Chapter 126 – A Love Square

Third person POV

So, later after breakfast, Robert dressed in his formal clothes, which was consisted of a black, collared polo shirt with long sleeves and buttons, a white necktie, a light grey vest, and dark brown pants. He then worn his pair of boots, which was made of dark brown leather, and grabbed his leather messenger bag, before leaving his room in the guesthouse. Shortly thereafter, he went downstairs, leave the room keys to one of the caretakers, and left the guesthouse and on his way to the front gate to meet up with Emma and Zarah, who are waiting for him while looking away from each other in hostility. Blaise was at the main house helping out with the house chores, while Sol was at the palace coordinating and considering the new, revised plan of defense for upcoming coup tomorrow.

Arriving at the main gate, Robert said to Emma and Zarah, "I'm here, you two."

Emma and Zarah then looked at him, and Zarah, "Oh, you're ready?"

"Yes, I am," Robert replied back.

He then smiled. "So, shall we all go?"

After a short time, the two girls nodded to say yes, and they and Robert left the palace complex, with one of the palace guards opening and closing the main gate for them.

Later along the way, they shopped for some clothes and other stuff at one of Zanid's most popular bazaars. Sometimes, Zarah and Emma fought over which clothes are better. But, Robert gave them a good scolding for doing that in public, and they ended their very short, meaningless quarrels every time. Luckily they didn't damaged any of those cheap clothes; otherwise, they have to pay for them.

And at one edge of the bazaar, the three of them are walking peacefully when Emi came to them and greeted, "Good morning."

Upon hearing that, Robert, Emma, and Zarah stopped walking and turned their heads around, seeing her Old Faction clothes, which was fully black and plain.

Robert then completely turned around. "Oh, morning, Emi-chan, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine," Emi replied back calmly.

Robert then realized that he hasn't told her his name, so he said to her, "Oh, by the way, my name is Robert Lightningheart, of the Lightningheart and Windheart clans. It's so nice to meet you."

Upon hearing his last name and the name of one of the clans, Emi looked a bit surprised, and she thought, "So that's his name. Lightningheart."

She then said to Robert, "Nice to meet you, too, Robert-kun."

After that, Emi asked him and the two girls what are they doing.

"Oh, we are in a double date," answered Robert back.

Once again, Emi was surprised to hear the word 'date', and she thought, "What? A date?"

She then became cold, dropping her head slightly and continued thinking, "They took him away from me! I must prevent this from happening!"

"Are you okay, Emi-chan?" Robert asked her in confusion.

As soon as she heard that, she immediately snapped out, lifted her head up, and responded, "Yes, I'm fine. Okay, I'll come, too."

The last part of her response really shocked the three of them, a lot.

"Hey! You can't do that! We already had a third wheel here," Zarah responded to this.

"Yeah, stay away from our relationship, you damned assassin," Emma added with an insult.

Robert then tried to defuse the situation by saying to them, "Now, now, you two, don't say things like that. That's not nice."

"Why?" Emma retorted back. "You're taking her side?"

"No! I'm doing this because it's not nice at all."

He then glanced at Emi, and said, "I'm sorry, Emi-chan, but you can't come with us."

But, Emi won't buy it, and she forced her way in by siding with Robert.

"Nope!" she said to him. "I loved you more!"

To this Robert was dumbfounded by her persistence to be in his circle, while Emma and Zarah are so annoyed and irritated by it.

"No way," he thought to himself. "Now this is a love square. I had no choice though. Take the risk! Take the risk, Robert Lightningheart!"

So, he said to them, "Okay, you know what? We're done shopping here. Let's go to a theater to watch a play, any play that is available, okay?"

Eventually, the three girls agreed with him, and they all left the bazaar to a nearby theater a few blocks away from the bazaar to watch a play.

And at that big theater, they watched a funny play. Robert tried to drown the three girls' rivalry by laughing as much as he could. But that barely worked, and Emma, Zarah, and Emi are bickering in the inside on whom Robert will be with in the future. To that Robert was uncomfortable in the inside, behind his laughing on the outside as most of the audience laughed like him. All the way to the end of the play, the three girls didn't laugh at all.

Later, at lunch time, they went to a well-known restaurant to eat lunch in an attempt to subdue their ongoing rivalry. And while eating at a table for four, the three girls seemed to calm down, but their auras remained dark as last time.

Robert then stopped eating, looked at them, and responded, "Come on, you three, stop this nonsense. I'll marry whoever I like in the future, okay?"

But then, Zarah looked at him, and retorted, "No! It has to be!"

"No, me!" Emma responded to this. "I'm more beautiful than her!"

"No, me," Emi responded to this, too, "I'm way more skillful than the two of you combined!"

"Okay, stop it!" Robert replied back. "I'll stop going with all of you again!"

Because of his threatening response, the three girls stopped fighting and apologized to him.

"It's okay," Robert reassured to them in response, "I only said that because I don't like you guys arguing like that."

Eventually, Emma said to him, "Okay, we'll try not to fight."

She and the other girls then resumed eating, before Robert would resume eating his meal.

The now triple date was almost a disaster, but thanks to Robert's clever thinking, it didn't end up to be the worst date ever.