novelThe Moonlit Beauty Lila
| ← Ch.041 | Ch.043 → |
"Hey, have you heard? The Dragon Emperor decided on a crusade against the Black Dragon King Miluo. He also wanted an alliance with us Aklan and the Commerce Alliance to deal with him together."
"It's not strange for the Dragon Emperor to be this angry. After all, his son was slaughtered..."
Because they were waiting at the banquet door waiting for the 'ladies' to arrive, Kaiser, Meinan, and Daylight heard many people chattering about various rumors.
Kaiser didn't seem to care. After all, he would have to be on the run soon, so why would he care so much?
Meinan did knit his brows when he heard them, while Daylight seemed to have gotten angry, murmuring something about Miluo being outrageous and took the lives of many innocent people, as well as other righteous things.
"Ahhh choo~" Kaiser sneezed for the eighteenth time, and he uncomfortably pulled the red bowtie on his neck and complained,
"I'm never wearing suits like this again. It's making me itchy everywhere. And why is this tie so tight, what the hell! If Liola doesn't come soon, I'm going back to sleep. It's so late, why did these crazy insomniacs decide to have a banquet..."
Meinan was the first among them to look in the direction of the crowd. As he did so, Meinan acted exactly as everyone else did: He took a deep breath and stared with his jaws open for a long time before he gulped and said,
"God, too beautiful, this is simply the most beautiful work of art I've ever seen. Its beauty rivals the Goddess Venus, or maybe an angel."
"What's gotten into you! Did you see your Mona Lisa walk out of a painting?"
Kaiser said as he turned his head in the direction of Meinan's gaze. He saw a woman slowly approaching them.
Her facial details were delicate and picturesque, and her mysterious slender eyes intoxicated everyone with its purple, star-like light, but her sword-like thin brows made her seem majestic and untouchable. Her dark, straight hair was embroidered with a violet hair clip. The moonlight softly overlay on her light purple dress, making her seem like a fairy born out of the moonlight.
The purple-eyed beauty had another refreshing beauty next to her: she was wearing a puffy dress with blue bowties. Her large eyes looked around uneasily, with a shy blush on her face. Though she couldn't bring people to their knees like her companion, but she still could make one feel a sense of sympathy and affection.
The two different beauties slowly walked to the banquet entrance under the gaze of everyone present. The refreshing beauty seemed to smile after she looked around for a while, then she grabbed the Moon Fairy and walked.
Every man present stared with danger in their eyes, wanting to figure out who dared to be the date of their Moonlit Beauty.
When the two beelined towards Kaiser and others without any hesitation, they suddenly noticed they were surrounded by murderous eyes. Three of them stared as the two beauties walked heading their way, and then all three of them all did the same thing: turned to look at the other two, and asking with their eyes, "Do you guys know them?"
They kept their pose until the two beauties stood still in front of them.
The refreshing beauty opened her mouth, "Did you guys wait long? Sorry~, mommy forced me to dress up, so it took some time."
"Purity?!" Their jaws dropped to the floor.
Although a girl was said to change significantly as she matures into womanhood, but they had only been apart for a bit over an hour, how could she have changed this quickly?
Three of them stared at Purity in astonishment for a long while before they finally remembered there was an even more earthshaking beauty next to her.
They moved their sluggish gaze to the Moonlit Beauty, and their feelings were quite mixed. Although the person in front of them was definitely a "him", they were unwilling to admit the beauty was a "him".
"Li..." Kaiser forced himself to open his mouth to confirm this person's identity, but he saw every man tilted their heads to listen, Kaiser had to change his words mid-sentence, "Li... la?"
The Moonlit Beauty... also known as our "male" protagonist Liola, though skeptical at Kaiser's abbreviation, still nodded.
Though they already knew who this person probably was, but seeing him admitting to his identity, Kaiser and others took a very deep breath. Alas, this world was now one beauty less than it would have!
Being stared at by countless eyes, even Liola felt a bit uneasy, but his companions were still enjoying the look of his face.
Liola helplessly said, "Let's hurry and go in to look for Cappuccino to get this over with. I put Baolilong in the dorm to sleep. When it wakes up and can't find me, it's going to throw a tantrum."
