Present Day
The Border Between Acaedien and the Forbidden Forest Kingdom, Aurora Realm
It had been one week since we departed the city of Acaedien on our journey toward Wulin for the realm's annual international conference, and I'll be honest, I had just discovered how vast this kingdom was. We had been flying at the speed of one hundred miles per hour, and we had just reached the border of the country between Acaedien and the neighboring nation of the Forbidden Forest.
The one week on this massive, three-story airship named the Acaedien Skywarden—a unique piece of technology operated by a combination of machinery and magic—had been wonderful for me. Some of the time—when I wasn't busy reading Lord Noah's many books to better understand this world or having my routine self-defense lessons with either Felix, Caleb, or Aaron in the gym on the first floor—I'd be taking in the view of the land from high above. Then either one of the lords or the girls would point out important things to me, such as the monument to the seven lords in a small town called Titan where they had first made their treaty to form a clan and rule Acaedien as one. Or the great lake, which was created by a magic water system that ran across the nation and provided the city, towns, and remote villages with a freshwater supply. Or the many national wild parks that had been set up across the land to preserve endangered species, which was simply amazing, to say the least.
"See that river there," Aaron said, pointing to a thin line that curved within the forest below. "That's the border between Acaedien and the Forbidden Forest."
"Does Acaedien have a treaty or a contract agreement with other countries to fly over their lands?" I asked curiously. After all, we were heading into the Forbidden Forest now, and I wondered if there was something like that in Aurora, because surely, one simply couldn't venture across another country's territory without permission.
Aaron nodded. "Yes, we have treaties with most of the kingdoms in Aurora."
"Most?" I cocked my head to one side. "That means there are some countries that Acaedien can't have access to?"
He nodded again. "Unfortunately, yes. Forming any sort of treaty requires a lot of input and negotiation. And some kingdoms' agendas don't align with ours."
I nodded in understanding. In any world, there would always be agreements and disagreements, so it wasn't surprising that Acaedien hadn't formed an alliance with some of the other kingdoms.
I leaned closer to the window again and gazed down, taking in the view of the range of thick, lush mountains that stretched far and wide. If Grandfather Kenjiro were here, he'd surely point out the type of mountain classifications, as he had done so many times when I had been young. Of course, I still remembered some of them.
Because I couldn't help myself, I pointed to one and said, "That one looks like Greedy Wolf Mountain." Recognizing another, I continued. "Oh, and that one the Literary Art and that Military Art."
Aaron must have noticed me pointing at the mountains and saying their Feng Shui classification names odd, because he asked, "Greedy Wolf?"
I pointed to the tall, elongated, elegant one with smooth sides that looked like the famous Mount Fuji in Japan.
"That one is classified as a Greedy Wolf star mountain. Grandfather Kenjiro told me that if one were able to tap into and receive a Greedy Wolf star's qi, one would gain noble status, wisdom, and great achievement in life."
"I see. Your world has mountain classifications too, very much like ours," Aaron said.
I turned to him, astounded. "Aurora has a mountain classification system?"
He nodded. "Since they are where qi veins gather. The bigger and lusher the mountain, the stronger the qi. Different mountains emanate different types of qi. Each mountain will have several Meridian points, which is where qi is the strongest."
I cocked my head to one side, the phrase Meridian point sounding familiar. I vaguely remembered Grandfather Kenjiro saying something along the lines that his shrine sat on a Meridian spot at the base of the mountain.
Aaron said, "We have the dictionary of the mountains, with their names and types of qi they emanate, if you're interested. Unfortunately, it's one of a kind and cannot be issued out of the palace's library."
I nodded. "Yes, I'm interested."
But I'd have to wait until we returned to get my hands on that dictionary, which I assumed was probably as thick and heavy as that spell book I had seen Lord Noah use when he needed to make references.
Aaron continued to point out certain locations of the land to me, and I was engrossed. It was a moment later when I turned my head and realized he was sitting very close to me.
He was so close, in fact, that I could feel the warmth of his breath on my skin. I noticed his emerald-green eyes were twinkling as he smiled at me.
I blushed and asked, "What? Something on my face?"
He shook his head. Suddenly, he leaned in and planted his lips on mine, which took me by surprise. Though, I must admit it was a pleasant one.
His kiss was gentle and slow, and it was beautiful. Suddenly, I felt sparks and pleasure charging through me. My body started heating with such intensity, the likes of which I hadn't felt before, and I was shaken.
Aaron coaxed my lips to part for him, and I was about to mindlessly oblige when the sound of a throat clearing came our way. Swiftly, Aaron terminated the kiss and moved back, his gaze flying to the door.
My face flushing hot, I, too, turned my attention to the door and saw Felix standing there. The handsome man looked...amused as he came to sit on the sofa beside me. And Felix, being Felix, wrapped his ironlike arms around my waist and pulled me onto his lap.
My body reacted, and I started heating up even more. Oblivious to my dire circumstance, Felix proceeded to snuggle his masked face against my neck and beg for a kiss. Not that he hadn't received one this morning, though.
