Chapter 146: Engagement Ring

Amongst the green hills, Roy and Dardanion walked together towards the final teleportation point, returning to the departure hall of the World Tree.
Afterwards, Dardanion bid farewell to Roy and went to report the progress of the mission to Princess Xilin.
Roy then came to the teleportation portal and teleported to the third layer of the World Tree, called "Academy District".
After trekking through the green hills for a whole day, he was starting to feel exhausted.
Neither the Swamp Lizards nor the Green Mountain Fang Beasts had managed to hurt him in the slightest, but he had been tormented to the point of exhaustion by the resentful snake Apophis. All he wanted now was to quickly return to his dormitory and have a good rest.
Walking into the Heritage Academy, Roy took a deep breath, feeling relieved as he watched the young people of his age coming and going, and his footsteps became lighter.
These days, when he was with Vila, Demaine, and Dadianion, his nerves were always taut, trying to discern the deeper meaning behind their words.
After all, they are the people of the temple and the rulers of Xidenia. With just a few words, they can turn Xidenia upside down. In the current unclear situation of their true nature, he needs to be fully prepared to deal with them.
Compared to that, the atmosphere in the college seems much more relaxed.
It was dinner time by now, and as Roy passed through the plaza area, he noticed many students holding books and walking in groups from the academic area to nearby restaurants for their meals.
A few fully armed student teams entered and exited the mission hall, settling the completed tasks of the day. Even though he has become a knight now, he still enjoys this ordinary, fulfilling, and beautiful campus life.
After stopping in the crowd for a while, Roy walked towards the accommodation area.
"It's time to go home for dinner."
In the morning, Elya said that she wanted to rent that standalone villa, and today they can move into the big house to live.
Whenever he thinks about having a young and beautiful fiancée waiting for him at the doorstep of their new house, he can't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
As long as she is there, any kind of life will surely be happy, right?
Previously, Roy had been dragged by Arya to look at the house several times, so he knew where the house she rented was located.
The detached villa was adjacent to an artificial lake, with beautiful surroundings, and situated in the best location of the residential area. He quickly found the place but discovered that there were many people surrounding the villa.
This villa has a total of three floors, with white walls and black tiles, and a simple and elegant architectural style.
The villa comes with a courtyard, which is surrounded by a brown fence. Inside the courtyard, there is a piece of undeveloped land. Through the gaps in the fence, you can vaguely see a figure wearing a maid uniform cleaning the yard.
Roy glanced around and found a familiar face in the crowd. He pushed his way through the crowd and tapped him on the shoulder:
"Good evening, Duke senior. What are you doing here?"
"Well, duh, I am from the news department!"
Duke answered while turning his head, and when he saw Roy, he paused for a moment and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Roy, it's you!"
He exclaimed joyfully, causing the crowd to turn their heads.
"Roy, is it the Roy who won the top spot in the freshmen competition before?"
"Black hair, a few white hairs on his temples, it's definitely him!"
"I heard he became a knight in the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, is it true or false?"
"The Westdene Morning Post wrote about it, how can it be false?"
"By the way, is Roy the one who rented this villa?"
There were voices of people discussing in my ears, and Roy immediately regretted it. Duke's voice was really loud. "Sorry, sorry, I was too excited. I didn't expect the person who patted my shoulder to be you."
Duke noticed that Roy's expression was a bit stiff and immediately apologized. At the same time, his eyes shifted and he said, "It's not convenient to chat here, so shall we go inside and talk?"
Inside he pointed, naturally go into the villa.
Roy nodded and went straight to the iron gate, knocking on it.
Arya, who was cleaning the yard, looked up and when she saw Roy, a bright smile immediately appeared on her face, and she walked quickly towards him.
Until I got closer to Roy, I realized that Arya wasn't wearing a maid uniform, she just had a white apron on. She put aside the broom and dustpan, then opened the door and said somewhat sheepishly:
"There were too many people outside, and I felt embarrassed to stand outside, so I had to clean up the yard instead..."
