Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 244: More Time

'Zaroth, it seems that we may have a bit of a problem here,' Luna transmitted to Zaroth.

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While he had gone to Althea's room, he had left Luna at the great ball to keep watch on things.

This was the first time she had been so far away from her master, but it seemed that they were still able to communicate telepathically.

'What kind of problem?' Zaroth transmitted to Luna, as he didn't let his face change emotions while he was sitting across Althea.

'For some reason the capital is attacked by the Crimson Sun empire, and worse, they have begun to attack the castle as well. It is pure chaos down here and from what I heard, these are apparently the elite forces of the empire and in number are close to a thousand.'

'Then stay down there and keep me informed if something bad happens,' Zaroth commanded.

At the same time, he sent a message to Midnight.

-----

Zaroth: So a weird request, currently I am in the castle and it seems I might find myself in a dangerous situation, so if you happen to be free could you go to my apartment, bust down the door and bring me my armor and weapons? Thanks!

Midnight: You are in the castle? I see that there is something going on there, are you alright?

Zaroth: No time to chat, bring the things if you could, thanks!

-----

For a brief moment, Zaroth regretted not bringing his equipment to the castle. But there had been no choice—the grand ball was being held there, and the guards wouldn't have let him pass with anything dangerous on him.

He didn't think much of it in the beginning, as he thought that he was going to the safest place in the empire, but apparently not.

'For fuck's sake! How incompetent does someone have to be to allow such a thing to happen? I thought that they had the borders under control! Had this been a lie or had they gone around the land using the ocean? If they did, these Crimson Sun soldiers are nuts!'

"Sir, Zaroth?" Althea's question broke him out of his trance. "Is something going on? You seem a bit worried."

Zaroth smiled politely at the question. He had to appear calm, but it seemed that a little of his true emotions had slipped through.

'I don't want to lie to her, but if I tell her the truth, there is a very high chance the atmosphere would become too dark to do anything at all.'

In the end, he chose to tell the truth, but only a part of it.

"There is some kind of problem at the ball, but honestly I don't want to deal with it. You know politics? You get sick of them after a while."

Althea chuckled a bit upon hearing his answer. "Yes, you can say that."

A few seconds passed in silence.

"So may I ask why you have entered my room?" Althea asked. This was a perfectly natural thing to ask as Zaroth had just entered and sat across from her not saying what he wanted.

"Honestly? I just wanted to check up on you and see if you are alright. You seemed a bit worried after the dance and your breathing was heavy, so I worried you might have a problem with your health."

"No, that was… no, I am fine. There isn't a problem at the moment," Althea answered, trying to keep her voice calm.

Truthfully, however, she was freaking out internally. 'He wanted to check up on me? He is worried about me?'

Someone being worried about her was a new feeling for Althea, as this basically had never happened before.

Zaroth took a deep breath as he added, "But if I have to be really honest, this is just an excuse. I just really want to spend more time with you, my Queen."

Althea blushed slightly, brushing a strand of hair aside as she tried to hide her reaction. "Please, just Althea is fine."

Zaroth smiled, "Then please call me Zaroth as well," he spoke as he flashed her a charismatic smile.

'Gods! Get your act together! You are not a teenager, stop acting like one!' Althea cursed herself in her mind. She didn't really have any experience when it came to love, so at a time like this, she found herself clueless.

She cleared her throat as she added, "I really appreciate your visit, Zaroth, but I fear that it is not wise to spend too much time together here. After all, a man entering a lady's room at night might give the wrong impression to the people."

Zaroth raised an eyebrow. "Wrong impression?" he repeated her words.

"Yes, I mean… some might think that we are lovers…" Althea explained.

"Ah," Zaroth opened his mouth a little as he gazed at the ceiling.

Then after a few seconds, he spoke. "...Would it be that bad?"

…

"Huh?" Althea was stunned by his question.

"Would it be that bad?" he repeated like he was asking a perfectly natural question.

"I… am married, Zaroth. It would be bad if people got this kind of impression of me," Althea explained.

"Are you, though?" Zaroth asked.

"I mean, due to your beauty, I couldn't help it but observe you for some time, and from what I have seen, you have yet to interact with the man in any kind of romantic way. Not to mention, each time there is an event where the royal family is present, you are at the back, not being paid attention to by the emperor."

"Almost like he doesn't consider you his wife at all."

Althea's heart stung a bit as she heard his words.

"...But even so, it is wrong," she spoke.

Zaroth looked at her for a bit and then sighed in regret.

"Honestly, the only reason I came was to see you… I'm nobody, just a simple guy with no ties to the powerful families or influential politicians. I'm just a fool who's good at fighting. Yet, even someone like me got the rare chance to step into this castle and share a dance with you…"

"But today would be most likely the last time we see each other. After today, there wouldn't be a reason to allow me to enter the castle."

This wasn't a lie. He was working for Elysia, and the emperor would do everything in his power to ensure Zaroth never entered again.

He stood up from his seat slowly.

"Still, I want to thank you for sparing time from your busy day," he said with a slight bow before turning to leave the room.

'I guess this is it, huh? It was a pretty foolish plan from the start. There's no way I could make her desire me in just one night,' Zaroth cursed to himself.

Althea watched him turn his back to her.

'I… will never see him again?'

Her heart felt like it was about to stop.

'The one that treats me like a human?'

Her breathing became ragged in an instant.

'The one that isn't scared or disgusted by my curse?'

"NO!" she shouted.

Grab

Althea and Zaroth's eyes widened.

Before both of them realized what was happening, Althea had reached out with her hand, grabbing his, stopping him from leaving.

Zaroth turned back and gazed at her, noticing how tightly she was gripping his hand.

Taking heavy breaths, Althea spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "I... wouldn't mind if you spent more time with me... just the two of us."