"You asshole. I really fucking hate you right now," I jabbed, glaring at Hunapo as he took a sip from his wine glass.
"As violent as ever, I see. Good to know it is still you, Saito!" Hunapo exclaimed, a bright smile spreading across his face, "But please do tell me, what exactly has your panties in a bundle? Hehehe!"
"Oh, you know, just deciding whether I should punch your face in or kick you in the gut," I replied, crossing my arms and matching Hunapo's smile.
"HAHAHA! You really know how to amuse me! I must remind you, though, I may seem like a jokester at times, but I am still a god, and I do have my pride, so I would advise you to avoid the violence." Hunapo burst into laughter, his smile darkening as he put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his fingers.
"Haa, whatever. What I'm really pissed off about, though, is the fact that you didn't tell me about Keiji, nor that Llyr would be here when I came back," I admitted, resting my hands on my lap as I crossed my leg over the other.
"You do have my most sincere apologies about that. Some circumstances prevented me from doing so; had there not been, I would have been more than happy to tell you. As for Llyr, well, that was something I hadn't predicted would happen," Hunapo sighed, shaking his head.
"Ugh, no matter; what happened happened, I'm not going to dwell on it now," I groaned, leaning back, "Anyway, don't you owe me something? Is that why you brought me here?"
"Indeed! I almost forgot, but remembered when I saw you returning to your manor," Hunapo chuckled, tilting his head with a cheeky grin, "For starters, I have to thank you for helping with the bet. I'm honestly glad I didn't have to go through with that ridiculous punishment!"
"Hunapo, can we please get back on track?" I reminded him, rubbing my temples as he started yapping about who-knows-what.
"Ah, yes! Ahem, originally I meant for you to follow my advice to help you, since it means you would have avoided Llyr…though somebody decided to interfere with my plan. So, now, I have a different and more beneficial idea!" Hunapo cheered, clapping his hands with a smile.
"And that is?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Ahem! Well, for starters, you need an excuse to go to the meeting that Cassius Lawrence is holding in order to stop him, so I figured I'd give Cassius a little push to send Llyr a letter to invite him to the meeting, that way he can invite you as a plus one!" Hunapo beamed, sounding very proud of himself.
"Seriously? That's actually…surprisingly nice of you. Thank you. I guess?" I replied, not sure if I should be grateful or angry that Hunapo was putting Llyr in danger.
'Huh? Am I worried about Llyr? Ha! How ridiculous, as if I could ever be worried about that foolish man.'
"Heh, even someone like me can be nice, you know?" Hunapo laughed, fixing his robes, "Though that isn't all, there is one more thing."
"And that is?" I questioned, raising my brow, "Let me guess, you are finally going to explain what you meant back then with, 'you are the only one who can control your fate!' and whatnot."
"Ehhh, yes and no? Well, it is complicated, very complicated," Hunapo started, clearing his throat and clearly trying to dodge the question.
"You've said that about five times now; just get to the point," I scowled, furrowing my brows and frowning at him.
"Demanding much…well, anyway. What I mean by that is that your soul is not of this world; therefore, I do not have the authority over what happens in your future. In addition to the fact that Lev has his own authority, so I also can't mess with his fate, leaving you an enigma and completely vulnerable to the meddling of other gods," Hunapo explained, nodding slightly.
"Okay, well, what is the worst-case scenario? I mean, considering I have you backing me, I doubt there is anything a god would try," I reasoned, leaning forward and placing my hands on the table.
"Worst-case scenario is that another god could whisk you over to some different realm and leave you to die, theoretically somewhere where I can't find you," Hunapo sighed, crossing his arms, "And while there already has been some interference, it was very insignificant."
"And care to share what that 'insignificant interference' was? Cause while it might've been insignificant to you, I likely won't feel the same."
"Let's just say that the god of love, Cerys, thought it would be funny to influence Llyr a bit," Hunapo blurted out, taking a sip of his wine before continuing, "Another employee of mine informed me that the reason why Llyr didn't leave the estate even though he sensed you had returned to the Quare Kingdom was due to her advising him to stay."
"...Are you fucking kidding me?! That bitch! What'd I ever do to them?!" I exclaimed, leaning back and tugging at my own hair in annoyance.
"Haaa, I wish I could tell you why it has come to this, but not even I know," Hunapo sighed, "Cerys tends to do whatever they want, and for whatever reason…Love truly is unpredictable."
"Well, no use dwelling over something we can't control. If that's all, can I go? I have a lot to do today," I added, standing up from my seat.
"Very well, just do be careful. I don't want my dearest employee to get hurt beyond recovery," Hunapo sighed, before clapping his hands. Next thing I knew, everything faded to black; the chairs and tea table disappeared along with Hunapo, and my consciousness returned to sleep.
***
The next morning, I woke up to the sun shining through the curtains and blinding me as I opened my eyes. Looking beside me, Llyr was still fast asleep, his face turned toward me.
"..." I stared at him for a while before sighing and getting out of bed, fixing the covers back over him. I opened the closet and pulled out a plain button-up, suit vest, and dress pants.
