Chapter 19 - A Nice Trade

A naked woman can be seen with her hands and legs tied by chains in a cave full of blue-colored crystals. The woman had short golden hair and a pair of golden eyes. She is totally the most beautiful woman the world has to offer. There is literally no one who can beat her in terms of beauty.

How long was it since she was trapped all alone in here?

How long since she gets any drink and food to sustain her hunger?

How long did she wait for 'him' to find and reunite with her?

How many years? Ten? Hundred? Thousand? Million? Billion?

She doesn't remember... She can't recall how long she had been trapped in her.

"My, Beloved," She muttered; she deeply missed him. She still remembers the warmth of his hand cupping her cheeks gently and the taste of his soft lips on her.

"I'm so sorry." It was all her fault. She can't help but cry when recalling the memory of her and 'him' being together at a certain place.

"I failed you."

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"Sorry, puppy~ I'm not into a submissive guy." Ruby then placed her hand on her right cheek with a lovely face.

"If I want to be in a relationship, then I will find a man who can dominate me~"

Jack's suffering and crying like a child is enjoyable for her to witness.

She could feel a finger tapping her shoulder and looked at her back.

"Care to let go of my subordinate?"

It was a man wearing the same robe as those two. If not for his voice, she would have mistaken him for a woman due to how feminine he looked. With long white hair and a pair of red eyes, Ruby raised her eyebrows at this.

He can't be someone from Polemistis Kingdom due to how white his skin is.

"Who are you?" The man chuckled at her question.

"Just an average guy in the street."

"An average guy? A funny joke... No average guy can walk inside my [Locus] undetected." Ruby narrowed her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, the spell that was created and only can use by the infamous Red Fang Ruby."

[Locus] is a spell that created an invisible spherical space around Ruby with a length and width of two kilometers. This ability doesn't do much, but it works like a radar; She can sense everything in the Locus. Nothing can escape her.

Yet this man.

"On how did I bypass the spell? Oh, honey, a good mage won't reveal his secret to his opponent." He pointed at the lying Queen and then at the Jack under her foot. "How about you let me take my people back? I don't wish to harm anyone."

"ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" Instead of listening to him, she pushed her top piece into Jack's flesh. "MAKE IT STOP!!!" Jack cried.

"Why should I listen to you? You guys are the ones who hurt Esme." She said with spite.

"What if I told you that Esme's life is in my hand?"

Ruby moved her head quickly to her left, only to see the man holding an unconscious Esme with his right hand pulling her hair. Ruby widened her eyes and then looked back to her right. The man is still in the same spot, smiling with his eyes closed and waving his hand in a friendly manner.

What is going on here?

There are two of him!?

Clone? But that is impossible; only two persons were recorded to have this spell. And two of them had already died thousands of years ago.

"What are you?"

"Who? Why? What? So many questions, but I don't see any reason for me to answer." The man shrugged his shoulder. "The only thing you need to know is if you try to do something funny, I will kill this woman."

"Or something worse." The 'clone' of the man said with a smile; he raised Esme's body. "We can just throw her to Duval and let him do his magic on her."

"Kartelles Group, you guys are a sick bastard... Why did you release him? And what do you even want to do with him!?" Duval is the only person whom Ruby and her whole family despite. That bastard had tainted the name of Ravdi Kingdom.

"Do you think you are in charge here?" The man taunted with his arm crossed. "I'm not stupid enough to reveal something so important to a threat like you..."

"How about you let us take our people and scram so this woman can live?"

That question makes Ruby feel conflicted.

Letting them go is the stupidest decision; they are a threat to this Kingdom, especially during a hard time like this. But it is hard for her to choose. She is loyal to her Kingdom, but at the same time, she is also loyal to someone who she refers to as friend and family.

With a deep breath, she kicked Jack in the shin, sending him flying at the man, who caught effortlessly with his left hand. The man smiles widely.

"Thank you~"

"...." She didn't even bother to reply to him as she focused solely on Esme in his right hand.

"As a promise, here you go." He casually throws Esme like a toy. Ruby gently catches Esme's body with her hands, putting the latter in a bridal style, ensuring she won't hurt Esme, especially when the latter is already in a critical condition like this.

"Nice to make a trade with you."

"Now scram."

"Sure, Sure~" He picks up the Queen by pulling her hair. "Oh, look at what they had done to you." He mentioned sadly, which reminded Ruby of a kid when someone broke his toy.

"See you later, Honey~" With that, three of them disappear from thin air.

'Teleportation?' How many rare spells does this man have?

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"The 'Key' must have to be his son..." Duval muttered, clearly frustrated at his current situation as he looked through the document. "King, How come your underlings are so stupid to endanger themselves for a trivial matter?"

The white-haired man, now named 'King' just shrugged his shoulder with a smile. "Well, can't really help it can I? Jack is a massive pervert, and Queen agrees with everything. So I expected something like this to happen."

"...Haaaaah, What should I ever do with you guys."

"Can you fix them?"

"Well, pretty much, yeah, but it will take time."

"Thanks, Also, Joker told me that he wants you to finish that project as soon as possible."

"Like I said, it is impossible to complete the formula without that man's document." King smiled at him.

"Like Joker had always said - I don't give a damn fuck. Complete it, or I will throw you to my pet." Duval shivered at the mention of Joker's pet, then he shook his head to remove the face of Joker's pet from his brain.

"Fine..."