After Ash closed his room, the other three were left like ghosts; each one is troubled with what Serenity said.
Syrous was so done he started missing his hair till it turned into a total mess covering his eyesight; he blew on it in a fit of anger.
"Fuh... who the fuck does she think she is, huh?... Who the hell is that woman anyway?"
Bella slammed a cup, shattering it, hitting the ground near Syrous. She got up, full of anger, clearly displeased.
-crash-
"Watch your words, will you? I really don't want to get dragged down by you." Her voice turned from anger to trembling fear. She squeezed on the ground, sweating heavily. "...I really can't afford to lose this job he gave me."
Syrous felt he messed up and tried to apologize, but his words didn't manage to calm the situation even one bit.
"I...I am so—"
She screamed in frustration, starting Syrous.
"Enough already."
"!!?...W...wait, this is not right. I didn't even do anything. Why are you angry at me, huh?"
Seeing Belladonna's condition, Astrum took a deep breath, trying to keep his calm.
"Isn't it clear enough?!"
Syrous fixed his hair and turned towards Syrous in confusion.
"What?"
"What happened in there was enough, whether it's her killing intent or his anger...we felt it even worse than she did, you know."
'They seemed to have more important stuff to discuss. ' Syrous felt that it wasn't necessary to be that scared.
"But he won't hear us from inside, right?"
Astrum felt pissed from his words; he got up and punched him right on his head.
-bang-
"Ow, ow, ow...fucking hell, it hurts..."
Astrum coldly asked; he was ready to deliver a second punch if he heard an answer that didn't satisfy him.
"Are you awake now?"
Syrous rubbed his swelling head with teary eyes; feeling wronged, he turned at Astrum.
"That hurts, man... next time be gentle."
"Humph," Astrum turned his head the other way, then he knelt down holding Belladonna's hands to help. She nodded silently and got up to sit on the sofa. Syrous got her a glass of water.
"Get up; the floor is too cold to sit on."
"I will get some water..."
"..."
After Syrous handed her the glass, the room was covered again in silence till Bella suddenly said,
"I am sorry."
"Huh?!"
Syrous patted Belladonna's head, comforting her, but after removing his hand, his expression turned serious.
"Although we don't know why this job is so important for you, we are not that stupid."
Belladonna's eyes widened hearing his words. "What?"
Astrum added to what Syrous said, "We already know there is some kind of an unspoken agreement between you and his majesty, although we weren't informed it was so obvious."
Bella froze in her place, clearly frightened; she swallowed her breath.
"Why are you saying that? Isn't it possible I am a contractor with His Majesty just like you both?"
"Impossible," Astrum firmly said and added, "You always pretend like you are one of us, and we just let it slide because he said nothing, but... from beginning to end, you never truly understood what it means to be under a contract with his majesty."
Syrous said, "I have no idea why a Mariposa would make a deal with His Majesty when you are sworn enemies, but since that's His Majesty's will, we can never object."
Bella showed a mocking smile, asking, "So you allowed me to stay just because I am a mariposa?"
"Or else, what?.....Don't tell me friendship or that shit; just feed it to the dogs; it won't help when I am in need; feelings cannot fight in my place."
"You!" Belladonna shouted in anger.
"Personally I don't really care who you are or what you are doing, but if you ever cause trouble for his majesty, believe me, I will be the first to take that head of yours..." Astrum firm responded to shut her down immediately.
"Don't you ever dream about becoming one of us ... you are not one of us; you can never be an Avalore," Syrous said in a strict tone as if it was an undeniable and unchangeable fixed fact in the world.
Both answers from both of them resulted in a deep wound in her heart as her memories with them from the past decade flashed in her head. She remembered something that made her even more depressed.
'Come to think of it, those two never called me a friend.'
She murmured in a faint voice that they didn't even realize she even talked, "Not even once, huh...."
Belladonna looked at those two with a blank expression. She put her hoodie back on her head and said, "Even if I don't have a contract, I still have my own value for him, but you, on the other hand, heh..." She smiled coldly, mocking them. "Without the contract, what's your value for him?"
Both Astrum and Syrous gave her a deathly stare as her words were so out of line.
