The Tyrant's Pet

"I want to spend my life with someone beautiful and smart; someone I can kiss every morning and night, take a bath with, and exchange cheesy dialogue!!"

The men, including Morro and Climaco, looked at the intoxicated young man with a bit of surprise. Conan truly seemed sincere in getting married, and he sounded a little romantic, too. Some cringed, while others found it silly and cute.

"Sir Conan, since this is a banquet you hosted yourself, should we hunt for your wife one last time before your doom?" Morro suggested when he couldn\'t take this drama anymore.

"That\'s right. We should hook you up before we disembark. One last try," Climaco added with a nod, glancing at the men around and seeing them nod as well. It seemed they all pitied Conan. Who wouldn\'t, though? Conan had been crying a river.

"What are your preferences, my young Lord? We might know someone," someone urged, eager to help this young man just so he would stop crying already.

"Well..." Conan hiccuped as he looked up to think about the preferences he was looking for. "I want someone who is beautiful — I mean, not just beautiful, but absolutely beautiful! She should also be smart. No, I mean, she should be exceptionally intelligent! Her smile should be brighter than the sun and soothing as the moon. She also needs to have beautiful, clean nails!"

Everyone who was listening to his list of what he was looking for in a woman could not help but let out a sigh as everyone realized one thing. The reason Conan couldn\'t find the woman he was looking for was because of his unrealistic standard, and also, he was picky.

Who would care about a woman\'s fingernails?!

The more they listened to Conan, the more they all realized this wouldn\'t be successful. Yet, they remained silent and listened to him, since that was the least they could do.

"Also, it\'ll be nice if she has green hair and green eyes too," Conan mumbled, causing Climaco\'s brows to furrow, but not Morro.

TAK!

Everyone flinched when a crate suddenly landed in front of Conan. They moved their dilated eyes to the person who plopped his butt down on the crate, watching the man rest his elbow on his spread leg, whilst facing Conan.

"Beautiful, smart, and has clean fingernails." Abel placed his hand under his chin, and then pointed at his temple, before wiggling his fingers in front of him as if to prove something. "I also have green hair, my dearest Conan."

His lips stretched from ear to ear, watching Conan gasp in horror. "I didn\'t know I was your type, darling."

"Kyah! Nightmare!" Conan squealed as the image of a faceless angel in his head shattered as it was replaced with Abel\'s devious face. However, even before he could stand and run away from this living nightmare, Abel planted his hand on his shoulder and sat him down.

"Come on, dear. Tonight is your lucky day since your dream partner landed on your lap willingly." Abel grinned from ear to ear, while Conan cried for help while shaking his head. He then arched a brow and glanced at the men, winking at them, which somehow sent a chill down their spine. Not because he looked scary, but they felt seduced!

While Abel refocused his attention on Conan, telling him to start their romance, Climaco could not help but dart his eyes between the two. Now that he thought about it, everything Conan said about the woman in his dream was not just reckless mumbling. He sounded like he was simply describing one particular woman.

"Does he... like Lady Aries?" he blurted out under his breath. His voice was low and only Morro heard him, eyes still at the weeping Conan, dissing the living nightmare named Abel.

"That\'s right. He likes Lady Aries," Morro answered, making Climaco look back at him with surprise.

"What...?" Climaco\'s pupils dilated as horror crept into his heart. Conan liked Aries and saw her in a different light? Wasn\'t he afraid of Abel? The woman he wanted was already the wife of someone who was so powerful, and Aries was madly in love with Abel. There was no chance for Conan.

"No, it\'s not like that," Morro added, seeing the horror plastered on Climaco\'s face as the latter jumped to a conclusion. "Sir Conan likes Lady Aries, but not that way."

He then set his eyes on Abel, who was puckering his lips to scare Conan to great lengths. "It\'s not what you think it is. You can say it\'s more like Sir Conan admired Lady Aries so much that he based his standards on her."

"Ahh..." Climaco rocked his head and laughed awkwardly, finding himself silly at the conclusion he jumped to. He then let out a shallow breath, eyes back to Conan. Conan freed himself from Abel and ran away to cleanse his heart, soul, and eyes.

\'What a group...\' he let out another sigh, watching Abel laugh heartily while watching Conan flee. \'How did I end up being in here again...?\'

Climaco was just someone who got dragged by Morro along with Curtis. Curtis had a purpose being here, but Climaco didn\'t have such a purpose. But for some reason, no one had ever asked him what he was doing in a place where he believed he didn\'t belong? Even Aries didn\'t ask him what he was doing here, although he blamed it because she was too busy with Abel.

"Will she..." he lowered his eyes and went silent, drowning in the thoughts that had always been in his head. As he thought more of it, he couldn\'t help but raised his eyes at Abel. He flinched when the man glanced back at him and smirked.

"Don\'t think too much, young knight." Abel wiggled his brows at him. "You\'ll be fine."

"Huh?"

Abel winked at him but said nothing anymore. Instead, he shifted his attention to Morro, who was sitting on one crate near Climaco.

"Morro, pass me a drink," he asked casually, which Morro didn\'t mind as he got Abel a mug of booze before the emperor of Haimirich joined the local men to share their experience about marriage. After all, Abel was now a married man, and he just found a group whom he could relate with.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. I heard you talking about your wives. You might not know, but I just got married to the most beautiful woman in the world. However, there might some things I might learn from you and your experience in this journey..."

Watching this emperor indulge with the local men and actually mingled with them as if his status didn\'t matter, Climaco could not help but be in awe. Now he realized why Aries fell for such a man. Abel might be cruel on a daily basis and a tyrant. But he was also someone who saw titles of little value. So long as he liked the person, it didn\'t matter if the person was from the pits of hell or from the paradise up above. Abel would treat them the same.

\'I wonder... if that is the reason the knights in Haimirich chose to become knights despite knowing they would serve a tyrant and not just because of other benefits.\'

****

Meanwhile, in one of the narrow alleys.

Dexter was leaning his back against the wall with his arms folded under his chest. Unlike the bustling square, silence reigned in his vantage point. His eyes glossed over the square before his gaze landed on Abel\'s back. The emperor of Haimirich was drinking and chatting happily with the locals as if he had known them for a long time.

"Since when… did he start laughing with humans again?" he mumbled, fixating his eyes on Abel. "It\'s been a very long time since he laughed with them like that."

Watching Abel now brought this memory into Dexter\'s head from the days of yore. After some time, he looked up and caught someone sitting on top of the house.

"Don\'t be so bitter if he is happy," he raised his voice at Isaiah, even though he couldn\'t see Isaiah\'s face. "Forget about the Coven. You should dissolve that filthy gathering."

Dexter sneered when Isaiah didn\'t respond, shaking his head and then setting his eyes back to Abel. His eyes glinted as his eyes sharpened.

"It was… indeed, a vacation," he mumbled, knowing once they returned to Haimirich, things would go back to how their life used to be. "Maybe… worse than before."