Since Llyr was fast asleep, I didn't bother going to the bathroom to change and just did so where I was. Though I soon came to regret it, since as soon as I was down to my underwear, Llyr woke up and drew my attention as he made a choking noise, his face completely flushed.
"Oh, good morning, Llyr. Lucky you, getting to see such a sight right as you wake up," I said dryly, putting the dress pants on.
"Y-y-y-you! Why are you changing in here!?" Llyr stammered, his face the color of a tomato as he covered it with his hands, spreading his fingers apart to where he could still see me.
"Uh, because you were asleep and it's my room. I really don't think I should be subjected to having to change somewhere else because you are here," I exclaimed, clicking my tongue and turning around to grab my shirt.
"Huh? Oh, yes, I suppose that is true…plus you are my fiancée, and it's not like I haven't ever done anything with you…" Llyr trailed off, seeming to think of things that made his face even redder as he put his hands where his crotch was and looked down.
"...Fucking pervert," I commented, turning back around as Llyr flinched. I put my shirt on, buttoned it, then did the same with my vest. "Hey, since you're here, could you put my hair up for me? It's annoying to do it myself."
"Ah, yes, I can do that," Llyr's expression brightened as I walked over to him and sat on the floor beside him, "Oh, do you want me to just do it like this?"
"Yes. Feel free to put it up however you want; I do not care," I replied, giving Llyr my brush as he put his legs on both sides of me.
As Llyr brushed my hair, my mind raced through countless thoughts. There was the matter of getting Llyr to fuck off and go back home, but also the factor of getting the invitation and convincing Llyr to let me accompany him to the banquet Cassius Lawrence would be holding.
Plus, in addition to having to worry about those absurd things, there was still the matter of having to deal with the missing goddess, Jocasta, and Wenora. Though thinking of that now made me realise that if I wanted to solve that problem, I'd more than likely have to retrieve Nari and Lorenzo from the main estate.
"Uh, Lev, I finished. Is it to your liking?" Llyr announced, bringing me out of my thoughts. I got up off the floor and went over to the mirror by the closet, seeing that Llyr had put my hair into a simple side ponytail, though there were a few small braids in it.
"Hmmm~ Yes, actually, it looks very nice, thank you." While it sounded ingenuine, it actually was genuine. I was quite surprised that someone like him, who had been sheltered all his life, could do something like this.
"Hehe, I am glad you like it! Oh, yeah. While I was doing your hair, someone sent a letter via magic. I was wondering if you'd ever seen this symbol on the seal?" Llyr added, picking up a letter on the bed next to it.
Walking over and taking the letter from it, the symbol on the seal instantly triggered a memory of the original novel, where Atlas had gotten a similar letter, but chose to ignore it, leading to the eventual deaths that took place during the banquet.
The sigil was a tragedy-and-comedy mask, chains, and a scroll. Each symbol belonged to the gods that watched over the Silversun Kingdom; Thien's being the masks, the chains belonging to Cerys, and the Scroll belonging to Solthia, the goddess of Beginnings, History, and Art.
"It's a letter from the Royal Family of the Silversun Kingdom, and it seems to be addressed to you. Go ahead and open it; if you don't understand anything, I'll try and explain it for you," I offered, sitting down next to him.
"Alright, I'll make sure to ask then," Llyr replied, smiling and nodding as I sat next to him, blush creeping on his face before he went to read the letter, "Huh…It's an invitation to a banquet. Oh, and it says I can bring a plus one if I want to!"
"Hoo~ Then why not take me? I can help you if it gets political!" I immediately offered, grasping the chance that was given without any hesitation.
'Heh, score! I don't know if it was under Hunapo's influence that that was added to the invitation or by the design of Cassius, but thank you!'
"I mean, I can take you, but I'd rather take care of all the talking myself. It is not that I don't believe in your political ability, but I want to show you how much I've grown," Llyr smiled at me while giving my hand a small squeeze of reassurance.
"Well, I suppose that can't be helped. I accept those terms, so prove to me that you have grown from being a man-child," I smiled back, squeezing his hand back before letting go and heading out the door, "Go ahead and send a reply that you'll be attending; I'll be downstairs eating breakfast."
***
Yawning as I head down the stairs, I saw Praxis and Sephtis standing at the bottom, chatting as usual. It seemed to me that they had just finished sorting through whose luggage was whose and were trying to figure out how to get it upstairs without having to take multiple trips.
"Good morning, you two, is something the matter?" I asked, already knowing what was up, but I wanted to know how they would interpret it.
"Oh, good morning, teacher! Praxis and I just finished sorting through the leftover luggage, and we're about to bring it upstairs…But it is a little too much for us to bring up all at once. Would you mind helping us out?" Sephtis asked, his ears twitching.
"Ah, well, I was actually about to go get some breakfast…Why don't you ask Llyr? I'm sure he'd be more than willing, and if not, tell him that I told you guys to ask; that will likely change his mind," I smiled, a mischievous glint in my eyes at the joy of handing off the heavy lifting to Llyr.
"You want us to ask him for help? Haaa, if it is what you insist, Master, then I guess it can't be helped," Praxis clicked his tongue and went upstairs, albeit with much hesitation and annoyance at the thought.