The Tyrant's Pet

The next day...

The knights outside the first chancery looked at each other with conflict. They then looked back at the shut door, sighing in disbelief while hearing Conan's hysterical cries. For the knights, all they remembered was Conan slacking for the past several months to rebel against the emperor.

"Huhuhu...!" Conan buried his face in his palm, surrounded by mountains of stacked-up documents around his office that were almost as taller as him. It was just full of them, barely giving Conan space to approach his desk. Hence, the tears and the dramatic cries.

Conan spread his fingers to peek, hoping the mountain of work would disappear, but to no avail.

"Hah..." he let out a dry scoff, dropping his hands to his side listlessly. "I don't think I will get out of this place for the next month."

He had seen this coming. The reason Conan enjoyed last night idling like a sloth in his own residence. But despite that mental and emotional preparation all night, his heart still dropped to his stomach the moment he opened the door of his chancery.

"The renaming... that's the reason," he mumbled, wiping the tear from the corner of his eyes with his finger. "How dare they try to rename Haimirich to Chocolate...? I'll kill that person, whoever is that."

Another sharp huff escaped his mouth, dragging his feet to his desk to get started. He didn't even look for Abel since that man was surely rolling under the sheet with Aries right now. Conan hissed bitterly at the thought, walking carefully through the mountains of papers on either side of him.

"I should pass a few to his office since he's so efficient..." Conan trailed off as soon as he reached his desk, catching something silver behind the piled-up papers on his desk. He stretched his neck with furrowed brows to see what it was, and his eyes instantly dilated as he met with a child's adorable face.

The two of them blinked at each other before he let out a terrified squeal whilst jumping back. Conan missed his footing, causing the mountains of papers behind him to collapse with him.

"Ahh!" Conan winced after landing on his rear, pointing at the desk, only to see the documents on top of it.

"What?! Did the paper gain life after sitting here for months?!" he gasped, assuming the child that was as white as snow with silver hair was the personification of these neglected documents. But this assumption was easily squashed down when a tiny figure appeared beside the desk.

"What the -- who...?" his eyes popped open, staring at the little girl's chubby cheeks and sleepy eyes.

Sunny blinked twice, staring at the uncle slumped on the scattered documents on the floor. Her lips parted as if she was about to say something, but closed them again and sauntered off.

"Sunny is hungry..." she hummed while rubbing her tummy, stopping in front of the shut door. She looked up and reached for the knob, but failed even when she stood on her toes. So she looked back at Conan and pointed at it.

"Handsome Uncle, can you open it for Sunny?"

*******

Happening at the same time...

Aries opened her eyes weakly. Her lips slowly stretched into a subtle smile at each blink as Abel's beautiful, sleeping face welcomed her. She instinctively raised a hand, shading the side of his face from the morning sunshine peeking through the gap coming from the balcony.

This had been her morning sight, which brought this warmth to her heart every single morning. Abel was gorgeous -- awake or asleep.

'I fell asleep before he came,' she told herself, tracing his naturally fleek brows with her fingertips. Her fingers continued to trace his face from the bridge of his nose to the tip. Aries could look at him all day long and wonder how could such a beauty possibly exist in this world. He was her husband at that.

'Whenever I look at him, I always tell myself I am lucky to have such a beautiful husband,' she added in her mind, only for her smile to turn stiff at the thought of Abel in his conscious state. 'Until he opens his mouth... that is.'

Abel was the proof there was no perfection in this world. He had a beauty that was so divine, but his mind was filled with indecency. Just like the other day, she thought, he was thinking of what he called experiments. Not that Aries would refuse, but more like she couldn't imagine it, nor did it ever cross to her that was possible.

A shallow sigh slipped past her lips, raising her brows when his sharp eyes cracked open.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," she greeted sweetly, watching him blink. Abel shut one eye to protect it from the sunlight, his other eye fixed on her.

"Did you sleep well?" she inquired, only to feel his arm pull her waist closer to him. Her fist landed on his chest on instinct, blinking twice in puzzlement.

"Did you recover now?" his voice was rasped and weary as if every word he uttered scratched his throat painfully.

"I'm not a vampire who recovers minutes after getting my neck snapped."

Abel closed his eyes and pulled her closer into his embrace. He lowered his head, burying his face on top of her head. As he did so, Aries furrowed her brows when she felt something hard poking at her abdomen. She couldn't help but bite her lower lip, giggling at this sensual heat of his body transferring to his touches.

"I think..." her palm traced his back and carefully slipped inside his top until her hand was touching his bare back. "... I can --"

"My lady, are you awake now?"

Aries flinched and jump to sit up, taking him by surprise by her aggressive action. She turned to the door, wide-eyed, listening to the light knocks from the other side.

Meanwhile, Abel furrowed his brows, blinking as he slowly grew aware of his surroundings. His eyes studied his wife's panicking expression. But just as his lips parted to reassure her, Aries gasped an "oh, no!" and, without thinking twice, kicked him out of the bed.

As soon as Abel landed with a thud on the floor -- lying flat on his back -- his eyes went huge. Looking at the high ceiling, Abel processed what had just happened.

'I... feel like this had already happened,' he told himself, and then remembered this wasn't the first time she kicked him out of the bed. 'Is she... cheating on me with me? Oh... poor me.'

Abel frowned at his love rival, who was apparently himself, while Aries talked to the servant who came to check if she was already awake. Surely, there was no other way to stop this from happening unless they get married under the Haimirich law to carry the name Missus Eustass Silvestri Abel Bloodworth.