The question that had just slipped from his husband's mouth left Davin frozen for a moment, never expecting his turn would come much sooner than he had ever anticipated.
Although his expression appeared surprised, deep down in his heart, Davin could not lie to himself. Just like the others, he also deeply yearned for the moment when the white Life-and-Death Contract symbol would be permanently engraved on the back of his right hand as proof of their marriage in the eyes of the Gods.
"I am willing, My King." Davin finally answered. His voice sounded calm, yet the vibration of happiness was clearly woven into every syllable.
Hearing the confirmation coming from Davin's mouth, Arion, who was still in his husband's embrace, instantly turned his head. His pair of pale light purple eyes looked toward Arvin's eighth spouse with an indescribable feeling of relief and happiness. The invisible burden that had been suffocating his chest felt slightly lifted.
"Thank you, Davin." he said sincerely.
"You're welcome." Davin replied casually. "Just prepare your mind and body well from now on. Because once we return, it will be your turn to be proposed to by him."
"Yes, of course! Because I've been looking forward to it!" the reddish-yellow-haired youth answered with explosive enthusiasm.
Slowly, Arion released his hug, then looked at his husband's handsome face with a gaze that radiated pure happiness as well as immense hope.
"I am really looking forward to the moment that white Life-and-Death Contract symbol is permanently engraved on the back of my right hand, My Star."
Arvin gazed deeply into his spouse's eyes. He raised his hand, gently stroking that reddish-yellow hair.
"Yes, Arion, I am also looking forward to it." Arvin replied in an incredibly gentle tone. However, a second later, his gaze turned slightly more serious. "But for now, I want to do something first."
That unexpected sentence instantly made all the youths in the room look at each other. Confusion blended with intense curiosity immediately surged, wanting to know what the head of their family was about to do.
"Could all of you stand closely near me?"
Without anyone asking, all of Arvin's spouses immediately stepped toward him, Oliver included. The yellow-haired youth quickly got off the bed and walked closer to the others. He stood calmly, completely unbothered by the fact that his body was still naked.
After ensuring all of his spouses were standing at a safe distance near him, Arvin immediately crouched down. He placed one of his palms flat against the surface of the floor. With a controlled flow of mana, he activated alchemy magic to manipulate the structure and spaciousness of the bedroom.
Whoosh... crack!
Instantly, the walls of the room shifted backward seamlessly. The ceiling rose higher and higher.
The bedroom, which was already quite spacious to begin with, stretched and widened, transforming until it possessed an area equivalent to a grand assembly hall in a royal palace.
All the youths were astounded. Their eyes swept their surroundings, amazed and confused by their husband's action of suddenly expanding the size of the room so massively like this.
However, before any of them could open their mouths to ask...
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of heavy metals falling and clashing loudly against the floor immediately made all of Arvin's spouses flinch and shift their gazes to the center of the room.
All the youths froze once again. In front of them, piled up like a small hill, was a massive amount of military weaponry. Various kinds of sharp swords, long spears, sturdy shields, bows and arrows, up to hundreds of sets of high-quality combat armor were scattered, filling the area of the artificial hall.
Ignoring the shock of all his spouses, Arvin stood calmly. He took out a magic bag from his dimensional storage space, then walked casually toward the pile of weapons and armor.
Upon arriving near the pile of military combat equipment, he immediately put everything into the bag he was holding until nothing was left in the room.
"Why do you keep so many weapons and combat armors?" Allen asked, breaking the silence, unable to hold back his curiosity any longer. "Are you preparing for that impending war, My Dear Husband?"
Arvin halted his steps. He turned around and looked at his first spouse with a faint smile.
"That's a good idea too, Allen." he praised spontaneously in a calm tone. "But all these weapons and combat armors are actually items I just took from inside the Victoriaz Kingdom's palace."
Hearing the answer rolling so calmly from their husband's mouth, all the youths in the room were beyond shocked, especially Kaydan, Calverd, and also Oliver.
Kaydan's eyes widened. He was truly shocked and didn't expect that his husband was actually carrying out his crazy plan to infiltrate and cripple the Victoriaz Kingdom from within by stealing all the weaponry from the royal armory.
On the other hand, Calverd's reaction was slightly different. A cold smile of satisfaction had appeared on his lips. He felt incredibly satisfied that his husband had completely plundered the combat equipment from inside the palace inhabited by the rotten royal family who had robbed him of everything, leaving him devastated.
As for Oliver, he stood transfixed, never expecting that the person he had chosen to be his husband remained hostile toward the Victoriaz Kingdom in this era.
He stared at Arvin's face, wanting to confirm one crucial thing that served as the main reason behind such a reckless act and profound hostility.
"Arvin, do you intend to destroy that kingdom again... exactly like what you did in that era?"
The question brought Arvin's actions to an abrupt halt. He turned around, fixing his signature impassive expression on his thirteenth spouse. His gaze was calm, yet intimidating.
"I have no intention of making an enemy of that kingdom. But it is they who wish to make an enemy of the Vedegra family!"
"What did you say?" Oliver exclaimed, utterly shocked by the statement. "How can you be so certain that they intend to antagonize the Vedegra family in this era?"
Arvin answered by recounting exactly what had transpired. He explained to Oliver and the rest that on the night before the entire delegation from the Astoria Kingdom returned, he had infiltrated the royal palace of the Victoriaz Kingdom. While there, he inadvertently overheard a conversation between King Estadian and his third son, Prince Lionias. They were explicitly scheming to seize control of the gold mines located within the Vedegra territory.
Upon hearing this, Oliver's expression instantly hardened into fury, realizing that the greed of the Victoriaz royal family had not changed in the slightest.
Arvin did not stop there. He went on to recount his first encounter with Kaydan, who at the time was still bound as Prince Lionias's slave, leading up to Kaydan being imprisoned in the underground prison after his slave tattoo mysteriously vanished.
In complete silence, the undivided attention of every youth in the room was now fixed on their husband's tale.
He then brought up his first meeting with Calverd inside the underground prison.
Instantly, the indigo-haired youth's expression shifted, as though the trauma was resurfacing in his mind.
Acutely aware of this shift, Arvin kept the story brief, stating only that Calverd was imprisoned solely for refusing to hand over his fiancée to Wiltan, the Second Prince of the Victoriaz Kingdom. He deliberately omitted the dark details regarding the sexual assault his twelfth spouse had endured there.
As Calverd listened to the tale, he simply bowed his head, silently grateful for his husband's sensitivity.
"Once Kaydan set them free, chaos became inevitable. A massive battle broke out between the prisoners and the royal palace guards." Arvin continued, his voice echoing clearly throughout the vast, quiet room. "After the escaping prisoners were slaughtered, leaving only the two of them cornered, I, already wearing my assassin gear, decided to join the fray. I needed to buy them enough time so Kaydan and Calverd could safely escape into the forest."
Arvin paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the faces of his spouses who were listening in rapt silence.
"In the end, once Davin managed to move Kaydan and Calverd to this mansion using the gate, my mission to buy time was complete. And as soon as I killed Prince Wiltan, I immediately fled the capital and activated the gate that led straight back to this mansion."