Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"I'm sorry for scaring you," pouring a cup of tea to Raven, Aelin awkwardly smiled to try and hide her worry. She knew little about the hero, so meeting him was intimidating enough, but the circumstances around their meeting intimidated her even more.

Overpouring the tea cup and yet continuing to pour into it, she was doing a poor job of hiding her fear towards the chosen hero. However, realizing how she felt, Dairus gently lifted Aelin's hands before taking the tea kettle off of her hands. Her attention now turned to her lover, she took a deep gulp with a look of great concern.

"Aelin, don't worry so much. Raven's not some blind preacher to harm you just because you look like a devil," Darius comforted, glancing sideways at Raven.

Skipping the excess tea from the top of his cup, Raven chuckled lightly, picked the cup in his hand and took a sip from the tea. It was more bitter than what Mel usually made and not as strong either, somehow it seemed that he'd gotten used to her teas as they were all they got for dinner sometimes while traveling through the forest.

"Yeah, the goddess doesn't mind devils anymore, so you're fine either way Aelin," resting the cup on the table, Raven drummed his fingers on the dinner table and heaved a heavy sigh. "But we might have to talk to the queen and all, so you can walk around freely.

We already have a devil in our party, she's off to the boartooth with Amedith so I'm sure plenty of people must've seen her roaming the streets, no reason why you can't do it soon enough."

"Wait…" A bit confused by the whole thing, Darius rested his hand on the table and stared at Raven's face for a while. Trying to make sense of everything he'd just said, he figured that there were some gaps in Raven's knowledge as well as his own.

"First off, the queen isn't in charge anymore, it's Milo–her son!" Pointing a finger towards Raven, Darius continued. "Secondly, a devil in your party? Who?"

Asmodia and Liliyana it was a long story to tell, but taking his time over a fair cup of tea and some cookies, the trio discussed the matter in detail. And by the time their doubts were washed away, Aelin had gotten slightly more comfortable around Raven.

"Milo, huh? I think he'll be a good king," Raven heaved, knowing full well that Maria couldn't be trusted with that responsibility.

"It's a shame the queen arranged a grand ceremony, but I suppose she thought it was too close to her husband's death," Darius sprinkled his few cents.

"Or maybe it's because she was gonna marry her daughter soon and just wanted to save funds from the treasury?" Aelin added further, her head tilted in musing.

"Probably a mix of both to be honest, I know the queen well, she's the kind of person who would toss a gold coin in a well rather than give it to a beggar," hearing Raven's response, the other two finally understood why she did what she did.

She was a pure narcissist who loved power and control, and ever since her husband's passing her ambitions have grown, however, with her son taking the throne, there wasn't much power left in her cradle for her to abuse.

'I might need to visit Maria soon, sounds like she's making a mess out of nothing.' Intending to reel her back in, he wanted to remind her of her place and how she was supposed to act. He'd let her be for now, but acting out for no reason was just not gonna fly, at least not for Raven. 'Thinking about acting out, that reminds me…''

Glancing down at his bracelet, Raven let out Mino, Maine, and the two Centaurians, keeping only Arche inside, he wanted to give them some room to stretch their muscles. However, the sudden appearance of the monster girls froze the duo in front of him in fear. Like an idol on a chair, their eyes went wide as they stared at the girls stretching and yawning in their dining room.

"Oh…Sorry, I forgot where I was for a moment," giving the duo a moment to calm down a little while the girls either sat on the ground or took a seat for themselves, Raven decided to make a case for allowing benevolent monsters to be allowed in the city just like Elenaris. "How about I take them around through the streets?

That'll probably freak people out but would help them get used to seeing monsters and devils?"

"LET ME OUT TOO!!!" A sudden scream from inside the bracelet made both Darius and Aelin shudder. It was Arche, pissed about being left behind even though there was no way she could be let go just yet.

"I'll give you the potion tonight so you can take a bath with everyone since we can't really visit a river right now, so just shut up!" Raven complained, and though raging still, Arche calmed down a little.

"Y-you…have some interesting company Raven…ahaha..ha…" With a nervous gulp, Aelin now knew that there was no way she could've intimidated him when his usual company was so vicious.

"Oi, Darius, right? Can you bring me something sweet to eat? Feels like I've been eating monster meat for years now," settling into one of the empty chairs, Mino, not so politely demanded.

"That's rude…" Amelia complained from behind and sitting on the floor.

Having been royalty, she knew that Mino was being a bit too crude.

"I…I don't mind," however, despite the crude request, Darius decided to head into the kitchen and get something for everyone to eat while conversing.

Soon after he left, everyone's eyes turned to Aelin, and with a snatch of her hands, Mino was the first to start questioning.

"So you're his fiancé, huh? How is he? Innocent on the outside, a beast in the bedsheet?"

"Wh-what?!" Blushing at her questions, Aelin quickly covered her mouth, but to her horror, even Maine and the rest had questions of their own as Darius was Raven's friend, and they wanted to be friends with everyone he knew and loved.

"I bet he's the charming type, the kind of person who brings breakfast in the bed," Maine teased, a nasty lamian smile flashing across her lips.

Aelin's face, though grayish white on the regular, slowly turned into a pinkish rose from the increasing intensity of their questions.

Curious about their relationship as well, Amelia decided to chime right in.

"He brought her back from the dead, I don't think there could be a greater proof of someone's love."

"I doubt that applies to everyone, I wouldn't want to raise Gara from the dead." As soon as Ophelia spoke those words, a moment of silence took over amongst those who knew who Gara was but then came a flood of laughs amongst the girls–something Raven didn't really understand the reason for.

'I suppose even monster girls love to gossip.' He thought and he wasn't wrong. No matter the race or nationality, in matters of love, few women could resist the urge to gossip!

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