I should not stare at Leon.
All of us are currently inside the throne room.
The pack, Leon and I.
The throne room looks much more massive when it's just us.
As usual, I'm sitting on Lion's lap though Leon had invited me to sit beside him earlier.
It was okay when he was in his false form but now?
I would be glad to but I don't think I can manage to keep a straight face.
In fact, I have a feeling that I would be fangirling all over him.
Ahem.
He IS kind of hot.
A hot daddy....
WHAT THE HECK?!
It took me several repetitions of saying sutras inside my mind before I could dare look at him without smiling.
The pack, especially Lion, looked at me strangely, asking why I looked too happy. I made a believable excuse of being relieved that the incantation somehow worked successfully.
Everyone believed it, except Leon, who looked amused at me.
This is embarrassing.
He knows that I'm fangirling on him.
Now I get where Lion got his good looks.
Is Lion going to look like that when he gets older?
My thoughts were soon interrupted by Leon, who chuckled as he kept looking at me.
I'M TOO OBVIOUS!
Wait. If Leon is Lion's father, does that mean that I'm fangirling over my father-in-law?
That thought made me regain my composure in a flash.
I still can't get over the fact that Leon is Lion's father. Except for the eyes and the difference of the length of their hair, it is quite obvious that they are father and son.
Leon and the pack were making some sort of casual conversation when I somehow had a strange feeling.
I do hope it's not a side effect of Puoma's fertility potion.
My body is aching, especially my forehead..
The transformation stone feels so heavy...
It's so itchy! My skin feels so itchy!
Lion noticed that I was getting a bit restless, so he nuzzled my ear, telling me that I could sleep if I wanted to, as he would hold me.
No, it's not that!
Um.. how do I say this without embarrassing myself?
I whispered into his ear that I was feeling kind of itchy. He instantly turned red and bit me gently on my ear, whispering that he will take care of it after we were done with the meeting.
Oh for goodness sake!
...
Everyone stared at me as I scratched myself all over while complaining of an intense headache.
IT'S NOT FLEAS! I TOOK A BATH EARLIER TOO!
Lion tried to soothe me as he held my hands, preventing me from scratching myself too hard because my skin had turned red.
I don't think it's from scratching because rashes are starting to appear all over my skin.
I KNEW IT! IT MUST BE THE SIDE EFFECT OF THAT STUPID POTION!
Leon instructed the rest of the pack to get all sorts of potions from the palace apothecary, as he used his magic to find out whatever is wrong with me.
Suddenly, his magic began to spark so uncontrollably that Lion hurriedly carried me away from Leon.
I can feel the air around me starting to get cold, so I beg Lion to wrap me in a blanket as I start to shiver uncontrollably.
Lion is starting to panic as he tries to use his magic to find out what's wrong with me, all while yelling for Sly.
MY HEAD FEELS LIKE IT'S BREAKING APART!
I started to cry as Orm, Alpha and Ghost rushed toward me, carrying all sorts of potions and nearly breaking them in their panic.
As for Sly, he bit his arm, sucked his blood and then kissed me, making me swallow the blood from his mouth.
Lion held me in a tight embrace and spoke soothingly, stopping me from scratching.
IT'S SO ITCHY!
THAT STUPID POTION!
Something is definitely wrong with me.
Several moments after I drank all the potions they gave me, the itchiness and headache intensified and the rashes got worse.
And I have constant annoying ringing in my ears too!
Everyone, including Leon, was yelling at each other in a panic, not knowing what to do. Despite the several blankets wrapped around me, my shivering got worse, as if I were placed inside a freezer with nothing on.
It started to get so noisy that I yelled at everyone to shut up, while covering my ears.
Somehow, the noises became so intense that I closed my eyes and kept yelling that I would cut off their tongues if they wouldn't shut up.
It sounded like I was in the marketplace!
I heard Lion whispering, so I opened my eyes and told him to speak up because it was too noisy inside the throne room.
He looked at me in horror as he whispered something that I was trying to hear, just as I realized what he was trying to say.
Nobody was talking at the moment except me.
What?!
Then what are these voices I keep hearing right now?!
I covered my ears in a panic while glancing around at everyone.
Lion was right.
Everyone is looking at me with worried faces, while Leon had a look of realization on his face.
Oh my gosh.
I'm hoping that I'm wrong despite my intense intuition right now.
I yelled at Lion to give me my Buddhist staff as I was running away from him.
Lion didn't ask any more questions. He used his magic to make my Buddhist staff appear while yelling for Alpha and Ghost to close all the doors.
Orm didn't need any instructions as he instantly performed a spell that prevented anyone from entering the room.
As for Sly, he kept asking me what was wrong, panic clearly on his face.
Then, I immediately struck the end of the Buddhist staff on the floor so hard that it cracked, all while yelling all sorts of mantras, as I wasn't sure which one I should use.