Who knew as soon as he spoke, Kaiser, Meinan, and Daylight fell even deeper into a trance. Liola's voice was completely different than before, and his voice was as clear and wonderful as the sound of wind chimes. Despite of the boring nature of what he said, it sounded like music to those who heard.
Seeing his companions' minds were completely vacant, Liola frowned. Who knew his frown made all the men take several deep breaths again.
There were a few fascinated men walking towards him, Liola glanced coldly at them, vaguely showing the imposing manner of an Assassin. Those few men shivered, and they were immediately 'awakened' by Liola's coldness, then took a few steps back.
"Kaiser, let's go."
Liola impatiently grabbed Kaiser and walked. Having received stares of admiration from his own gender, even Liola, who usually would completely ignore it, had a hard time bearing with it. He just wanted to quickly get the Dragon cross necklace back, and then dress down from his disguise.
"Huh? Oh, oh."
Kaiser finally seemed to have woken up from his daze when he was grabbed, remembering the person in front of him wasn't some beautiful, soft beauty, but instead a ridiculously strong Assassin.
After Kaiser remembered who the person was, he looked at Liola's face again. This time, he no longer saw some moonlight Goddess's face, but instead, an impatient Assassin freezing everyone around him with his eyes.
"Hey! You have to seduce Cappuccino, not to freeze him into an ice cube, okay? Then smile... no wait! Don't laugh. Every time you smile, something bad happens, even though what we're doing isn't exactly something good."
Kaiser demanded Liola, whom although unwilling, still softened his expression a bit.
"Beautiful art! My Goddess Venus!" Meinan was still fully immersed in his fantasy as he walked behind Liola's skirt, and he continued to murmur as he did so, which made the Assassin want to kick him to get him out of it.
It wasn't just Meinan who was following Liola's skirt. In fact, Liola's skirt was like a magnet, and a pile of paper clips were uncontrollably following them.
A long line of male beings were following Liola with the same expression as Meinan, trying to walk with their moonlight Goddess. Had the Goddess's 'frozen rays' not been as powerful, every male would've already rushed up to take Kaiser's place.
* * *
As Liola disappeared into the dance, the originally crowded entrance was suddenly completely empty, leaving behind only Purity and Daylight to stare at one another.
Purity timidly opened her mouth to ask, "Uh... Daylight, why aren't you going in?"
Daylight forced a smile, "I don't have an invitation. Meinan was supposed to take me in, but he seemed to have completely forgotten."
As soon as he finished, Daylight seemed to have remembered something. He added, "Right, Purity, you look beautiful today."
Hearing this, Purity shook her head and said, "Not at all, Liola-dage is the one who's truly beautiful."
"Haha, if Liola heard what you've said, he probably wouldn't be too happy." Daylight let out a laugh.
Purity laughed as well, and she added, "Liola-dage was already unhappy, because my mommy was so slow she didn't realize he was a guy. A little while ago, she kept pestering Liola-dage to marry my brother Feir."
"Uh? Are you serious?"
Daylight paused for a moment, and pictured in his mind the scene of Feir and the 'beauty' Liola standing together... It did seem like they would make a good couple. After looking at Purity, they both realized the other had the same thought, and they both shared a laugh.
Purity said as she laughed, "Daylight, be my date for this dance. Let's hurry and go see Liola-dage seduce the Prince. If they were judged purely on appearance, they would be like a beautiful Princess and a Prince!"
"Okay!" Daylight smiled, but then said awkwardly, "But... in a bit, you have to dance with me."
"Okay."
Purity laughed. Her pure, unadulterated smile almost made Daylight stare.
* * *
Liola had just entered the dance, but the situation turned out to be the same as outside. The place was originally filled with people chattering, but starting from the entrance, the place where Liola and Kaiser stood, silence began to fan out until finally, the whole place began to be eerily quiet.
"Where?" Liola asked calmly as always.
Kaiser had already been looking around to find their target, but he hadn't been able to find traces of Cappuccino. Kaiser knitted his brows, thinking if he stood up the girl of his dreams.
"Let's look around." Kaiser said lightly, then led Liola into the dance.
Since the dance took place at the practice fields of the School of Knights, it spanned over quite a large area. There were also many champagne pyramids and bouquets of flowers, obstructing their views, not to mention the sheer amount of people present. Perhaps Cappuccino was in the crowd, and therefore Kaiser couldn't find him.
