It is so much fun to play along

Trynis City, Arda Kingdom

The throne room, The Royal Palace

Valentina was sitting on the throne with her legs crossed in an elegant fashion.

Ares was sitting on the armrest of the throne in the same manner.

Noah was smiling wryly in a corner of the throne room while leaning against the walls of the Palace.

King Abbott's eyelids were twitching uncontrollably as he stood at some distance in front of the throne.

With a light cough, King Abbott broke the awkward stalemate as he continued,

"Hmhh, Lady Valentina, I really admire your courage in facing some unknown phenomena, but I am still the King of Arda kingdom." He said with an awkward smile.

"Oh? Of course, you are!" Valentina said with an 'understanding' expression.

King Abbott gritted his teeth but didn't retort. He knew this woman was purposefully ticking him off.

When the King sent a few people to check the city for any possible dangers, they returned empty-handed.

King Abbott, along with the citizens and guards came back to the city within a few hours.

But-

As soon as he entered 'his' throne room he saw the pair of mother and daughter sitting on 'his' throne like they owned the place.

Although he was arrogant, he was not stupid.

He has learned his lesson from the earlier demonstration of Valentina's power and who knows how much strength she was hiding.

"Prepare an extravagant dinner for our guests!" King Abbott turned around and ordered.

He had no intentions of dealing with a crazy woman who just likes to fight and destroy things.

He knew Valentina has been under control for far too long that she must look for ways to release the frustrations that she may have developed in the past 18 years. At first, he thought, he could control her, since he was SSS-rank just like her, but he has dropped any funny ideas he had with Valentina.

.....

It was already night, Noah was laying on the couch in the guest room he was assigned to and Ares was leaning her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his.

'Okay, something is definitely weird with Ares' Noah thought since Ares didn't even glance at the door of the room she was assigned to and directly barged into his room. Valentina just shook her head and went to rest in her own room with a heavy sigh.

"Ares, do you want to talk to me about something?" Noah asked in a vexed tone.

He was genuinely worried that he may have 'broken' his sister or something like that.

She just refused to stay away from him and openly showed her love and affection for him as more and more time passed by.

At first, she was a little worried about, Valentina's thoughts, but as time passed by, she eventually stopped caring about that either.

Ares flinched slightly but she has already made her decision.

She was not going to back off now...

"Brother, I-I"

Ares looked around the room to say the next words that may come as a shock to anybody because she knew that what she was doing was wrong. She was intruding upon her brother's personal and private thoughts and emotions.

Her red eyes glowed with determination, as she said,

"Brother I can feel your emotions and thoughts when we are close to each other."

"..." Noah looked blankly at Ares as if he was looking at an alien. What is she saying? What is this language? WHO IS SHE?

"What?" Noah broke out of his stupor and asked as if didn't hear anything.

Ares knew it would be hard to convince Noah but she replied nonetheless with a calm tone as she took a deep breath in:

"Brother, Whenever we are close to each other, I can feel all your emotions. And I know about your f-feeling towards me are not f-familial just like mine for you." A deep shade of red appeared on Ares's cheeks.

'Is this a dream? what is happening? Where am I? No! Who am I?' Noah's just kept staring at Ares blankly as if he was looking at a ghost and was too scared to make a move.

"Brother!" Ares jerked Noah's shoulder a little to pull him out of his reverie.

Noah blinked and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts, he completely ignored him getting caught of not having 'familial' feelings and asked, "So you can feel my emotions huh?"

"Mn" Ares nodded.

Noah closed his eyes then immediately put his palm on Ares's stomach and directly used his senses on her to examine her body and [Soul].

Ares turned beet red, she was not expecting Noah to suddenly touch her, but she didn't mind either.

"Strange..." he used his [Gravity] based techniques but didn't find anything.

Noah then asked Ares many things about this 'connection' and Ares replied honestly.

Noah tried to sense her emotions just like she does, but couldn't feel anything.

Noah's interest piqued more and more as his eyes glimmered with curiosity.

"I could feel you are interested...and very, very, very curious," Ares said suddenly in a nonchalant way.

Noah raised eyebrows 'Interesting, if she could feel that I am curious then it is the truth since there is hardly anything which interests us [Immortals].' Noah thought.

"And prideful" Ares squinted her eyes, not believing what she was feeling. Why was he feeling prideful?

"Hahaha" Noah laughed suddenly. It was the truth. [Immortals] are prideful individuals. They are beings who consider themselves above [Mortals] and treat them like grass.

Noah is no different, he only cares about his [Mortal] partners. Others can vanish into thin air and he wouldn't even raise an eyebrow.

Ares was very confused. But, Noah didn't give her time to think as he held her body and made her sit in his lap as he stroked her hair gently.

