Jason watched the two women greet each other with a smile, and he finally turned and looked towards the two guards who were waiting at a respectful distance. Talum and Gruwen both stiffened when they noticed Jason’s eyes on them, and Jason walked over to them calmly with his hands in his pocket.
"K-King Slayer. It’s an honor to stand before you once more."
"It’s an honor."
Both soldiers bowed deeply as they greeted Jason, and Jason put a hand on his chin and hummed while looking them over. The two soldiers seemed to grow even more terrified the longer Jason looked at them! The soldiers had already gotten used to Jason being an extremely powerful person! Back before Jason went on his trip across the Primordial Expanse, they already knew that Jason’s power was enough to absolutely level their world without Jason breaking a sweat! But now, it felt as if that power had become something completely unrecognizable! Jason’s power was so intense that they felt like they were getting suffocated by the sheer aura being released from him! The two soldiers were just SS Ranks, while Jason was a TITAN Rank III! So no matter how much Jason tried to suppress his power, there was no way he wouldn’t seem like some monstrous eldritch in front of the Radagan soldiers!
The soldiers were about to ask Jason if they had done something wrong since Jason was still looking at them with a scrutinizing gaze, but the soldiers were stunned when Jason suddenly hit his fist into his open palm, and Jason’s expression changed to a look of realization as he exclaimed.
"Ah, now I see what changed. You two are in a relationship, aren’t you?"
Both soldiers felt their faces grow red once they heard this, and Gruwen immediately looked away as she felt an intense embarrassment fill her heart! Talum stammered as he answered that they were indeed in a relationship, and Jason just grinned as he remembered the prophecy that Riyala told him about a long time ago. Apparently, these two were meant to give birth to the next Radagan King. Well, if these two were already in a relationship, then it wouldn’t be long before they got married and had a child together. At least once they had a kid, Riyala would be able to nurture the next king of Radagan properly. Jason patted the two soldiers on their shoulders, and they both looked up at him in surprise when they saw him smiling kindly at them.
"I’m happy for the two of you. I’m sure you’ll make an amazing couple. But I hope you remember my warning from earlier. If I catch even a whiff of you betraying Riyala, it’ll be the end of you."
Talum and Gruwen had already been smiling when Jason told them that they would make an amazing couple, but their faces turned ashen when Jason’s aura suddenly changed to a threatening one! The soldiers swallowed desperately and nodded quickly as they promised they would never betray the priestess. Jason hummed as he looked down at the two soldiers for a few more seconds before finally nodding and turning away as he heard Riyala calling out to him!
Riyala and Gina were now holding hands happily, and Jason grinned as he came over and carried them both up in a large bear hug! Jason kissed Gina before he turned and kissed Riyala as well, and then asked if they were done with their chat. Riyala nodded excitedly as she answered:
"Gina was telling me about some of the worlds that you two went to! It sounds amazing! I want to hear about the rest of them too!"
Jason just laughed, and he put his girls down before he said that they could talk about it when they were done with the trial. Mentioning the trial was enough to make both girls sober up again, and Gina let out a tired huff as she tried and failed to hide her irritation! Gina couldn’t wait to be finished with all this and get back home! Even though Gina was more than happy to be with Jason for so long, she couldn’t deny that she missed her parents and Mira. Hell, Gina even missed that tiny menace, Maya! Gina wanted to see how everyone was doing, and she wanted to tell them about Jason proposing to her! Jason pet Gina’s head as he noticed her frustration, and Jason turned to Riyala when Riyala suddenly spoke up.
"Oh, that’s true. I actually ran into someone when I was coming down here. Do you know Queen Hesabeth, the Prideful Queen? We met in the hallway, and after she heard who I was, she had the weirdest reaction. She actually smiled at me and told me that we were family. What in the world happened between you two?"
Riyala’s face was twisted in confusion as she waited for an answer. The interaction that Riyala had with Hesabeth was not something Riyala ever thought would happen! Riyala had heard about the Prideful Queen and the sort of reputation she had! Hesabeth was known to be very pompous, dismissive, and easily agitated! They say that just standing close to Hesabeth was enough to piss her off, and if Hesabeth was angry at you, then your life was as good as over! But Hesabeth had actually been the one to get close to Riyala earlier, and the way she spoke to Riyala when Riyala tried to offer her an official greeting was even weirder!
"There is no need to stand on such formalities between family, young one. You and I are going to be seeing much of each other in the future, so I believe that it is only right to be friendly with one another. Now, come, give me a hug."
Riyala’s eyes had actually widened in shock when Hesabeth of all people hugged her! It was unheard of for Hesabeth to even give someone a handshake! So for her to hug Riyala meant that something absolutely life-changing must’ve happened! The moment Riyala brought this up with Jason, Jason couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, and even Gina smiled in slight amusement. Jason couldn’t believe Hesabeth was going around hugging people because of how happy she was! Jason shook his head as he spoke frankly to Riyala.
"A lot happened between Hesabeth and me during the past few days, and she ended up becoming my third partner."
Riyala’s face grew red, and she put a hand over her mouth while gasping. Riyala wasn’t shocked that Jason had gotten a third partner! Riyala already told Jason that she didn’t care how many partners he had! If Jason wanted to have a hundred women, then he could go right ahead! It wouldn’t change how Riyala felt about him! No, what was really shocking was who Jason had taken as his partner! Hesabeth was the last person Riyala thought she would call a sister-wife! Not only was Hesabeth a member of the council and one of the most influential and powerful figures in the Primordial Expanse! But Hesabeth was also the child of the Primordial Expanse itself! Hesabeth was someone who could demand the end of the world, and the world would actually go ahead and carry out her wish! That was the woman Jason had just taken as his partner!?
"I’ve heard a lot of stories about Hesabeth, and none of them have been good. How in the world did you get close to her?"
Jason smiled when he heard the sheer disbelief in Riyala’s tone! Jason knew that Hesabeth didn’t exactly have the best reputation among the worlds around her, but Jason also knew that none of those people knew the real Hesabeth. Hesbeth was someone who wielded unimaginable power, and the fact that she was not going out of her way to use it wrongly just showed that Hesabeth was actually a good person. Jason leaned down and kissed Riyala’s temple before telling her that he would fill her in on everything later. They first needed to get to the Hall of Fallen Heroes for the trial. Riyala’s eyes lit up as she suddenly seemed to remember that they were meant to be doing something here, and she blushed slightly before nodding!
Jason took Gina’s hand once again as they began walking, and Riyala moved to hug Jason’s other arm with a wide smile. The two guards joined Stella as they followed behind the three lovers, and they all moved together towards the Hall of Fallen Heroes.