After eating their full, Adam together with Beta bid farewell to Celeste and Helena. Walking side by side once again, Beta asked,
"Rubelia wasn't upto it today..?"
He smiled and explained what Ruby told him.
"You know why she said so, right..?"
"Yeah... I was ready to accept Ruby if needed be, but I never thought she would feel guilty because of my decision..."
Beta stopped walking and asked, "Can you tell me if you have some reasons to reject their feelings excluding what you said to the emperor..?"
He kept walking while saying, "I don't know... I guess I am selfish..." and left her behind. Beta sighed. But as it was not her buisness, she ignored it before following after Adam.
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The next day, Adam was waiting as he did so for the past two days. Today was Adriel's turn. She came dressed beautifully. Her whole face was filled with nervousness and curiosity. He felt even more guilty to reject her now. However he ignored that part for now as he led her around the capital.
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As Adam and Adriel were having fun, her father, the emperor exclaimed in anger as he asked, "What did you say..? My daughter is being targeted..? And it was done by one of the nobles of this empire! Currently, she is touring with that person. Go and guard her secretly! If needed be I'll b—"
Cutting his words by midway, the door to the room opened showing a beautiful lady with white hair and black eyes. The main attractive part of her was her horns. There was three of them. She walked closer without being stopped by anyone. Ace, the emperor felt his skin sweating due to this person's appearance.
"You don't need to worry about her. As long as she's with my master, nothing on this world can touch her."
His guards all were on high alert. But he decided to trust this lady for now.
"Very well... But just in case let me ask this. How strong is your master actually..?"
The next words of the lady, Beta, shocked him to the core.
"He is stronger than me."
"..!!!"
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There was a small group of people wearing black clothes following behind Adam and Adriel. Perhaps due to them being relaxed, he or she didn't sensed the following people.
As soon as they reached a store, a pitch black knife appeared next to Adriel's neck. As if it's natural reflex, Adam caught it mid-air. Startled by the change of atmosphere, Adriel turned wary. She didn't took a sword with her as this was supposed to be their relaxation time. So, she took a fighting stance.
In the next split second, four people wearing black robes that his their identities appeared, all targetting her. Since he knew about their strength, Adam didn't stop them, but instead he threw a normal sword at her while saying, "Let me see what you can do in such a situation."
As she catches the sword, he disappeared from there and appeared above one of the buildings.
Perhaps not knowing her strength, the four assassins were defeated easily by the battle freak Adriel. But suddenly someone slashed at her with a speed she can't keep up with. Since he already found everyone that was aiming at her, Adam wasn't surprised by the sudden attack. He protected her with a barrier since it wasn't something she could possibly defend against.
Startled by the appearance of a barrier, Adriel began looking around to see the enemy. Then she heard a voice,
"To think you can cast something like a barrier, it seems the information was a bit different."
Turning towards the origin of the voice, she saw a person standing behind her. That person wasn't trying to hide since their strength was something she couldn't possibly rival. If they wanted to, killing was easy as walking for them. Thus, they didn't rushed.
"That voice... You are the servant of Earl Decot? Why are you attacking me?"
Not denying her claim, the servant of the mentioned noble head, responded with a sarcastic laugh,
"As expected, you understood huh.. Yet you ask why? Do you seriously think we will abide by your father's will forever..? Anyway, it doesn't matter even if you hear about it. You will die today after all.."
Saying so, he flashed from his current position and attacked Adriel. Although he could have let them fight a little more, Adam decided to interject as he caught the disguised assassin with his one hand before the former can even understand what happened. He picked him and threw him to the air by a strong kick to the face, which instantly killed the assassin.
Seeing him killing the assassin, Adriel wanted to say something, but Adam beat her to it by saying, "It seems a coup d'etat is being planned by the nobles of this empire. Sorry Adriel. For now we should return. There is still plenty of time, so let's do this at a later date. What do you say..?"
Adriel thought for a while.
'Plenty of time huh... That's right. There is no need to rush. I will take my time and properly talk with him!'
"Yeah. I think so as well. But, just like today, the next time for our date, the offer of you accepting any request still stands, okay~~?"
He could feel that she was giving him a slight sign. But he could only nod. He too decided to leave it for the future. They left after Adam took the body of the assassins.
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After returning to the castle, Adam and Adriel explained what happened and threw the dead bodies of the assassins for the Emperor to see.
"He really did it huh... It seems I have been too lenient with my subjects lately..."
Hearing everything that happened, Ace, the Emperor of Aragon was full of Rage.
"I am sorry that you got caught up in the problems of my Empire. But again, I wonder what is Earl Decot's excuse for this treachery.. Don't leave the castle for a week, Adriel. We can't say when will they choose to attack you again."
To her father's words, Adriel could only nod obediently. Expressing his doubt, Adam asked,
"If they were planning to attack Adriel in public like that, they must have a plan, right..? May be they are planning to kill all of the imperial family members at the same time? And at the time of the emperor's confusion and rage, they must be planning to trap you. Or they have some other plans to deal with you."
His doubts were the same that Ace was thinking about. But he couldn't believe their plan, whatever it is, will work. After all, he was a holy knight. But his doubt increased as he remembered how easily Beta and Bella dealt with him.
"I won't compell you to answer me, but by chance you are as strong or stronger than those two women who came with you, can you tell me if there's anyone other than you three, who may rival you?"
Understanding why he asked such a question, Adam nodded.
"As you have guessed, I am stronger than both of them. Ah, you don't have to worry, because I won't be lending my strength to Grania as war potential. As for your question about if there's someone stronger than us, the answer is no. At least currently there isn't anyone..."
Though he said the last sentence as he remembered the future fight with the Apostle, Ace who didn't know about such a history only seemed confused about his words.
"Its nothing. For now, you can rest assured that there isn't anyone on this world capable of killing Adriel, as long as she's under my protection. Do what you, as an emperor needs to do."
Ace nodded. Although he would have ignored the bold remarks of Adam about no one being capable of defeating him if this were any other situation, he couldn't say that it wasn't the truth presently. Why? The answer for that was the unnatural pressure he felt from his words alone. He knows that Adam wasn't putting pressure on him. This was a natural presence of someone who surpassed the limits of a human.
Somehow understanding her father's faith, Adriel too could feel the natural pressure that was making them tremble even though he wasn't directing it against them. She could only gulp, which snapped Adam out of his internal thinking and apologising while chuckling awkwardly.