CHAPTER 500: 499. DATE OR DISASTER (5)

Davian and Reina returned to the main market square where they spent some more time looking around.

Davian bought snacks for Reina as they passed by different stalls. He liked watching her eating.

"Hm? Here," she saw him staring so she lifted the kebab she had been eating to him.

Davian’s eyes widened and he hesitantly took a bite feeling the savory taste flourish in his mouth. Reina didn’t realise it till later that she fed him what she was eating, it was a habit stemmed from being Ocean that she shared without thinking.

But since Davian didn’t say anything she ignored it and they moved ahead.

"It was tasty!" Reina beamed before she noticed Davian looking at her.

She blinked, "Um... Is something wrong, Your Highness? Is something stuck to my face?"

She touched her face wondering if the sauce from before had somehow smeared over her face. But he shook his head before he reached out and Reina stiffened as she felt his fingers pushing away the strands of hair that covered her ears.

Reina felt heat crawling up her neck as she asked, "Your Highness, what..."

Davian blinked as if snapping back to his senses and quickly pulled his hand back, "Ah, that... I just... Well, you aren’t wearing an earrings, I... just... thought that you would look good with earring, ah, not that you aren’t looking good now. It’s just..."

Reina relaxed a bit before she touched her ear, she didn’t think of wearing any accessories apart from her bracelet and the necklace that Rune had gifted to her on her twelfth birthday.

"That bracelet must be really special to you," he commented watching as Reina’s eyes drifted down to it.

"Eh?"

"I mean, you’re not wearing any other jewellery apart from it and that necklace, so..." He said and Reina touched the finely made mana presence concealing bracelet.

"Uncle Silas made this bracelet for me and this necklace is my brother’s gift," she simply said.

Davian smiled before he said, "You really love your family a lot, don’t you, Miss Reina?"

Reina tilted her head a bit as she smiled herself, "Says the man who waged a war to save his parents."

Davian chuckled sheepishly before he added, "Well, I did wage a war but I couldn’t have won it without Master."

Reina smiled as she looked at him and then around before she spotted a stall that was selling some trinkets.

"Let’s go," she said as she grasped the edge of his sleeve before pulling him towards the stall.

Davian’s heart skipped a beat watching her and he felt as if he could just walk like that all his life and follow her to anywhere she takes him.

Reina stopped at the stall and looked through the trinkets.

"Oh my, what a beautiful young girl!" The old woman who was manning the stall smiled.

Reina smiled back, "Why thank you!"

The old woman chuckled before looking at Davian, "On a date with your lover, eh? Good, good, young man why don’t you buy a pretty gift for your beautiful girl?"

Davian watched Reina before she smiled up at him, "Won’t you buy me something?"

His heart nearly jumped to his throat hearing that as his cheeks grew red and he opened his mouth, "S-Sure! I’ll buy you anything you want!"

Reina chuckled before she started looking at the various trinkets, these were the cheap jewellery with glass as gems and copper or brass painted over but it didn’t matter. Davian would buy her anything for that smile.

Reina picked up two sets of earrings, one was a pair of dangling clear glass crystals and other was amethyst glass studs, she looked at both before she turned to look at Davian.

"Which one is good?" She asked.

"I’ll buy both if you like them." Davian said and she chuckled.

"I just require one," she said and then chose the amethyst studs before she smiled at the old woman.

"I’ll take this one," she said and the old woman chuckled before she placed forth a brooch which had the same design as the earrings.

"Here, it comes with a pair." She said, "one for the young lady and a matching brooch for the young man."

Davian’s heart pounded while Reina’s eyebrows jumped, she wasn’t expecting this.

"Wow," she said as she picked up the brooch, inspecting it. It was made of the same kind of amethyst glass that the studs were of.

Reina smiled before she turned and started hooking it on Davian’s lapel.

"Uh... Miss Reina?" He gasped as he looked down at her.

She smiled as she saw the brooch settled over his breast and then nodded in satisfaction.

"It looks good," she beamed and heard Davian’s heart pounding.

"Th-Then, I’ll help you put on those earrings," he offered.

Before Reina could say anything, Davian picked up the earrings and leaned in close. Reina stood still as she saw Davian’s eyebrows pucker a bit in focus as his fingers gently fiddled with the earrings and then he placed them on so carefully that Reina wondered if he was refusing a bomb or something.

Once done with one ear, he moved to the next, his hot breath hit Reina’s face and she couldn’t help but feel his body heat from standing so close.

Her heart was also beating faster, as if trying to catch up with his. Soon the sounds of both the hearts beat in perfect synchronisation in her ears.

Davian stepped back after he was done and looked down at her, his eyes widened slightly as he saw her flushed cheeks and clenched his fists. His eyes couldn’t help but drift down to those plump lips that were slightly parted.

He had often heard the soldiers at the camp from the battlefield talking about the stuff like kissing or consummation but he never paid much attention thinking that his love was way purer and platonic but to think he could also feel this urge. He couldn’t help but feel his body growing hotter and unbeknownst to himself he stepped closer to her.

Reina blinked watching the daze in his eyes that seem to be trying their best to hide the desire that swirled dangerously.

Reina snapped back to reality before she blinked chuckling the break the moment, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Davian’s trance also broke and he reined his desire cursing himself for having such beastly desires. How could he ever...

But one look at her and one would lose his cool.

Reina cleared her throat before she asked him to pay and he pulled out a silver coin from his pocket handing it to the old woman. They started moving ahead after paying before heading the old woman shout behind them.

