Chapter 88: 088: Douse The Beast In Gasoline

Somewhere in the barracks.

Leon, who had just rounded up his routine morning training with some of his men, was approached by a frantic soldier.

"General!" The soldier yelled, skidding to an abrupt stop in front of Leon, his feet kicking up dust.

Leon twisted marginally in response to the flecks of dust in his face. "What has you so worried, Gerald?"

"We received reports, General. Some of the citizens are staging a protest. They’re demanding that the Princess be exiled."

The words had barely handed before Leon exploded. "What?!"

Gerald flinched, but went ahead. "From our findings, majority of them were victims of the incident at the downtown inn."

Leon’s anger grew upon hearing that. Those ungrateful bastards. They were lucky he’d spared them that day. And yet this is how they choose to behave?

The first thought that came to Leon’s mind was total neutralization.

After all, if you take away the root of the problem, it won’t grow back again.

But for a second, his own thoughts alarmed him.

When did he become so cynical? The kingdom trusted him to lead the armies. And yet here he was, thinking of neutralizing a small mob of foolish protesters.

With a heavy sigh, Leon faced Gerald. "Gather some troops. Have them handle this quietly. Make sure news of it never gets to the Princess or the council. If any of them prove difficult, report back to me."

Gerald saluted but didn’t leave yet. "If they turn violent, are we permitted to use force ?"

Leon shook his head. "No. Have them arrested instead."

Gerald bowed then hurried off to convey the information.

Leon scoffed at their audacity. They want Anna exiled? As if they had the mouth to talk. Even though Leon hated her, he wasn’t going to deny that she made life in the East better.

Besides. If anyone was to hurt her, it should be him.

No one else.

Pumped full of annoyance, Leon returned to his chambers, then back to his office in the barracks. However, once he walked in, someone was already waiting for him.

Perched on his desk, leisurely leafing through a stack of reports, was Kai.

Leon first noticed that Kai dressed like a person this time, a shirt, pants, and even boots. Not that Leon gave a shit for whatever Kai wore, seeing the shark beastman in clothes was strange.

"The fuck do you want?" Leon snapped, ready to transfer his aggression.

Kai didn’t look up, and continued reading the reports. "Just stoping by to know how cutie’s most hated husband is doing."

Leon grit his teeth. "Get off my desk. Now."

Kai turned to him, but he made no move to get up. He instead laid on his side, his dark eyes scanning Leon from to bottom. A smirk lit up his face.

"Always so tense, General. You should learn to relax every once in a while," Kai purred, tossing away a piece of paper with a graceful flick of his wrist. "If you had been a good kitty, maybe cutie would have let you relax with her last night."

Leon took a menacing step forward, his aura flaring with murderous intent. "The fuck do you mean last night?"

Kai’s eyes narrowed into two blue mocking slits. "Oh, what a shame. You missed it. I guess the walls of her lab do in fact prevent those delicious white spores from getting out. Pity. Pity."

The temperature in the room dropped to freezing levels. Leon’s head swarmed with images, the implication of Kai’s words not lost on him.

White spores. The lab. Kai spending the night with her. White spores.

White fucking spores.

Anna had a heat? And she didn’t call him? Instead she called this scrawny fish?!

A dark, primal part of Leon, the part that had been growing at frightening pace for days, roared to life. Possessive instinct flooded his veins, along with the feeling of pride bruised to the last.

It wasn’t enough that Anna was always around Kai. It wasn’t enough that she ignored Leon after he risked his life to obtain those stones. It wasn’t enough that she openly fawned over Kai while Leon was standing right in front of her.

No.

She let Kai touch her.

That was the last straw.

The image of Kai holding Anna, kissing her, his hands all over her body, the mere suggestion that Kai got into her bed, made Leon see crimson.

"You bastard!" He growled , his fists clenched so hard his knuckles popped. "You touched her?!"

Kai laughed. "Of course, silly! She’s my wife too. Are you angry? Oh I guess you are, after all, you’ve lost all privileges to her."

Leon lunged.