Ares was confused but she was feeling good from his caresses and just laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as she felt his warmth and emotions that were filled with love and affection.

"You can't disappoint mother and me, Ares." He said in a serious tone.

He didn't find anything strange with her [Soul] or body so he could only throw this matter to the back of his head for now...

He didn't care if Ares was intruding upon his private emotions. But he was worried about Ares particularly.

Although Valentina became a [Immortal], she wouldn't be able to bear with her daughter's death just because Ares remained a [Mortal] and couldn't live past her natural lifespan.

Even if Ares reaches SSS-rank and her lifespan increases to 10000 years, yet she will ultimately die, unlike Valentina which will surely break her heart.

Noah knew Valentina would curse her infinite lifespan and prefer to die before her daughter, in her deathbed, as Ares holds her hand to say her goodbyes and not the other way around.

"What happened earlier with mother...hmm...let's see, it increased her lifespan from the basic lifespan of 10000 years of an SSS-rank to much higher than that..." Noah explained vaguely.

"Mhmm" Ares listened like an obedient kitten and nodded in his embrace. Ares was happy for her mother who was somehow able to increase her life beyond the normal limits.

"Do you think mother will be happy if something happens to you...before her?"

Ares's eyes widened as she realized what Noah wanted to tell her. Ares knew Valentina loved her and her heart would break if something happened to her...in this case...if she remains behind her mother and is not able to increase her lifespan like her mother, then...

"What about you brother?" Ares wanted to know about Noah's thoughts regarding this matter.

"Me? Don't worry about me. I have my own ways to keep up with mother." Noah replied with a small smile.

"Then can you not tell me about it?" Ares asked with anticipation.

Noah pinched her nose, and replied, "If that was possible then do you think mother will keep you in the dark? You have to pave your own way, Ares"

"Mn" Ares nodded with slight disappointment but her determination to get stronger increased exponentially.

*Knock* *Knock*

They heard a knock, Noah asked "Yes?"

The voice of a woman, a maid who was standing on the other side of the door said, "The dinner is ready, Your Highness."

Noah got up and prepared to leave with Ares and Valentina.

.....

Sometime later, Noah, Ares, and Valentina were walking through the corridors of the Royal Palace as a maid led them towards the dining hall.

Soon, a big majestic-looking double-door with exquisite engravings came into their sight. It was a beautiful door as it glimmered in gold and silver color.

The maid pushed the doors open and the view inside could only be described in one word, shiny!

The crystal chandeliers which were magically enchanted, walls were decorated with shiny cutlery. It looked less like a dining hall and more like a jewel store where jewels were designed in the shape of various cutlery.

"I am sure it was King Abbott's second concubine who designed this" Valentina said as she glanced around the room.

"The one who killed herself because she thought, she wasn't funny?" asked Ares while trying to hold back a laugh and maintain her noble demeanor.

"Who said she wasn't funny?" Noah said as he looked around the hall.

"Hahahaha" Valentina broke out of her noble demeanor and laughed.

"..." King Abbott who was sitting on the main seat couldn't help but frown.

He was sitting right there! In front of them! But they didn't give him any face and were laughing at his misery.

He still regrets the day when he said to his concubine that she wasn't funny with an annoyed expression because she kept doing ridiculous stuff like this dining hall.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his foolish concubine.

'Sigh~ I must have committed some serious crimes in my previous life if there was any.' King Abbott sighed heavily. He was in no mood to have a conflict with Valentina, he could only swallow his rage and move on.

"Welcome Lady Valentina, Prince Noah, and Princess Ares. I hope you would enjoy today's feast." King Abbott stood up from his seat and welcomed them 'humbly' but internally his mind was a mess.

Valentina has been constantly provoking him for some reason ever since she stepped into Trynis city. He was getting used to it but his pride was taking a huge hit every time.

Only then do Valentina, Noah, and Ares look towards their hosts.

King Abbott was standing in front of his seat, A young man who seemed to be in his early twenties who had similar facial features to King Abbott was sitting on a seat beside King Abbott.

On the other side of the table another man, who seemed to be in his mid-thirties sat beside King Abbott, and beside him, a beautiful woman with black hair and black eyes was sitting in a graceful manner.

Noah looked around and could guess the identities of their 'hosts'.

The young man was none other than Prince Caleb, son of King Abbott.

The man in his mid-thirties was none other than King Abbott's sister's husband and the woman was King Abbott's sister.

As soon as Noah met King Abbott's sister's gaze, he could see a slight seductiveness leaking from her eyes.

Noah understood many things from that exchange and thought while laughing coldly in his heart 'Heh~ it is so much fun to play along'