Remembering that Case was still waiting on the line, Noah resumed the call very apologetically, “Um… sorry, bro, my brother-in-law shot the idea down,” then he quickly added, “he is rather shy with strangers. You must have heard all about Astar Levi before, he isn’t really a social butterfly…”
Hearing no response from the other end, Noah felt even worse about the whole matter, “Sorry…” Noah spoke tentatively, “But, we can go have some fun another day! My brother-in-law has taken several vacation days for this upcoming wedding, and I doubt he’d be spending all of them with me. He and sis will probably ditch me soon to go on a date somewhere.”
Case hummed an agreement, but one could tell from his tone that he was still dejected.
Thus, Noah added in one last encouragement, “And besides, if all fails, there is always the honeymoon. When the newlyweds go off on their honeymoon, I’ll be totally free to hang with you!”
Blackie looked at his silly host who was raising death flags in great amusement, ‘Heh, you are looking forward to the honeymoon, are you? I hope you are just as enthusiastic when the honeymoon starts and you realize it’s your own.’ (¬‿¬)
Future Noah: QAQ ‘…please don’t mention the word honeymoon …I have PTSD…’
“Yeah, you’re right!” Case finally cheered up. His buddy might be too busy right now with handling his brother-in-law and all the wedding matters, but this will pass soon, and the two of them will go back to hanging together just like they used to! “Call me when you manage to ditch your brother-in-law!”
Blackie: ‘Soooo… never?’ 🤔
Levi: ‘Damn right!’
“Alright, you’ll be the first I call!” Noah very happily agreed, “Talk to you later bro, gotta go.”
After exchanging his goodbyes, Noah took a quick shower to wash away the salt and got dressed.
In the meantime, Trey was guarding his door like Cerberus guarding the gates of hell. Not that there was any need to, Levi was busy with “handling” his own matters.
And thus, it took a while before all three were ready to go to lunch.
The restaurant Noah had chosen was inside the resort so they didn’t need to travel far. Soon enough they were very comfortably seated around the table, inspecting their menus.
Noah glanced down towards his communicator which had just received a message notification. “Oh, brother, I forgot to mention it, but sis is awake. She asked me where we were so I told her. She’s on her way.”
Levi’s face immediately darkened, and he almost inadvertently tore the menu in half.
…Alright. It would seem that he couldn’t avoid this particular third wheel after all. That’s fine too. He needed to talk to her anyway.
Levi was brimming with righteous indignation on his darling’s behalf: his precious baby couldn’t be a little concubine! Only the title of an empress is worthy enough of his precious baby! He couldn’t wrong his kitten like this! The harem had to be cleanly and completely emptied!
Blackie’s chip was sizzling with laughter, ‘Great emperor, do tell, where is your harem, ah? 😂 Are you including your right hand?’
Unable to hear certain AI’s remarks, Levi continued his very righteous internal monologue.
Only his precious treasure is worthy enough to climb the dragon bed!
Blackie: ‘Wow, you want him to climb your bed? Heh, it’s nice to have dreams, but you should be more grounded. The only way you can get your baby to climb your bed is if you rebranded your bed into his bed.’
Levi: ‘Hmph, you are not the first to come up with the idea of marriage. I am already working on it!’
Noah: ‘No, wait! That’s not what marriage is about!’ QAQ
Levi ordered his food and started to seriously ponder over how he could break off this engagement in a peaceful way – no, he didn’t want to break it off, he wanted to transfer it from his darling’s sister to his darling. If he had met his baby a few months earlier, Levi would have had enough time to work it out, but with the wedding all planned out and about to happen, it was far trickier to pull off.
His baby’s sister and him were a famous couple in both of their cities! Their parents had been bragging for years that the two of them were a match made in heaven. The two families had already exchanged wedding gifts, if he remembered correctly, his folks gave her a personalized hovercraft. They even bought a house for them, which his fiancée personally decorated.
His fiancée also had a hand in all of the wedding preparations, from decorating the hall with her favorite flowers, to humming a happy tune while she planned out their honeymoon. She was also very excited about the wedding dress which was a custom order she’d worked with the designer on.
The wedding invitations had been sent months before, all their friends and colleagues were invited!
…
…Oh dear, the more he thought about it, the worse it all looked!
…Would …would his baby think he was a scum male and refuse to marry him?!?
Blackie: ( ゚Д゚)‘…wait …are you saying this entire time you didn’t consider your perverted cheating self as scum???’
Levi’s was starting to cold-sweat. How could he possibly break off this engagement in a peaceful way?!?
His time and effort would be better spent planning how to buy a secret island and kidnap his baby so they could live there happily for the rest of their lives… certainly looked like a plan with a higher chance of success then settling this marriage peacefully… ○| ̄|_
Luckily for Noah, Levi’s pondering, that was about to derail in a whole new unpleasant direction, was abruptly interrupted by his instincts which were screaming for attention.
Levi got a very bad feeling.
His eyes darted around the restaurant, but everyone was going about doing their own things, no one looked suspicious. He especially scrutinized the closest occupied table a few times.