The wooden doors of the officer flew open like someone was intent on shattering it, the noise stopping leon in his tracks.

"Leon!" Anna burst into the room, sweat dotted on her brow, her breathing hard from running all the way here. Her eyes immediately fell on him and she sneered.

Ray followed closely behind her, his dark cheeks flushed and his eyes slightly hazy from being in the sun too long. Yet he stood behind her, protectively, his eyes taking in the tensed atmosphere in the office.

Anna didn’t notice the stiffness in the air. She didn’t see Leon about to claw at Kai, or the way Kai’s teeth had grown sharper.

A few minutes ago, after meeting with Drax, she met with Ray. Their conversation led to a memory burning through her mind.

She needed the answers. And only Leon could give them.

She stormed up to him, fury lacing in her veins, her dark eyes colder than ice. "Where is it?" She hissed.

Meanwhile, Leon was glad she walked in. But at the same time after what he’d just learned, he couldn’t shake the images off his mind. Anna stood before him, fuming and spitting fire, but all he could see was her face contorted in ecstasy as she cried out Kai’s name. He looked at her lips and resented that Kai kissed her before him. To make matters infinitely worse, he spotted the bite mark on her neck, still red, still fresh.

Not that Leon suspected Kai would lie about her heat, but seeing the mark confirmed everything.

"What do you want?" He snapped, unable to find a shred of politeness.

"Where is the Dream Weaver?" she spat, her voice cutting through the tension like a blade.

Leon scoffed. "How the hell will I know? My only job was obtaining your rare specimen, Princess. I have no fucking idea what you do to them."

Anna grit her teeth. His rudeness wasn’t even her problem. It was the words. Princess Orchid regularly sent Leon on expeditions into the ruins. Not only did she experiment on people, she also used AI beasts. She found a way to tame Mirrors and make them her dogs, which eventually she got tired of and killed.

Anna suspected she might have gotten her hand on a Dream Weaver. Or maybe something went wrong and the Dream Weaver messed with her memories.

"You don’t know?!"

Leon rounded on her, his towering frame casting a massive angry shadow over her. "Is that seriously what you’re here for? Your stupid experiments? Look at you. As if the party wasn’t enough you went ahead and did more? I never expected you’d be a loose woman, Anna. Letting just anyone crawl into your bed. Disgusting. You used to be better than this."

The unexpected insult hit Anna like a slap.

Her brain short circuited for two seconds as she tried to understand where his animosity was coming from.

Then, she noticed Kai on his desk, smirking like he’d won a bet.

Anna laughed bitterly, turning back to Leon. "Watch your mouth, General. You know absolutely fucking nothing."

"Oh I know plenty," Leon hissed, stepping closer to her. "I know that last night, you were so desperate enough you let a lowly western scum touch you. What’s going to be your excuse now? Huh?!"

Anna’s jaw hit the ground. "Lowly western scum?! Do you seriously think you’re in that position to throw around words like that?? Take a good fucking look in the mirror, General. As low as scum go, you bring a fucking shovel."

"I am the General of the Eastern army! You have some nerve—"

"No! You are a selfish, manipulative, mentally ill brute who uses his power to intimidate people! Fuck you, Leon! Fuck you! Oh now I’m wishing I had made you watch! Yeah! Choke on it!"

The tension in the room tipped over.

Leon’s mane bristled and glitched. His eyes began to change shape, glowing an intense and frightening amber. "You’ll regret that."

But Anna didn’t care. His words struck an unhealed part of her, wounds from her past life. Anna realized that even though she had defied the laws of physics and transmigrated into a literal novel, she’d still hear such words.

Loose.

Slut.

Bitch.

How dare they?!

Who gave them the right to throw such labels on her?!

The air became heavy, thick enough to suffocate.

Suddenly, an iron grip wrapped around Anna’s waist and pulled her back. Before she could realize what was going on, her head was tilted back and she was staring into Kai’s handsome face. A split second passed between them before he leaned down and captured her lips in a searing, possessive kiss.