Death... and me

Rean couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. 

'I've seen this happen before...'

Roan looked at Calina, who had pressed her lips on his own with wide eyes. Malaka, obviously, found it incredible and couldn't stop grinning.

As for Wulio, he simply shrugged his shoulders at the sight. Obviously, he didn't really love Calina to start with, not to mention that they weren't married yet. Even though his 'future wife' was kissing someone else, he simply didn't care. Besides, he knew very well that Calina liked Roan.

Eventually, Roan came back to himself and immediately pushed Calina aside.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Calina laughed with her face as red as it could possibly be.

"What else do you think I was doing? I was kissing you!"

"Why?"

Calina already threw caution to the wind, so she went straight to the point.

"Because I love you."

Roan began to feel a headache coming as he massaged his temples. 

"Love? I couldn't care less about such a thing. First of all, I don't believe it exists. It's all about body attraction and who you feel to be the best candidate for your reproduction. Those feelings act in your brain, making you mistake it for some bullshit name like Love."

Malaka and Rean didn't find Roan's reaction surprising at all. They knew that he never gave any importance to it.

Of course, Calina already expected that as well. She had been living with Roan for a long time, after all.

"Oh, is that so? Using your words, I guess I consider you the best partner for children. What about you? Do you have any problem in having me as your children's mother?"

Wulio couldn't help but ask Rean and Malaka through a Spiritual Sense message.

'Isn't this getting a little out of hand? They're talking about children already.'

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

'It should be fine. I doubt Roan would take things further than this. He doesn't want to stay with anyone, after all.'

Malaka agreed with him.

'Rean's right. I'm more impressed with the fact that you don't seem to care much about it.'

'Of course. After all, Calina and I would just have a political marriage. Whatever she does before it doesn't concern me. Then again, I guess a kid would be going too far in this situation.'

'Don't worry, just look at how annoyed Roan looks right now, and you'll easily understand that this thing has no future. To be honest, we wanted him to answer Calina's feelings, but it just won't happen.'

Roan was indeed very annoyed. However...

"If I give you the kid you want, will you forget about this? We can have sex right now if you are in the time frame for conception as long as you give up this love idea. By the way, tell me when you had your last period and the time interval between each one. I can calculate the best time for it."

Everyone almost vomited blood after hearing that. Roan wanted to impregnate the girl and leave her alone! The most impressive thing was that he thought he was doing a favor to Calina.

Of course, even Calina didn't expect such a proposal. Unfortunately, she wanted his kid so that they could stay together, not so that he could leave her right after. Without a doubt, that only made Calina furious.

"Idiot! What's the point in having your kid if you aren't going to stay there with me to take care of it?"

Roan narrowed his eyes as he asked a question in response.

"Wasn't a kid what you wanted?"

Wulio, Rean, and Malaka couldn't help but show weird expressions.

'Just where the hell is this conversation going?'

Calina continued as she said.

"No! I just said that to see if you could stay with me. I understand that you don't believe in Love. I get it. However, I do believe in it! I truly love you. Why don't you get it?"

Roan shook his head as he said.

"Let's consider that Love does exist. Aren't you forgetting something else?"

Wulio, Malaka, and Rean already knew what Roan was going to say.

"What is it?"

Roan then looked deeply at Calina and said in the most serious tone possible.

"I don't love you."

Sure enough, Roan also got straight to the point. It was basically the same situation with Rean and Qia at the moment. Rean didn't love her, so the two can't really be together. They were only in that political marriage situation but had never done anything with each other. Well, Qia had tried hundreds of times, but Rean was steady as a rock. 

Calina then dropped her head, dejected. Still adamant, she then asked.

"Even if you don't love me, don't you like me even a little bit?"

Roan answered straight away.

"It depends on what kind of 'like' you're talking about. I like how much effort you're putting into becoming an empress. I like how much effort you put into the training I give you. I like how considerate you are when any of us have a problem, and you try to help to the best of your abilities. I like how your friendship with Malaka is important to you to the point where you'd protect her with your life."

Calina and the others were taken aback as Roan talked. That was a lot of likes... However, he wasn't finished yet.

"I like how you look genuinely sad when you can't perform according to my expectations as if it was the most important thing. I like how you can easily bring your feelings out, only losing to my idiot sister in this regard. I like when we go all out together, and you try to be mindful of everyone's actions. I like..."

Roan continued to list all the 'likes' he could think about. However, that began to make Calina's face become redder after some time. Of course, he had eventually run out of things to say which he liked about Calina.

"As you can see, there are many things I like about you. However, this isn't Love at all."

Rean and the others' mouths twitched as they simultaneously thought.

'Would you really pay such close attention to someone you don't love?'

Malaka then asked Roan with an elated expression.

"So many likes! Then, what do you like about me?"

Roan snorted as he responded straightforwardly.

"I don't like you."

Oof... that stings! Poor Malaka almost cried just then.