As the tension between them escalated, a sound called them.
"Stop this quarrel already."
They all diverted their gaze towards the source of the sound; it was Ash standing on the stairs, coldly staring at them. They all stood instinctively, without a sound, waiting for what he would say. Next,
"Follow me to my room."
"Roger," they all answered in one sound, following right behind him.
Ash's room was so empty except for the bed with white sheets in the middle; there was only a single small rounded table beside a chair against the window, in which Ash sat on right when they entered.
Ash sat giving them their back while he was looking at the vast sea of stars from his window. He removed his mask and placed it on the small table beside him. Syrous, Astrum, and Belladonna—all three of them—bent their knees, Astrum in the front with the other two behind him, and in one sound,
"Your majesty"
Ash coldly said, "All on your knees."
All they could see was the back of Ash's chair, but they were used to it. Whenever Ash would take off his mask, if there was any single person present, he must lower his head. If that person ever lifted his head even in the slightest, that person would be beheaded on the spot.
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
Feeling pressured, they didn't dare to move or utter a single word. Ash got even more possessed and unleashed his killing intent on them.
It was suffocating them; the nature of his magic makes his killing intent mixed with the malika of those he killed, and that man's hands are full of blood, but they couldn't make a sound; even hiding their breath was a must; their instinct screamed with all cells in their bodies.
"One wrong move and we are dead."
Astrum hit his hand violently into the ground; it bled, gathering all the power he could.
"Report to your majesty, we shouldn't have been rude around your guest; we caused you embarrassment. We are so sorry."
Saying that made Ash increase the pressure even more; he was clearly dissatisfied with his answer.
'Should I kill them all?' His mind started coming up with some dangerous ideas about how to quickly finish them off. Ash thought for a second and recalled Serenity is Astrum's sister. 'If I killed him, she might be sad...'
After a brief moment of thinking, Ash released his pressure, allowing them to finally breathe freely.
"Forget it; just consider yourselves lucky. There won't be seconds."
After Astrum managed to take his breath freely, he asked,
"Can your majesty please point out my mistake so I can learn from it?"
Ash coldly asked, "Since when did you start working with me, Astrum?"
"Reply to your majesty, it's been ten years."
"Ten whole years, huh...how come you still make mistakes even after ten years, huh?"
Those words sent a shiver down his spine; feeling he spoke wrong, he hurried to apologize.
"My apologies, your majesty; I promise this will never repeat again."
"Repeat you say, you shouldn't have approached me from the beginning; when you started wrong, all that followed was completely wrong... now, do you know where you were wrong..."
"This will never repeat, I promise you."
"What's the use of your promises?...The next one will be your heads rolling on the floor, not just an injured hand"hand."
"I will keep that in mind."
Ash suddenly stood and walked forward to the glass window, opening it widely, allowing the cold breeze to flutter through his hair. With his hands in his pockets, he finally calmed down under the moonlight. He calmly asked,
"What do you think about her?"
"!!?" They gave each other glances, not understanding his question, but after asking, Ash seemed to have drifted away with his train of thoughts.
Syrous asked, "My apologies, who are you talking about, your majesty?"
"The woman in black that came with me," Ash said.
Astrum asked in concern, "Excuse my rudeness, your majesty, but may I ask, is she a friend or a foe?"
"Rise and answer what you were asked," Ash firmly said, reminding them once more that they must be careful when choosing their words in front of that maniac.
They stood from the ground and started answering.
Belladonna started, "If you ask my opinion, I would say she is dangerous. To be honest, never in my life did I ever meet a person that made me terrified without even moving a single finger. I don't think I will ever forget about the horror of this day."
Ash asked, "If she and I were to fight, who do you think would win, Belladonna?"
"I can't judge that; I am sorry."
Ash turned his head slightly to the other side, asking, "What about you two?"
Astrum answered, "I would say a tie ... the killing intent I felt from her was just like the one you normally use when training with His Majesty, and she spotted our weapons instantly. I dare say when fighting her, you must be ready to lose an arm on the way."
"A tie, huh...what about you, Syrous? You've been silent for a while; share your opinions with us. Who do you think will win, me or her?"