My body felt like it melted against him, and I knew if I didn't move out of the man's arms soon, I'd be in trouble.
Aaron rolled his eyes. "You're beginning to piss me off, Felix. Can't I have Alfie to myself for a second?"
Felix retorted, "What are you going on about? You've spent the last three hours with her today. That's long enough, in my opinion."
"Felix, you're being mean," I said, trying in vain to remove his arms from around me. "I was enjoying my time with Aaron. He's very good at explaining things to me, and I want to learn about this world as much as I can."
At this, Aaron gave Felix a satisfied smirk. "You heard Alfie. Now leave. I'm teaching her important stuff."
"Like hell, I'll leave," Felix said. "I'm bored. It's been a week, and nothing has happened."
I laughed because I couldn't help myself. Being stuck in this airship must be hell for a man like Felix, who spent most of his time either on the battlefield or training his armies.
I said, "Then why did you come in the first place? You knew it was going to take a couple weeks to reach Wulin and there would be nothing to do except to sit tight and wait."
Aaron nodded in agreement. "It's not like you're needed at the conference."
Felix gave Aaron a death ray glare. "If that bastard Geoffrey haven't happened to invite Alfie, and if she hadn't agreed to tag along, I wouldn't be here in the first place. Besides, I apparently must be present for the military meeting, as you well know, Aaron."
The other demon lord snorted at him.
"Conference not your cup of tea, Felix?" I asked.
He nodded. "Not in the least."
"I personally like conferences, though. You learn lots from all the presentations, you know."
Felix said, "I'll get summaries of those regardless, once it's over, so there's no point in me spending hours sitting on my backside, listening to the likes of Noah preaching about his newly developed potions or inventions and whatnot."
"What's this, Felix?" Lord Noah's voice came from the door, which drew our attention there. "So you find my presentations boring?"
"Very." Felix didn't care to deny it.
Noah said, "Then don't attend." Shifting his attention to me, he said, "Come, little one. I need you."
The way he said that, oddly enough, made me blush.
Aaron asked, "What do you need Alfie for?"
"She's my assistant for some of the presentations, so I need her for our practice run."
I nodded in agreement. "And I need to know my material and what I'm supposed to be doing."
With that, I undid the seat belt that was Felix's arms around my waist, got up, and headed over to Noah.
"Let's go," I said, grinning at him.
As we left, I heard Felix ask, "So how far have you gotten with Alfie?"
Aaron replied, "Shut up!"
I wasn't surprised that Aaron was doing his best to get to know me since I knew he liked me. Or should I say he's in love with me? Just as Felix, Caleb, and Geoffrey were in love with me.
I will admit I was falling for him too. It was hard not to, for God's sake, since Aaron was so good to me. I guess I had a soft spot for kind and caring men. Then I wondered if I was ready to add another demon lord to my list of demon lord boyfriends. Despite already having three—Felix, Caleb, and Geoffrey—and keeping up with them where intimacy was concerned was tough, I honestly wouldn't mind.
Regarding the sexy stuff, they weren't kidding when they had very informatively told me that taking a demon lord as a lover would be difficult, and most women in the past found that they couldn't handle the demand and had ended their lives in some very tragic ways.
The warning freaked me out, naturally. I mean, what girl wouldn't be wary when the men she loved told her that to go into a relationship and become intimate with them could possibly lead to emotional instability due to sexual demand? So much so it could lead to their destruction, such as death by suicide.
After that first night with them, about three weeks back, I had realized I needed to make it a rule we were only allowed to spend one intimate, sexy session together a week, which would be on Saturday night.
Oddly enough and to my pleasant surprise, they didn't shun my decree and easily agreed. But then again, when that Saturday night arrived—which happened to be my second time with them—they didn't even let me sleep until pretty much dawn. They had taken their turns with me, each several times, and they made me come so hard each time that I nearly fainted. If I hadn't happened to have strong pure qi, I was sure I would have expired already.
When it came to something like that between us, the three lords took it seriously and even had a discussion with me about pregnancy.
Since I was only nineteen years old—turning twenty in the next couple weeks—I wouldn't want to bear a child at such a young age, especially while I was in this realm. My parents were possibly going nuts worrying about me, despite that I had asked Grandfather Kenjiro to pass my message on to them when I had contacted him via dreams to tell them that I was doing fine here.
Where pregnancy prevention was concerned, Geoffrey had given me a set of contraception pills, which were pink, that Lord Noah had created specifically for me. Along with that was another set of purple ones that apparently were supposed to suppress any physiological changes in my body. Since we were traveling, it would be inconvenient to have my body undergoing any changes, obviously.
I knew the purple pill suppressed the production of qi nectar in my body, but surely, they didn't have to be so cautious about it. I mean, it was just qi nectar, right? Which was simply body perspiration, just like sweat. Though, I was told it gave off a sweet scent like a pheromone or something, which was unusual in my opinion.
Dismissing the thoughts of intimacy and my three demon lord boyfriends from my mind, I returned my attention to what Lord Noah was saying, which was something about the presentations.