Crimson Eternal - Book 6 - Chapter 4

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Click on the following link for the 1367 word chapter 4:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xd6g4DEFFvnBje9e3phIGHPmfGKUHgFQHkN_-U7VgsE/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Aria

It doesn’t take long before my bad feeling turns out to be rather accurate. Specifically when the prince she’s fighting – some bigshot from an Alpha Tier world at that – confesses his love to her in front of the entire stadium and livestream audiences. Following which he proposes to her.

Also in front of everyone.

Huh.

“Like mother, like daughter,” I hear a familiar voice say from right behind me, making me glance back to find Shirogane standing behind my throne.

I narrow my eyes at Shirogane, but he just continues with an amused smile, “How many princes, kings, and emperors have proposed to you over the years, again? I know it was a lot, but has it entered the triple digits yet?”

“How rude,” I comment while turning towards the arena again to find Ruby literally ignoring the prince as she walks out of the arena. Not even bothering to respond to him.

“She really is just like you,” Shirogane says with a chuckle. “All the way down to her response.”

Very rude. And it has almost reached four digits. The number of royals who have proposed to me.

I don’t understand why so many of them do that, considering that even if I did for some reason say yes, I wouldn’t be able to produce an heir. So it would be completely pointless.

Do they want their family lines to end or something?

Or were they just planning on having a concubine or adopting a kid?

Not that it matters since I have no interest in ever getting married, much less to a royal.

Anyway, an awkward silence fills the stadium after the prince’s rejection. Only for the livestream chat, which has a lot more anonymity than the stadium itself, to start bursting with laughter comments. With some people apparently counting the number of times Ruby has rejected royalty.

Which makes me realize that Ruby is a lot more popular than I thought she was.

I knew she was asked out and proposed to a lot, but she generally coldly ignores them without a care.

Ryan is in a similar situation as well. Although he is as dense as a rock from what I’ve heard.

He has even more people hitting on him than Ruby has simply because he’s friendlier than her, who is cold to the guys hitting on her. But he doesn’t realize they’re hitting on him and is as dense as a brick.

It’s kind of amusing to watch.

To my surprise, the prince chases after Ruby with the look of a love-sick puppy on his face.

“How much you wanna bet your son is going to end up in a similar situation?” War comments with a laugh.

Before I can say anything in response, Shirogane says, “There’s no doubt about that. Ryan will be facing a princess later today.”

“You’re getting carried away,” I tell the two with a shake of my head. “He’s popular, but he’s not that popular. And what are the chances that two royals will propose during the tournament on the same day?”

“Pretty high,” Shirogane says with a straight face. And War says the same, making Shirogane turn to him before they both reach out and shake each other’s hands like some sort of agreement was struck or something.

My eyes narrow before I let out a slight huff and return my focus to the arena.

They’re being ridiculous.

With that thought in mind, the tournament begins to go by at a rapid pace with one duel occurring after another.  Meanwhile I hear news every now and then about the prince still pursuing Ruby. Not that Ruby cares whatsoever.

And there was also a moment of Ryan being punched through a wall by Ruby when he laughed out loud at her current situation.

Maybe I should talk to them about violence between each other, but it’s probably fine.

They fight in sparring matches all the time after all.

Later in the day, though, something unexpected happens.

Ryan goes in to fight the princess during his duel, and the princess really does confess and propose to him. Completely shocking Ryan in the process.

She then rushes forwards and tries to attack him to start the duel. Only for him to counter her attack and strike back instead.

“Knew it,” War says with a smug grin on his face as he nods his head.

“It was bound to happen,” Shirogane adds, sounding equally smug.

I ignore the smug duo.

The duel continues to rage in the arena as the two fight. With both of them being surprisingly equal in strength.

Albeit mostly because the princess is a higher level.

They continue fighting with Ryan being confused as hell throughout the battle. All the way until Ryan finally wins the battle.

And unlike with Ruby, Ryan just kinda walks blank-faced out of the arena with the princess clinging to him all the way.

Then, to my amusement, Shirogane pulls up a screen to show the lobby. Where the princess’ father, the Emperor of Blitzreath – another nation controlling an Alpha Tier planet – rushes down and begins to shout at Ryan and his daughter. Going on and on about how he doesn’t want to give away his precious daughter.

Which is completely different from how the father of the prince acted. With that father actually trying to push Ruby and the prince together.

War and Shirogane both laugh at the sight of the emperor practically almost breaking down to cry at the idea of his ‘precious daughter marrying someone’ regardless of who. All while Ryan is still in a daze as if he can’t believe someone could fall for him.

I have to admit, this is rather entertaining to watch.

And the audience agrees. Both the audience watching through the livestream, and the audience watching in the stadium.

After a little while, things get even more amusing when Ruby marches through the lobby to grab onto Ryan’s collar and drag him away from the clingy princess. With the prince still following after her like a puppy.

Confusing the emperor in the process, and genuinely frightening Ryan.

I even hear Shirogane mentioning to the guards to let this happen without stepping in. All because he finds it amusing.

And they won’t cross any lines either, so there’s no danger for Ruby or Ryan.

We continue watching them as the tournament moves onto the next duel. But eventually Ruby seems to lose patience as she coldly calls back for the prince and princess to just get married to each other instead.

Only for them both to comment about how they’d be siblings-in-law if they married Ruby and Ryan anyways.

Which seems to be the last line for Ruby as she enters a private area with a single scowl sent their way. Still dragging Ryan as she goes.

With Ryan still being dazed.

Wow. He really is dense.

I rest my cheek against the palm of my hand while watching. But after a little while, I eventually lose interest and have them close the screen.

That was amusing, but it’s starting to remind me of when I stopped by some nation that had sexual inequality where women had very few rights.

They didn’t act too badly, but they did try to force me to marry their emperor. And their faces and mannerisms clearly displayed a ‘how dare you reject us’ sort of vibe when I said no and left.

I’ve avoided any planets with sexual inequality ever since.

There was also a planet that had men having very few rights, but that planet was uncomfortable as well. Since the men there were acting very submissive, and Shirogane – who was traveling with me at the time – was very uncomfortable on that planet.

So I tend to avoid certain planets in general.

Anyway, the nations the prince and princess are from are actually pretty good nations. It was just their pushiness that reminded me of those nations.

Well, back to reading now that neither Ruby nor Ryan are fighting.

With that in mind, I pull out my book and begin reading while Shirogane and War continue talking about my past with confessions and proposals.