Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 724: Banter Between Isaac And Seventh Queen

"What happened was..." Isaac stopped there, seeming to reconsider whether he should actually continue. After taking a slow breath, he finally said, "The Seventh Queen hates me. Or at least, she did."

Alice simply nodded, as though the answer was not particularly surprising.

Isaac blinked at her before asking, "You’re not surprised to hear that? The Seventh Queen hated me, and you’re just accepting it like it was obvious?"

"I could tell," Alice said calmly. Her expression remained unchanged, and there was no sign that she found his revelation particularly shocking.

Isaac blinked again, still somewhat surprised by her reaction.

Alice looked at him for a moment before continuing, "For some reason, I have always been sensitive to the way other women look at you. Even when they try to hide it, I usually notice it easily."

Isaac’s eyebrow twitched. Normally, Alice would have been embarrassed to say something like that, especially so openly, but this time she remained completely composed because she was more focused on hearing what had happened last night than worrying about how she sounded.

Isaac sighed and leaned back slightly. "Anyway, the Queen hates me because she thought I used mental skills or blackmail to entrap you and the others. She thought I was scum and womanizer, basically, but after I nearly killed her because she tried to manipulate you, she seemed to develop some kind of respect for me, and I honestly don’t understand why. Anyway, she still seems to hate me for trying to kill her, but at the same time, she respects me now. I honestly have no idea what I’m supposed to make of that."

Alice thought about his words for a while before answering. "It might be because the Seventh Queen realized that you actually care about everyone, and that you are not simply treating us like dolls for your own selfish desires. You went as far as to stake your own life in that battle, so she probably realized that you genuinely care about everyone and would put yourself in danger if it meant protecting us. Someone like her might not trust your words easily, but seeing you actually risk your life would be much harder for her to dismiss."

Isaac scratched his cheek while listening to her explanation. He had said things like that to his wives countless times, telling them that they mattered to him and that he would do whatever he could to protect them, but hearing those same sentiments directed toward him felt strangely different.

After a short silence, Alice looked at him. A faint smile appeared on her face, and Isaac was momentarily surprised because Alice smiled so rarely that every time she did, it still managed to make his heart flutter.

"Thank you," Alice said softly as she looked at him. "For everything."

Isaac stared at her for a moment before reaching out and grabbing her hand. He pulled her down onto the bed beside him, and Alice gave a small sound of surprise before settling down beside him.

Later, Isaac and Alice went downstairs for breakfast. Although it was a hotel, the dining floor was nearly empty at that hour, and the only people waiting there were Emily, Celia, Jasmine, and Althea.

Jasmine’s gaze immediately fixed on Isaac when he entered. Her eyes were slightly droopy, making her look somewhat lazy, while the faint trace of cunning in them gave her a peculiar charm, but there was no mistaking the fact that she was extremely pissed with him right now.

Isaac sat beside Alice without paying much attention to Jasmine. Alice occasionally looked toward Jasmine and was clearly trying to find an opportunity to speak with her, but Isaac kept interrupting by starting conversations with Emily, Celia, and Althea.

The group continued eating while talking about various things. Jasmine remained quiet for a while, watching Isaac deliberately ignore her, until she finally seemed to lose patience.

"How long are you going to ignore me?" Jasmine asked as she looked directly at him. Her voice was controlled, but the irritation behind it was obvious.

Isaac frowned and looked at her. "What?"

Although he had told Alice that he and Jasmine were now friends, that did not mean he had forgiven her. Honestly, Isaac was not even sure whether their relationship could properly be called friendship yet, since the two of them had merely reached a temporary understanding after everything that had happened.

"You need to pay for destroying my palace," Jasmine said. "Shouldn’t we start tallying the expenses?"

"I’ll think about it if you start by talking to me with your main body," Isaac replied with a smirk.

Jasmine flinched ever so slightly, and it was clear from her reaction that she still could not understand how Isaac had figured out that the body sitting in front of him was not her real body. She quickly composed herself, but Isaac had already noticed the reaction.

