Oliver stood frozen in his spot. His mouth hung slightly open, but not a single sound escaped his throat. It was as if the prince had lost his ability to process reality after witnessing the appearance of three youths who came out of nowhere.
However, unlike Oliver, whose brain was experiencing a mild short circuit, the three youths who had just revealed themselves acted completely normal. They stood casually in front of the prince, as if appearing out of thin air was a perfectly ordinary thing to do every day.
"Why are you just standing there in silence?" Alvein asked in confusion, waving his hand in front of Oliver's face. "Do you actually have a weird habit of sleeping while standing?"
"What kind of sleeping habit is that?!" Oliver exclaimed quickly, snapping out of his shocked daze and returning to reality. "Anyone in this world would be startled to see the three of you suddenly appear out of nothingness like that!"
However, Alrain suddenly stood up from his chair. He stepped forward calmly, walking toward Oliver.
Seeing Alrain approach, Oliver immediately ceased his protests. His body tensed slightly, bracing himself in anticipation of what the youth, who possessed a brutal and merciless nature just like Arvin, might do.
As soon as Alrain halted his steps, the distance between them was practically nonexistent. The two of them stood face-to-face, staring directly into each other's eyes for a few moments in sheer silence.
"There's one thing you must remember carefully here, Oliver." Alrain said, his voice low and serious, yet delivering an absolute warning. "If you truly want to be his spouse, there's an unwritten rule regarding physical boundaries among all of us. You are strictly forbidden from touching our shafts. Whether it is ours or yours, they may only be touched and held by him alone. Do you understand, Oliver?"
Oliver was quite surprised by the strict rule enforced among Arvin's spouses. Yet a few seconds later, he actually smiled sincerely at Alrain. For him, that rule was not difficult at all, because from the very beginning, his heart and desires were entirely devoted to only one person.
"Yes, I understand completely!" Oliver answered firmly, agreeing to the condition without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing not a speck of rejection from the prince, Alrain finally gave a firm nod, providing full validation that Oliver was now truly accepted into their household life.
"Welcome to our family, Oliver!" Allen greeted warmly, representing the voice of everyone in the mansion. "I hope you can quickly adapt as you live with us here."
Oliver turned his head toward Allen, then looked at all his new family members one by one.
Without hesitation, he bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you very much! Please treat me well from now on!"
That night, Oliver's presence, who was now certain to become their husband's thirteenth spouse, made the atmosphere inside the Arvin Vedegra family mansion even livelier and warmer.
Furthermore, strategically speaking, Oliver was an extraordinarily massive advantage for them. Currently, the youth possessed intact memories of all the tragedies that occurred in that era, just like Alrain, Ordion, and Davin. As a prince living at the center of power, Oliver naturally possessed highly important and crucial information about the people who would later become Arvin's enemies.
Meanwhile, at the exact same time, far away from the warmth of the Vedegra mansion, specifically in an unknown underground location, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed, shattering the silence inside a stone corridor that was extremely dark, damp, and stretched on as if endless.
Tap... tap... tap...
The sound of those footsteps echoed quite loudly, creating a rhythm that displayed an absolute lack of hesitation in every stride within that quiet and desolate corridor. Those two feet continued to walk on and on, piercing through the darkness with steps that were exceedingly calm and rhythmic, reflecting a figure who held complete control over everything.
As they neared the deepest part of the corridor, the darkness began to fade. There was a bright light from dozens of torches lined up on the walls, illuminating a vast area akin to an underground cathedral.
The footsteps of the mysterious figure cloaked in a black robe finally halted at the end of the corridor. And in that area of stone pillars illuminated by firelight, there were dozens of people all standing in a neat formation, donning black robes.
The moment they sensed the figure's presence, everyone wearing black robes and hoods simultaneously dropped to their knees and bowed as low as possible, paying respects filled with reverence and fanaticism toward him.
"Is everything ready?" the cloaked figure asked, his voice cleaving through the silence, ensuring the progress of the plan.
The voice belonging to the figure was that of a man with a rather deep tone, lilting slowly yet heavily laden with a suffocating psychological pressure.
"Everything is ready, Your Highness!" answered one of the black-robed men positioned at the very front line, his head still bowed in respect. "The preparations are perfect. We only need to execute it according to your command."
The man nodded, then resumed walking, parting the crowd of his followers who immediately made way, heading toward a sturdy altar standing right in the middle of that place.
Upon arriving in front of the altar, the man raised both his hands and lowered the hood of his robe that had been concealing his face all this time.
Once the hood was unveiled, he slowly turned around. His face was now exposed very clearly under the glow of the torchlight.
He was a handsome man with yellow hair and a pair of light blue eyes that were exactly the same as Oliver's hair and eyes, yet utterly devoid of any form of human empathy or compassion.
The man looked toward all the people prostrating in that room.
"Let's do it right now!" the man said, issuing a command to everyone who had been awaiting his decree.
"Yes, Your Highness!" the people answered in unison.
That man was Dalvanel Yudavius En Astoria. He was the First Prince of the Astoria Kingdom, the heir to the throne, and at the exact same time, he was the person Arvin and Alrain hated the most for slaughtering their beloved families in their previous lives.
But tonight, the wheel of fate was turning once again.
In the capital of the Astoria Kingdom, all of Arvin's spouses had just accepted Oliver, who possessed a wealth of crucial information about Dalvanel. And in some unknown dark place, Dalvanel had also begun making his moves much earlier than Arvin had previously anticipated.
As for Arvin, he had just arrived at the border of the Flamort Kingdom.
As a man who held firmly to his words, Arvin had to fulfill his promise to officially and honorably propose to Kylen in front of the King, Kylen's father and the ruler of the Flamort Kingdom, directly inside the palace.
VOLUME 4, 'MISSIONS' [END]