Expressing My Gratitude To You

Laina blinked, she had not considered that before. She stopped in her tracks and nervously bit her lip as her eyes darted away from his. 

"Well… I…" she thought hard for a moment, "It was a really generous gift and I wanted to return it to you in person to show my gratitude for your kind gesture."

Seeing that he's caught on to her, Dante could not let the opportunity go. He inquired further, "So there was no other reason?"

He moved closer towards Laina. Now, he was only inches away from her. Laina still refused to look at him. She could feel his gaze upon her even without looking. It was making her increasingly nervous. 

Even her palms began to sweat. 

"Ah nope. No other reason, haha…" she laughed nervously, " I should get going now."

Laina turned to reach for the doorknob but Dante had already placed his hand on the door. Though Laina was by no means a short gal, Dante was exceptionally tall. His shadow loomed over her as their faces were now only an inch or less apart. 

Her heart was in her throat and Laina was certain her cheeks were beet red. Her back was against the door. Although she's been avoiding looking directly into his eyes, she could no longer help herself. 

"I have one more question," Dante said as he gently reached out his hand. 

He carefully held a lock of her hair that had fallen out of place and tucked it behind her ear as he asked, "Which item did you keep?"

At that moment, Laina's mind drew a blank. She could not remember what it was. As the silence between them carried on, Laina gulped as she desperately tried to find an answer. 

-Come on Laina, any answer would be good right now! Anything just to get out of here!- she said to herself. 

"Ah well, that's for me to know and for you to find out! I will be going now. Thank you for your hospitality, Dante. See you soon!"

With that, she turned to face the door. Laina reached for the doorknob, turned it, and left the room. She did not look back. 

Marius, who had been listening on the outside, quickly moved away from the door as soon as he realized it was about to open. He stood to the side, pretending as if he knew nothing of what had happened. 

He watched as Laina walked off into the distance. For a split second, he saw her blushed cheeks. What on earth did Dante do to her? When he peered into the room, he saw Dante staring blankly at the opened door. 

As Laina continued walking down the hallway, her vision began to blur. 

She could barely see the path before her. The fatigue and lack of rest from the past few days had finally caught up to her. Not to mention, she had not eaten anything that day. Laina collapsed onto the ground and passed out. 

In that same moment, a sense of dread washed over Dante. He rushed out of the room. When he saw Laina collapsed on the ground, he ran over to her immediately. He embraced her in his arms and cupped her face. 

"Laina... Laina!" he called out to her multiple times. No response. 

Marius ran over too, calling for the servants to call for a doctor. Within a matter of minutes, a doctor was summoned immediately. Dante refused to let anyone touch her. 

"Do not worry, your Majesty, she merely passed out from exhaustion. She had overworked herself. With some rest and food in her belly, she will be back to normal in no time," the doctor explained. 

"Thank you, she will be well taken care of," Dante thanked the doctor. 

Dante carried Laina in his arms. He wanted to bring her to his bedroom, so that she may rest. But Dante knew Laina could not stay now. She needs to be back in Kinshearth. Hence, he headed to the portal gate instead. 

Marius tailed behind him, "Wait, where are you going?"

Dante did not respond, but Marius was no fool either. He began to put the pieces together. He tried to stop Dante by standing in front of him, but Dante simply walked around him. 

"Dante… my King, you can't be serious? You want to carry her back to Kinshearth?" 

Marius looked from side to side before whispering to him, "What if someone sees you, sees the both of you like this?! Princess Laina's reputation would be ruined!"

"We'll just use a cloaking spell, no one will know," Dante replied. 

Nothing else Marius said could change his mind. The Dragon King was a stubborn King. There are few people who can change his mind. Dante made it to the portal gate. He activated it and keyed for it to bring him to Kinshearth. 

Marius did not follow him, he would wait for his King to return. 

In the blink of an eye, they were now in Kinshearth. Lucky for him, no one was guarding the portal gate he had arrived in. Dante quickly used a cloaking spell to cover their track. But he had never been to the Kinshearth Royal Palace before, where was he going to go? 

Looking down at Laina, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, he could not help but smile. He could smell a sweet scent emanating from her. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her on the nose and let her sleep peacefully while he guarded her. 

But there was no time for fantasies. 

"I just need to find the room where her scent lingers the most. That should theoretically be her room," he mumbled to himself. 

With that method, Dante soon found Laina's quarters and the door to her room. He carefully opened the door while still carrying Laina in his arms and entered the room. 

"Reveal yourself," a cold stern voice commanded. 

He knew the owner of this voice. The woman standing in front of him had once vowed to kill him where he stood. But Dante did not fear her. 

"It's great to see you again, Moira." Dante greeted her as he disenchanted the cloak spell. 

"My name is Margaret," she snapped back at him. 

Margaret's expression grew darker when she saw Laina in his arms. If he was not holding her, she would have plunged her sword into his heart. 

"What have you done to Laina?!" she roared in anger. She knew she should not have let Laina go to Dracona alone. She should have gone with her. 

Dante was not surprised by her accusations. It was not the first time she accused him anyways. Knowing she would not dare to harm him while he was still holding Laina, he casually walked over to the bed and laid her down. 

"She fainted after returning my gift. So I brought her back, that is all," Dante justified his actions. 

Margaret did not care for his explanation, she just wanted to kill him. She charged at him with the sword in her hand. Dante did not dodge the attack. He grabbed hold of Margaret's sword with his bare hands and easily snapped it into two. 

He threw it to the side. 

"I merely came to bring her back, nothing more. Nothing happened," Dante explained. 

He turned to look at Laina, then back at Margaret, "She's exhausted, let her rest. And feed her. You're her handmaid, are you not?"