At first, Kaiser could easily take Liola through a pile of frozen male statues, but as more and more of them woke up, the path became harder to traverse. Had it not been Liola using his cold eyes and freeze rays, they would have already been surrounded.
Seeing they could barely move, Kaiser became more anxious. If this weren't elegant dance, Kaiser would have screamed Cappuccino's name... but if he did so, would the waiters think he's ordering coffee?
While Kaiser and Liola were walking in circles, the music started to play.
A few men unwillingly grabbed their dates' hands and walked into the dance floor, but they still occasionally glanced at Liola from the corners of their eyes. Some men even ignored their dates complaints and hammerings, and stared at Liola blankly. A few men even walked up to them, even Liola's freeze rays couldn't stop the passion in these men's eyes.
"Beautiful miss, may I have the honor of this dance?"
A few men said at once. People surely needed some pioneers before they would do the same. As soon as these few men spoke, others immediately followed. In an instant, the dance floors were filled with sounds of invitation. They all seemed to fear Liola was deaf, and each yelled louder than the previous.
Liola's face got colder and colder as the invitations piled up. Kaiser, however, was almost pierced by the gazes of disdain and jealousy.
Kaiser... started to laugh sinisterly. Did these rich people really think they could scare him with their eyes?
'Hmmph! I will make you all die of jealousy!"
Kaiser, without a single bit of concern, grabbed the Goddess in everyone's eyes and headed straight to the dance floor.
Although Kaiser didn't know how to dance, and Liola didn't even know what dance even was, Kaiser looked at the couples near them and imitated them by putting his hand on Liola's waist, and said playfully,
"Hey, put your hand on my shoulder."
"What for?"
Liola did as Kaiser asked, but judging from the dancers next to them, Liola didn't understand why he should do so, especially since the taller person placed their hands on the shorter person. Logically speaking, shouldn't he have put his hands on Kaiser's waist?
"Trying to lose the crowd, discuss what we're going to do, and dance with you so those who dared to glare at me can die in jealousy." Kaiser said, and then looked proudly at those jealous, disappointed, and depressed emn.
Seeing Kaiser's gloating expression as he danced with him, Liola had a feeling the order Kaiser stated seemed to be incorrect.
Though Liola felt helpless, he had no choice because he couldn't find Cappuccino, and if he were to leave the dance floor, there probably would be another pile of men trying to invite him to dance.
"Excuse me, may I exchange dance partners with you?"
As soon as he heard, Kaiser immediately turned his head and said in the most condescending tone, "Sorry! Not in a million years... uh! Your Majesty?"
When his head fully turned around, Kaiser's eyes almost popped out. The delicate man in front of him was definitely the Dragon Emperor! The partner he wanted to exchange was Lanski in a black formal dress.
Lanski was trying to use her eyes to hint at Kaiser. But after seeing Kaiser still confused, Lanski decided to walk up and grabbed Kaiser.
Before she left, she threw a smile at Liola and said, "Let me borrow your date, and please have a dance with my father."
No, he can't leave Liola with the Dragon Emperor! Though Kaiser desperately struggled, but how could a weak Sorcerer break away from a Knight's grasp? Tears rolled down Kaiser's face as he was dragged away by Lanski.
Was Kaiser's face trying to tell him not to get into trouble or not to dance with the Dragon Emperor? Liola contemplated. It was far too difficult for anyone to guess Kaiser's meaning from tears, rolling eyes, and a frown.
"Hello."
As if he were afraid of scaring the girl before him, the Dragon Emperor did not carry his usual solemnness, but instead with a faint smile, which made him look even more like a handsome young man. Liola didn't know what he should do, so he frowned as he looked back.
"Please don't misunderstand. I'm actually very old." The Dragon Emperor smiled lightly,
"And I have no fetish with younger ones. The reason I'm here is because you look very similar to my wife who had passed away, so I presumptuously asked you to dance with me."
'The Emperor wanted to dance simply because I looked like the Queen. ' Liola thought and relaxed.
'This shouldn't cause any trouble, right?' Liola nodded lightly at the Emperor, whom elegantly bowed to Liola, gesturing an invitation to dance.
Liola confoundedly look at the Emperor as he bowed and then put his right hand in front of Liola, but he didn't know how to respond. Kaiser didn't seem to do something like this a moment ago?
