Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Just when he accepted her as his second half in his heart, the clear skies became crowded with dark clouds. Rain befell like the gods' blessings on them in crazy chaotic drops while the gusting wind made their hair flutter. 

In the rain, Don's expression was serious. At this moment, here at the hilltop, his mouth met Arrora's lips as they kissed. In his kiss were the promise of years and the sweetness of waiting for real love.

She closed her eyes and felt something so heavenly about the kiss in this rain. It was that burst of love that is expressed, not caring if the water soaks through to chill the skin. 

The rain ran down their faces to where their lips met, each of them tasting the cold drops. Instead of detracting from the intensity of the moment, it brought them to new heights. Don pushed his lips in more firmly and the wave that ran through Arrora was intoxicating, making her head swim as she pulled back to take in his handsome face.

"I love you too, Arrora"

He finally said and revealed his feelings after a passionate kiss.

Considering his first love ended up breaking his heart, he wouldn't do the same to Arrora as he accepted her love for him. When the two parted away just enough to see each other's face, her face shined in glee and happiness.

"We should go inside, I need some rest"

His body still did not completely heal as he was feeling intense pain in his muscles and organs.

"Yes, yes"

Arrora quickly wiped off the tears that were disguised as raindrops and put his hand around her neck to support him while walking towards the castle.

"Is it still hurting?"

Looking at him limping, Arrora asked with a worried face.

"I did come back from dead, so there's that"

"Are you cracking jokes now?"

She chuckled and stared at his expressionless cold face to see if she could get a smile out of him.

"So should we break this news about us to everyone?"

"I don't see why not, but we can't tie a not yet, we have so much to do"

"I won't have it any other ways, Don"

Her beautiful smile looked like the first sunray of the morning as she tightened her grip around his chest to express her joy again.

"Ouch"

He growled in pain.

"Sorry!"

"I heard you killed Noa and conquered Ishikara yourself"

Arwen and Nanbu brought Knight and Don to the speed of everything that happened since one went to Elvelon and he was being dead.

As usual, the moment Don left the room to meet Arrora, Amaryll took her two goblin assistants and went straight to the kitchen to prepare a massive feast. Because of the feast, Arwen had to go to the forests and hunt for meat while the dwarves went to the farmland to collect all the vegetables and green.

"I had some help"

"Also I heard you pulled some reckless stunts to reach Heavenly level"

"No, I didn't!"

"Don't lie and don't do stupid things like that again"

"I won't, I promise, my love, hehe"

She giggled as Don halted his steps to look at her

"And don't you ever call me that again'

"Honey"

"No"

"Apple"

"Nope"

*****************************

When they returned to the castle, they were led to the dining hall by the two goblins and welcomed by a huge and sumptuous feast prepared by Amaryll. She cooked all the food with her own hands and only let others help with things like cutting vegetables and meat and cleaning the plates.

Amaryll practically fed Knight and Don despite their protest and filled their bellies with food that would last for at least three or four days. After so long, the castle returned to its usual joyous atmosphere, and everywhere in the castle was filled with laughter and celebration.

"Where did you go? They didn't let me see you, brother"

When Don finished with the feast and walked towards the meeting hall, he saw Elrond came running to him.

"So you kept him in the dark?"

Don asked Arrora quietly as she nodded.

Then his gaze landed on Elrond who was looking at him bewildered and crouched down to match the little elf's height.

"I was ambushed by some crazy heads. I'm fine now"

"Who dared to attack you?"

The little elf's gaze turned murderous when he heard him as Don ruffled his head and made his killing intent disappear. After being his hair ruffled by Don, he let out an embarrassed smile.

"I will tell you everything if you reach the Peak Grandmaster level"

"Not if brother, when"

The little elf puffed his chest out and said with confidence overflowing in his tone

"Good, now go and train, we'll be pretty busy after the winter"

"Okie Dokie but can I come with you to the meeting hall now?"

"Get out of here, you little rat!"

Amaryll laughed and lightly slapped the back of his head and sent him running when she saw him trying to sneak his way into the meeting.

