Ball of Nothing

Chapter 629 - Royal Date and Stalkers (2)

Everyone in Indra Seagloo knew about the royal date. The townsfolk cheered and sang about it, the bards played music in the square as actors acted out what they thought would happen on the royal date. Truen cringed at the kissing scene and confession as the crowd cheered for the actors embracing each other like lovers glued at the h.i.p.s. He shuddered and picked up his pace, jumping from roof to roof. Bob told him Zero was almost ready to depart.

The dragon was tucked into Zero’s shirt, and the doctor squirmed. He barely managed to get away with it when the maids suddenly intruded on him in the bathroom. Luckily, he was able to get them to leave quickly before Bob was discovered.

"Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the mindscape?" Zero asked, and Bob refused. He was worried about his master’s dignity and insisted on coming along in his physical form.

With a sigh, Zero left his room and resumed that cold poker face with King Charo’s appearance. His poise and mannerisms were perfect to the point of passing off as the actual King Charo now.

Queen Leah was waiting for him at the foyer. A long line of maids and servants trailed behind her, and the royal coachman brought the carriage over, bowing to Zero in greeting.

Zero looked at the carriage. He didn’t know how merfolks travelled. He imagined them riding on seahorses seeing those creatures were the closest to horses under the ocean. He was wrong. Instead, they were very advanced, and the carriage was fashioned from giant clam shells, pulled by a water engine, steered by the coachman. The giant clam shell was big enough to fit two people. Its interior was lined with cushions and colourful kelp fabric. The top of the shell can be pulled closed completely to give them privacy if they wanted, and Zero saw how some parts of the shell was cut and fitted with tiny glass windows lined with sea crystals. It was a very beautiful carriage, fit for a lady as beautiful as Queen Leah.

"Shall we?" Zero asked with a smile and offered his arm to the Queen who was waiting.

Ordinarily, the man should never keep the lady waiting. However, Eros taught Zero to make them wait. The more they wait, the higher the anticipation. Also, a man shouldn’t apologise even if he is in the wrong according to the male God of Romance. That only gave women the power over him. Zero should uphold his arrogant dignity in front of a lady, acting cold and unconcerned while throwing in an occasional dash of attention.

They climbed into the carriage, and the coachman started driving once the top of the clamshell was pulled close. Zero let his icy character go inside the carriage and peered out of the tiny glass windows excitedly. Queen Leah’s smile only widened when she saw Zero’s reaction. Instead of feeling like a woman in love, she felt like a mother taking her child out to sightsee. It was a refreshing feeling.

Unlike all the other men Queen Leah dated who tried to impress her with their wits, knowledge and gifts, Zero didn’t do any of those. In fact, he was just a handful who constantly made her worry about him. However, through that process, Queen Leah found joy in giving and taking the lead. As a queen, she was used to taking command over everything. Failure wasn’t an option. She always thought that she wanted someone else to take away this heavy burden from her shoulders. However, Zero wasn’t like those men she dated before. If anything, his nose for trouble and childishness only made him more adorable in her eyes. Queen Leah had never felt the want to spoil anyone. She always thought that she was the one who wanted to be spoiled in a relationship. It was surprising, but they did not have any problems getting along once they warmed up to each other. She could see now why he was the Chosen One.

She told her most trusted maid to prepare something she thought Zero would like after getting her to spy for information from his friends and the crew. The sea otters and the gnome had very different opinions about what Zero liked. However, the wood elf and dragon had a similar opinion. She would rather trust these two people over the others. The blind mole girl and semi-giant said something similar to Truen and Bob’s words that made Queen Leah very sure Zero was going to love this surprise.

The carriage was pulled all over Indra Seagloo on a route plotted by the royal coachman to give Zero a full view of her country. They even passed by the docked Marrissa, and Zero noticed how it looked different.

"What happened to the Marrissa?" he asked.

Queen Leah yawned. She worked late into the night to ensure everything ran smoothly without her presence in the palace and was tired. Yet, she managed to answer Zero’s question.

"I had some of our Indra Seagloo experts take a look at the ship. The undead wood you used isn’t very compatible with some parts of the ocean as salt corrodes the wood over time. They are working to coat it and cover it with scales now, so you will see that the ship looks a little different."

Impressed that Queen Leah’s hospitality extended so far, he wondered why her previous lovers couldn’t treat her right. It wasn’t difficult to like this great water sprite. She had everything anyone would possibly want and wasn’t as crazy as the rumours made her out to be. Something was wrong somewhere.

The carriage made it to the town, and Zero marvelled at how many people there were bustling about in the town square. Truen was somewhere in the area, and Zero assured him that things were alright. Besides, Bob was here with him. Nothing horrible would happen.

"What’s going on in the square?" he asked. "There are a lot of people."

As this wasn’t part of her plan, Queen Leah peered through the window with a frown.

"Coachman! Stop the carriage!" Queen Leah snapped, and Zero quickly resumed his icy attitude to follow the Queen out. For some reason, he felt nervous. The queen’s tone was foreboding, and Zero didn’t know if his innocent question would end up ruining their tour.