To let you understand what I'm doing, earlier, when I realized that I was hearing voices, I instantly knew that there was something evil in this room, but I needed confirmation first.
And what else can I use for confirmation?
Of course, it's my trusty Buddhist staff.
I don't know why, but I just somehow knew, like an instinct. I can't explain it, it's beyond human understanding.
Maybe it's because of the corrupted transformation stone that's on my forehead.
I don't trust my speculations anymore because a lot of them have turned out to be wrong.
And also, my sanity sometimes goes off in weird directions.
Maybe it's the result of trauma or the effect of being exposed to many demons...
Or everything just caught up to me as I've been in this world for a long, long time already.
Despite all the fantasy books I've read, none of them say anything about how a human body manages to survive in a world full of magic for a long time.
Ah.
I'm speculating again.
I really should stop it or I'll go mad from overthinking.
Oh, wait... Where was I?
Ow! It hurts!
I looked down at my hands and saw that they had burn marks all over them.
The Buddhist staff is glowing too brightly, yet I'm not affected.
Heh.
I am like one of those anime characters holding a magical staff, with wind blowing through their hair as their body and staff glow with intense light and....
Yeah.
You get the picture.
That is what I look like right now.
I kept chanting all sorts of mantras and chants until I noticed that when I spoke a specific one, I felt myself being pulled into the air.
I think that's the mantra that I should use.
While I kept chanting that specific mantra, I floated in the air, even though my arms continued to have burn marks all over them.
Of course! The Buddhist staff is holy and there's a bit of demon blood in the corrupted transformation stone.
It's clashing inside my body!
I could feel the inside of my body being torn apart. Pain filled me, despite my efforts to concentrate on chanting the mantras.
The pack cried for me to stop while Leon was raising his hand towards me as sparks appeared on his hand.
To everyone's horror, numerous demonic magical circles started to appear all around the throne room, including Lion's and Alpha's wrists.
I kept on floating way up high until I stopped near the ceiling, then I instinctively raised my arm that is holding the Buddhist staff while my other hand pointed towards Leon.
Everyone turned to look at Leon, as a demonic magic circle appeared on his wrist.
An intense brightness, like an explosion, filled the room and I felt myself falling down.
I closed my eyes as I dropped the Buddhist staff and waited for my body to make an impact on the floor.
I didn't feel it as Lion had caught me in his arms, as he kept nuzzling and reassuring me that he's here and that I'm safe.
With that, I dozed off.
...
It seems that everyone was waiting for me to wake up.
We are still inside the throne room, though I'm currently lying on a cloudlike bed.
Whose magic? I'm not sure this time, as both Lion and Leon know how to make it using their magic.
My head was on Lion's lap as he kept caressing me, while the rest of the pack was sitting on the bed in a protective circle around me.
My feet are on Sly's lap as he keeps massaging them.
They were talking about something random with Leon, who was sitting on a couch in front of us, when Lion noticed that I was awake.
The pack gave sighs of relief as they nuzzled me all over while Leon looked at us with an indescribable look on his face.
Lion gave me a tender kiss then placed me on his lap while embracing me.
Then I looked at Leon and told him that he has some explaining to do.
With that, Leon cleared his throat and began to talk.
....
Long, long, long time ago, before Lion was born and before Leon was the Chieftain Monarch, Leon had the ambition to become the Chieftain Monarch.
He was just an ordinary magic user, but hearing that becoming a Chieftain Monarch would bring riches, fame and glory made him yearn for it.
There's no other reason but a plain desire for something he doesn't have.
And so, he trained and trained until he felt confident enough to try to challenge the Chieftain Monarch back then.
But it seemed that his magical abilities and other skills were not enough for him to become one and he was crushed and devastated until he heard that you can gain a lot of power from the High Council.
Despite the bad reputation of the High Council, he was determined to realize his ambition and tried to find a way to enter the tower.
Because he wasn't that powerful back then, he was rejected instantly.
And so he trained some more until he felt himself about to break.
Again, he was rejected.
And again.
And AGAIN.
He nearly lost his mind out of frustration and obsession, but then one day.
He saw an intriguing-looking being that was bringing a lot of slaves inside the tower.
Since that day, he kept stalking the being until he was living near the tower because of his new obsession with it.
Heh. I know who that being was... It doesn't take a genius to guess.
Anyway, to make the long story short, the being finally approached him and directly asked him if he wanted to contribute something to the higher power.
He didn't understand what the being meant by that, but he was so obsessed with her that he immediately followed.
Too obsessed to realize the being was a fae and that he should have avoided her.
But no.
He didn't.
Much to his regret.
And no, he didn't regret Lion by the way.
Skip, skip, skip and yeah, Lion was born.
But Leon didn't know about Lion until he became mature.
....
