Chapter 123: Arriving In The Wolf World.

Agatha had already explained that Bryce possessed the ability to teleport, and she had told him that the only thing he needed was a clear destination.

Once he connected with her through their mind link, she would be able to guide him directly to the place where he was supposed to arrive.

Bryce and Vincent held hands as they stood together, both turning to look at Dave one last time before they left.

Dave looked at them with an expression that made it seem as though he was already preparing himself for the worst.

"If the two of you decide never to come back to me, that means I can never find you anywhere, and I’ll never see you again, and I’ll be living miserably for the rest of my life," he said.

He sounded as though he was already imagining that possibility, and the thought seemed to weigh on him so heavily that he looked close to tears.

"We talked about trust," Bryce reminded him.

"Yeah, okay. Bye. Be safe," Dave said.

He finally sighed, sounding as though he had made himself accept that they had to leave and was choosing to trust that they would return soon.

Bryce closed his eyes.

Vincent closed his eyes too.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Bryce concentrated, reaching through the connection he had with Agatha and trying to locate the destination through the mind link.

He could sense her presence, and once the connection became clear, he summoned the power within him.

The change happened almost instantly.

One moment, they were standing in their living room.

The next, it felt as though they were suspended somewhere in the air.

The sensation lasted only briefly before the ground suddenly appeared beneath them.

They landed awkwardly, stumbling forward from the force of the arrival before managing to regain their balance.

Bryce slowly opened his eyes.

He looked around.

For one brief second, his breath caught so completely that he could not breathe.

This was not what he had expected.

Not even close.

For all the time he had spent imagining the Wolf World, he had pictured something entirely different.

He had expected a place covered in trees, perhaps scattered with small wooden houses that reflected their animal-human nature. That was the image he had carried in his mind for so long.

But what stood before him looked almost like heaven.

They were inside a vast, luminous room. The walls were white, coated with intricate gold details that gave the entire space an almost regal brilliance.

Powerful-looking staircases rose through the enormous interior, while the furniture had the grandeur of something made for royalty, much of it finished in gold.

White and gold dominated everything.

Somehow, it was beautiful in a way Bryce had never expected.

More surprisingly, the place seemed to reflect a taste he had never realized he possessed.

In front of them stood Agatha, her head slightly bowed.

Beside her were several men and woman dressed in black and white uniforms. They were kneeling with their heads lowered.

"Your Majesty, welcome home," Agatha said.

The formality in her voice immediately caught Bryce off guard.

This was not how she spoke to him when they were in the human world.

"Your Majesty?’

Bryce almost wanted to look behind himself to make sure she was actually speaking to him.

He had never taken himself seriously enough to imagine someone addressing him with a title like that.

"These are your helpers. They will be around to assist you with whatever you need. The palace belongs to you. It was ordered to be created by the Goddess herself. There are guards who will escort both of you everywhere. It is necessary."

Agatha’s words continued, each one adding another layer to the reality Bryce was only beginning to comprehend.

"From now on, everything is in your hands. The world itself. Your word is the rule. You know why you are here, and you’re the one who will decide how you will do it and when."

Bryce remained completely speechless.

The enormity of it settled over him all at once.

He had planned this moment so many times, and now that he was actually standing there, surrounded by people kneeling before him and being told that the entire world was in his hands, the reality felt overwhelming.

He turned toward Vincent.

Vincent said nothing.

Instead, he simply moved closer and tightened his hold on Bryce’s hand.

He looked just as caught off guard as Bryce felt.

Bryce drew a breath.

"Well then, we already planned for this moment so many times, and the earlier we start, the faster it is done," he said, looking first at Vincent and then at Agatha.

"You two will be my closest subordinates," he announced.

Something in his voice had changed.

There was a new authority in it, one that seemed to settle over the room the moment he spoke. No matter what anyone might have wanted to say, his words carried the weight of his position, leaving them with nothing to do but follow them.

Agatha nodded.

"First, we’ll need to have you change into royal clothes."

Bryce frowned.

"What for?"

"It’s necessary. For the formality. There’s a new set of rules and a new hierarchy that should be made clear through everything."

Bryce did not argue.

Agatha snapped her fingers.

Two of the strong men who had been kneeling immediately rose from the floor. They bowed slightly toward Bryce and Vincent before turning toward the imposing staircase.

Agatha gestured for Bryce and Vincent to follow.

Bryce kept hold of Vincent’s hand as they walked after the guards, Vincent’s hand remaining firmly intertwined with his.

The moment they stepped onto the staircase, something unexpected happened.

The stairs began moving on their own.

Bryce stared as they carried them upward like a lift.

He looked around as they rose, taking in more of the palace.

There was no great difference between the upper level and the magnificent space below. The same white and gold dominated everything, creating an environment more beautiful than anything Bryce had ever seen.

When the stairs finally stopped, the guards led them through a short hallway.

One of the men opened a door and stepped aside.

Bryce and Vincent entered.

The door closed behind them.

Both of them immediately looked around in awe.

"This is way unexpected," Vincent muttered.

The room was just as magnificent as everything they had seen below.

The bed was enormous and beautiful, its sheets matching the white and gold theme that seemed to extend throughout the palace. At the opposite end of the room stood a couch similar to those downstairs.

On the bed were two outfits, placed separately.

One was visibly larger than the other.

Bryce immediately understood.

One was his.

The other was Vincent’s.

He picked up the smaller outfit and examined it.

It consisted of white pants and a matching top coat decorated with gold finishings, giving it the unmistakable appearance of royal clothing.

Bryce looked at it curiously.

"Were these things actually made, or were they simply summoned by magic and powers?"

"No idea," Vincent answered.

He sat down on the bed.

He looked at Bryce with the same expression he had worn earlier, back when they were still at home.

Bryce caught it immediately.

"What?" he asked.

Vincent hesitated.

"Earlier... I was simply..."

He struggled to find the words.

When nothing else came, Bryce looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

"Are you seriously speaking about that at a time like this, when everything else feels crazy?"

"I just want you to know that it wasn’t what it looked like."

Bryce chuckled and shook his head.

So Vincent was still going to deny it.

Even after Bryce had caught him red-handed staring at Dave?

"What did it look like?" he asked intentionally.

Vincent said nothing in response. Bryce studied him for a moment before deciding there was no point pretending he had not noticed.

"Vincent, be honest. Do you have feelings for Dave?"

"What? No."

The answer came without hesitation.

His tone, however, betrayed him far more than his words did.

Still, Bryce did not push the matter any further. He simply let the denial slide.