Garret25

Reminder that in the former chapters, it has been revealed that

Spoiler

Lime and Quill were the same person.

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Quill's form was slender and having her chest on Kristoffer's was quite stimulating. Her hair's scent was mesmerizing.

However, this wouldn't change the fact that he wouldn't confess.

This was just hugging... Until Kristoffer was pushed down. Quill sat atop him, a hand on his stomach and thigh, looking down on him with a predatory grin.

This flirt!

Kristoffer didn't run away as she traced her hand under his shirt. Quill's touch was deliberately slow and it was making him squirm. Kristoffer had always been weak against her advances and he could not deny he wanted it.

Quill retracted the cat ears and tail. "Kristoffer, let me ask you something. Do you hate me?"

Kristoffer was shocked. Lime and Quill. They were the same person. She had always been there for him and him for her. Despite her sadistic tendencies, she was never mean to Kristoffer, and he never saw her bully an innocent, either.

"I would never."

Quill nodded.

"Do you hate it when I torture people for fun?"

"No." They were all fugitives, criminals, and backstabbing double agents. Never did it to a true ally.

"Do you hate it that I neglected the Silver Mavericks?"

"No. In my eyes, you never left at all." After all, Lime trained the Mavericks to live proper lives, and she had always been in Arkbay, communicating with Kristoffer about their affairs. 

Quill nodded in appreciation, then smiled cheekily. "That's a cheesy confession."

"It's not a confession!"

Quill laughed and Kristoffer almost did as well.

"I'm curious," Quill dragged a finger to Kristoffer's throat and up to his lips. "Don't you find it revolting or offputting how my expressions, my words, and my actions differ greatly from what's inside my mind?"

Kristoffer chuckled. For Kristoffer, it was unpleasant when he first discovered it. However, the more he got to know her, the more he liked her.

People might call it two-faced. But to Kristoffer, it's called being approachable and considerate.

People might call her untrustworthy. But they did not acknowledge her track record. Kristoffer was aware of what she had done to her enemies in the past: tortures, torture before death, destroying their home in a blazing inferno in front of their eyes before torturing them, among several others. Being aware of that, Kristoffer could say that Lime probably simulated countless atrocities and cruelties inside her mind, but she had never done it to her allies and friends. Perhaps she wanted to, but she didn't.

Some might say her words were insincere. In Lime's mind, that might be true, but Kristoffer had never heard her turn back on her word. When she complimented someone, she would never jeer or insult them behind their back, even when it looked as if she wanted to.

She has great self-control and it was admiring how considerate she was.

"No, I really admired how nice you are to the people who are nice to you. It was amazing how you could be considerate of the other person's feelings even when they were being rude or annoying. As long as they were not enemies, of course."

As a matter of fact, 80% of the Syndicate's members were formerly enemies of her Quill persona and half of those had come out of the Happy Dungeon. Kristoffer would always take advantage of their fear of Quill when it suited him. It was satisfying to see them shake.

Quill laughed out loud before pressing her nose to Kristoffer's. "Doesn't it seem like our personalities are compatible? ThEn WhaT arE yOu so afRaid of?"

Kristoffer felt a peck on his lips before Quill hugged him once again. "I just wanted someone I can hug when I get home, someone I can conform to comfort me when I grief, and a man who can be with my side in my brightest and darkest moments. I was scared, Kristoffer. I thought I was about to finally meet my end after centuries of surviving this world. I didn't have anyone to talk to last night." Quill looked Kristoffer in the eye and said, "Won't you be that man?"

Kristoffer's felt his heart skip a beat. He was speechless. Was Quill that affected by the event last night? It took him a few more seconds to recover and answer back.

"But I'm not strong."

"I appreciate you helping me out last night, but that was a special case. It won't happen again. When I get serious, am I someone who needs protecting?"

No.

"What if someone kidnapped me and used me as a bargaining chip against you?"

"Oh. Well, I'll just leave you alone to their hands... I'm kidding! Don't look at me like that. I'll attempt to rescue you, of course! I'm also rich enough to pay for any ransom."

The word 'attempt' didn't bring an assuring tone to it. Nevertheless, Kristoffer realized that Quill was simply telling him that he would never be a dead weight to her, whatever his shortcomings were.

"But I'm lazy and I only run a bakery."

"You don't need to provide the money and I like your pastries, anyway," Quill declared wide-eyed and in a hurrying tone.

"But--" Quill closed his mouth by pressing a finger.

"No more buts. You don't have to do anything except be by my side."

The only reason that Kristoffer didn't want to pursue Lime in the past was because of 'Kristoffer.' Whether it be Quill or Lime, he never had a complaint about her.

But now that she's telling him that he could finally erase that reason from the equation, should he?

As Kristoffer laid there on the grass with a beautiful lady above him, he contemplated whether he should give it a chance. Kristoffer tried to stand up and Quill removed herself from him. As he studied her happy face, he guessed he could. 

"We've basically known each other for, how long, 15 years?" Although 10 of those years were as Quill.

"Indeed," Quill showed her signature grin as she stepped closer to Kristoffer.

The atmosphere was just right. The place also looked beautiful. Now that Kristoffer was standing, he saw the enormous sea behind Quill, the afternoon sun shining through the tree down on Quill's bright face. 

"Okay," Kristoffer replied. "Let's get married."

