The final name Arvin had just mentioned instantly made his nine spouses jolt in shock. The air inside the bathroom seemed to come to a standstill. It was a foreign name they had never heard before.
"Kaydan?" Allen repeated with a confused expression. "Who is he?"
"He is my tenth spouse." Arvin answered with utmost honesty and openness, harboring no intention whatsoever to hide this fact from his new family.
Hearing such a casual confession, Ordion stared at his husband in sheer bewilderment. "Then, if he is indeed your tenth spouse, why didn't you bring him here with you?"
"I cannot carelessly bring him to this place." Arvin explained in a calm tone, implying that there was careful calculation behind his decision. "I still have to wait for the absolute right time to pick him up later."
"You are truly a bastard, Darling!" Kylen cursed instantly, chiming into their conversation with an exasperated and baffled tone. "Just think about it. We have only been in the capital of the Victoriaz Kingdom for three days, yet you have easily taken four people as your spouses consecutively after me."
Arvin merely offered a faint smile in response to Kylen's scolding.
"I truly met him by accident while I was infiltrating the palace to execute my plan." Arvin answered, beginning to recount the broad strokes of his encounter last night. His voice slowly grew a little heavier. "He has a very dark fate, exactly like the fate that bound Arion before I freed him."
The phrase 'the same fate as Arion' immediately rang loudly in the ears of his nine spouses. They all understood perfectly well how dark and agonizing Arion's past had been, bound by a slave seal before being liberated.
"So... you mean... he is..." Alrain trailed off, his eyes widening as he realized the truth implied by his husband's words.
"Yes, exactly as you are thinking, Alrain." Arvin replied quickly, cutting off his second spouse's hesitation. "Because of that, I have also freed him and directly bound his soul to mine."
Understanding instantly struck the green-haired youth's mind.
"So, that was the reason you returned to this shelter house last night staggering and nearly unconscious?" Allen said softly, finally discovering the exact reason behind his husband's reckless action of drinking the Elixir of Archmage.
Arvin's eight other spouses also felt the same mixture of relief and concern as Allen. The puzzle regarding their husband's critical condition last night had finally found a logical answer.
However, while the others felt relieved to have received an answer, a vastly different feeling was currently being experienced by Victor.
Despite feeling incredibly curious about the figure named Kaydan and confused by the topic of conversation that had suddenly shifted direction, the purple-haired youth chose to remain silent. He merely listened to the conversation flowing inside the bathroom without daring to interrupt.
"So, what kind of power does he actually possess that made you interested in him?" Ordion asked, breaking the silence, his curiosity as a fighter beginning to be provoked.
"He possesses the earth element and the transparent element." Arvin answered calmly, quoting exactly what he had once read in the biodata of the hidden romance target in the past. "His earth elemental magic manifests in the form of sand manipulation, while his transparent elemental magic is gravity manipulation."
Arvin looked at his spouses' faces one by one to ensure they were listening.
"With the combination of those two magics, he can manipulate a tiny grain of sand to have a mass as heavy as a palace building." Arvin continued, explaining how deadly Kaydan's power was. "Just imagine it yourselves! What do you think would happen if that tiny but incredibly heavy sand attached itself to his enemy's body?"
A brief silence fell before Davin spoke up.
"It is absolutely certain that the tiny grain of sand with an illogical weight would immediately pierce through and crush his enemy's body from both the inside and outside." he answered in a flat tone after analyzing the person's deadly combination of powers.
Arvin nodded slowly, confirming the sharp analysis Davin provided. "Exactly!"
The terrifying power possessed by their husband's tenth spouse successfully left them all astounded and speechless.
The bathroom returned to silence for a few moments, filled only by the echo of water flowing down to the floor.
"Now, let us finish this shared bath!" Arvin invited in a gentle voice, breaking the silence that had briefly blanketed the air.
Then, he turned his attention entirely to the purple-haired youth who had been standing quietly listening the whole time. Without warning, Arvin stepped forward and directly pulled Victor's body into a very tight embrace.
"Welcome to our family, Victor." he said softly.
All of them, especially Victor who had just snapped out of his daze, immediately stared intently at the face of the blue-haired youth who would soon officially become his husband.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
The sudden physical contact created a massive turmoil within him. The warmth of the person he liked so much, coupled with the unavoidable friction as their still-erect shafts brushed against each other down there, truly made Victor's heart beat wildly out of control.
Arvin could clearly feel the youth's heart thundering hard against his chest. Deliberately, he tightened his embrace even more.
"Don't be so nervous, Victor." Arvin whispered very softly, his voice flowing with a soothing warmth into the youth's ear. "From now on and forever, we will always be together. Just get used to all of this, starting from this very moment."
The purple-haired youth fell silent for a few moments. He desperately wanted to raise his arms and return that warm embrace, but a sliver of hesitation still held him back.
May I return his embrace right now? Victor thought in doubt. His hands had moved up inch by inch because he wanted to return the hold so badly, but he lowered them again due to the feelings of doubt and embarrassment still enveloping his heart in front of the others.
However, after passing a few seconds that felt as agonizingly slow as hours, Victor finally gathered all his courage. He raised both his arms and emboldened himself to return his husband's embrace with an equally tight hold.
"Thank you so much... thank you for being willing to accept me as your eleventh spouse." Victor said very softly, absorbing every second of warmth from that embrace. "I promise, I will try with all my ability to be your best spouse, Huby."
You are calling me Huby, huh? Arvin thought, a feeling of endearment surging in his chest. And now, the purple-haired cute boy, just as Elenora had described to me when she had a vision of the future, has become my spouse.
The affection-filled embrace continued for quite a while without anyone intending to release it. The atmosphere inside the bathroom now felt so warm, peaceful, and blissful for all of them.
"How long are you two going to keep hugging like that?" Kylen spoke up with his signature teasing tone, deliberately breaking the romantic atmosphere wafting between Arvin and Victor. "Let's finish this bath quickly before it gets too late in the day. We still have a long journey ahead of us."
In that instant, with small smiles on their respective faces, Arvin and Victor released their embrace. They immediately walked slowly, rejoining the other nine youths to quickly resume their shared bath that had been delayed due to the previous chaos.
While walking right by Arvin's side, Victor could not hide his blissful smile that continued to bloom. Something he had only ever dared to consider a mere fantasy had now truly become a reality.
In his heart, he was already fully prepared to welcome and live a new life as the eleventh spouse of the King of Terror from this day forward, and for all eternity.