Supreme Monarch

"A kiss?"

Tyler tilted his head slightly perplexed at the sudden request being thrown his way. While he might've expected this from Rain, he just couldn't wrap his mind around her current demeanor.

"Yep. I read somewhere that kissing someone you love boosts one's Magic immune system – the saliva from someone of Lord Ty's caliber contains substances that fight bacteria, viruses, and fungi and grants various immunities and resistances. Especially deep kissing! I read it increases the flow of saliva, which helps to keep the mouth, teeth, and gums healthy. Basically, I would receive Lord Ty's protection just by kissing me."

Tyler was completely stumped for a moment, so much so that he could barely respond in his usual dignified tone.

"That, does sound kind of familiar… but where in the world did you read something like that?"

"Hmm... oh, right. It was in the library."

Although Tyler felt as though he had heard a version of shan't Rain had just said before and couldn't just casually dispute its validity. It also didn't feel like something that would be viable in most scenarios but what surprised him the most was the fact that there was such a book in the castle's main library. How unusual.

Then there was something else that he found completely strange about Rain's behavior so far. For a while now, she's been acting a lot different than usual which could be seen as a good thing but he felt as though there was more to this. Not only has she been acting more mature but now she was even being bashful around him.

Tyler believed that if she had been her usual self, she would've probably assaulted his lips before asking for permission. While this newfound maturity was great, he couldn't help but wonder why this was the case. For some reason, he felt as though there was an agenda behind this change and he was most likely correct.

"Therefore, I want a kiss~"

Having provided indisputable reasoning being her absurd request, Rain closed her eyes and puckered her lips.

This scene contradicted Tyler's image of her and in the end, he could not stop himself from being voicing his curiosity to the Dark Elf General.

"Hey Rain, are you alright? You've never been one to ask for permission when there's something you wanted."

At Tyler's question, the expression on Rain's face seems to die down as she started fidgeting a little nervously while softly muttering something.

"Is that how you truly see me. I just wanted the man I love to kiss me, is that so bad. Do you not like me?"

Her words were soft and fleeting as though she was only whispering to the wind but Tyler's ears could easily pick up on it. He didn't have much experience with girls so he could not understand what he had done wrong as he had only asked a reasonable question.

A thought flashed through Tyler's mind as he wondered if she had only been acting differently because of him. Perhaps she felt he didn't like her the way she was and had been desperately trying to change her entire character in order to earn his affection.

Was the reason she wanted him to be the one to initiate a kiss to confirm his feelings toward her? Or was there a completely different reason behind all this he couldn't comprehend?

Those thoughts flashed through his mind and Tyler strongly considered running away at this point but he didn't have the heart for that.

He wasn't the best at communicating his emotions so perhaps that had a lot to do with this. Still, he couldn't allow Rain to go on this errand in her current state of mind and didn't mind kissing her if that would help.

However, a simple kiss wasn't really what she was hoping for but even Tyler didn't understand his own feelings. There was no doubt he had come to grow fond of the girls and everyone under him.

Just like he had with his family back on earth, he cared for the ones closest to him and would do anything to protect them. He had realized such during the attack of the Primordial Behemoth of Greed, Mammon.

So when a girl he cared for was making herself vulnerable before him. What kind of man would he be if he completely disregarded her feelings.

Tyler chuckled inwardly at his childish behavior even though he had been accusing Rain of being childish. He then took a step forward and took Rain's chin in one hand, and planted a kiss on her subtle red lips.

Although it was a tad embarrassing to be doing this out in public, especially under the keen gaze of his servants. Given as he had hated those annoying couples that always came to the convenience store he worked at to make out, he had no choice but to impose himself on her.

After a brief moment, Tyler pulled his lips away from Rain's and his hand left her chin as he whispered into her ears.

"There's no need for you to change who you are for me. I'll always care about you no matter how you act. Even when I get annoyed and scold you, it will not change my feelings for you."

He then completely pulled away from her and his eyes met Rain's wide-eyed gaze.

"What, what's wrong? Did I startle you?!"

'...or was I actually being too presumptuous Crap.'

As Tyler panicked internally wondering if he had been overthinking things and had made too many assumptions, Rain suddenly opened her mouth and spoke.

