Usui entered the hall and saw that it was even more crowded than yesterday. He saw the squad waiting nearby patiently.
Jinha noticed him first and sarcastically said, " So the prince finally grants us his presence."
Hearing him, Freya looked over and frowned when she noticed his state, 'He still wants to battle in that state.'
Usui saw her frown, so he winked at her which made her roll her eyes at him.
He knew very well the reason behind her frown but he didn't have any other choice. He didn't want to wait for his death so he chose to battle till his last breath. He didn't care about dying at first but meeting Freya, he kept wanting to live a little more.
He sighed, 'Well I can just tease her till I have my fill of her, she doesn't have to know about my feelings.'
Seeing Freya frown at him, Liz asked her, "What's wrong, Freya?"
Freya dropped her gaze and shook her head at Liz. "It's nothing... I don't think the hall can maintain the crowd."
Everyone looked over the platform and saw them pushing each other making the front line fall over to the battlefield.
Many came early to take their seats but the people who came last didn't bother to look for any seats and stood for a better view, making it difficult for the people behind them to see the arena.
They were shouting and pulling each other to move. Zeno looked at the situation grimly and directed his gaze at the guards standing nearby.
The guards felt a shiver on their back as his gaze fell upon them and suddenly went forward to control the crowd. Seeing that, the situation was getting worse, they looked at Zeno helplessly.
Zeno pinched the space between his eyebrows wondering how he got useless guards here.
Right when he was about to make his way to their place, he saw Freya getting up to greet the king and queen, which made the crowd slightly quieten down.
As the royals sat, Zeno ordered the soldiers to free up some space at the back and use the walls as extra seating space. The soldiers nodded and hurried to follow the orders.
The king looked at the situation and smiled gently, "Oh my... looks like everyone is curious to know who's the lucky one."
The queen, Merlene directed her gaze at Usui while she thought, 'This young man looks fine and handsome.'
The king noticing his wife's gaze pouted, "I'm right here. See.. ain't I more handsome than him? you can't fall for that rascal."
The queen rolled her eyes at her husband's childishness as she smacked his shoulder.
The guards hearing the king chuckled but stopped when they saw the king glared at them.
"Come, my wife.. let's watch the brat get beaten up."
"Wasn't this a competition? Won't the result be the same even if he loses the battle against Freya?"
"No, darling. There's a difference between holding out till the end and getting beaten up."
She angrily smacked his head which earned a low shout from her husband, "Ouch! it hurts darling."
"You deserve it and I know the difference between them as you always get beaten up by me." The Queen glared at him.
The king glanced at the guards, who had their eyes locked to the ground and sighed. What he didn't know was, the queen was loud enough for the guards to hear everything and were having a hard time controlling their smile.
"But since he was equal to Jinha wouldn't it mean he's strong. Isn't that more than enough?"
The king widened his eyes and looked at her in shock as he said, "DARLING... no... our princess requires the strongest person by her side. If he can't even beat her guard, how is he qualified to be by her side?!"
Merlene looked at her husband and sighed, 'Why does my husband dote on our daughter so much! This way, she won't get married to anyone.'
She grabbed his hand and whispered worriedly, "I doubt anyone can beat Freya."
Julian turned her hand over and patted on top of her hand and said comfortingly, "We could find another strong person then."
She scowled at him, "It's all your fault if she doesn't get married in future."
He nodded gently, "That's fine too... I have all the wealth to dote on her for the rest of her life." which earned him a smack on his head.
He soothed his angry wife, "Okay darling... I will try to minimise the conditions."
She pinched her glabella as she thought of the trouble her doting husband is going to create.
Right at the moment, they heard a sweet angelic voice, " Father... Mother..."
They looked at Rin, who tilted his head cutely at them and was holding a candy and biting on it while his other hand was grasped by his guard.
No one would think that this small cute child was genius.
"Rin...Come over here... Sit with us." Julian announced happily.
Rin looked at him for a second, then turned to search for someone and saw that the person in question was absent, hence he dropped his cute act and let go of his guard's hands as he sighed deeply in disappointment.
Julian's eyebrows twitched seeing his son's demeanour. He wondered why his son only acts cute in front of his daughter and his wife.
Merlene seeing that her son was at it again said gently," Your elder sister won't come here today. Do you want to sit with your mother?"
Rin looked at his mother happily and nodded, he ran to his mother's side who lifted him and placed him on her lap.
Julian watched as his son snuggled into his wife's bosom. He didn't know why his son acts cold only to him. In fact, he was sure among the people Rin loved, he was placed third with his daughter being first, followed by his wife.
He heard his wife ask Rin, "Baby, who do you think would win the battle?"
Rin stopped snuggling and looked up at his mother's beautiful face and turned to look at the ground.
He said confidently," My big brother would win."
Surprised, Merlene asked, "But don't you know sister Freya is so strong? There's no one who can win against her."
Rin nodded his head.
Curiously Julian asked," Then why did you say he would win?"
Rin turned to him, "Because it doesn't matter whether he would win the match or not."
Julian looked confused.
Rin turned to the field as he said slowly, "What matters is that he would get my sister anyway."
Surprised gasps were soon heard around them as Julian looked at his son who firmly believed that rascal would marry his princess.
Merlene smiled as she hugged him and said, "Baby, you sure love your big brother a lot."
Rin nodded, "I don't mind him marrying my sister. In fact, I don't think anyone else is worthy of my sister more than him."