Chapter 44: Kiss and The Truth
"Kiss!"
"Kiss already!"
Males were shouting with amused expressions while females were shouting with a strange shining look in their eyes. Roland could immediately tell the difference between the genres was the same in every era, women being more romantic while men were treating it more as fun.
Roland looked down at Anna to silently ask what she wants to do. He could just take her and run away if she wasn't comfortable with this but when he looked at her, she already had her eyes closed as if ready for a kiss.
Roland thought of Nightingale before he shook the thought out of his head and accepted that this situation was his own fault. He just wanted to make Anna happy but he didn't think it could develop into something like this.
'I will take responsibility for this.' Roland thought and brought his face closer to Anna's, sealing their lips for a few seconds before he pulled away.
*Clap* *Clap* The crowd around them started clapping and whistling, however, Anna couldn't even hear them as she was staring at Roland's face with a joyful expression.
"Kissing in presence of so many people, not bad! You are a real man, haha!"
"Yeah, you can take a portion of my meat, you might need a lot of energy tonight!"
When Anna finally got to her feet and separated from Roland, several guys approached him slapping him on his back. While a few women approached Anna whispering her something which caused her to fiercely blush.
'These guys!'
"Um, I am really grateful but we must take our leave now...please excuse us and continue enjoying the celebration!" Roland said, trying to change his voice a bit while covering his face in shadows as much as possible.
He grabbed Anna's hand and started running away at the pace Anna could easily follow.
*Sigh* "Young love...they are so impatient" A woman in her forties muttered with a smile.
.
.
They run all the way back to the building where they left their previous clothes, they run in complete silence as both of them were subconsciously thinking of a kiss.
When they got inside and closed the door, they looked at each other in silence for a few seconds.
"...Pfff, hahaha!" Both of them started laughing aloud.
"Tha-t was really crazy!" Anna said while catching her breath and wiping off tears from laughing.
"I asked you if you wanted to do something crazy..." Roland said while grinning.
"Yeah, however, that last dance was really nice!" Anna said faintly blushing, most likely meaning the entire dance especially the end.
"I am glad you enjoyed yourself, I didn't have time to unwind myself. I have never been a big dancer but I enjoyed dancing with you. Let's change, the others are still waiting for us!" Roland said and the two of them changed into their previous clothes.
"What about your hair, Your Highness?" Anna asked as they were about to leave.
"Hmm...I will grow it back right away. Wait a second." Roland said and started using his magic and as he said, his hair started growing back, however, he changed his hairstyle a bit. He tied his hair in a high ponytail with two side bangs at the front.
"Let's go back"
.
.
When they arrived at the garden...
"Your Highness, Anna, you have finally arrived! We were getting slightly anxious. I even went to check on you two however I couldn't find you two anywhere." Lightning said while floating a few inches above the ground. Her smile and tone indicated something else.
"What? You told us that you have seen them but they looked too busy to interrupt!" Nightingale got up from her seat and said with a shocked expression.
"Eeh, have I truly said this?" Lightning asked with an innocent wink.
This conversation made Roland and Anna look at each other with wide-open eyes.
"Well, we are already here so let's stop arguing and start celebrating! Everyone except for Nana and Lightning can take a glass of wine. I prepared something else for them, a non-alcoholic drink similar to champagne. We can also treat this occasion as Airy and Abby's late birthday party." Roland said with a glass of wine in his right hand.
"Wait, wait, wait! I have already had alcohol and I can hold my liquor!" Lightning brought up the objection to Roland's decision.
"...Alright, let's make a compromise, you can drink only 1 glass of wine. That's my final decision and I won't bargain with you." Roland said and Lightning groaned but in the end, she agreed.
'It's just 1 glass, she won't create any trouble, right?' Roland thought, however, he would soon be proven wrong.
Anna took care of roasting meat. Wendy was the last one to come to her for meat.
"Did something good happen? You seem quite happy, not like this isn't a happy occasion, it's just that it barely started yet you already seem like you had your evening" Wendy asked with a curious tone and faint smile.
"Eh? Um...You could say so!" Anna replied with a wide smile, not giving out any details.
"Lightning?!" Wendy's words were interrupted by Nightingale's shocked exclamation, when she turned around, she saw Lightning giving a kiss on Roland's cheek. She quickly turned back to Anna and saw her staring at them with a thoughtful expression.
'...This- is going to get complicated' Wendy thought, already feeling sorry for Roland. She acted as if she didn't care but an image of Lightning giving Roland a kiss flashed a few times in her mind before she shook her head.
