Ch.146145. Luna Crystal (5)

# 145. Luna Crystal (5)

For some reason, all eyes were on me.

I couldn’t understand why their gazes were directed at me.

“Really… me?”

Diabolica nodded at my question.

Then she gave me a look that seemed to ask what the problem was.

“I’m already taken.”

“And?”

Again, that expression asking what the problem was.

Looking at her face, I realized something.

“What…? Oh…”

In the Persian Kingdom, polygamy—both polygyny and polyandry—was extremely common.

It existed in the Cainis Empire too, but not to this extent.

“It’s only natural for capable individuals to have multiple spouses. They have a duty to pass on their excellent abilities to future generations.”

Certainly, in the sparsely populated Persian Kingdom, increasing the population this way made sense.

However…

“That’s the elves’ situation. Ours is a bit different.”

As she said, our circumstances were quite different.

We already had a substantial population, and our advanced education system produced plenty of outstanding talents.

Above all, due to numerous economic, ethical, and social issues, most people didn’t choose polygamy.

Of course, some still practiced it, but that was the general trend.

“Aren’t there quite a few humans with multiple spouses as well?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Then there’s no problem.”

“But why me specifically?”

Surely there must have been other suitable candidates.

Even with their small population, there had to be others.

Yet despite that, Diabolica had named me as that person.

“I’m just an ordinary, average student.”

“For an ordinary student, you were quite strong, weren’t you? Strong enough to catch a King Snake.”

Unlike Luna, Diabolica seemed to have witnessed that scene with her own eyes.

“And you’re quite kind too.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly…”

Suddenly, that maid from before appeared in the training ground.

She interrupted our conversation to deliver her message.

However, since it was rather welcome news, I couldn’t complain.

“Your Majesty, the humans you mentioned yesterday have arrived and are heading this way.”

“They’re earlier than I expected. Let’s go greet them.”

“Yes, understood.”

With that exchange finished, the maid disappeared somewhere.

Diabolica looked in the direction the maid had gone and said to us:

“They’ll all be here soon, so let’s go out too.”

“Your Highness, what about the academy discussion…?”

“I already told you, if you bring someone capable enough to protect you, I’ll allow it.”

With those final words, Diabolica left the training ground.

Luna just stood there, staring at Diabolica’s retreating figure.

She looked somewhat pitiful.

I said to her:

“Let’s go for now.”

“Okay…”

I felt sorry for the dejected Luna, but there was nothing I could do.

I couldn’t volunteer for that role, nor did I want to.

‘What an exhausting promise…’

Still, from Diabolica’s perspective, it was quite a reasonable arrangement.

No matter how skilled Luna was, she would still be in danger.

And assigning bodyguards wasn’t feasible either.

It seemed Luna disliked that option, which is why they chose this approach instead.

“But… you won’t do it, right?”

“Of course not. I just met her yesterday.”

She continued in the same small voice she had used earlier when asking that question.

“I just asked in case. You might have been close before, you know?”

“I suppose that’s possible.”

I said that, but excluding her, I hadn’t been close with any women before.

I wasn’t at all close with women like Eve from my party, or Amelia and Ariya who had fought countless battles with me.

“But there was no one like that. The only person I was close with was Chris…”

“How did you even live? You have a face that would be popular with women, and your personality isn’t bad either…”

“Maybe only you think that, noona.”

My personality was quite different from before.

And my appearance couldn’t really be said to be the same as before either.

“I used to live like a complete shut-in.”

“You can still do that now.”

“I don’t want to…”

I was satisfied with how I was now, and above all, if I went back to that state, that person who had just appeared after a long time would have something to say.

That person, whom I seemed to be seeing for the first time in almost a week, looked me up and down.

“Oh… you’re alive and well?”

“Did you think I’d be dead?”

“You could have been.”

Though it was my sister whom I hadn’t seen in a while, I still felt nothing.

Rather, my eyes were drawn more to the Emperor beside her.

After brief greetings and introductions with Diabolica, the Emperor approached me.

I greeted him with an awkward smile.

“Your Majesty… have you been well…”

“How could I be?”

“I guess not…”

The Emperor seemed angry.

I could only hold my breath at his somewhat aggressive tone.

“You already know what I’m worried about, right?”

“Of course… but I really didn’t do anything…”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

It certainly wasn’t a believable story.

But with her testimony, it might become more credible.

“It’s true, really nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“Yes, of course.”

She was acting quite naturally even in front of her father, who looked so intimidating.

If he knew it was an act, he would feel terribly betrayed, but…

‘As long as we don’t get caught, it’s fine.’

Besides, no one else knew except for her and me.

And the Emperor, who had been so angry until just now, seemed to calm down at her words.

“If you say so, then I’ll believe it.”

“Come on~ He really didn’t do anything?”

Amelia chimed in with an unnecessary comment at that moment.

I gave her a warning look.

‘Please… shut up…’

Amelia seemed to take the hint and didn’t say anything more.

Of course, she still maintained that mischievous expression she’d been wearing all along.

‘She’s really annoying…’

Thankfully, Diabolica’s next words changed the subject.

“Let’s go inside. It’s not good to stay out here.”

Hearing that, the Emperor, Merlin, Kyle, and Ariya followed Diabolica into the palace and then into that room from before.

They were probably going to discuss the purpose of their visit.

“But why aren’t you going with them?”

Amelia, however, headed to the palace library with us.

It didn’t seem like she had any particular reason for not joining them; she just wanted to keep asking those kinds of questions.

“Did you really not do anything? No way, right? Come on, seriously?”

“Is that why you didn’t go with them?”

“I don’t really need to follow them anyway. The alliance is practically confirmed, and I can just hear the details later.”

She was certainly right.

The Persian Kingdom had nothing to lose from this alliance, so they would gladly accept it without imposing any special conditions.

“Still, this is…”

“So did you really not do anything?”

“I’m telling you, it’s true!”

This person, despite not being a teenage middle schooler, kept asking these questions.

It seemed she just enjoyed seeing my uncomfortable reactions.

“Just tell me.”

“There are more than five people here right now.”

And if those five people found out, the chances were high that everyone in the world would know.

Especially that person who kept asking questions—she was the biggest problem.

“What would you even do with that information…?”

“It would be fun to know. Just think of it as sharing a story, just once.”

“No.”

She was persistent, and I continued to refuse her proposal.

‘I need to change the subject…’

With Amelia acting like this, even Elin, Leo, and Professor Gloria were becoming curious about it.

There was only one way out of this situation.

“Princess, that thing you mentioned before. Could you show it to us now?”

“The thing I mentioned before?”

“You said we could see the battle happening in Eden from here.”

Of course, if someone was directly filming it, we could watch it online, but that was the human way.

In the Persian Kingdom, they typically use their own inventions for long-distance communication.

They probably knew we had entered this forest and fought the King Snake using those inventions.

“We can also—”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, that’s possible.”

“Could you show us? We can’t do that, so I’ve been curious since before.”

“Of course, just a moment.”

After saying that, Luna went somewhere to fetch something, and shortly returned to the library carrying a huge book.

Luna showed me the book and said:

“This is it.”

Then she immediately opened the extremely thick book.