Kristoffer realized what he just said was a step too advanced. "Whoa! Did I mean to say that? Ha, haha... Um... Should we date first-"

Quill jumped on Kristoffer and he fell, laying on the ground once again with Quill's face atop his.

"Yes, Kristoffer. I accept your proposal." Quill kissed Kristoffer.

Kristoffer felt her tongue probe his lips and let her inside. Her tongue slowly licked every nook and cranny of his mouth and he could not get enough of it.

When it ended, Quill's face was so pleased that Kristoffer just went along with the happy accident.

As Quill laid on top of him, snuggling his chest. Kristoffer produced a small box from his item bag.

Kristoffer kneeled in front of Quill and opened the box. Inside the box was a gold ring encrusted with a single green diamond. It was the closest color that Kristoffer found to Lime's eye color. 

Sure enough, Quill changed her eye color to match the gem, implying that she realized what Kristoffer wanted to do by procuring such an expensive item.

"Thank you, I like the color." Quill changed her eye back to the chocolatey brown as she wore the ring on her left hand's ring finger with a happy face.

Both of them stood up again and embraced. Kristoffer didn't mean to jump so soon on marriage, never did. But perhaps this was a good thing.

Breaking the hug after a minute or so, Kristoffer now noticed that Quill now stood at 5'7". Kristoffer knew since he was three inches taller than her.

"For someone who was so hesitant, I'm surprised that you have a ring prepared."

Kristoffer covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he felt himself getting redder by the minute. This girl is just too considerate. There's no way she didn't know but still acted surprised. She even morphed into a human Quill.

"By the way you're looking at me, I guess you like my current form" she teased. "But I'll ask just in case, who would you like to be your girl in public?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, I would still fancy for us to be together in public while in Rouen and I'm making you choose who would you like people to know you are in a relationship with. Is it this?" She gestures to the tall Quill.

"Or the halfling Quill?" She transformed again, returning to the original 4'7" Quill.

"Do you wish for Lime to return now?" Ripples emerged on her skin and a dark elf with silver hair appeared. Her clothes even changed to an expensive-looking brown coat and pants that nobles wore when hunting for small game.

"Eh?" Kristoffer scanned his surrounding for witnesses. There were only grass and the sea, aside from the hill they were on. "Won't that be bad for you? I thought you wanted to return on a grander event, like your fief's anniversary or a war."

"Pft, nice examples but I think getting engaged is more important for me on a personal level. Sure, it would be troublesome since people would start asking questions but it's definitely worth it, for both of us. Don't you want to brag?"

Kristoffer gulped as he thought about it. Bragging about being engaged to Lime, the Kingdom's Hero, was wholly tempting.

As Kristoffer contemplated about that, Lime changed her form into another. A human. Someone who had fair skin, orange hair which reached the shoulders, her eyes having the same lime-fruit color but with the cheekiness that Quill usually radiated. She wore a light green dress that radiated the feeling of royalty. She looked to be in her mid-20s.

"Although, this girl would be your partner in public every time I return to Albionne."

"Eh?" Haven't I seen this person before? A portrait perhaps? Eh, Albionne?

"I freaking knew it! The crazy elf was telling the truth after all!"

Upon hearing those words, Quill grabbed Kristoffer's shoulders and asked with a deadpan, "I knew you'll meet my former Prime Minister one day or another. Judging by your reaction, it seems like he ran his mouth again. What kind of things did he indulge in spreading?

Ehhhhhh.

"A lot of things."

"Such as?"

"That you were..." Kristoffer scanned his surroundings anew.

"There's no one around. I checked multiple times."

"He told me that you were Queen of Albionne and that he followed you around when you suddenly abdicated the throne, which he and the other ministers rescinded." Basically, Lime's admirer and stalker.

The Albionne Empire, located just north of the Kingdom of Rouen with a sea separating the two. It's considered a world power with its aggressive expansion in faraway places, backed by its overwhelming navy. Other nations often call Albionne the Queen of the Sea. Why it still had not attempted to conquer Rouen and the other nations in the continent, no one knew. Coincidentally, its Queen's first name was Limeanne.

"Which was completely unnecessary. Have you ever heard of a human who looked to be in her 20s ruling for 300 years?"

"Yeah... not really."

"I tried abdicating the throne because it would have been weird!"

"I take it that your people have wondered why the government still says you're alive for centuries?"

"Yeah, and I told them to leave the country if they don't like it."

"And what happened?"

"You know what happened."

Indeed. Authors wrote all about it in history books. No one got deported. There was no civil war or a witch hunt, either. They suggested it was chiefly taken care of through financial aids to the people and the lords.

"All of those troubles could have been avoided only if the dumbass just let me leave quietly."

Ooh... An insult. How rare.

When Quill insulted someone, she meant it. And if they were an enemy she insulted, they usually didn't live long. Seeing that Lime's stalker was still alive, he should be a good guy.

"Wait... wouldn't that make me royalty?" Kristoffer was astounded.

"It never crossed your mind, huh."

"Well, I was flustered with how you have driven this whole conversation."

"Caught you good, huh." Lime offered a fist bump with a winner's grin.

Kristoffer rolled his eyes and bumped fists with her. 

 Indeed. 

Garret25

On the part where it was mentioned that Lime's problem was solved through financial aid, it mostly meant bribes to the lords and genuine aid to the peasants and traders.

 

It's been running through my mind these past few months. Why do some authors not use the "Author Notes"?