Syrous was startled for a second there; he obviously felt troubled by his question, "My answer might not suit your majesty; do you insist on hearing it anyway?"
"Speak."
After gaining permission from Ash, Syrous suddenly knelt on the ground.
"I am ready to receive my punishment for what I am about to say, but...in my opinion, unless you have a trump card we are unaware of, your majesty will lose miserably if you fight her."
"!!?"
'Shit, is he crazy, daring to say such crazy words...did he fucking lose it? 'Belladonna was so shocked by his words her mind drew a million possible ways he might die.
Astrum, on the other hand, expected him to say it, but he couldn't imagine he really had the guts to do it. "Somehow I knew it was coming when he said he won't like it, but for real...he said it?"
All awaiting his majesty's anger inside, both were preparing to hold a funeral for him, but his majesty's calmness was so unexpected.
"Can you explain why?"
"Report to your majesty, her killing intent that we were under was on par with one that your majesty used in training even though she was with you, and we never showed our hostility. She felt Astrum collecting mana in his hands when he summoned the sword that shattered completely under her pressure. She also felt Belladonna's needles she was hiding behind her. Both were still friendly and never truly meant any offense at the time, but still, they were pinned to the ground. Back when they prepared their weapons, I also prepared to take mine out, and your majesty knows my dark spear has a special ability to protect me against any kind of aura with no exception."
Ash asked as he sat back on his chair, "What's your point exactly?"
Syrous followed with a more shocking truth that maybe caused a critical hit for Astrum and Belladonna.
"Report to your majesty, the moment my magic hit the ground, I was stripped from all sources of magic. I couldn't summon my weapon at all, or to be more exact, somehow my weapon refused my summoning, and when she pinned me to the ground, I could feel it. The magic that was flowing through the ground was enough to kill the three of us. Luckily, she didn't use it."
Ash calmly said as he put his mask back on, "You could feel the magic in the ground, ha...anything else?"
"Yes, one last thing: that woman seemed to have uncovered all the struggles we had with our magic, including the ones we didn't speak of to others, even though she saw us for the first time, although I don't know if she had met us beforehand, but if not, then I really can't imagine what she can possibly do."
Syrous was so sure of his words because he recalled Belladonna's weird behavior when Serenity was with them before: 'If my guess is true, then Serenity also knew her secret, and she seemed to know mine and Astrum's. Both are just red flags; one is an Avalor and an Alkana, while the other seems to have something going on with his majesty...'
-clap, clap, clap...-
Ash suddenly clapped for him, making them stunned.
"You can rise, Syrous; it's well deserved."
"Thank you, your majesty."
'I knew that bitch was no joke, but I didn't expect him to be more powerful than Astrum.' She gave Astrum a strange look, and he understood her and replied to her immediately.
He leaned closer and whispered in her ears, "Don't forget Syrous is both my senior and yours; I even heard a rumor he was his majesty's personal trainer when he was a kid."
"How did he participate in the cup of glory then?"
"No idea, but I heard he asked for a spare magical artifact from his majesty a while ago, so maybe that's it. Anyway, he is not like us."
Feeling defeated, Bella said, "Tch, never expected that bastard to be this amazing...that's unexpected."
After Syrous stood beside them, he was still tense because he was still holding back some words in his throat.
"Your majesty, can I ask the same question... do you think you can hold a fight against her?"
Ash didn't think before answering, "To be honest, I have been thinking the same as you, but...who knows? I might be soon enough."
"!!?"
They were surprised even this word was little to describe how they felt at that moment. In their eyes, Ash is a noble who never allows any mistakes, even from his close kin. He never recognized anyone as stronger than him; that kind of arrogance is famous everywhere. No one can talk back at him, his birth parents included. "The king of greed"—that was his nickname, but somehow today he not only let them go after making a mistake but also recognized someone as stronger.
Ash asked Astrum with a serious tone, "Astrum, let me ask you this: are you a friend or an enemy?"
Astrum was taken off guard by his question, not understanding the need for such a question. "What's that got to do with any of this?"
Ash gently said, "She is just like you, if not a little bit special."
Looking at each other in a daze, they couldn't understand his words at all, but what could they even do? They just stayed silent.
"You may dismiss."