"Wait, young man, it’s only four copper though!"

Davian smiled as he looked back at her, "It’s fine, please keep the change."

The old woman chuckled, "I guess I met the Prince and Princess of some story."

Despite them having walked a couple of feet away, both Reina and Davian heard her.

Just as the dusk started drawing close, the stallkeepers hung the lanterns on the streets the clouds hung threateningly overhead but none of them seemed to care about it.

"It’s even more beautiful in evening, huh?" Reina commented as she looked around.

Davian walked beside her, "It’ll also get colder, Miss Reina."

"Like I said, I don’t feel cold Your Highness." Reina spoke making him sigh.

The crowd started growing denser and Reina looked around, the people around were happy. The celebration was held at a pretty large scale but underneath someone was trying to snatch away the reason for their smiles.

It was unforgivable, Reina had thought of a possibility of someone trying to mess with this result of the war. After all the ones who did start the war didn’t get anything but just suffered losses, it was only natural for them to be bitter about the end and the rewards that someone else got.

Eric had always been a thorn in Katherine’s side, she had been trying to get rid of him one way or another since he was a child. She and her kids hadn’t left one opportunity to kick him down but regardless of it all, he had the grit to rise back to his feet.

Reina still had to keep the promise she made to Lady Elise. Her son would become the King of Sestia and the revenge on their enemies.

It would have been easier if Reina hadn’t used politics, being a secret agent swift and secret measures always worked for her. She could just have assassinated the Queen and her kids leaving only Eric to be the King but that would still leave a lot of loopholes.

First of all, the people would have mourned and remembered Katherine as a benevolent mother figure of the kingdom which she doesn’t deserve.

Secondly, the Esmertia faction would have dragged Eric’s reputation to dirt by claiming that he was the one who had fabricated it all to become the King in place of the rightful Queen’s son.

Thirdly, Eric wouldn’t have been able to handle it all, physically and mentally. He would have drowned under guilt, self-decrepating himself and eventually he would have wasted away without utilising his potential and becoming a proper ruler.

It would have been a bad idea. Reina surmised that none of the previous candidates would have been such fools to take that route.

[The Preserver comments that one of the candidates indeed went ahead with that idea.]

Reina’s eyebrows jumped as she read that. The Preserver unlike her previous Patrons didn’t frequently comment or share his views or advices. But he did converse with her at random times like this.

"Somebody was really that big of a fool who didn’t think of the consequences and did that?"

[The Preserver confirms that there was one.]

"I wonder what kind of a disaster it was for their candidate. Who was the poor guy anyways?"

[The Preserver says that it was the one who’s walking beside you right now.]

Reina frowned a bit, ever since she had decided to make Eric the King she hadn’t even thought of the possibility of any other person to be able to make her change her decision. But she knew apart from Eric there were two more legit candidates that could be the rulers. One of them was the previous Crown Prince’s daughter Alys and second was the future Grand Duke Davian.

"So, did their plan succeed?" Reina asked.

[The Preserver asks what you think.]

"It definitely failed, right? I mean, what could they be trying to achieve with such a crude set up? Davian was barely able to hold himself when his parents went missing. What did that candidate even do?"

[The Preserver explains that the previous candidate couldn’t save the parents of Davian including the Duke’s business and lost the Aqua Dragon’s blessing and instead waited till their debutante before they courted Grand Duke Davian but then they had the Queen and her children killed and got executed by the very hands of Grand Duke Davian whom they made the King.]

Reina stopped as she read that. Davian killed the one who made him the King.

"... You have been using me- Reina as your host ever since, right? So, you’re telling me that Davian of that scenario killed her?"

[The Preserver affirms.]

Davian stopped as well watching as Reina stopped.

"Is something wrong, Miss Reina?" He asked.

[The Preserver explains that the previous candidate had turned the Grand Duke Davian into a tyrant who ruined the kingdom and also didn’t make any efforts to save the world.]

Reina blinked, for some reason, the image of the young Davian came to her mind. The helpless little boy who had more enemies than he could know of and then he became a tyrant. It was only natural that he would lose his human side and not care about anything else.

"Miss Reina, are you not feeling well? Do your feet hurt? What’s wrong?" Davian asked as he stepped closer.

Reina blinked snapping back to reality watching as Davian’s eyes glistened with worry and concern. His hands hesitantly reached out to her as his eyes ran up and down in concern.

Reina’s eyes softened before she reached out holding his hand making him flinch slightly.

"Uh, Miss Reina?"

Reina smiled watching his eyes holding so many emotions completely different from the kind of person that he would have become in that lifetime. She was glad that he didn’t become a tyrant.

Her eyes stayed transfixed on his violet orbs and she spoke, "Your eyes... seem to hold the twilight skies, Your Highness. They’re really beautiful."

Davian’s cheeks flushed as his heart pounded. His brain ran through all kind of thoughts. And he couldn’t help but hold a sweet possibility to his heart. What if she also reciprocated his feelings?

The Preserver smiled softly watching them through the screen before him before he sighed, the previous iterations were disastrous with some being so pathetic that the candidates just disregarded the system and their Patrons doing whatever they wanted, while some just were limited with their own drawbacks.

At last, they had finally found a candidate who seemed to hold the possibility of their success in her hands. But with the hope came the apprehension. The greater the responsibility, the greater the risk and the greater the fear.

He could only hope that this Reina wouldn’t lose, if she did then they would be done for. The world that they had been so desperately trying to protect would be gone after this last attempt.