As Elizabeth and the group entered, boys other than Antony's eyes shined in excitement. Elizabeth was the first girl that caught their eyes, no, she was the first girl to just straight up took their breaths away.
They were enchanted by her beauty.
Then their eyes fell on Maeve, a beauty at an even higher level than Elizabeth, but then they noticed Ace standing right beside her and hugged her lovingly, causing a smile to appear on their goddess's face.
The boys felt like they were robbed, robbed of their dream girl, their goddess. Even though they knew they didn't stand a chance, but seeing another man already so close to someone they love...
They hated Ace.
Now that they knew that Maeve was already taken, their attention turned back to their first love, Elizabeth. They never expected her to come and talk to them, but it actually happened. They just couldn't believe their luck.
"Oh, I apologize for the late introductions, my name is Elizabeth Grimore, it's a pleasure to meet you all"
Elizabeth introduced herself, and the boys noticed her beautiful emerald eyes looking at Ace, pretty much ignoring everyone around there.
They now hated Ace even more.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you as well, my name is Antony Wilson, and of course, we are more than happy to play with beautiful girls like you" Antony then turned back and glanced at Ace.
"Is that okay?" He questioned with a smile.
Ace narrowed his eyes but before he could say anything, Maeve interrupted, "Of course, after all, this isn't our personnel property, anyone is free to play here"
Maeve then glanced towards Elizabeth and smiled, Elizabeth smiling back calmly. The beautiful crystal blue eyes met emerald green eyes, and it looked like few sparks generated in between their line of sight.
As soon as Ace saw this, he glanced towards Elizabeth with pity. Elizabeth noticed his gaze and was confused why he looked like he pitied her, but Ace just shook his head as he smiled wryly.
"Alright, you can play with her- I mean, you can play with us" Ace nodded and a smile appeared on Elizabeth's face.
"You guys don't need to explain the rules since we already know how to play the game, what about teams, shall we divide players?" Elizabeth offered.
"Hmm? No need, we three are enough, you can all team up together, it might give you a fair chance" This time, Maeve replied with a smug smirk on her face.
Elizabeth's brows twitched when she heard that, but she soon calmed down and smiled, "Are you sure, that little girl might not be able to match our speed. Unlike you, we knew about this game before and are quite good in this game, you know?"
Gracie, who heard that, furrowed her brows, she didn't know why her mama was acting weird, nor did she know about what's the deal with this weird aunty in front of her.
On the other side, seeing that the two most beautiful girls on the beach are now playing the same game, a little crowd gathered around the net with an excited expression, and seeing that, a wide smile appeared on Antony's face before he glanced at Ace.
'So you are showing your true face now, eh?'
Ace thought inwardly as he noticed the clear disdain in Antony's eyes as he looked at him.
Antony's then gathered the boys around and whispered something. As the discussion ended, the boys glanced at Ace with the same disdainful smile as Antony.
'Alright, we can play our little game as well' Ace smiled inwardly.
"Papa, Mama, I am tired, I don't want to play the next game" Gracie walked towards Ace and Maeve and muttered.
Ace furrowed his brows in confusion, he clearly knew how active this little monster is, there was no way she will get tired that easily, but with her next words, Ace understood what she wanted.
"But I want you two to win… okay?" Gracie muttered cutely.
Ace and Maeve glanced at each other before a big smile appeared on their faces, "As you command, your majesty" Ace answered with a bow and Gracie giggled before walking towards the corner.
Even though little Gracie didn't know what was happening around, she was sure of one thing, and that is, she wanted her Papa and Mama to win the match. Therefore, she decided to quit the match so that the two can play without having to worry about her. Oddly mature thinking for a young girl like her but it is understandable since she is the daughter of a past Emperor.
"Papa! Mama! All the best! You can do it!!" Of course, though little Gracie was not playing, she wasn't planning to just sit silently without saying anything. She decided to cheer for her papa and mama to show her support and even she didn't know how bad of a decision it was…
For the others, of course…
The more Gracie jumped and cheered for Ace and Maeve, the wider their smile got. Ace was practically brimming with excitement.
"Are you sure you want to face us with just two of you?" Antony questioned with a smirk.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, just start the match, you can add as many players as you want, no one cares" Ace huffed indifferently and Antony's eyebrows twitched in annoyance.
"Yo-"
"Alright, we will do as you like, but, for it to be a fair match, we will only select two players, so th-"
"As he said, no one cares, just start the match" This time, it was Maeve who interrupted Elizabeth.
'You bitch! I would love to see how you keep that smug face after getting hit by my smash' Elizabeth snorted inwardly.
"Alright, I will be the playing from us three, what about you?" Elizabeth turned and questioned.
"Same, I'll represent us boys" Antony replied and Elizabeth nodded.
"Well, since you are so eager, why don't you serve?" Elizabeth spoke as she threw the ball towards Maeve.
"Mama! All the best!" Gracie cheered for Maeve, boosting her morale. Maeve held the ball and smirked at Elizabeth.
*Bam*
Though not the perfect stance, the power behind the hit was enough for it to be called a good serve.
Antony quickly ran behind, barely able to prevent the ball from touching the ground, though he was surprised by the strength behind the serve, it wasn't time to be dazed.
Seeing Antony preventing the ball from hitting the ground, Elizabeth smiled
'At least he isn't someone useless'
She then hit the ball in a way that it flew higher in the sky, giving Antony enough time to prepare a smash.
Seeing that, not only Antony, even his friends had smiles on their faces. Everyone knew how good of a player Antony was and whenever they played, they always tried to keep the ball away from him so that he doesn't get the chance to smash.
'If it is a smash from Antony, don't try, it's already a point' this was a common saying amongst the group.
Antony was just that good.
And now that he has a clear path for a smash, everyone knew that Antony and Elizabeth just scored the first point.
Antony bent his knees before jumping high in the air; he then glanced towards Ace and smirked disdainfully. He raised his hand and the ball came down, his smirk widened and he smashed the ball towards Ace.
*Bam*
'Take that, loser' Antony smirked.
He was sure that he just scored a point. Even Elizabeth was impressed by the power behind that smash. She then glanced at Maeve to provoke her, but on the contrary to her expectations, she was standing lazily, as if she wasn't bothered by the smash in the slightest.
Ace's noticed Antony's confident expression and chuckled.
He then leisurely walked forward, before receiving the smash with a single hand, without any signs of struggles on his faces.
"Heh… was that it? I thought you would do better with how smug you were behaving…" Ace chuckled before the ball flew towards Maeve, and just like Elizabeth, she hit the ball in a way that it flew in the air.
"Paaapaaa! Score a point!!" Little Gracie cheered and Ace even took some time to wave his hands at her before glancing at Antony and smiling.
Unlike Antony, who jumped after waiting for the ball to come down a little, Ace jumped right away and jumped high enough to reach the ball, surprising everyone present.
*Bam*
*Fwhoosh*
*Bam*
Ace smashed and what looked like a deadly ray beam towards Antony before it bypassed him quickly, followed by the gust of wind that hit his face.
Antony's eyes remained open in shock with only a single question in his mind.
'W-What just happened...?'