Right as Liola was at his wit's end, Kaiser ran back with Lanski. Lanski was no longer trying to pull Kaiser away, and all she did was curiously look at her father and the woman who looked extremely similar to her mother. It looked like these two had come to some sort of agreement...
In reality, however, it was because Kaiser understood the reason and promised Lanski not to disturb her father. Lanski herself really wanted to watch his father dancing, so she came back with Kaiser.After Kaiser scratched his head, Kaiser bowed towards Lanski and reached out his right hand. Lanski, who knew the formalities well, naturally placed her hand into Kaiser's, and Liola finally understood what he should do.
Liola imitatively placed his hand on the Emperor's hand. The Dragon Emperor, who had waited for quite a while, didn't seem impatient at all, but instead naturally put his hand on Liola's waist.
"I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with dancing." Liola said calmly. Compared to letting the Dragon Emperor find out the hard way, he'd rather admit it first.
"So that's why. Then try following my lead. When I back up, you take a step forward."
The Dragon Emperor took a step back with his right leg, and Liola followed a step forward with his left.
The Dragon Emperor smiled and said, "Great, now take one step to your right, and then one step back. Follow these steps along, and I will lead on you everything else."
Liola did as the Dragon Emperor said. At first, they were just dancing at one spot, but then the Dragon Emperor started to speed up, and at the same time led Liola to dance in circles. Liola's purple dress and the Dragon Emperor's purple robe seemed to be intertwined into two beautiful, purple circles.
* * *
"Kaiser, who is that beautiful woman?"
Lanski couldn't refrain from asking. As soon as this woman entered, Lanski noticed her father, whose heart was like calm water, was actually staring at the woman.
At first, Lanski thought her father was captivated under the glamour of her beauty as well, but his eyes didn't seem like he was fascinated. Instead, his face was filled with surprise and nostalgia.
Lanski carefully examined the beautiful woman in purple, she realized the beauty looked practically identical to her mother's portrait in her father's room!
"Her... She's Liola's sister." Kaiser answered timidly. Fearing Lanski would notice 'she' looked like Liola, so he decided to tell her she's Liola's sister.
Siblings looking alike, no one would be suspicious of that, right?
Hearing she's the sister of someone Lanski was familiar with, she was quite surprised, and at the same time realized the woman's facial features were indeed similar to Liola's.
"So it turns out she's Liola's sister, then I can finally relax. It's good that she's not someone of an unknown origin."
Lanski took a deep breath, and lowered her guard down towards the woman. She happily looked at the two purple circles on the dance floor with some unspeakable anticipation.
"Relax? What do you mean?" Seeing Lanski's indescribable expression and hearing her strange words, Kaiser had a very bad feeling about all this.
"Don't you think she's quite a match with my father?"
Lanski smiled as she pointed at the couple everyone admired. She was agreeable to the idea of her father finding another woman, and even encouraged it. After all, her mother had been dead for more than twenty years, and her brother had just passed away yesterday in such a tragic manner.
Thinking about this, Lanski's mood sank a bit. Though she hadn't been on good terms with her brother, and they weren't even born from the same mother, but knowing her brother was electrocuted to death, Lanski still felt uneasy in her heart, and she could only imagine how her father could possibly feel.
Lanski remembered ever since yesterday, her father hadn't shown even a sign of a smile. If it weren't for the fact he had to discuss the possibility of an alliance with Aklan Republic and the Commerce Alliance to fight against Miluo, her father probably would have already left this sad place...
"A match?!" Kaiser finally understood what his bad feeling was!
What the hell! They were here to seduce Cappuccino, but why the heck did they end up seducing Cappuccino's father instead?!
This felt just like going to the kitchen to grab food to eat during the middle of the night and getting caught by Auntie, and then she jammed the entire pail of food down his throat.
Seeing Kaiser's mouth open so wide a chicken could fit inside, Lanski immediately started to explain on behalf of his father,
"Don't dislike my father because you think he's old. My father has already reached the stage where he could maintain his age. Although he's already several hundred years old, but he could probably live a few hundred years more."
'Not only is he homosexual, but he's a really old guy hitting on a young person?' Kaiser's expression became stranger.
* * *
"We've been dancing for quite a while, but I still haven't caught your name?"
