Coco thought with a small smile.

"Don’t take my word for it though." Coco added to her previous sentences as she looked at Alhai, "I haven’t entered into any kind of romantic relationship so I could be wrong."

The four mediators were stunned, their eyes widening in surprise at her words.

They stood frozen, their mouths agape in surprise as the woman’s words hung in the air, their eyes were wide and their jaws slack, their surprise visible in every twitch and expression on their faces.

Zaque had assumed that a thoughtful and caring woman like her would have been in many relationships because of her warm personality and attractive traits suggesting that she would have been popular among men and women alike.

All of them were left in dumbfounded silence, their minds reeling as they exchanged glances among themselves.

"You’ve never been in a relationship before?"