Chapter 113: Let me stay like this
\'Just to confirm, they passed on, right?\'
[By who, are you referring to the souls of the children?]
\'Yes.\'
[Certainly.]
\'Aight then, that\'s good enough for me. If that\'s settled—\'
He stood up. \'Let\'s get out of this place.\'
Ha Joon soon found himself standing in front of Sinex. He was still in the forest.
"Love?! Say something! Are you alright?!" Sinex panicked, tugging Ha Joon back and forth as she wailed.
"How do you expect me to answer when you\'re pushing me like this?!" yelled Ha Joon.
"Babyyyy, you\'re backkkk! You scared me for a sec there." She hugged him. "Don\'t ever do that again."
"First of all, get off me." Ha Joon pulled her away, keeping her at arm\'s length. "And secondly, how long was I out?"
"About five minutes, why?"
"Felt like days." He sighed again. "Let\'s head back to the castle. I refuse to do any work today."
He turned around, taking a second to look at his surroundings, the memories of the kids replaying in his mind before he walked away.
"W… wait! What about the children? Darling!" Sinex chased after him.
...
"Done."
Artoria placed the book on the shelf.
She was seated on her bed, piles of paperwork neatly arranged around her. Since she knew she wasn\'t going to be king anymore, she was helping Ha Joon finish up some work the best way she could.
He had already told her about the bills and other things needed to rebuild the main capital; all she was doing was approving them.
Gently removing her glasses, Artoria took one more look at the paper she was holding.
"Maybe I\'ll let Merlin look over them, just to be sure I\'m not making any mistakes." She chuckled a bit. "I wonder how she manages to handle this every day."
Knock!
Her attention shifted to the door. "Who is it?"
"Artoria."
The moment she heard Ha Joon\'s voice, her expression softened.
There was little time to respond as Ha Joon had already opened the door and walked in.
"Ha Joon? I thought you were supposed to be at the main capital."
"I sent Yukio there." He closed the door.
"I see… eh? … Ha… Joo… wai—"
Ha Joon pushed her back onto the bed, pinning her down, his expression barely readable.
With her red cheeks, Artoria tried to free herself. "You want to do this now? I— I\'m not prepared for this… let\'s wait a bit… Excalibur, remember… Ex—"
Ha Joon suddenly rested his head on her soft breasts, his body lying on the side.
"Please… let me stay like this for a while," he whispered.
His words dug deep into her mind.
Taking a second to understand what was going on, Artoria had no idea when she had begun petting him on the head, her cheeks still flushed.
...
Meanwhile, somewhere in Camelot\'s prison grounds.
Lancelot and Belinda were sitting behind bars, in a special cell for them since they were once honorable knights of Camelot.
Their armor and weapons were confiscated, and all they were left with were rags and chains filled with eromite, a special chemical that nullifies mana.
Step!
Mordred arrived, standing in front of the cell, her blade resting on her shoulder as she looked down at them.
Belinda gazed at her, her messy hair scattered on her face. "Mordred… you came."
"Well, I didn\'t have a choice seeing as you kept asking to see me. Now the question is, what do you assholes want?"
Lancelot gave a weak smile. "You despise us that much?"
Mordred\'s annoyance was clear on her face.
"What was that?!"
"I admit, we did something terrible. I let my jealousy get the better of me and ended up making the wrong decisions. Still, I did that with Camelot\'s best interest at heart," Lancelot spoke, now looking at Mordred.
"And how did that turn out? Oh right, with the entire main capital getting infiltrated. Do us all a favor and never have interest in anything."
"I deserve that. How is Her Highness?" he asked.
"I didn\'t come here for you to ask me shitty questions. Obviously, you want to tell me something, so speak your mind." Mordred scoffed.
"You… really hate us that much? We were a team, remember? We used to take on missions, fight wars together." Belinda uttered from the side.
At first, Mordred observed her for a while, then she sighed.
"Did you guys practice this? If there\'s nothing more to discuss, then I\'ll be going." She turned around.
"There are more nobles in Camelot trying to get rid of Lord Ha Joon," Lancelot blurted out.
Mordred halted.
"You know this… how?" she asked.
"Ramel mentioned it. They call themselves The Council. It\'s not just people from Camelot, but many other organizations… we didn\'t know about this until recently."
"And they want Ha Joon dead?"
"Yes, he was able to defeat the Goddess of Discord. They want to get rid of him before he becomes any more of a threat."
"Is that so?" Mordred glared, turning her attention back to Lancelot. "Let them try. I won\'t be making the same mistakes I did with the Red Wings. Let them try to lay a finger on him… I\'ll kill every last one of them if it\'s the last thing I do."
"I agree." This was Belinda, moving towards the iron bars, her face pushed towards the space so she could see Mordred well. "I also don\'t want anything to happen to Lord Ha Joon. I have learned my lesson. Please, release us, I beg you."
Mordred turned around. "You\'re a knight, and seeing you in such a state really makes me uncomfortable. But one thing is for sure: if Ha Joon wants you released, he will. All I can say is for you to wait and shut your mouth." She walked away.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Belinda smiled, as she fell to her knees, genuinely happy about the little hope she was given.