CHAPTER 354: GOSSIP AND GUSHING

"What’s this?" Sinclair asked, shooting a playful smile to Coco’s way.

"Not a word." Coco mumbled, walking over to the table, Zaque’s arm still wrapped around her waist with a hand on her hip, but this time, Zaque was carrying Konoha.

Coco’s right hand, however, was enveloped by Quizen’s left hand, their fingers intertwined quite loosely.

"People were staring." Heiren said, answering Sinclair’s question in the courtesy of a stubborn Coco and pulled Coco’s chair out under the table. "They were saying something about our wife being married."

"Oh." Alithe blinked and shot Coco a glance. "I think it was because she was the topic of the gossip at the moment."

The five newcomers went still and silent, their attention shifting to the married couple, eyes wide in confusion and surprise.

What could have possibly been the cause of Coco being a topic of gossip?

"What did I do?" Coco asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

She took the questions right out of the husbands’ mouth, making them look at her for a second before darting their eyes back to Sinclair.

"Are you being serious right now, master?" Sinclair couldn’t help, but raise an eyebrow at Coco. "Are you not aware of the commotion you caused yesterday? When you defeated the tough crocodile and the goleter?"

"Goleter?"

"Tough crocodile?"

"Commotion?"

Zaque, Quizen, and Alhai asked at the same time, making the three of them look at each other.

"Are you four not aware of what your wife did during her turn in the examination?" Sinclair tilted his head, gesturing towards Coco who sat down on the chair Heiren pulled out.

".. No." Zaque mumbled and glanced at Coco. "She was too tired to say what happened yesterday."

"Mhm, she was so tired that when she took a bath to get rid of the blood, she fell asleep on the tub." Heiren said, adding to Zaque’s statement which indirectly told Coco about what happened last night.

"If I didn’t check on her, she would probably still be sleeping in that water." Zaque grumbled under his breath, the memory of last night making his heart pound anxiously inside his chest.

So that’s what happened. Coco thought, settling herself on the chair and making herself comfortable.

"Well, what did she do?" Alhai asked, his eyebrows furrowing in annoyance because the topic was getting out of hand. "Did she do something ridiculous? Did she cause trouble?"

"I didn’t cause trouble." Coco interjected, shooting Alhai a halfhearted glare.

"Yes, she didn’t." Alithe stated almost immediately, backing Coco up with his agreement and tapped his finger on the table. "In fact, it was the guild master who caused trouble for Coco."

"Okay.." Alhai averted his gaze from Alithe for a moment and took a seat beside Coco, pushing the fourth husband off before he could take a seat beside her, causing Quizen to slap him on the shoulder, but Alhai ignored him by looking at Alithe again.

"What did the guild master do then?" The silver haired mediator asked, making himself comfortable beside Coco.

Quizen kept glaring at Alhai as he sat down beside Zaque, and Zaque who was sitting on Coco’s left, could only urge Alithe to continue what he was saying.

"So?" Zaque gestured to Coco, "What caused Coco to be the center of the gossip?"

"Coco defeated a goleter, a monster that was recently registered into the monster index, with a hoe." Alithe said, the corner of his lips curling up into a proud smirk. "And now, the guild master himself wants to let Coco pass through the third stage without participating—"

"I don’t want that." Coco chimed in, cutting Alithe off.

"I know." Alithe retorted with a roll of his eyes. "Since I know you don’t want to skip it, he wanted me to let you know that the third stage will start as early as tomorrow afternoon."

"Already?" Coco blinked, her hand snaking onto Zaque’s lap to grab Konoha.

The action made Zaque freeze in his chair, his eyes widening in surprise as he held his breath, his gaze glued to the way Coco’s hand barely brushed against his clothed abdomen.

"Yes, already." Alithe affirmed, smiling.

"Wait, wait, wait—" Quizen raised a hand and frowned, "Goleter? What was so special about that monster that made Coco the topic of today’s gossip?"

The other husbands shifted their attention back to Alithe.

"Goleter is a monster made of pure magical stone, or more specifically, the brown magical stone." Alithe said, educating the mediators with the information of the new monster.

"The guild master himself was confused as to what made the goleter grow thrice in its normal size— and he told me that he captured the monster as is, barely making it out of the cave unscathed." The hybrid hummed, a twinkle of delight appearing in his eyes.

"But Coco? She was head to head with this monster and managed to beat it even though it was three times bigger than her." Alithe chuckled, glancing at Coco.

"Watching her fight that monster.. Hm, it was something else." He added, a dreamy sigh escaping his lips.

"Yes, she was already beautiful, but if you were there and were watching her land the final blow on the goleter’s head.. You would see how much she shone at that moment." Sinclair agreed with his husband, heaving out a proud sigh.

"She was smiling, you know?" Alithe hummed, laughing merrily under his breath. "It was insane, but I guess that’s what made her stand out among the exami—"

"Can we eat, please?" Coco asked, cutting Alithe off from his gushing.

The mediators could only sit still and listen to the married couple ramble about what happened yesterday.

Zaque and Quizen frowned, lowering their heads, envy blooming in their chest.

Alhai and Heiren merely looked away from the hybrids, their own faces contorting into a displeased expression.

The fact that they witnessed Coco pass the second stage of the examination and get to gush over Coco who looked like she was dying in her seat made all of them upset.