After Leon had intercourse with the being, they entered into a binding contract that caused his magical abilities and skills to surpass those of the reigning Chieftain Monarch, allowing him to easily kill him and seize control of the territory.
Finally, he got everything he wanted. Fame, riches, power and glory except her.
He confidently went to the High Council Tower, searched for her and found her, then asked her to become his mate.
His sanity nearly broke when the fae laughed at him in amusement, telling him that he didn't give her what she needed and that the higher power rejected it instantly.
At that time, he was so crushed that he didn't ask further about what she meant by the rejection.
Let me pause Leon's story for the moment. Remember the experimentation in the High Council Tower that Lion told me about a long time ago? And also my speculations about the Demon King trying to find a specific being or creature before he found me?
Yeah. Lion was also part of the experimentation, but the Demon King rejected him because Lion wasn't the one he needed.
Okay.
Let's get back to Leon's story.
Leon didn't know it at that time, but as soon as Lion was born, he was left at the Developmental Center.
Hmmm.. that was kind of them..
Leon lost his sanity for a while and tried to attack her, but unfortunately, the binding contract stipulated that he couldn't harm her or the High Council from that moment until his death.
Ah I see.. so that's why, despite being powerful, he couldn't destroy the High Council back then!
It finally makes sense!
And to his stupidity, Leon tried to attack the High Council, overconfident in his abilities. As punishment for breaking the contract, he was instantly turned into his fake form and was stuck that way until I managed to restore his former form.
He was stuck in his fake form for so long that all of the citizens and most of the elites had forgotten how he used to look.
Even he had started to forget what he originally looked like.
Years later, when Lion had finally matured and was released by the Developmental Center, Leon saw him and instantly recognized him as his offspring.
But since there was no bonding between them when Lion was still young, it was difficult to form a familial relationship, so he treated Lion merely as a citizen in his territory.
That changed when he learned that Lion had formed a contract with someone.
Wait.. how can he talk about the contract? I thought magic stopped individuals from mentioning it?
Ah yes.. I remembered that Dad can talk with me about the contracts. He can talk to Alpha and Lion about them too..
The mysteries of magic..
I know there's an explanation, but it would be too much for me to understand.
Ahem.
When Leon learned that Lion formed a contract, he was furious as he knew that it was a stupid decision on Lion's part.
At this point, Lion bowed down in shame.
Yeah.. it was a stupid decision, as Lion is susceptible to scams by not reading the fine print!
Leon thanked me for restoring him to his original form, but he admitted he still can't attack the High Council or Lion's mother.
No, he doesn't know if Lion's mother is still alive.
Also, the high council members that Lion, Sly, Orm and Ghost managed to kill back then turned out to be only low-level ones, as the higher-level ones were not present at that time.
Somehow I was reminded of Rahab when he told me he was out on a task at that time.
My speculation this time is that most of the higher-level High Council members are demons or have demon blood in them.
And I'm right, as Leon just spoke about it.
He warned us that I am in danger, as it seems that the demons are after me in addition to the Demon King. Also, based on Lion's report on the situation at the Land of the Deserters, it seems the Netherworld is divided.
Which means the missing and escaped members of the High Council pose a huge risk, as there is a strong possibility they are divided.
With a situation like that, there will be a huge power struggle in which the current Demon King's claim on his throne will be challenged.
Leon exclaimed that we need a major meeting soon with the others, as time is running out and Maelsa is returning soon.
Ghost reported that Khamsin was already on his way, while Sly looked up from tinkering with his communication device and said that Dad would be here soon, along with Ten.
He paused for a moment before exclaiming that Dad said he would just appear using magic and that the pack should make sure he has a comfortable accommodation.
What a diva.
Orm tells Leon about his father being a former High Council member while Sly tinkers with the communication device, Alpha and Ghost discuss what else they going to prepare for the others' arrival while Lion is busy nuzzling my ear.
He kept nuzzling my ear without saying anything until he whispered thanks.
For what?
Seeing the look of gratitude in his eyes, I understood.
He finally found out.
Thank goodness.
Hopefully, this will be a learning experience for him to read the fine print.
...
Somehow what I did in the throne room made the air in the palace seem a little lighter.
The hostility I usually received decreased, until all that was left were the hostile stares from most of the females interested in the pack.
I didn't pay them any attention.
Leon assured us that our room at the palace is still ours and that we can return anytime.
Of course he was just saying it out of formality, as the pack still has to work daily at the palace because of their positions.
Unless Maelsa gives us another freaking mission.
But Leon and the pack vowed to find a way to release me from my neck cuff and to release Lion and Alpha from their contracts.
Also, Leon told us that he had placed a portal in his private chamber, which we can use to go back and forth between Lion's castle and the palace.
Lion cleared his throat and corrected Leon, saying it is our castle, as he gave me kisses all over my neck.
Then, with a tender look on his face as he carried me in his arms, he told me that we're going home.