FORRESTER could tell that his brows were furrowed while watching the Duke and Duchess of Oakes sleep on their huge bed.

When he felt that the presence of Kalel Moonchester and Soleil Rosenberg disappeared, he went up to check on the little Supreme and the little snake. He found them unconscious while being separated by a door.

Then, Sentinel appeared and they both put the couple to bed.

"Shouldn't we leave them alone so that they could rest for the meantime, Your Holiness?" Sentinel asked. "I'm sure the duke and the duchess's Mana were depleted after what happened."

"Yeah, we should do that," Forrester agreed, then he turned to the spirit guardian. "Sentinel, don't you find it strange? We were all made to believe that the Black Serpent and the Supreme would kill each other when they awakened at the same time. That was the reason why no one attempted to wake them up in the past years. But after what happened today, I couldn't help but wonder if the supposed hate that the Black Serpent and the Supreme have for each other is nothing but a myth."

"Oh," Sentinel said as if realization just dawned upon him. "But isn't it just because they weren't fully awakened yet? As far as I know, the Supreme and the Black Serpent took a piece of their soul during the time that they were still happy together. The Kalel Moonchester and Soleil Rosenberg inside their hearts aren't probably aware of how they ended up in the past."

"I also considered that possibility," he said, then he gave the sleeping couple a suspicious look. "But I still think that there's a secret between Lord Kalel and Lady Rosenberg– a secret that only the two of them know."

"What could it be?"

"I have no idea," he said, a little bit frustrated. He prided himself as someone who knew a lot of secrets considering his connection to the heavens. But the mystery surrounding the Supreme and the Black Serpent confused the hell out of him. "But I have a feeling that Lord Kalel and Lady Rosenberg may not hate each other despite everything."

"I don't quite understand, Your Holiness."

"I don't get it either," he said, then he turned to the spirit guardian again. "But Sentinel, Lord Kalel gave me three requests that he wants me to do for him."

He contemplated whether he should share it with the spirit guardian or not.

In the end, he decided to tell Sentinel because he didn't want to work alone. No matter how many times he gets reborn, he'd probably always be a lazy bum. He just hated working if it didn't benefit him, okay?"

"What are those three requests?" Sentinel asked with furrowed brows.

"First, Lord Kalel told me to never awaken him near the Moonchesters."

"Well, that's already the plan," the spirit guardian said. "The Moonchesters will only get more powerful if they somehow control the Black Serpent."

"Uh-huh," he agreed. "The third request is to make sure that the Moon Serpent will come out of this world safely."

"That's our clan's priority," the spirit guardian said. "Why did you skip the second request, Your Holiness?"

"Because it's ridiculous," he reasoned. "Lord Kalel wants us to kill the White Snake."

Sentinel gasped aloud. "The Black Serpent wants his spirit guardian killed?"

"Can you even die?"

"It would be hard to kill spirit guardians, but not impossible," he said. "But I never expected that the Black Serpent would ask you to kill the White Snake– not him out of all the Beast Gods, at least."

"I just realized that I don't know much about the spirit guardians," Forrester said. "Where did you come from?"

"The spirit guardians weren't born the same way like humans are," the spirit guardian said. "But there was a strange rumor about the White Snake the makes it different from us."

"What rumor is it?"

Sentinel paused for a few seconds before he answered the question. "It was never proven but apparently, the White Snake was the Black Serpent's mother."

Forrester eyes almost popped out of his head. "And the Black Serpent wants to kill his own mother?"

***

"YOUR MAJESTY, Captain Ainsworth is here," Sir Gregory informed him politely. "He's waiting for you in the throne room."

Aku raised an eyebrow when he heard the forced indifference in Sir Gregory's tone. Right now, he was sitting on the windowsill while looking outside his window. After the heavy rain and the sudden sunshine, it was now snowing. "You're not happy that I'm returning the Golden Tiger to Captain Ainsworth's clan, are you?"

"My feelings aren't important, Your Majesty."

"You've been by my side ever since I was little, Sir Gregory," he said, then he turned to the knight. "Feel free to speak your mind."

"I believe that the four Ancient Beasts belong only to you, Your Majesty," the old knight said. "I know that your decision is correct because we need the Ainsworths in the upcoming war. But as someone who supports you, I don't feel comfortable knowing that one of your Ancients Beasts will be taken away from you."

"I appreciate your honesty, Sir Gregory. And I know that you're only saying that because you're worrying about me," he said. "But you're forgetting something."

"What is it, Your Majesty?"

He smiled before he answered. "I never said that I will hand over the Golden Tiger to the Ainsworths permanently."

Sir Gregory blinked several times, then he let out a sigh of relief. "I was a fool to worry about something so trivial, Your Majesty."

He just let out a soft laugh. "Anyway, I have a feeling that something strange has happened to Kiho and Lady Nystrom. We need to make them return to the Royal Capital now."

"I'm certain that they will be forced to return once our plan succeeds."

Aku stood up and did a side-to-side head rotation exercise. "I will ask Captain Ainsworth to abduct Lord Huxley and keep him hidden."