"That hurts!"

Rubbing his head, Elrond chuckled and ran away as Don and Arrora went to the meeting hall.

In the meeting hall, the big figures of Everlight were waiting for Don and Knight waved with a smile when he saw Don and Arrora.

There was a playful smile on Knight's face as he scanned both Arrora and Don for a second before they took their seats. Reghys also had a weird smile on her face as Don knew that both of them guessed that he and Arrora entered into a relationship.

"I'm not planning to hide it, you two"

He said, looking at Reghys and Knight as everyone at the round table focused their gazes on Don to see what he was going to say next.

"Arrora will be your queen in the future"

When these words came out of his mouth, they were astonished. Except for Ken, everyone's eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise.

"Wonderful!"

Amaryll bounced on her flexing feet and clapped her hands as she had a wide grin on her face.

"I'm so happy for you"

Arwen smiled and showed his support with a gentle nod at Arrora and Don.

"me king, let me introduce ye ta Gisella first"

"Seriously?"

Amaryll gave a death stare to Stodemar as the dwarf burst into laughter

"I was kidding, hehe"

"A toast for the future queen"

Vivian laughed with everyone else and raised her cup to make a toast as the others also did the same.

Arrora stood up from her seat and nodded to show her gratitude.

"Your majesty, when are you planning to get married?"

Ukita raised the question and turned everyone's focus again to Don

"Not soon, I'll let you know when the time comes"

"Then I'd suggest you put an engagement ring on her finger, your majesty, it would bring bad luck if there's no ring in the future queen's finger"

"Yes, I heard that too, we should definitely do that"

Amaryll quickly agreed with Ukita as Don looked at Reghys for her opinion

"I don't believe in bad luck but it doesn't hurt to do what they said"

After hearing Reghys, he let out a long sigh

"Alright, then I will put a ring on her finger at the coronation ceremony"

"Excellent! leave everything ta us, me king"

"Yes, you sit back and relax, we got this covered"

Uncle Dior spoke with a smile as Don nodded in agreement.

"Now tell me what you know about the group that ambushed me?"

The smile on their faces quickly disappeared when they heard his question.

And considering Arwen was the one leading the hunt for them, the dwarves and everyone looked at him as Arwen cleared his throat and started to tell everything related to the Sinners.

Don and Knight heard everything calmly as Knight opened his mouth

"So we don't know anything except what they eat?"

"It seems like another secret society like the order of the Ghost, Knight"

Both of them heard and came to contact with cults like this in the Divine continent, so they knew what they were dealing with.

"That's troublesome Don, you know how they are. It's hard to find them, they live as a normal citizen like the old man Vivian captured. I'd say we got lucky with that old man and probably by now, they would have covered their tracks well"

Arwen agreed with Knight as even after a thorough search through their kingdoms, Arwen didn't find a clue about the Sinners.

"Our first priority should be increasing our security and make sure they don't eat any of our citizens, can't believe I just said that"

"Vivian's right, first we need to make sure the kidnappings don't happen on our watch. And they must have been migrated to other kingdoms, so finding them will not be an easy task, besides, we don't know how much reach they have in the Moon Empire"

"So what's our next move, your majesty?"

"Our next move should be, finish what we have in our hands right now"

"Yes, Stodemar speed up the building process of the dam. Amaryll, double-check everything in our hotels and tea houses. Vivian and Nanbu, increase the recruitment rate to our army. Ken, Benedict, start mass-producing the cannons in secret. Kayako, start brewing those healing potions, we have to sell those as well to create a new income. And Arwen, pause your search and increase the security in each kingdom before the coronation ceremony"

Knight looked at each of them and rapidly fired his orders. He wanted Don to take a long rest and recover his strength mentally and physically, so he decided to involve in more than military-related activities.

"As you wish, General Knight"

"Consider it done"

"Yes, General Knight"

"When the time comes for the ranking ceremony, I want Everlight to be on the top of rank 3 kingdoms"

Finally, Don stood up and said before leaving the meeting hall.