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Archdemon Empress Luna

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When the dress merchant held the ruby ring Apollyon had thrown at her, she glanced up at her husband then back to the ring in her fingers before she went down from her stall, wailing her apologies on her knees and begging him not to cut her head off at the Summer Castle.

The Summer Faeries paused their daily affairs in favor of watching the spectacle like all creatures do.

From the look on their curious faces, it wasn't every day that they would get to witness something like this.

The clothier claimed that there was a law in the Summer Courts that a faerie would be punished if someone saw or suspected her of possessing a signet ring from the Royal Family.

Anything that had the royal crest on it can never be used as payment, modified or broken into parts in any way or else they would be imprisoned for a death sentence.

The clothier verified Apollyon's identity as a Faerie Aristocrat based on the signet ring he casually tossed at her as payment and she mentioned all of that in front of all the Summer Creatures in the marketplace.

Everyone gasped, including her except Apollyon who wore a mask of indifference.

From what Luna could gather from the signet ring, it is worn by people of great wealth and importance as a signature to differentiate them from the rest of the aristocrats for easy recognition.

The clothier said that the faerie symbols engraved around the gold band indicated that Apollyom was the son of Summer Princess Ourania and the Vampire King Gwythyr.

She even shared that her great-great-grandmother had attended that millennium wedding.

The centre stone also depicted the royal crest of the Summer Courts.

It was a golden phoenix inside the ruby stone.

Luna peered at Apollyon's countenance and it didn't reveal anything except a clenched jaw and a pursed lips.

She narrowed her eyes at her husband.

It felt like this was the exact reaction he expected of the clothier from that signet ring, scrambling on her knees and begging for forgiveness.

Apollyon wasn't arrogant nor did he punish the lady for her impertinence.

He just stood still as he glanced down at her in shock.

There were no further arguments after that.

All of the Summer Faeries present in the marketplace placed a palm over their chest and bowed as they paid them respect.

Mouth agape, Luna glanced around in panic when they did that.

She gave Apollyon a fixed stare as if urging him to do something to make them stop, Apollyon just gave her a nonchalant shrug.

It was awkward.

"I didn't force them and there was no use stopping them, wife.' She heard Apollyon's thoughts addressing her concerns and she squinted at him. Can he read her mind now? It must be because she was a bit weak. 'Let's wait for them to raise their heads in unison and be done with it.'

Like her, Apollyon also wanted to get this over with!

She will never get used to this special treatment!

Now, the whole world knew that the son of Empress Ourania—the current King of the Vampire Realm—was here to visit the Summer Courts instead of their earlier plan to keep it hush-hush.

Apollyon and Luna also desired to familiarize the Summer Courts beforehand so that they could have an escape plan prepared.

It turned out they have already failed when they promised they wouldn't do the same mistake again back at the Spring Courts.

After the merchant found out that Apollyon was the Vampire King and a son of a Summer Princess, she returned the ruby ring in his hands and called her sons from the back of her shop to carry every luxurious garments from the wooden chests.

The clothier offered to make the necessary adjustments of her new gowns including undergarments, nightwear made of silk and lace and other articles of clothing Luna needed right then and there.

The moment Luna tried every fancy garments the clothier could get her hands on inside her small, yet decent shop, Apollyon wasn't ashamed to request for more low-cut bodices and seductive corsets while her body was being measured by three shop attendants.

The clothier promised to finish all of them and deliver them to Vinca Inn at ten in the evening.

The haberdashery near the dress shop they have picked also took Apollyon's measurements for new tunics, cloaks, leather boots and hats for him to wear since they have left all of their belongings in the mountain cabin.

Nobody from both shop owners asked them about the payment yet and they gave no opening to discuss that and she gave up.

Every time she brought the topic, the two merchants brushed them off.

The words coming out of these clothiers' mouth were nothing but praise and gratitude for choosing them to be a royal dressmaker which made her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

Everything was escalating quickly!

Luna's gut told her that these merchants would use her husband's name and status to make their business popular to the masses and the nobles.

Now, they were on their way to Vinca Inn.

They walked on the busy roads while she circled her arm around Apollyon's biceps while Princess Sapphire rode her wolf prowling a good distance behind them.

"Husband." Luna tilted her head at him while her husband looked ahead, deep in thought. "Do you think the purchases are necessary when we didn't have the money to pay the merchants yet?"

"I didn't care about the signet ring on my pinkie finger but they wouldn't accept that as payment," Apollyon replied absently. "The clothier is afraid to die."

Luna's hand dropped to lace her small fingers with his larger digits. "I should find out later if we can exchange the money I brought from the Spring Courts. I don't like to owe debts."

That caught Apollyon's attention since she heard him snort. "That definitely sounds like you, wife. You don't like having debts even to your husband. Is this what you think love is—purely transactional?"

"Husband!" Glaring at him, Luna pinched his skin as she whisper-shouted, "Don't you think it's too early to attack my person so early in the morning?"

Apollyon bent down his head and planted a quick kiss on her cheek, thinking that it would make her ire vanish. "Then, I will attack you at night."

"Hmmph." She pouted even if she felt a flutter of happiness in her chest, daring her to break character, "You're all talk and no action."

"I think you are asking me to prove something in broad daylight."

"No." Luna exhaled. "Forget about it."

"No." There was amusement in his voice when he squeezed her hand to pull her to the side so that she wouldn't get hit by a stagecoach. "Tell me what you want."

"No. I want to ask you something else." Luna said grimly and Apollyon's eyes lit up with interest.

"What is it?"

"Even if you didn't show much reaction, I think this was the first time you figured about the ring."

There was a long pause before Apollyon answered.

Luna thought that maybe it was because they can already see Vinca Inn looming across the wide road.

"It's been given to me by my father since I was young." Apollyon began. "He said that it belonged to him but I have no idea that it was from the Summer Courts."