After his vehement kissing and taunting, the king got up, changed his clothes into a sleeping robe and went back to bed to lay beside Azalea. He shut his eyes close afterwards to get some sleep.

Azalea stopped trembling upon noticing that she was no longer in danger. She got up, fixed her dress and walked towards the door to leave.

​​

"Where are you going?" the king opened his eyes.

"I-I'm going back," Azalea mumbled.

"At this hour?" his gaze fell unto Azalea. With a serious face he told her, "No. You're sleeping here".

"B-but …"

"What you saw tonight is not something that can be known publicly. So starting tonight, you'll stay with me and I'll keep a close eye on you. If you ever speak a word about it, you know what will happen".

Azalea fumed and raised her voice, "Why bother keeping me alive? If that's so important then you could just kill me … or you could put magic in me so I don't speak about it".

"Hmmm …," the king thought for a moment. "Well, you're right. I can just kill you or shut you up". Then he laughed devilishly. "But my dear, you're far too amusing for that. I think I'll play with you for a while".

"Huh? So this is all a game for you?" Azalea's eyes teared up. Wiping her lips, she glared at him. "I am not your toy! If you want to play a game, look for someone else. As for your secret, don't worry, I won't tell a single soul about it".

"And you think I trust that easily?" the king mocked. "You're staying here and that's final. I'm not giving you a choice, my dear".

Azalea balled up her tiny fists. "And if I don't want to?"

"You're really brave but don't try your bravery with me. I can easily wipe out everyone in your race if you continue disobeying," the king glared at her with devilish eyes.

In these words, Azalea couldn't really do anything anymore. She stood still near the door, biting her lips and clenching her hands.

While being amused in watching her anger, the king lifted her by magic, reeled in towards him, and dropped her on the bed. Afterwards, the king embraced her again. But this time, he did it so gently that Azalea got confused with the sudden change of behaviour.

In her mind she thought, "He's doing it again. One moment he's cold, then another, he's warm and gentle. I don't understand … I don't know what to think about him anymore".

Azalea tried to reflect more on the matter, but the dead of the night, and the warm embrace of the king, made her fall asleep. Now, they laid in each other's arms, peacefully resting and forgetting all their worries, even for just a few hours.

Tweet - tweet - tweet

Azalea was woken up by the lovely sounds of the birds chirping outside. When she opened her eyes, the king was no longer beside her. The king's servants came in after a few minutes to attend to her and to keep her company for the whole day.

Little did Azalea know that the king was already making his announcements regarding her during the morning assembly of all the Magi officials. All the Judges, Generals, Mythics, and a few well-known nobles were gathered in the assembly.

"I have an announcement to make," the king started. He sat elevated on his throne while the officials stood before him.

Everyone paid all their attention to the king as soon as he spoke.

"I have chosen my queen and starting today, she will be living with me".

"HUH?!" the whole crowd chorused. Their eyes widened in disbelief.

Little by little, they began murmuring towards each other. Some of them were perplexed, while some reacted rather nonchalantly, and a few others who got furious. There were supposed to be 'tests' that the candidates needed to go through, yet, here they were hearing such ridiculousness.

"What brought the sudden change, your highness?" one brave noble dared ask the king.

Everyone tuned in to listen.

"Ahhh," the king sighed. "Let's just say … I was amused by this woman so I'm giving her the chance to be my queen".

"And who is this woman?" Clavis stepped in front of the crowd and asked him.

The king smirked upon seeing Clavis. "Who else, wisest judge?"

Clavis sighed and shook his head. "So it is her ... Azalea".

The crowd's murmuring got louder.

"It's that girl who asked to free her race months ago," whispered one of the nobles.

"Oh, that one. She is brave I must say".

"But still, what will happen to the other candidates?"

"Hmm, maybe they'll be given for us to choose?"

"How about the place of his consorts? Don't tell me he'll only have one wife?"

On and on the gossiping continued. Stupid nobles, if only they knew the king could hear everything that they were saying.

"As for the remaining candidates," the king continued. "Hmmm … let them continue the test. Whoever will be the top 10 will be my consort. As for the rest, let them be auctioned to anyone who wants them, starting from the highest of ranks, to the bottom like the original agreement".

News travelled fast all throughout the Floating Kingdom. By the next hour, the house leaders and every candidate in each house learned about the announcement and that Azalea was now the chosen queen. Azalea's housemates from Tétartos were all happy for her. The wise Défteros thought logically on the matter and they all agreed that there was no better queen than Azalea.

However, the ladies from the talented Trítos and beautiful Próta, got jealous and thought it was unfair to them. But by the end of the day, they all accepted the fact since there was really nothing they could do about it. Same went for the wicked girls from Pémptos. They got infuriated by the news but since there was no helping it, they just chose to be positive and aim for the consort positions - but still not relinquishing the possibility of overthrowing Azalea from her position.

Meanwhile, in one of the noble houses in the Floating Kingdom, a servant relayed the news to her mistress.

"What?!" the mistress went ballistic upon hearing the news. "A queen?! From those puny humans?!" Her body trembled in anger.

She was the green-haired girl who pierced Zeid with an ice spear magic, back on the day that Magi came to conquer the planet.

And her name was "Nefastus".