He had been lost in his thoughts so he didn’t notice when the two middle-aged white-collar workers had taken their seats there. One of the two had just gone to the toilet, while the other was busy inspecting the menu.
Finding nothing suspicious about them, Levi’s eyes darted about. There were several waiters busing about, that could potentially be carrying anything underneath the lids of those trays.
There was a group of dark-skinned tourists that were dining and laughing merrily. A lecherous looking fat man dining with a beauty. A burly bald man sitting alone in a corner, looking very misplaced in his floral shirt.
“Brother, are you alright?” Levi’s attention was drawn again by his clueless little kitty tilting his head.
However, he didn’t reply, instead, he directed his attention to the table next to them, “Trey!”
Trey, who was sitting at that table, shot him a bewildered look. Oh, so this big shot actually remembered his name?
However, when he noticed how grim the mentioned bigshot looked, Trey immediately turned alert. He scanned the perimeter again, as he had done many times already, but just like all the other times, found nothing notable.
A smack attracted their attention back to the table with the white-collar worker. The man had slapped the back of his own neck as if shooing away a mosquito. His eyebrows slightly furrowed in annoyance but he continued to read the menu.
Nothing notable was happening, yet Levi’s instincts were screaming danger louder and louder.
Left without any other options, Levi abruptly stood up. Trey jumped up along with him, alarmed by the man’s demeanor.
While Noah confusedly glanced between the two, Levi had already reached right next to him and…
And picked him up by his waist like a kid! QAQ
Levi’s shout of “Shield!” was almost drowned out by an abrupt eruption of something piercing and sizzling nearby.
Levi kicked their table over to its side and ducked behind it with Noah in his bosom.The eruption coming from only two tables behind theirs reached their position within a moment.Trey’s shield had not finished forming before it was brutally shattered with a resounding crack, knocking him off his feet to the ground.Abruptly, all noises were drowned out by cracking of the concrete, the sizzling of water and hissing of steam. And then, a moment later, a hair-raising shriek of agony came from the center of the eruption, which was imm
Levi’s eyes burned holes in Noah’s back, completely forgetting the dangerous situation they were in, for in Levi’s mind, there was no situation direr than his darling disliking him, fearing him, staying at a distance.Did his baby notice the reluctance with which he had saved Trey? To be so coldblooded towards someone who was on their side… wouldn’t he have looked cruel and heartless to his kitten?? No one would want to keep a rabid dog by their side that might bite them at any moment with no provocation!And then, even his murderous aura had reared its ugly head. Putting the final nail on his coffin. His carefully craft
“Brother!” Noah turned his desperate gaze towards Levi, “Your power… can it target a region instead of a specific target?”Levi nodded urgently. Right now, even if his kitten asked whether he was retarded, he’d nod his head excitedly for a single smile. Anything to have his precious treasure looking at him with undivided attention, looking at him as if he, Levi, was the center of his world.Levi searched Noah’s gaze, but the other’s eyes were still as clear and pure as before. As if nothing had changed. Within, he found no fear, disgust, reservation, nor coldness. The only thing he saw within those larg
After several more moments of being smothered inside Levi’s arms, Noah was starting to realize that if he didn’t initiate their separation, his silly brother-in-law wouldn’t let go. So, he very patiently tried coaxing the other, “I’m fine now, brother…” – So, you can let me go.The other, naturally, didn’t catch his implied meaning.Noah tried again, “We came out of it whole all thanks to your quick reaction! How did you know something was amiss?”It was at this moment tha
After confirming that the trio hadn’t received any injuries, they were escorted to the station for further proceedings.If in the previous incident, Cordia Aris was just a passerby, then this time, that was no longer the case. This matter had directly escalated from an accident to an attack on the leadership of the city.To make the matter even worse, not only was their young city lord implicated, but the issue also involved a high personage considered as a foreign diplomat - the vice-city lord of Astarea, Astar Levi.With his invol
‘This… escalated quickly…’The department head could only let out an internal sigh of exasperation. Knowing Astar Levi’s famously bad temper, the department head had half-expected this to happen. But half of him had still hoped for the loner wolf to show some leniency due to the upcoming marriage.After saying his piece, Levi proceeded to pull his paws off of Noah’s head, of course, as always, very reluctantly. And then he turned his attention to the light interface of his communicator, swiftly opening windows and pressing buttons.The department head who was just prepari
“…father?” Noah asked bewilderedly.“…Is he angry?” His father’s constipated voice could finally be heard coming from the other side.“Who?” Noah stupidly asked.“Your brother-in-law.”Still very baffled, Noah responded, “I suppose so? He nearly died, so he, justifiably, isn't in the best of moods. Why do you ask?”
The department head sat stiffly in his seat while the food boxes were brought in and placed in front of Levi. Who then opened them one by one, and set the vast majority of them in front of Noah.Levi peeked at Noah from the corner of his eyes to check whether the other liked the food he had served. And then, upon getting a positive response, right there, in front of department chief’s disbelieving eyes, the ferocious wolf miraculously transformed into a big fluffy doggie looking at his owner. As he adoringly gazed at the teen, the only thing missing to complete the picture was a wagging tail.Everyone else present felt as if they had been person