Hmm... he's marked the wrong one, Zafira thought as she caught the document flying through the air.
"What's that for?" Rael asked with a puzzled look.
"That might look like a scam, but it's not," she replied, flipping it over just to be sure. "Yep, it's a sex shop. Just leave it."
Rael's brows immediately furrowed in disbelief.
"Why would a sex shop need 50 million Trell from the palace...?" he muttered. "I get people have their own kinks, but why do we pay them?"
Pfft... he's so serious about this. Zafira held back a giggle as she maintained her poker face.
"Well, it's not only a sex shop, but also where we keep our shadows. People tend to speak when they're... you know, distracted," Zafira said with a shrug.
It was a bit crude, but it wasn't necessarily unsafe for the shadows. Before their deed even began, the shadows would lace their targets with a certain poison that would make them spill their secrets.
And of course, right after, they'd inject a venom that would give the target short term amnesia.
They'd leave happy. The shadows and Zafira would leave informed.
It's a win-win situation, but I don't need to tell him that... he already has a group of his own, Zafira thought proudly.
Synthex. It was an interesting group that was operating within her city.
Though she was left a little surprised when her shadows weren't even able to gather the location of their base of operations.
But that only meant Rael chose the right people.
Still, she noticed him grumbling as he went back to work.
In the meantime, Zafira returned her gaze to him, carefully studying his movements.
His fingers traveled over the documents precisely, making sure to straighten a couple of them out in the process.
It was a nice gesture, one she could appreciate.
But I wonder... why exactly do you care so much about Celestara?
He wasn't power hungry. The first thing he did once he became the king was get to work, and then open the boutique up for business.
Her father's first boutique.
What was even more surprising—he could actually hold his own in a standoff against Yrgon's ruler.
The deal could've been a bit better if I went there, but it's still a huge win for us, Zafira hummed, a smile tugging at her lips.
"Hm?" Rael tilted his head, stopping everything he was doing. "What's up?"
"Nothing~" Zafira giggled. "I thought I was going to sneeze."
"Bless you in advance then, my queen," Rael said with a dramatic bow, and got back to work.
"..." Zafira stared at him in silence for a few moments and thought back to the past.
All the men she had seen over the years saw her as either the potential queen candidate or simply the queen herself.
There wasn't a single point in time where she felt even a single spark with the opposite sex. However, ever since the first time she met Rael in the courtyard, something began to change.
She didn't feel the spark at first and was merely testing him.
Zafira even went as far as to show him her pampered persona, and instead of making fun of her for it, he played along and even gave some insight into the Yrgon deal.
Because of his position, she was able to narrow down the officials responsible for proposing something like that in the first place.
Of course, she lopped their heads off and incinerated their bodies, which made the majority vote fail and the deal be called off.
She felt like her guard was being lowered, even if not intentionally.
In the end, she made her first impulsive decision—and that was to marry him.
She had convinced everyone it was simply because she didn't want to get married to some fat old noble.
She didn't want Rael to leave Celestara. If all it took to keep him was a crown and her last name, then so be it.
And to her surprise, he accepted, went through all their public appearances without a hitch, and even brought her back allies, presents, basically everything she could ever want.
But one thing did scare her a little—a 'what if' scenario.
What if she hadn't held her coronation that day?
While they were in the weird moving picture room, Rael mentioned he was planning to leave Celestara, but her coronation, and his imprisonment, stopped him.
Then there was the incident a few days ago where she was sure she had lost him.
Her heart ached. What if I didn't see him that day...? What if he had died—
"Zafira?" Rael's worried voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Is everything alright? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine, just a tummy ache." Zafira brushed it off.
However, Rael didn't buy it. He placed the documents on the floor, tapped something in the air, and summoned a red potion.
"Here, it's strawberry flavored. I saw you had a bunch of strawberry based sweets the first time we actually talked," Rael said as he placed the potion on the table and walked back to his stack of documents.
Zafira just stared at his back speechlessly.
She was confused. Greatly.
He had mentioned being able to tell apart lies, so he must've known she was lying.
But yet again, he went along with her jokes—even spending money on a healing potion.
However, when she inspected the "healing potion," a warm feeling rose up.
—Tasty Strawberry Milk (Common)
Homemade Strawberry Milk. Procured from the starlit dream dimension.
Rael had a faint smile on his face as his gaze traveled toward her. However, once he realized she was still staring at him, he quickly buried himself back in the documents.
In the meantime, Zafira felt stunned. But despite that, she uncorked the Strawberry Milk potion and gulped it down in one sip.
Just as the description had said—it was absolutely delicious.
Zafira placed the empty potion vial beside the construct and sighed softly.
I don't like feeling vulnerable, but maybe—
"Hey Zafira?" Rael's voice cut in.
She tilted her head. "Yeah?"
Rael peeked out from behind the documents, a small grin tugging at his lips.