"No, it's just. …I did not think you would have considered it at all."

Before Tyler could ask her what she really meant, tears suddenly welled up in the corner of her eyes, and without warning.

"Fueeeen~"

Rain wept. Those were not crocodile tears. She was truly crying and Tyler was completely at a loss for words.

After the long-awaited shock of his, Uriel finally placates his emotions as he finally regains his clarity of mind.

Tyler then hurriedly scrambled to do something. That said, he had no idea how to stop a grown woman from crying. If it had been his little sister then he would've simply asked her what she wanted and probably bribed her with a small gift or the promise of an outing, but now, it was a lot more complicated.

Tyler considered what those popular pretty boys would do at a time like this. He remembered reading what he considered to be trashy magazines about those boys' experiences with women but they never covered a situation like this.

"Rain, you don't have to cry."

'That was horrible. What the hell is wrong with me.'

He desperately wanted to look to Cora, who was behind him for help, but he had already embarrassed himself badly enough. He could not disgrace himself even further.

"Hey, it's alright."

Tyler pulled Rain into his embrace and gently patted her back.

They stayed like this for a while, and then Rain sniffled. It would seem her tears had stopped.

Tyler released the hands holding Rain, as relief washed through him.

"How are you feeling? Are you alright now."

"Yes, I, I am very sorry. I didn't expect you to say that. I thought you would only love me back if I become a proper lady like Liz, I'm sorry."

Though stained with tears, hers was still a very beautiful and charming smile.

"There's no need to be sorry. I'm just glad you're fine now."

"I am. I'm also very happy right now. Lord ty told me he loves me."

'Wait, I did what?'

"...that was almost a proposal, hehe~ I feel my body filling with energy right now."

The switch was almost miraculous as Tyler found himself having whiplash from how quickly Rain had worked herself up by misinterpreting his intentions. At this point, there was nothing he could do to calm her down so it was best he redirected this supposed energy to something more productive.

"Is that so. …Well, it's about time. You should set out if you're fine."

"Understood, Darling!"

♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️

As the five coaches left through the majestic main gate of the Darknar castle, the curtains mounted in one of the coach windows opened, and through them, he saw Rain excitedly waving at him. In response, Tyler waved back to her.

This was quite a lovely scene if one was to disregard the event that had transpired beforehand.

The coach stirred slowly into motion, and the sentries began moving as well.

Tyler watched until he could no longer see Rain's coach, and as he stared into the distance, he issued a somber, grave command to all those who had witnessed such an embarrassing moment in his life.

"Forget everything that happened here."

"Yes my lord."

Tyler wasn't sure if such a command would work but he had no choice but to try as he walked past Cora, whose head was lowered with a reverence aura around her.

He had no way of seeing the kind of look she had on her face with his eyes alone and didn't plan on using his Magic vision for something so silly.

He then reached the large arched doors to the castle where Albert had been standing waiting for his arrival and bowed politely as Tyler approached.

After walking past Albert, Tyler headed in the direction of the south wing before asking a question.

"How are the prisoners?"

"We've managed to gain some information from them but up till this point, they are yet to give us anything of any value."

"Is that so... How unfortunate."

"Well, this was expected. I'm afraid they've both outlived their usefulness to us. Sending them back also isn't an option."

"Well, you're not wrong."

During the undead war, only two of the representatives had managed to survive the fury of his subordinates. The first was called Misty. A Peak Tier 6 Assassin type mage, and apparently, she was also Rain's sister but Rain didn't seem to care about her at all.

The other prisoner was a demigod from the Zorak family named Brethal. Her condition was in a worse state than Misty so Erin had to heal her completely before they could even begin their interrogations.

Most of the bodies of the other representatives had been completely reduced to ash so they had only brought him three relatively intact bodies.

He was yet to make use of those corpses as the only ones he had been using for his experiments till now were the female demi-humans that had died during the shadow king's awakening. He had simply turned them into shadow rogues and scattered them across the darknar region to serve as the foundation of his information network.

Tyler's footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the darknar castle as he wondered, what else he could create with the corpse of demigods. The last time he used one, he had ended up with Emrys so he was truly looking forward to this.