CHAPTER 26

Ammon walked away from Charlotte to distance himself. "Sorry, I am a real man, but taking your dignity is not my intention. If you truly like me, then we should get to know each other more. I honestly dislike women who take the initiative to have a sexual experience with a man. Sorry, I'm a real man, but taking your dignity is not my intention."

"Okay, that is fine by me. At least you have proven yourself worthy of becoming my lover. You have a point. I shouldn't have tried seducing you in the first place, and maybe I shouldn't have given up my dignity to someone I am not married to yet. Thank you for reminding me of that."

"No big deal. I respect every woman I encounter, and you are no exception to that. However, I think it's best if we keep a long distance from each other to avoid any unnecessary things from happening. Wouldn't you agree?"

Charlotte grinned. "Sure, I will just stay here and wait for your return."

Ammon swam the river, and Charlotte was once again impressed by him. "This Zodiac warrior has an amazing attitude. I am still hoping for him to kiss me though."

As soon as the sun disappeared from the blue skies, Charlotte decided to get off the river and put her new clothes on. She sat on a dead tree sitting on the land, and not too long after, she noticed something swimming towards her direction. She drew her katana and Ammon suddenly emerged from the water with half his body hidden under the river. Charlotte dropped her sword and closed her eyes.

"Pardon me, I did not see anything, I swear!" The red-faced woman said.

"That is fine. I don't even mind if you accidentally see my naked body."

Charlotte turned around while still covering her face with her hands. "No, I promise! I did not see anything. I thought you were a sea creature trying to attack me, so I drew my katana out of fear."

"Never mind, can you hand over my clothes? I am starting to get cold. This river is getting colder every second because it's getting dark."

Charlotte uncovered her face and picked up Ammon's armor from a distant place and handed it over to him. She covered her face again when Ammon emerged from the river and wore his clothes. When he was done dressing, he held Charlotte's hand.

"You can open your eyes again. I am done dressing myself."

Charlotte opened her eyes and saw Ammon smiling before her. She turned pale again with the way he smiled at her. 

"Your smile... it's different from all the smiles I have seen on your face. What's with you, Ammon?"

"Nothing. Maybe I am just in a good mood today. In spite of everything that happened recently, I never expected that there were still things I should be grateful for."

"Like what?"

"Like you being with me, Charlotte, you are more beautiful after taking a bath. Perhaps we should repeat taking a bath together again next time. Sounds like a plan?"

"For as long as it makes you happy, I will do anything you want."

They returned to Ammon's home and sat outside on a long wooden chair to observe the night sky. As soon as Charlotte saw a meteor falling in the sky, she closed her eyes and whispered a wish. Ammon just stared at her lovely, innocent face. When Charlotte was done wishing, she rested her head on Ammon's shoulder.

"Are you okay with this?" she asked.

"I am. You can even sleep in my lap if you'd like. You are not a stranger to me anymore!"

Charlotte then lay on the wooden long chair and put her head on his lap. "This place is more peaceful than any part of Alabama. Since I came here, I haven't noticed anything unlikeable except for the wild beasts."

Ammon remained looking at the scenery before him. "I could not disagree with that. That is the reason why I wanted to stay here for the rest of my life."

The calm sea and the breeze of cool air are so soothing and relaxing. Not to mention the birds singing in the forest.

This caused Charlotte to slowly close her eyes and fall asleep. Ammon then carried her on his shoulder and let her rest on his bed again.

He prepared her food again tomorrow morning before leaving the house. But when he was about to take the final step to the door, Charlotte called him from his room. When he checked her, she was in a deep sleep and was just having a dream. He took a deep breath and slowly dragged his feet through the door again, careful enough to avoid her waking up.

He headed to sea and used a boat going to the Alabama kingdom. Upon arriving, he met some Amazonian warrioresses on the shore, roaming the area and waiting for any possible threat to come. He did not want to have a conversation with them and imagined himself together with other Zodiac warriors guarding the place instead of female warriors. He noticed a bitter smile on his face.

The moment he arrived at the castle, he saw Prince Arthur and the rest of the Zodiac warriors were gathering in the frozen cave stream having a nice conversation. He bowed his head and greeted him. "It is nice to spend another day with you, Prince Arthur. I hope I am not missing any important occasion."

"No, you did not. As a matter of fact, we've been talking about Alexander's upcoming wedding to Isabella. Who would have thought that my closest friend is about to tie the knot with a lovely woman? My bad, I haven't met the woman I wanted just yet."

"Prince Arthur, you are a handsome prince and many warrioresses wanted to capture your heart. Once the 40th anniversary of Alabama is over, you can choose any woman that you desire."

"Yes indeed. I am planning to do that during Alexander's wedding to Isabella. How about you, Ammon? Do you have a significant other or do you prioritize work over finding a lover like I do?"

Ammon suddenly turned pale, and the first thing that came to his mind was Charlotte. "Actually, there is a woman I am starting to like. She is the most beautiful woman I have seen in this land so far. Although she's kinda submissive, I don't want to take advantage of that. We are still in the midst of getting to know each other."

"I see. Why not invite her to Alexander's wedding so we can meet this lovely woman you are talking about?" asked Prince Arthur.

"No, sorry but I already asked her about it and she declined."

"Then why not tell her that I am the one inviting her to the wedding of Alexander? I'm certain that is not something she would refuse," said Prince Arthur.

"But I'm confused, Prince Arthur. Why do you insist on inviting her?"

Balthazar answered Ammon. "Prince Arthur did the same to us. He insisted on inviting our partners to Alexander's wedding. You don't have to worry. No matter how beautiful she is, none of the zodiac warriors would attempt to steal her from you."

"I agree. We are like family here, Ammon. By the way, can you tell us what her name is?" asked Alexander, who was standing next to Prince Arthur.

"Her name is Charl-" 

Before Ammon could finish talking, a huge black portal appeared behind Prince Arthur. He turned around and saw King Malik and King Baron coming out of the portal. All the zodiac warriors formed three rows again and kneeled down, except for Ammon who remained standing and was confused with what was going on.

"Please kneel down, Ammon. They are visitors from another planet," said Alexander. 

Ammon was shocked. He kneeled down and faced Alexander. "How did you know about them?"

"Prince Arthur told us earlier that these two are the kings of another planet. They are way stronger than all of us."

"Well, they ain't got the title of a king without apparent reason. I wonder how strong they are!"

King Malik heard what Ammon had just said and quickly responded to his question. "I am King Malik, and at the age of 5, I became a threat to the entire universe. My power alone is how I became a king of Neptune, Ammon."

Ammon swiveled his head toward King Malik. "Your Majesty, how did you know my name?"

"As you see, I am a different creature compared to the warriors of this planet. My dwarf-like ears allowed me to hear any sound from afar. That is the main reason why the creatures on my planet don't attempt to use their mouths to speak ill about me, instead they use their telekinesis to do so."

"I am so sorry, King of Neptune. I hope none of my words have offended you."

"You have nothing to worry about; I am here to cause any trouble. I came here to join the celebration and to fight Prince Arthur to test the Tizona sword he was bragging about yesterday."

The Zodiac warriors were shocked to hear the unexpected news they had heard.

Prince Arthur laughed in an awkward way. "Let me correct you, King Malik. That is a friendly match."

"The same goes with me and the kingdom of this nation, no other than King Bartholomeo. Our fight will be held at the place where you are standing. But for now, we would like to meet all the zodiac warriors of Prince Arthur. Just so you know, he was telling a story about you to us and he was so proud of your courage and persistence," uttered King Baron.