Sir Gregory bowed his head politely. "And I will make sure that the news will reach Captain Denver and his tower."

***

TILLY woke up when she felt something cold on her cheek. When she opened her eyes, she found Kiho caressing her face lovingly. Just seeing his face made her smile instantly. "Hey."

"Hey," Kiho greeted back softly. "Tilly, for some reason that I can't explain, I miss you even though we're together."

"I feel the same," she said, the she scooted closer to him. Then, she wrapped her arms around him. "Why does it suddenly feel colder?"

"It's snowing, honey," he said. "The first snow of the season."

She gasped at that. Then, she got up right away and turned to the window. Her smile grew bigger when she saw that it was really snowing outside. "I was never a fan of any season but I've always thought that the snow is beautiful."

"Hmm."

She turned to Kiho who was looking at the snow like she was a while ago. But he didn't look as excited as she was. "I thought winter was your favorite season. Why do you look down, Kiho?"

"I don't know why but I just feel so bummed out today."

"Okay, that made her worry. "What's wrong, hon?" She cupped his face and when she did, he turned to her. "Why do you feel bummed out? Are you hurt? Tired?"

"I probably feel this way because I failed the saint's trial. The last thing I remember was being trapped in a huge container with water. If I'm here now, that only means that the saint saved me because I failed the test," he explained, then he put his hand on hers. "Thank you for worrying about me, honey."

"I think I failed my first mission as well," she said with a pout. "The saint asked me to visualize the weapon that I want to wield. But if I woke up next to you, that only means that I somehow messed it up." She let out a sigh. "We're flunkers, hon. I guess we can't sleep together in the same room tonight."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "I want to sneak out with you later…"

"But at the same time, I want to get stronger as fast as possible," she finished for him. She had a feeling that they were both bummed out because both of them were competitive and not used to losing. They might have very high libido, but they knew when to act accordingly. After all, their family's safety was on the line. "Let's work hard, Kiho."

He nodded, then he extended his hand to her. "My beautiful Tilly, will you watch the first snow of the year with me?"

"It's an honor to do so, my handsome Kiho," she said with a smile, then she held his hand.

A few moments later, she stood in front of the open window. She placed her arms on the windowsill while Kiho stood behind her. He had his arms wrapped around her shoulders as they watched the snow fall outside.

The sight of the trees, the flowers, the plants, the ground, and almost everything covered in snow looked beautiful.

"Kiho, do you know what kind of flowers are those?" she asked, then she pointed at the beautiful white flowers beside a huge tree. "They look really pretty."

The white flowers looked like cute bulbs hanging from a stem.

"They are called snowdrops," he said in a soft voice. "They bloom every winter."

She turned to her husband with a teasing smile. "Ohh… so you know about flowers."

"Just that one," he said. "I used to live in the North where it's almost always winter. My master told me about snowdrops. According to him, snowdrops symbolize purity, hope, and rebirth. Also, snowdrops apparently signify one's success over several obstacles in life. I like the meaning so I remembered it."

"I also like the meaning," she said. "And I like snowdrops because they look so pretty."

"You're still prettier than any flower."

Okay, that made her giddy.

She couldn't help but giggle and playfully hit her husband's arm.

"We can't sneak out later but we have time now," she teased him while turning around to face him properly. Then, she held him by the waist and pulled him closer to her body. "Kiho, do you know what a quickie is?"

He smirked as his eyes darkened. Then, he closed the window behind her and covered it with ice– like the one that he used to make the carriage soundproof. "I made the ice extra thicker so they wouldn't see us from the outside."

"Is the door locked…?"

He snapped his fingers and voila, the door was now covered with ice.

Someone is in heat, huh?

She hopped up onto the edge of the windowsill, spread her legs, and pulled him toward her while he was unzipping his pants. When she looked up at him, he held her by the neck before he leaned down and crashed his lips against hers.

"Tilly, you feel so warm," Kiho whispered in her ear while he was entering her slowly and carefully. "And very wet."

Tilly actually blushed at his teasing because damn, his bedroom voice sounded very sexy. She buried her face against his neck when he was completely inside her– making them moan at the same time. "It seems like I can never have enough of you, Kiho."

***

NOTE: SORRY for the sudden break. I have three reasons. 1.) my back pain is getting worse since I've been working extra hard in my day job, 2.) I'm taking care of my mother, and 3.) I made some changes in my PRIVILEGE SET so I had to rewrite the whole thing.

I think I'll be able to post my privilege chapters either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Please look forward to them~

SET 1 (this is automatically set by Webnovel): 1 coin for 2 chapters.

SET 2 (this is made by me): 50 coins for 5 chapters. I consulted a friend of mine who's also a contract author. According to her, 50 coins for 5 chapters is already cheaper compared to others considering that I write long updates.

And you know what will happen in the next 5 chapters? :>

A baby whose name starts with W and ends with INTER is going to be born~

For real.

Not clickbait.

Finally.

:D