Chapter 48: The Trial (Part 2)
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With an aura perfumed with guilt, pride, shame, and contempt with herself over what she’d done, she looked at her father and said,  

"I am a sinful woman who almost tainted a hero without his consent. Father, I beg you to punish me!" She said, pulling the 'I'm about to cry' trick. Her father smiled faintly and played along. This was going to be good. 

"What do you suggest be done to you?" Revalor asked to hear what she had planned. He was shocked to see what would happen next. 

Shalia crawled on the floor and moving towards Marcel who had a bad feeling as he watched the princess come towards him. Her uncles looked at her in disbelief and so did her stepmother Phyrra as they looked at their race’s pride and joy crawl on the floor towards the one who stole her heart. They looked at her and thought the same, 

How unlucky dear Shalia is in love.” With Byron pitying the princess and his youngest son Arwen especially so because he was unfortunate to have fallen in love with the pure princess who showed no interest in him. In a way, what goes around comes around. 

As Shalia crawled towards him, Marcel had a feeling that he was going to suffer a lot that afternoon when he'd done nothing at all to deserve it, except maybe stealing Shalia’s heart. 

The princess continued to crawl towards him and when she arrived at Marcel's side, she took a deep breath in and said, "Please forgive me! I almost scarred you and for that, I'm very sorry!" She apologized, looking deeply sorry on the surface and for some reason, Marcel's tattoo told him to get up and go home right this instant, sensing immense danger and so he did. 

"I forgive you! Like I said a few days ago, I'm completely fine. Now if we're done with this, then I'm going home!" Probably because of past events, Marcel had a feeling that nothing seemed as simple as people made them out to be on the surface.  

Having come to the demon realms, he's been disappointed over and over again by people either failing to meet his expectations, having ulterior motives behind their kind words, and being totally helpless before them that you could say he has some experience in knowing what was an act and not, especially when it's coming from the woman who assaulted him. She looked far too confident even as she looked ready to spout whatever it is she wanted to say that he could instantly see the truth behind what was happening. She has ulterior motives like when she did when she suggested they go visit Hjärtatlv but this time, he wasn't going to allow himself to fall for it. He was going to go home and forget all about this. 

After getting up from his chair and saying that he was going home, nobody dared to try and stop it. They could understand why he wanted to leave for home. He'd originally wanted to do so two days ago but they stopped him by way of distractions and it worked but not this time.  

This hero had obtained way too many bad memories of the elven race, they all thought, including Revalor who summoned him against his will. All he had left was how to stop his daughter from taking this any further because Marcel looks like he's had enough but alas, it was already too late. 

When he got up to leave, the princess latched onto him and exclaimed,  

"I tried to conquer you so you should do the same to me! Make me your slave!" Her words surprised everyone in the room, especially Revalor's brothers and Pyrrha who never thought that Shalia could suggest something so extreme but alas, it wasn't up to them to decide since they aren't the victim. Marcel was the one who had the final say regarding Shalia's punishment. 

Normally, any man who heard the pleas of a woman begging to become their slave would be ecstatic and overjoyed, especially if said woman was from a powerful background which could secure him a luxurious life for the thousands of years, he’ll stay alive for, but not Marcel, especially after all the crazy things that happened to him while in Tharrelan. Making Shalia his slave by marrying her was the least most favorable outcome in his mind, you know, since said woman almost assaulted him.  

It’s official! Now Shalia had solidified herself as ‘That Crazy Girl’ inside his mind. King Revalor doesn’t seem to look like he’ll stop his daughter either. He never thought that this afternoon would go like this, at all. Now, what will he do?  

Now that Shalia had suggested this, the elders were considering the thought of Marcel marrying their princess and they seemed happy with the conclusion they came to; that being that it will benefit their elven race very much since they want to keep him as their hero. Maybe by marrying Shalia, Marcel will become a permanent part of their family even if he ends up claimed by another race, so, they looked at Marcel with threatening looks, that seemed to imply that he must accept this ‘punishment’ that their princess had suggested, except Revalor, of course. He didn’t want to suffer the wrath of the Demon Lord he’d have to explain this to later, so he thought of stepping in to stop his daughter from suggesting marriage to the fiancé of the most powerful person in the demon realms when the pressure got too much for Marcel but to his surprise, Marcel was unfazed by the immense threatening auras his siblings poured out towards him. He was shocked. 

Oh, now that Marcel thought about it, the current situation he found himself in was incredibly similar to that time when he almost got married to a certain human royalty after they tried to kill him because he was 'way too insolent’. Now that he thinks about certain stuff, he was very dense about a lot of stuff before coming to the demon realms. Speaking of which, how did he avoid that crisis? Oh, he remembered! 

Marcel took a deep breath in, then out, looked at Shalia who kneeled in front of him, bent down, patted her shoulder, and with a slight smile, he said,  

“I’m sorry! I can’t take you as my slave and besides, you didn’t do anything to deserve something that extreme. If you’d like, I’d like us to be friends instead of whatever twisted something that’s going on through your head.” He said with a straight smile, unwilling to compromise for anyone.  

“Haa~ Okay fine! I’ll be your friend then...” she said, then she got up from kneeling on the floor and grabbed Marcel, drawing circles around his chest with her hand,  

“...but... Let me know if you want us to be something other than friends.” When she said that, Marcel suddenly wanted to revoke the words he’d just said to Shalia. He knew that he didn’t want a wild and sometimes, insane animal like her as his friend. How he wished that he could just take back his words just like that but because the Sunfire King, Shalia’s partner-in-crime looked happy, he couldn’t do that and accepted his fate.  

He’d somehow managed to get himself tricked again albeit very subtly this time. This works out for the Sunfire King too as he’s been wanting to have someone keep a very close eye on Marcel and if it happens to be his infatuated daughter this time, then that’s maybe even better, as heartbreaking as it may be for Shalia later but oh well; it is what it is. This also solves their ‘connection to the elven race’ problem to some extent as the friendship between his daughter and Marcel will bring about a bond of its own. It’ll also prevent him from having to deal with Dalarris when she comes back and hears about her daughter getting rejected. Nice save, Marcel. Now all that was left was to explain this to the Demon Lord and his job was done. 

And with that, the trial came to an end with Marcel being sort of the victor of that battle but really, how much will he have to suffer in the future because of this victory? 

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