The Emperor didn't know his daughter was trying to find him another wife, but he did feel a strange connection to the girl in front of him. Considering she looked so much like his wife who passed away, she should have some relation to her, right?
'Name?' Liola remembered the abbreviated name Kaiser called him, and answered, "Lila."
"Lila?" The Dragon Emperor repeated this name, and his eyes flashed strangely.
"Do you know where Cappuccino is?"
Liola suddenly asked, and the Dragon Emperor paused briefly before asking, "You know my third son?"
Liola nodded and explained, "I have a date with him."
"A date with my third son, is it? Unfortunately, he had been depressed due to the death of my second son, and therefore did not attend this dance."
Though the Emperor talked in a gentle voice, but for some reason, Liola felt coldness flashing by. When he looked curiously at the Emperor, he still maintained a light smile, making it impossible for Liola to guess what he was thinking.
"You learn quite quickly, and you can still follow me even though I'm dancing quickly." The Emperor complimented.
It wasn't until then that Liola noticed the speed at which they were dancing had already far surpassed the limit of an ordinary person. Liola was shocked. As the best Assassin, how could he have easily been lead to expose his secrets?
Liola raised his head again, and the Dragon Emperor still had a smile on his face, as if he had a smiling mask on at all times.
Liola suddenly stopped and pushed the Emperor away. Although Liola knew this would raise his suspicions even more, but the Assassin, who had never feared his opponents before, feared this unfathomable man.
"Are you tired?" The Dragon Emperor was not angry for being pushed away, but instead asked in a caring manner.
"Mhm." Being a bit away from the Dragon Emperor, Liola could finally maintain his calmness. Even if the Emperor realized his true identity, Liola thought, getting away shouldn't be a problem with his current strength.
The Dragon Emperor nodded and said, "Then, Lila, rest for a while, and I should be leaving. There will be a meeting tomorrow morning. It was a pleasure meeting you, Lila, and if you want to see Cappuccino, please come the place where we're currently staying. It will be our honor to have you as our guest."
Liola did not understand what the Dragon Emperor had planned. He obviously lead Liola into showing his strength, but now he was pretending he didn't know anything and even invited him to be his guest. He was confused... he was definitely not suitable, he thought, so he'd rather discuss it with Kaiser later.
"Understood. Thank you for your invitation." Liola could only reply in such manner.
After the Emperor elegantly bowed to Liola, he slowly walked out of the dance floor. When he passed Lanski, he even nagged a few things, such as "Don't stay too late", "Rest early", etc.
After the Emperor left, Lanski impatiently and anxiously grabbed Kaiser and ran up to Liola. Even the perverts around her couldn't rush as fast as she could.
Lanski's face was filled with jubilance, and said happily to Liola, "Hello, Lila-jiejie. I am Lanski, the Dragon Emperor's fourth child, and I'm friends with your brother!"
"My brother." Though Liola was confused, but he kept calm and used a declarative sentence to hint at Kaiser so Lanski wouldn't become suspicious.
"Right, Lila-jiejie, Lanski is good friends with your brother, Liola." Kaiser blinked, and quietly informed Liola he had become his own brother.
"Oh, nice to meet you, Lanski." After receiving Kaiser's hint, Liola calmly answered.
"Lila-jiejie, isn't my father a great guy?" Lanski asked happily while shaking Liola's hands.
'I think he's terrifying...' Liola didn't say his thoughts. Though he wasn't good with interpersonal relationships, but at least he knew not to say something bad of a girl's father in front of her.
Although Liola didn't say anything about the Emperor, Lanski saw her best candidate as her father's new wife didn't seem to like her father much, and she began to feel anxious. She grabbed Lila's hands, trying to convince her of all the good qualities of her father.
However, Liola had no time to listen to Lanski.
Standing in the center of the dance floor were two of the most beautiful women at the dance, and the surrounding floor showed signs of corrosion from saliva.
Not to mention the dishonorable Kaiser had already ran off, and he was standing outside of the blockade of people and waving at Liola. He tried to put on some compassion on his face to pity Liola's circumstances, but the exaggerated way he went about it showed he was actually rejoicing in Liola's misfortune.
Seeing the situation was getting out of control and Lanski was still endlessly talking about how good her father was, Liola interrupted Lanski and said awkwardly, "Lanski, this isn't the best place to talk."