"Honestly, should I destroy this automaton too? I doubt you have many left after what happened, and if I destroy all of them, you’ll eventually have to come out and talk to me with your main body." His mana rumbled slightly as he spoke, although there was no immediate attack behind it. "Talking with others would help you overcome your introversion."

"And who are you to help me with that?" Jasmine asked, clearly annoyed. "I’m perfectly fine with how I am, and I don’t need anyone trying to change me."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "Actually, how do you even know that I’m an introvert?"

"Your Godmother told me to look after you. She must have been worried that you were becoming a hardcore introvert, so I decided I should help you," Isaac answered immediately, deliberately ignoring her second question.

Jasmine’s eyes narrowed even further. She was clearly becoming more irritated with every word Isaac said, but he seemed perfectly content to continue provoking her.

"I don’t accept her as my godmother," Jasmine said. Her tone became colder as she spoke, making it obvious that she was not joking about that part.

"Godmother?" Alice asked from beside Isaac, looking somewhat confused. She glanced between the two of them, apparently trying to understand what they were talking about.

"Yeah, it’s Master. I don’t know what’s happening either, but last night, just as I was about to crush her, Emperor and Master appeared. They saved her, and then Emperor told her that Master is Jasmine’s Godmother and that the two of us should get along," Isaac explained with a shrug.

"Crush me? Lord Isaac, I hope you won’t go around lying so casually. You were the one who was about to be crushed by me, and you were only saved because Miss Eleanor and Emperor intervened."

Isaac looked at her for a moment before a smirk slowly appeared on his face. "Anyone can tell who was losing. After all, between the two of us, there is only one person who lost their palace and almost their entire automaton army."

"Heh, I didn’t know you could make jokes, Lord Isaac. Are you going to hide the fact that you had to empty your entire mana pool and still couldn’t lay a finger on me?"

"My mana regeneration is very fast, so that doesn’t mean anything. If the battle had continued, I could have defeated you easily," Isaac replied without hesitation.

"And I have many more automatons. Even if you managed to destroy the ones you fought today, that doesn’t mean you would win against all of them," Jasmine said with a small, challenging smile.

Isaac narrowed his eyes slightly at her, smiling at her, while Jasmine continued smiling back as though she had just made an excellent point. Neither of them seemed willing to let the other have the final word, and their argument continued naturally as they ate.

Althea watched them with a strange expression, as though she could not quite understand what she was seeing. Alice’s eyes slowly narrowed as she listened, while Celia quietly licked her lips with a faint smile, her gaze moving toward the Seventh Queen with obvious interest.

Emily, however, looked increasingly worried as the conversation continued. Her eyes were only at Isaac. The more she heard about their battle, the more concerned she became about what exactly had happened between Isaac and the Seventh Queen.

"When did you two become such good friends?" Althea finally asked, unable to keep watching them argue without saying something.

"We are not friends," Isaac and Jasmine said at almost the exact same time. They both turned toward Althea afterward, their expressions carrying the same clear rejection of the idea.

Isaac had told Alice that he and Jasmine were friends, but that had mostly been something he said to calm her down at the time. He had no real intention of becoming friends with someone who had tried to manipulate his wife.

Jasmine also seemed to have no interest in considering Isaac a friend, judging from the way she immediately rejected Althea’s statement.

Althea looked at Jasmine. "You say that, but you never talk for long to anyone you dislike. This is the first time I’ve seen you actually hold a conversation with someone without trying to send them away."

Jasmine’s smile faded slightly as she looked toward Althea. She seemed to realize that there was some truth to the statement, although she clearly did not appreciate having it pointed out in front of everyone.

Isaac glanced at Jasmine as well, a faintly amused expression appearing on his face. "She probably just hasn’t found a way to get rid of me yet."

Jasmine slowly turned toward him. "Don’t worry, Lord Isaac. I’m sure I’ll find it soon."