Chapter 13: So You Refused After All

Chapter 13: So You Refused After All

“Gaia, why don’t you take a little nap? You’ll need to be on the battlefield when the sun rises.”

Ailin looked at Gaia, who was still at his desk correcting documents. Seeing him working so late—it’s already 1:00 AM—she couldn’t bear it anymore.

“It’s fine. Let me work a little longer. But you, isn’t it okay for you to stay here with me? If you’re feeling tired, you can go to bed first. You are one of their targets, after all.”

Gaia could manage working a bit more, but the main concern was Ailin. Since the enemy’s operation considered her an important combat asset for Panimir, she needed to rest and recharge.

“But if you don’t stay with me while I sleep, I can’t fall asleep! I just want you to sleep with me; is that too much to ask?”

“It’s not that it’s impossible… It’s just that the situation today is a bit special. I really can’t spare time to sleep alongside you. How about you lie on that chair beside me instead? It can turn into a recliner. You can take a nap there. Once I finish my work, I’ll take you back to your room, okay?”

Gaia proposed a compromise. As long as he was by Ailin’s side, she would be able to fall asleep. So, she could snooze a bit on that recliner.

“Well, I suppose that’s okay, but you need to be careful! Don’t forget what Yake and the others said about not getting too focused on work; you need to think about your health too. If it comes to a battle and you collapse due to exhaustion, it would be a serious problem.”

Ailin was very aware of Gaia’s importance as a king. If he became too ill to fight before the battle even started, that would be a huge blow to their side’s morale.

“Okay, okay, I’ll take care of myself. You go sleep now.”

“Tsk, you don’t listen to advice even at 1 AM, do you?”

Ailin shook her head helplessly and scooped up Gaia, throwing him over her shoulder.

“Ailin?! What are you doing? Put me down now!”

“Shh! Since you won’t listen to me, I’ll have to force you back to sleep.”

“Stop messing around! Put me down! I have so much work left to do!”

Gaia, hoisted over Ailin’s shoulder, began to struggle fiercely, trying to get her to let him go. How could he break now when there was so much left to finish?

“Being devoted to work is admirable, but if it affects your health, it’s just not worth it! Think about your health! Even if you don’t care, I do, so you’re not continuing your work. Be a good boy and come to bed with me!”

Ignoring Gaia’s struggles, Ailin patted his backside and brought him back to their room.

Compared to the other pairs of masters and servants, Weirafiya and her partner were much quieter. They had both decided to rest and regain their strength, leaving the remaining matters for the morning.

While they were all sleeping and recharging, the traitor minister Belial, who had proposed selling them out, quietly left the Royal Palace.

His plan was quite simple: since no one agreed with his opinion, he felt he couldn’t stay there and decided to find a place that would accept him. Like sitting on that ship right now—he believed they would welcome him.

“What should we do about him, Gilbaris? Should we let him come up?”

Titan noticed someone waving at them from the ground—they seemed to want to talk. This person was from the palace down below, and there was a possibility he could be a spy. Unsure, Titan decided to consult Gilbaris. Did he really need to ask Diablo? That guy had no brains, just brawn!

“Let’s bring him up first to see what he’s really up to.”

Gilbaris glanced at the screen and decided to let him come aboard.

“Okay, I’ll bring him up.”

Titan pressed a button and teleported the person onto their spaceship.

“Oh, so this is the interior of the Ultimate Life Form’s ship? It looks so grand!”

Belial gazed in disbelief at the interior of the spaceship, astonished that he was actually here.

“Hello, you were waving at us. What do you want to discuss?”

Gilbaris and Titan approached Belial, eager to discover what this guy was really all about.

“Well! Actually, I want to ally with you.”

“Ally with us? What are you plotting?”

Titan unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Belial’s neck. He had no trust for traitors like him.

“Hold on, Titan! Don’t be so hasty; put the sword away. Please explain why you want to join us. Based on your reasoning, we’ll consider whether to accept you.”

Gilbaris patted Titan’s shoulder, urging him to sheathe his sword, and brought Belial to sit on a nearby sofa.

“After receiving your information about surrender, I urged Gaia and the others to hand Ailin over directly; that way, we could secure peace. But the problem was, no one else thought like I did, so I figured I wouldn’t fit in there anymore. That’s why I decided to come to you.”

“I see, they rejected our proposal after all.”

They originally planned to wait for daybreak to know the outcome, but thanks to Belial’s betrayal, Gilbaris and the others were now aware that the other side didn’t intend to surrender quietly and were preparing for a fight.

“However, even with that said, I think it will be tough for us to accept you unless you can provide us with some intelligence.”

“Oh, I can definitely provide intel, including details about the castle’s defenses! After all, I was part of that and know it inside out.”

Belial, having climbed to a ministerial position, wasn’t just lucky; he had a brain to reach that height. If he wanted to join the opposing side, he needed to bring valuable information with him.

“Oh? You know all that? If that’s true, we might just have a good discussion about bringing you aboard.”

Gilbaris showed interest, keen to hear about the castle’s defenses from him.