Olivia’s office, 11:00 pm.
*Knock* *Knock*
“You may come in.” After hearing a hard knock on the door, Olivia knew it was Ivan.
Ivan entered the office and looked at Olivia with a sparkle in his eyes, making her uncomfortable. “Are you still awake? You should be resting after everything you have been through recently, my partner.”
Olivia keeps handling papers on her desk like she’s working, but she’s been thinking about Lucien the whole time.
“I will rest after we solve this problem with the mercenaries,” Olivia responded in a neutral tone.
Ivan sat in the chair in front of Olivia’s desk. “I also want to resolve this issue with the mercenaries. Since we will be taking control of the city, we should be the only ones in charge… only you and me.”
Olivia has been aware of Ivan’s feelings since they started interacting to take control of Portgreen and create the Guild.
Although she never showed her face because of her scars, he always made subtle advances on her. And she has clearly always avoided him on romantic subjects.
Still, Olivia was never offended by his advances. But now everything has changed. She gained a new chance to avenge her family and heal her scars, not the wounds on her face but those in her heart.
And now, along with her new life, she was becoming more and more aware of how her feelings for Lucien grew by the day.
Olivia didn’t know if she genuinely loves Lucien, but Ivan’s advances now made her disgusted. Just thinking about another man besides Lucien was extremely uncomfortable for her.
As Olivia said nothing, Ivan thought about saying goodbye and leaving her office. But he didn’t want to back down anymore because she didn’t show any interest in him.
“Olivia… You know how much I like you, right? We’ve been partners for so long…”
She continued looking at maps and lists on her desk. “Ivan, I have a lot to do right now. I’m trying to find a way to find Black Hand. My spies are trying to contact some mercenaries who can tell me where he is, but I need to focus on that right now…”
Ivan sighed and moved his hand toward Olivia’s hand on top of her desk. “Olivia, I-“
Olivia quickly pulled back her hand and got up from the chair. “I can’t do it!”
He punches the desk. “Dammit, Oliva!! What problem do you have with me?!”
Ivan’s punch on the table took Olivia by surprise, making her a little scared. Lucien, in the Purple World, could feel that and quickly sent a mental message to her. ‘What is happening, Olivia?!’
She quickly responded to Lucien. ‘It’s nothing. I’m fine.’
Then she answered Ivan. “The problem is not with you but with me. I can’t do it, and you have to understand that.”
Ivan tried to contain his fury because of Olivia’s rejection. “Think it over, Olivia. You are not kind, and you have a deformed face… Any man who approaches you will be because of interest in your position.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Please get out of my office.” Olivia no longer had the scars on her face, but she was still tormented by the insecurity she had because of her wounds.
Ivan did not understand why Olivia did not accept him while many men have multiple women, he wanted her to be his only wife.
“I didn’t mean to offend you, Olivia. I just want what’s good for you. I respect you, and I don’t care about your scars… If you reject me, how are you going to get another good man to be your husband?”
This time it was Olivia who punched the desk. “Why the hell do you think I’m looking for a husband?!”
“So what? We are doing all of this to improve the Guild and Portgreen, but for what purpose? Don’t you think about creating a family? If your legacy dies with you alone, it will all be in vain.” Ivan responded.
Ivan’s words could have had an impact on Olivia in the past, but now everything was different. Although she still wants revenge for her family, she is also creating a new family with Lucien, or rather, she is already part of his family and just needs to solidify her place at his side.
She pointed to the door. “My life has nothing to do with you, so get out!!”
Ivan realized that Olivia was just getting angrier, so he turned to leave. He was very upset and kicked the chair, throwing it at the wall.
“You don’t know what’s good for you! I’m going to let you rest now, but this conversation isn’t over. At some point, you’ll realize how much I care about you and that we can be a great couple.”
Then he left the office and slammed the door.
Olivia sighed and sat back in her chair. She had never had such a discussion with Ivan before and was very upset with him now.
But then she heard Lucien’s soft voice in her mind and quickly calmed down. ‘Olivia, I can feel that you’re not okay. What is going on?’
She quickly told Lucien about the discussion with Ivan.
Lucien felt bad that he wasn’t there to break all the bones in Ivan’s body. Although they would be together in a few hours, Lucien did not want his wife to experience that shit again, and he was willing to put his plans aside to defend Olivia.
“If I feel that you are stressed like that again, I will come to you immediately.’
Olivia was happy about Lucien’s concern for her, but she didn’t want to put their plans at risk, especially so close to the end. ‘I’ll be fine, let’s stick to the plan.’
‘Ok.’ Lucien continued to boost his other wives, but he would be well aware of Olivia’s feelings to know if she was in a bad situation again.
Olivia lay on the couch in her office with a wide smile on her face as she thought to herself. ‘Was he jealous? I would like that.’
—————————-
4:00 am.
Using mental communication, Lucien coordinated the entire plan with his wives.