"You've worked hard." Roy nodded at her and led Duke into the yard, then closed the iron gate. "Duke, may I ask why you were gathered here just now?"
"Curious."
"Duke smiled, 'This villa is the most expensive house in the accommodation area, even third-year students with prestigious deposits are reluctant to stay here.'
"Everyone is very curious, who is the rich person who directly rented this nearly 5000 prestigious single-family villa.'"
"Then, someone who was curious went to investigate and found that the owner of this villa was listed as your name."
"My name?" Roy looked towards Aria.
"Um." Arya's face blushed slightly and she timidly lowered her head.
"Roy, I have to say you've really become impressive now, actually becoming a law enforcer during the pilgrimage in the Holy Land!"
Duke looked excited and reached out his hands, "Let's shake hands, so I can say I've shaken hands with a detective too." "Do we really need to?" Roy raised an eyebrow, but still extended his hand.
Even if he becomes a prosecutor, he doesn't feel superior to others.
Am I proud now that I am a deity?
Duke happily held Roy's right hand and suddenly felt a prick in his palm, so he lowered his head in confusion to take a look.
"Hey, that ring looks pretty nice."
Duke casually complimented, and after a pause of about a second, his face suddenly changed, and he bent down to take a closer look at the ring.
"You, you, you."
"He pointed to the ring, stutteringly asking, 'Roy, why is the gem on this ring shaped like... that flower?'
"Pridea flower is the emblem of the Erland family and also the national flower of old West Sylvania."
Only the holy maiden and her bodyguards, as well as the members of the Airen family, are eligible to wear accessories engraved with this flower. "So even the people from the news department didn't know, it seems that Princess Vira hasn't made this matter public yet," Roy thought.
However, since Vila did not specifically instruct him to hide the space ring, it means that she actually does not care whether Roy will expose his identity as a royal knight.
After all, this is a fact that has been set in stone. Even if it is not made public now, it will be revealed at the awards ceremony in over a month.
"Don't worry, Roy. I can keep a secret."
Duke saw Roy immersed in thought and quickly patted his chest, saying, "I will definitely not reveal this secret. If there is anything I can help with, please tell me!"
"Thank you." Roy smiled and shook his head, then said, "Could you please close the door when you leave?"
Duke understood that Roy was asking him to leave, and nodded while rubbing his hands, saying, "By the way, Roy, would it be convenient for you to grant me an exclusive interview? You know, for work purposes."
The interview content is also very healthy, and sensitive topics will not be involved, just talk about how you and Arya met and got engaged and so on.
"Because you two are the only law practitioners in the academy, and you also have an engagement with each other. Everyone is curious about your love story." It seems that eating melons of celebrities is a common demand of the people in any world.
"Let's talk about it next time." Roy opened the door while trying to evade the topic.
Their relationship with Arya involves sensitive issues that cannot be spoken of.
After all, they were brought together by the events of last year's Christian family case, which shook the kingdom of Cedania. The interlocking interests of various temple families involved in the case are extremely complex and not suitable for outsiders to know.
As Duke was sent away, the yard became quiet.
Arya gazed at Roy and said softly, "Welcome home, Sir."
"I'm back." Roy reached out and held her hand, and they walked into the house together.
"You must be tired after a whole day of work as a knight errant, right?"
Arya tilted her head and looked at Roy, "I have prepared both the food and hot water, sir. Would you like to eat first or take a bath first?"
"Are there any other options?" Roy asked instinctively.
"Huh?" Arya blinked slightly, then a slight blush quickly appeared on her face as she bowed and said, "Now, now?" "Just kidding."
Roy lovingly patted her head; this silly girl never refuses his requests.
"We've been running around outside all day, and I'm hungry too. Let's eat first."
"Good."
Arya took the hand from her head and pulled him towards the restaurant.
来到餐厅，罗伊坐在座位上，看着艾莉亚忙碌的从后厨端上来一盘盘保温过的菜肴，问道
“房间里还收拾得挺干净的，不会是你一个人打扫的吧?’
"Yes." Arya said naturally, "It's our home, of course I should tidy it up."
