Mae looked toward Ryu, but before she could even give him an apologetic look, Ryu slowly stood to his foot, placing her down by his side.
"Ryu?" Mae's gaze flickered.
Ryu smiled. "You expected me to allow you to go alone? Help me get ready."
Mae blinked, her eyes beginning to moisten. Indeed, she had had every intention of leaving Ryu behind. That was because she wanted to face off against the pressure alone and didn't want to force him to listen to the kind of disparaging remarks he would definitely hear. But Ryu had clearly never had such intentions. His words toward Kelcyne were only said to infuriate her.
Ryu's policies toward his women were quite simple. His wives were allowed to be as willful as they wanted, even toward himself, however no one else was allowed to do the same, even himself. No one was allowed to make them suffer, no one was allowed to make them suffer injustice, no one was allowed to paint them into a corner...
Or else they would have to face his wrath.
"Okay..." Mae said softly, lowering her head. Her gaze bloomed with a hint of happiness shrouded by worry. At that moment, she looked no different from a dainty newly wed, prepared to help her husband bathe and dress.
Kelcyne's gaze narrowed, her own eyes flickering with an unreadable light. It was clear that she hadn't expected that Ryu would do this either, it was completely contradictory to his earlier words.
Seeing her niece's eyes overflowing with love, she shook her head and took a step out.
...
Mae took her time and helped Ryu to bathe and wash himself. After sending a servant to complete the task, she found some high class Spiritual Seamstress completed robes for Ryu, helping him to add the layers to the cultural standards of the Dream Asura Race.
Her heart couldn't help but flutter when she saw him fully dressed. One would have never thought that underneath all of this, he was entirely covered in bandages. His aura, to Mae, felt even more imposing than her own father's, but he had a handsome charm and soft edges that her father couldn't hope to match up to. Maybe even in her dreams, the husband that she had always thought of having wasn't even this perfect.
She finished arranging Ryu's collar and smoothed out the layers of his robe, rubbing her hands down his robust chest one too many times.
Ryu chuckled. "Come, we've wasted enough time."
"Mm," Mae said with a blush, realizing that she had probably been seen through.
The hall of the Dream Asura Race was rarely used. They were essentially a race of demons, wasting time in a hall, speaking of politics, and arguing with words left them more uncomfortable than fulfilled. It couldn't be remembered the last time they had all been gathered like this before this incident. But in just these last few months, they had already lost count of the number of times they had been called to this place. It was truly a case of night and day.
However, what made all of this worse was that Rogryll had yet to begin the proceedings, seated on a throne in silence as a dark atmosphere continued to brew.
The hall could truly feel every inch of Rogryll's fury.
It was shaped like a coliseum, but the difference was that instead of the royalty being on the top row, looking down from above, they were instead the only ones located on the bottom floor. The moment anyone walked through the grand doors of the hall, they were immediately greeted by eight thrones.
Of these eight thrones, four were dainty and quite feminine, bedazzled with tasteful jewels and had four extreme beauties perched upon them. Each of them was seductive and wore clothing that tightly wrapped around themselves. Two of these beauties had skin that was akin to dripping milk chocolate, while the latter two had skin like condensed milk dew, but all four had enticing figures and deep ravines prominent upon their chest. And yet, very few dared to look at them for too long.
Three of the remaining four thrones were more forward and had a simpler, but much larger and robust build. In these seats were the three leaders of the Soul Earth, Soul Wind and Soul Body Factions.
Finally, there was a throne with a back double the size of that of the others. Upon this, none other than Rogryll of the Soul Fire Faction and current leader and Patriarch of the Dream Asuras.
Over an hour ago, Kelcyne had come in and took her place on one of the four feminine thrones, perched behind her husband and leader of the Soul Body Faction. She had told them all that Mae would be here after quite some time, but no one had expected for it to take so long.
Just as Rogryll seemed to be about to release a pressure high enough that many would start to faint, the large doors, standing at over 100 meters, slowly opened. But what shocked them all was that it wasn't just one person, but rather, two.
Ryu held Mae's hand and entered the hall, an indifferent kind of sharpness on his features. He didn't seem moved by the atmosphere in the slightest.
Mae, who had instantly felt a shudder, was shielded a moment later, her tense body relaxing. Looking toward Ryu's side profile, she felt a sense of safety she hadn't felt in a very long time.
Ryu neither increased his pace, nor slowed it down. It gazed as though he was walking leisurely through a park rather than facing the aura of an Omniscient Sky God.
Suddenly, he came to a stop, remembering a memory from the past that made him chuckle. He suddenly recalled the time he accidently got engaged because he had sat in the wrong spot. Instead of risking that again, he gazed toward Mae with a smile.
"Wife, where do we sit?"
Ryu's deep voice was filled with a hint of amusement that was entirely inappropriate.
He didn't seem to take this situation seriously in the slightest.