Lanski suddenly stopped, and she realized the circle of perverts was closing in on them, to the point where they were only a few steps away.
Lanski obviously had a better handle on this than Liola, who had little experience being a beautiful woman. Lanski acted with the imposing manner of a royalty and waved her right arm, "Back off!"
Everyone around seemed to have woken up, and suddenly realized this may be the only Princess of the Dragon Empire, but with the Dragon Emperor being in Aklan Academy at this very moment, had they so much as touched her hair, they wouldn't have enough lives to answer to the Emperor.
No matter how much they want to hit on the hot girls, their lives were at stake! The crowd parted like the Red Sea.
"Let's go, Lila-jiejie." Lanski smiled and dragged Liola out of the dance.
Liola had no choice but follow Lanski. Lanski didn't forget to ask Kaiser to come along because she had something to say to Kaiser.
Lanski walked with Liola into the forest near the academy, and stopped next to a little lake.
Liola was very familiar with this place, since it was where he and Jasmine first met. He didn't expect Lanski would also know of this place, and he guessed it must've been Jasmine who brought her here.
"Kaiser, I have a message I want you to tell Silver Mask." Lanski suddenly turned around and said to Kaiser.
"Uh? What is it?" Kaiser was surprised.
Lanski said carefully,
"Please tell Silver Mask, because of my brother's sudden death, I was with my father last night and all of today, and so I couldn't wait for him in the School of Knights. Please clear this up with him for me, otherwise... I forced him to agree to go to the dance with me then I stood him up, he might hate me for it."
As she explained, Lanski's face seemed more and more depressed.
"Oh, don't worry, Silver Mask wouldn't get angry over something so small." Kaiser said carelessly, considering Silver Mask himself didn't make it, why would he be mad? Kaiser glanced at Liola and hinted with his eyes.
After that, Lanski said to Kaiser with embarrassment, "Kaiser, I have something to say to Lila-jiejie. Uh... could you give us a minute?"
Kaiser scratched his face, and threw an inquiring look at 'Lila-jiejie' whom, after a moment of thought, slightly nodded.
Kaiser shrugged at Lanski, indicating he didn't care, and then turned around in preparation to go back to the dorm to have a long-term intimacy with his pillow and sheets.
After Kaiser left, Lanski had an apologetic face towards Lila, "Lila-jiejie, I'm really sorry, asking you to stay like this."
"It's okay." Liola really didn't mind. Although he knew the person in front of him wasn't the person he had been missing, Liola did enjoy looking at Lanski's face and thinking about his past.
Lanski sat down, and Liola followed. Lanski began saying what she wanted to say to Lila,
"Lila-jiejie, please don't think my father is happy because he's always laughing. In reality, my father has rarely been truly happy ever since mother passed away."
Lanski laughed awkwardly, "Of course, this is what my third brother told me. After all, I hadn't seen my mother, but he had always told me when mother was still alive, father would often laugh heartedly, unlike how he is now."
Liola found it hard to imagine the Dragon Emperor with a hearty laugh. His mysterious nature had already been imprinted in Liola's mind.
"Hard to imagine, right?" Even Lanski herself couldn't fathom it,
"So I really want to see how he looks like with a hearty laugh. But father really loved mother, and he hasn't looked for a new wife in twenty years."
"Do you know? You are the first woman my father stared at in twenty years." Lanski said with excitement, but then she seemed a bit embarrassed as she added,'Unfortunately I'm a man, so your father still hadn't stared at a 'woman'...' Liola thought in response to Lanski.
"So, Lila-jiejie, if possible, please consider my father. He is truly a good man." Lanski held Liola's hands tightly.
'Consider... what exactly?' Though Liola didn't understand, but he understood there were leeways involved with 'consider'. Nothing could go terribly wrong if he agrees, right? Liola nodded lightly.
"This is great!"
Lanski smiled brilliantly. It was unlike the Lanski Liola remembered, but rather more like Anise's smile. This made Liola smile without noticing.
'This is not great at all! What good can come from deceiving the Emperor's feelings?'
The four people eavesdropping behind a nearby tree — Kaiser, Meinan, Daylight, and Purity — had a feeling it would be better off if they start running now.
| ← Ch. 041 | Ch. 043 → |