'Situation is already complicated enough, you can't join in!' Wendy said to herself.
Lightning explained herself to Nightingale while Roland decided to flee away from there. He didn't really care about a small kiss on the cheek but it seemed like Nightingale was set on drilling into her that she can't just kiss a prince in public which in Roland's eyes was just an excuse and he couldn't help but think of word "hypocrite" despite the fact that they never kissed in the public, it still felt weird hearing Nightingale talking about it.
"Hey, Red Pepper! Roland decided to join Red Pepper who was standing some distance away from everyone, staring at the night sky with a glass of wine in her hand.
"Hello, Your Highness. Thank you very much for this dress, I wasn't really sure if I can wear it but the others talked me into it, I hope I don't look stupid." She lightly bowed when Roland approached her.
"Don't worry about it, you look great. I would even say that you look really fiery, your hair goes well with the dress." Roland complimented her before taking a sip of wine, looking up at the sky.
"Well, it certainly doesn't look bad together. Still, I appreciate the compliment, it has a big weight since it came from a prince himself." Red Pepper smiled and said with a glass of wine in one hand and flames in her other hand. After she was done talking, a smile disappeared from her face and a worried expression replaced it as she started staring at the sky.
"Are you thinking of Witch Cooperation Association? We can try to contact them soon since the months of the demons ended." Roland said as if he read her thoughts.
"?!...Thank you, Your Highness. You are a truly kind and unique person." She turned at him with a shocked expression before bowing to him in gratitude.
"It's nothing, really. Think of me what you will, I won't try to change your opinion." Roland said with a smile before slowly walking away but not without urging her to join the others. If it was any other time before, he would immediately correct her, however after spending some time in this world, Roland changed a lot.
They kept celebrating the victory and also Abby and Airy's birthdays for a few hours before they thought it would be the best idea to go to sleep. Everyone went back to their rooms with blushed faces most likely from the alcohol.
"Nightingale, can you take Nana home and then come back here?" Roland asked her which widened her eyes but she quickly nodded her head with a smile.
Seeing her smile, he slightly regretted kissing Anna. Although he couldn't say that he didn't want to do it at the moment, he still probably shouldn't have done it. Anna wasn't even aware of him and Nightingale so she might not have felt that way if she knew.
'Well, I said that I would take responsibility so I will at least tell Nightingale. In this era, it was normal to have more wives so I hope she won't completely explode just because of 1 kiss, haha' Roland comforted himself while he was waiting for her.
After a while, she came back.
"May I have the pleasure of dancing with the lady?" Roland asked and offered his left hand.
"I-I am not sure about dancing but..." Nightingale said with an uncertain expression but she still took his hand.
They danced for a while before Roland decided to come out with the truth.
"I have something to tell you." Roland said with a troubled expression which was enough to tell her that the news wasn't exactly good. He still had no idea in what kind of relationship he was with Nightingale but she still deserved to know and maybe even Anna did since they got more intimate than he expected.
"What is it? I can take it as long as Your Highness doesn't want to throw me away." She said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"Well, the time we were away...a few things happened and I ended up kissing Anna." Roland said and expected her to stop dancing or at least make a sad face.
Nightingale actually sweetly smiled and bit her lower lip while staring at him with her eyes full of affection which caught him off guard.
'Did she go crazy or...what is this reaction?'
"I already knew, do you think Lightning can keep a secret or pretend that she didn't see any big secret? When I first heard about it, it left me feeling a bit sad despite the circumstances Lightning described. However, hearing Your Highness tell the truth to me personally like this makes me even happier since it shows that I am important to you!" Nightingale said with a happy smile while seductively biting her lower lip.
Hearing her words, Roland didn't wait a second before going for those lips. Their lips were locked for several seconds before they pulled away.
"You are really amazing woman." Roland said with an honest smile.
"?! T-Tell me something that I do not already know." She said while looking sideways, trying to hide her completely red face.
"For the dreaded shadow assassin, you are quite shy, and leaving your neck so exposed can be quite dangerous." Roland whispered to her ear before bringing his lips closer to her neck but he just teasingly blew air without kissing her neck, betraying Nightingale's expectations who already closed her eyes.
When he pulled away from her, he noticed her glaring at him with a dissatisfied expression which gave him satisfaction.
'You should have just accepted the compliment and not act all high and mighty.' Roland thought with a teasing smile.
Weekly Power Status
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