Scarlett led a large group of mercenaries towards the west gate of the city. Although most of them are loyal to her, some of them are completely loyal to Black Hand and his lawless methods of acting.
Currently, there were about a thousand mercenaries with them, while other groups of that size were heading towards the agreed place for the ambush.
The mercenaries were hiding at the edge of the forest close to the west walls while Lucien had already positioned his troops south of their position further into the woods.
He was still in the Purple World, preparing for battle with his wives.
Just as they had predicted, Ivan’s scouts noticed the movement of the mercenaries and reported to Ivan quickly.
Ivan quickly started preparing the adventurers to pursue the mercenaries who were supposedly trying to escape.
Ivan’s closest comrades, the group that was with him on the ship, and absorbed more energy from the green crystals, and allowed them to reach SS-rank, quickly woke up all the adventurers in the Guild.
Of the approximately thirty thousand adventurers who made up the Guild, ten thousand were still out of town in other areas of Portgreen Kingdom while five thousand were in other areas of the city.
Of the fifteen thousand adventurers who were in the main buildings of the Guild and in the inns nearby it, three thousand had joined the L after secretly finding out that Olivia was also against Ivan’s aggressive actions.
So, five thousand adventurers were now gathered in the L’s underground hiding place while ten thousand adventurers were ready to follow Ivan into battle.
Still, these ten thousand adventurers were very angry at Black Hand and the mercenaries who caused so much chaos in the city when Ivan and Olivia were away.
Also, they were very loyal to Ivan, especially after he returned from the sea with the crystals that allowed three hundred B-rank adventurers to quickly get stronger, reaching the A-rank while some A-rank advanced to S-rank.
Olivia feared that after Ivan’s death, most of those ten thousand adventurers would continue to fight to avenge him. But now was not the time to back down, but to believe that at last part of them would accept Lucien and Cassidy’s leadership.
Unlike the mercenary mobilization, which was discreet, the adventurers moved as fast as possible towards the west gate of the city, creating a great commotion.
The day wasn’t even brightening, and more than half of the city was already awake. Lord Larousse was following Lucien’s orders, leading his soldiers to guide as many people as possible to the west walls to watch the big show.
As soon as the adventurers were close to arriving at the west gate of the city, a man jumped off the roof of a house in front of Ivan and Olivia, who led the group.
“Jalen, where’s Black Hand?” Ivan quickly questioned the man named Jalen.
Jalen was one of the few adventurers in Ivan’s main group to reaching the SS-rank, along with Karl, the big clumsy guy, and Leo, the man with a dark aura and a relationship of attraction and hatred for Scarlett.
“They’ve already gone through the gates. But the Black Hand group didn’t seem to be running away. Now, they’ve stopped outside the walls.” Jalen reported to Ivan.
“It is clearly a trap,” Karl spoke up behind Ivan.
Ivan laughed. “Yes, it’s a trap, but what can they do? Even though they are in larger numbers, we have a lot more high-rank elites.”
Leo took a step forward on Ivan’s side. “Also, we just need to kill Black Hand, and the mercenaries will not be stupid enough to continue fighting a losing battle.”
Ivan looked at Olivia, still disappointed by their last conversation. “What do you think, my partner?”
Olivia couldn’t help being disgusted when he called her a partner with that suggestive tone, but that situation would soon be over.
She nodded at him. “We can do it. Let’s put an end to this.”
Ivan smiled and started giving orders to his comrades, who lead the adventurer’s groups. “Gather the mages and wizards specialized in defensive spells.”
“As soon as we pass through the gates, they will be waiting for us, so we have to be prepared for magical area attacks.”
“Can we use archers on the walls?” He asked Jalen.
Jalen shook his head. “Perhaps only the best of them, but most will not be able to hit their target that far. They are less than half a mile from the walls, but they surely will try to take us further away from the city, or wherever their trap is located at.”
“Okay, set the best archers at the top of the wall, and the rest follow us. We are much stronger than them, so we have to move forward and kill Black Hand as quickly as possible.”
“Kill everyone who doesn’t surrender. I’ll kill Black Hand myself.” Ivan waited for the defensive wizards to prepare their spells, and so went towards the gate, followed by the adventurers.
—————————-
Outside the city, Black Hand was alongside Scarlett, Angela, Rose, and other high-ranking mercenaries.
“They’re coming. What kind of trap have you planned, Red Lady? Something explosive? Magic? Where’s the group you spoke about?” Black Hand asked in an excited tone.
Scarlett smiled. “No tricks. This will be a clean and straightforward battle.”
Black Hand was confused as Red Lady always used every possible advantage in battles, but was now talking about fair play. “Why?”
Before she answered him, Rose spoke. “Because our hubby doesn’t need any tricks to defeat these idiots.”
And Angela quickly continued. “And of course, he loves to make a show.”
“What? Hubby?” Black Hand asked with a confused expression.
