He was a male of equally stunning beauty.
"Wait, that was the merman prince from planet Alga. He's alive."
The reporters scrambled, shoving their cameras up to capture the moment. The rapid clicking of shutters filled the air. The blinding, harsh white flashes made Xavier's eyes sting with a sharp, throbbing pain. Being from the deep ocean, he absolutely hated bright lights. It felt like needles in his eyes.
He turned his body to the side, instinctively trying to shy away from the glare, only to realize that at some point Scarlet had tightly grasped his hand. She wasn't letting him retreat.
He glanced over at her. Her ruby-red lips were curved into a confident smirk, and her delicate, pointed chin looked stunningly elegant. Even the faint flush of pink at the corners of her slender eyes radiated a dazzling confidence, brighter than the sun itself. And as for the chaotic storm of camera flashes, she didn't flinch at all. Instead, she soaked it all right in.
Xavier finally realized what was going on.
When the princess travels, her butlers and maids always clear the way in advance. There is no way there would suddenly be so many reporters ambushing her. The fact that a massive crowd of reporters showed up here could only mean one thing. Scarlet was handling the public backlash on the Star Network. As long as they appeared glamorous and stepped out in front of the cameras, all the rumors would instantly fall apart.
He knew it. Why else would Scarlet suddenly be so nice and buy him clothes? She was just using him.
Xavier already knew how vicious Scarlet could be. So he had not gotten his hopes up. But at this moment, for some reason, his heart felt incredibly empty. He lowered his head, his lips twitching slightly, and tried to pull his hand away from her grasp.
But the second he moved, Scarlet moved too, gripping his hand even tighter.
His gaze dropped down, landing on her hand. Her fingers were so slender and soft, fair and delicate, intertwined completely with his own. It was painfully intimate, as if they had always been this close.
A faint blush crept up Xavier's face, and his heart started pounding like crazy. It felt like it was going to leap right out of his throat. He pressed his lips tightly together, too scared to even open his mouth, and called out Scarlet's name in a muffled voice.
Scarlet figured this was enough of a show. She flashed a stunning smile over her shoulder. "Let's go."
She led him aboard the hover ship.
As they sat side by side, Xavier's face was still burning red. He kept his head down, completely terrified to look at her. But it was so strange. Ever since Scarlet walked out of the greenhouse, he kept catching a faint, lingering scent from her. It smelled so incredibly good, like fresh leaves soaked by the early morning rain. A crisp, cool breeze mixed with a deeply soothing fragrance.
Just one breath, and every pore in his body seemed to relax in pure bliss. It was absolutely intoxicating.
He twitched his nose and, without even realizing it, leaned closer to her. Smells so good.
Scarlet suddenly turned her head, only to find Xavier's face inches away from hers. She quickly shoved a hand against his shoulder to push him back, raising her voice in alarm.
"Xavier, what do you think you're doing? Winning your heart is one thing, but we absolutely cannot take the next step without an emotional foundation."
Her sharp voice instantly snapped Xavier out of his daze. Seeing how insanely close they were, he panicked and jerked back, flailing his hands in total chaos. "No, no, no. It's not what you think. I — I was just —"
He stammered forever, unable to form a single complete sentence.
Seeing him like this sparked a mischievous urge in Scarlet. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a wicked, teasing smirk. "Were you trying to kiss me just now?"
Instantly, Xavier's face exploded in color. A second ago it was just a rosy flush, but now his whole face was as red as a boiled lobster, burning hot and bright red.
"N-no, I wasn't. Why would I ever want to kiss you?"
Why? Why, you're Scarlet. How could he possibly want to kiss Scarlet? She whipped him. She locked him up in chains. He absolutely loathed her. Why on earth would he want to kiss her? He only got close because she smelled so incredibly good. That's all.
Right, right, right, right. It was just the scent.
Having found his excuse, Xavier immediately shot Scarlet a glare. "That scent on you is super weird. Did you spray some kind of love potion, trying to seduce me into losing control?"
In this world, if females wanted to level up their spiritual power, there were two ways. First, go to the Lost Continent to fight monsters and level up. Second, cuddle up to their beast husbands. Once a female and a male are mated, their spiritual powers become linked and shared. But all of this has to be entirely voluntary on the male's part.
That's exactly why shady merchants on the interstellar dark web sell these kinds of love potions that make males completely lose their minds and submit. These potions are just like regular perfume. You just spray them on and they're almost completely impossible to detect.
Scarlet really did have a special scent on her. Guagua had given it to her. It was called some ancient pheromone, and it was ridiculously attractive to males. It could even instantly soothe their violent tempers. Guagua had sprayed it directly on her without even giving her a chance to say no.
But looking at how shy and flustered Xavier was just now, the effect was actually pretty great. She just didn't know if it would help increase his affection meter.
Scarlet narrowed her eyes playfully, her smile growing wider and more wicked. Seeing Xavier wrapping his arms around his chest, glaring at her with wide eyes like she was some kind of terrifying monster, she felt a sudden urge to tease him.
Rubbing her hands together, she put on a fake shy expression and crept toward him with an evil little "heh."
"Well, since you've already figured it out, I guess I won't hold back. Today I'm going to have my way with you right here and level up my spiritual power."
Hearing this, Xavier absolutely panicked. He bounced right out of his seat and scrambled over to the cabin door, desperately pounding on it. "Let me out. I want to get out of here. I don't want to go shopping anymore. I want to go home. I want Riley. Somebody save me. Help."
Scarlet, deep down, was still a huge softy. Seeing the little merman starting to cry actual pearl tears, her heart instantly melted. She quickly tried to comfort him.
"Oh, relax. If I had the good stuff, I'd obviously save it for Holst. Why would I ever waste it on you? Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart."
Holst was Scarlet's absolute strongest beast husband. His spiritual power was ranked triple-S, while the little merman was only a rank A. Using it on him really would be a massive waste.
When Xavier thought about it that way, it suddenly made perfect sense. He instantly stopped crying, though his eyes were still full of caution. He gave a little sniff and sat as far away from Scarlet as physically possible. With a cold scoff, he turned his head away, fixing his gaze stubbornly out the window.
But as luck would have it, Scarlet's reflection was staring right back at him from the glass. She was tilting her head, resting her chin in her hand, the soft curves of her profile looking as breathtaking as a painting. Her neck was delicate and slender, elegant and regal, just like a swan's.
He closed his eyes, leaning back against his seat. He tried hard to recall all the terrible things Scarlet had done to him, using them to fight off the butterflies fluttering in his chest.