The bright eyes of the Saintess begged Meria earnestly to consider his request.
And he was a soft-hearted person, so he could not deny such a request when it was made of him.
"I don't have much experience having friends, but I would love to be the Saintess's friend if he would have me."
Meria agreed, causing the Saintess's face to light up in happiness. He had never seen anyone be this happy to get a friend before.
'Well, it's not true. One person was just as happy to call me his friend.'
Once again, Meria's thoughts turned toward his dead best friend.
The Saintess noticed this, but he chose not to say anything.
Instead, he reached for Meria's hand and tugged at it.
"Now that I have a friend, I want to do everything I missed doing with you. Let's start with the tea party that I invited you to. I heard that omegas enjoy such an activity, and I look forward to the blend you would make for me."
Meria felt his face pale at the word 'tea.'
"Uhm, Saintess. How about I make coffee instead? I am more of a coffee lover and-"
"Nonsense. Tea is tea, and a tea party is all about tea, right?"
The Saintess assured him before he placed the blend in front of Meria.
Meria stirred the blend with steady hands and placed it hesitantly before the Saintess.
"You know, it is still not too late to change the tea to coffee-"
The alpha Saintess took a sip, and his face turned disgusted.
The tea was pushed back, and the Saintess looked Meria straight.
"You should feel this tea to our emperor. I bet he would love a sip or two of your blends. Meanwhile, I think we should switch to coffee now. I am carving some suddenly."
Meria felt guilty for forcing the Saintess to drink her disgusted blend, but he was happy at the same time.
'The Saintess is too kind to find faults with me and my disgusting team. But there is no way I can ever serve this to the emperor. I would be immediately sentenced to death for trying to poison the emperor.'
Meanwhile, the Saintess had already moved on and pressed a slice of cake toward Meria with coffee.
"Saintess, this is all fun, but don't we have more important things to talk about? I don't understand why you would choose someone like me, a beta general and a household member supporting royalty, as your guard."
The can of warms was finally opened, and Meria asked his question.
The Saintess did not react and continued to pour the coffee into his cut.
When he did look up, there was a friendly look in his eyes.
"Hmm, I chose you because I like you. Ever since I first saw you, I liked your looks and your scent. So, once you were finally up for grabs, I decided to strike. I just regret not being fast enough to beat the emperor."
The Saintess confessed as he took a sip of the coffee.
Meria had a weird feeling that he was approaching the whole situation wrong.
"You…like me? Wait! Is this some twisted kind of courting ritual I am unaware of?"
Meria asked with a flaming face.
The Saintess finally let out a huge smile on his face.
"So, you finally noticed. Officially, I asked you to be my knight and friend, but I want more with you. General Meria, I want to propose to you because I like you."
Meria felt his balance shake when he heard the Saintess's words.
"Huh? E-Excuse me. I think I need a moment to process what I just heard."
This was Meria's third confession this week, but unlike the other two, he could not pretend this was a mistake.
The Saintess was an adult and seemed to know what he was saying.
"I know what you are going to ask me. And let me tell you beforehand - I am not lying to you. I like you as a man and as an alpha. I will make an official proposal soon-"
A small body tackled the Saintess.
The sound of two alphas clashing with each other could be heard, and Meria was shocked to notice the identity of the alpha who just attacked the Saintess.
"How dare you try and seduce my omega? He is mine, and I refuse to hand him over to you. Meria will be my wife. Did you hear me?"
As the shock slowly faded away, Meria noticed the identity of the two-alpha rolling in front of him.
"General Meria, why are you here? No, more importantly! What did the emperor do? Did he-"
Rucia was also here, and she seemed to be struggling to understand what happened.
She remembered walking down the hallway with the emperor before he suddenly started to look alert.
The sweet smell indicated an omega around it, and Rucia immediately chalked it as the Saintess's scent.
Rucia was surprised by the subtle alpha scent in the air but kept herself in check.
She tried to remain unbothered by it, but her cousin could not handle himself.
'What's this? Is the emperor being…affected by the omega's scent in the air? But I thought he was not affected by the pheromones because he already had a destined mate. Does that mean the Saintess is his destined mate?'
The more Rucia thought about it, the less sense it made.
So, she quickly ran after her cousin, only to see him attacking the Saintess.
Was she afraid she would have to pry a possessive juvenile alpha away from his chosen mate.
She must also explain what happened here to the council and General Meria.
'Oh god! This will tarnish the general's reputation beyond belief, and I am sure that Kerin will cause a riot as soon as he realises what happened. I don't want to deal with it.'
Rucia ran toward the pair, only to notice the general in question sitting on the other side of the table with a shocked look on his face.
"R-Rucia, what is going on? Why is Emperor Kai attacking the Saintess? Is there something I am missing here?"
General Meria asked, and Rucia, unfortunately, had no answer for him.
Heck, she was unsure if her senses were working properly right now.
Mainly because she could smell that sweet scent of an omega coming out of his body.