After finishing the dishes, she sat beside Roy, chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not stupid, I just happen to have some free time today."
"If I don't have time in the future, I will hire someone to clean."
Their dinner started with casual conversation, and at the table, Roy told Arya about what he had seen and heard during the day in the Qing Mountain Hills.
That Qing Shan Yashou was quite embarrassed at that time. It wanted to run away even though it couldn't defeat me, but I didn't even need to chase after it.
Roy transformed into a storyteller and recounted the story smoothly. "I just stood still and captured Apophis, and the brown bear fell to the ground, dead as dead can be."
"Wow, impressive."
"By the way, is Apophis still obedient? It shouldn't hurt you, right?"
The scene of Apophis running wild in Arnold's mansion is still vivid in my mind when I first met it.
Roy laughed and said, "Of course, it is very well-behaved now and won't hurt me at all."
After speaking, he stood up and stretched lazily, saying, "I've finished eating. I should go take a shower."
"Wait!"
Arya also stood up and took out a small box from her pocket, handing it to him.
"Master, I, I want to give this to you!"
"This is.... Roy looked at this palm-sized red box and suddenly had an idea."
"Just a few days ago, he had seen this size of box at Vila's place."
Roy took the small box and opened it, and sure enough, inside the box neatly laid a pair of rings with the same design. Rather than saying they were rings, their shape resembled more of a band, with no particularly large pearls or diamonds embedded on them.
However, upon closer inspection, this ring is far from ordinary. The seemingly modest ring actually has two layers - a transparent crystal outer layer and a well-arranged inner layer embedded with dozens of tiny diamond fragments, resembling grains of rice.
As the rotating ring turns, the scattered diamonds embedded in the layers shimmer and sparkle under the illumination of the nightlight, gleaming like a multitude of stars, creating a mesmerizing sight.
"Didn't we make a promise back when we were in the ruins of the mine?"
Arya gripped her clothes corner nervously and said, "We had nothing back then, but I always remembered this promise, so I had these engagement rings customized."
"Do you like it, young master?"
"I like it, of course I do." Roy played with the ring, reluctant to let go of it. Then, he took off his left glove and gestured towards his finger.
"The style you've chosen is also great. The contour of this ring is not abrupt and fits the finger well. I can continue wearing it with the black Xuan style."
"Hmm!" Alya smiled happily upon seeing Roy's satisfaction.
It is because Roy usually wears the Dark Three-ring on his left hand that she specifically chose this flat ring. Just as Roy was about to put on the ring, Alya quickly said, "Master, let me help you put it on!"
She took the ring from Roy's hand and placed his left hand on her chest. Carefully, she slipped the ring onto his middle finger. In fact, she had prepared the engagement ring long ago, originally intending to give it to Roy on their one-year engagement anniversary.
However, after Roy returned from Princess Vira's place yesterday, she suddenly felt uneasy about the space ring he wore on his right hand.
Ignore, ignore, a space ring is still a ring!
Although she eavesdropped on Roy, she found out that he put on the ring himself last night.
However, over a month later, Princess Vira will formally put on this ring for Roy in the ceremony of knighthood, in front of everyone.
She absolutely does not allow any other woman to put a ring on Roy's finger before her, even if it's a space ring!
When the engagement ring was finally worn on Roy's left middle finger, Arya finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if she had guarded something precious.
Roy then took out the remaining ring from the box and smiled, saying, "Since that's the case, let me help you put this one on." Arya blinked and extended her fair left hand, nodding eagerly.
Arya's heartfelt gesture surprised and moved him, as the engagement ring was not really necessary, it was just for the sake of a ceremony.
She treasured their commitment so much, and if that was the case, he was willing to make this ceremony even more romantic.
Roy knelt on one knee in front of Aria, took her hand, and solemnly placed the ring on her left hand's middle finger. Aria covered her mouth, and she saw Roy raise his head and slowly say to her:
“这是我们的约定，艾莉亚。
“我只爱你，只娶你。
“只与你白头偕老。”