The Married Alpha Who Refuses to Be a Heartthrob (A/B/O · Alpha POV) - Chapter 30

The next day.

Kaes arrived at the women’s clothing store. Initially worried he wouldn’t find a dress big enough for Keith, he was relieved to see many plus-size options inside.

 

The shopkeeper greeted him warmly: “Sir, what style are you looking for? These are all this year’s most popular designs.”

 

She pointed to the garments. Women’s fashion of this era bore a resemblance to Greek styles—light, flowing, and simple, with minimal embellishments. Some skirts featured floral embroidery on the hems.

 

Kaes inquired about styles and designs in pink. The shopkeeper produced several pink dresses for him to check out. “Sir, what do you think of these? “How tall is the wearer? These designs would fit someone 190 cm tall.”

 

“I think they’re a bit too big. Why are these dresses colossal?” Kaes was both amused and exasperated. These plus-size women’s dresses could easily accommodate him. He stood at 191 cm and he considers his height average. Were the women here that tall too? “Do you have anything one size smaller?”

 

He estimated Keith was barely 180cm. These dresses were enormous they could fit two Keiths inside, just how tall and imposing would a woman need to be to wear them?

 

“Some female Alphas in close combat are quite tall. I’ve seen one as tall as 192cm. Fortunately, I think we do have smaller sizes available.” The shopkeeper pulled another dress from the wardrobe. “This dress fits someone around 180cm tall.” Wow! To think a formidable female melee fighter was a whole centimeter taller than him!

 

Kaes felt the styles were all pretty similar. It was either cute, fresh, with puff sleeves or ruffled collars.

 

Sticking to his original plan, Kaes bought two dresses: one pink, one light green. He mused at the thought of Keith wearing them. It would be adorable.

 

……

 

In the annex.

 

Keith placed the puppy’s magic stone into the magic circle. He and Vansen tried giving the puppy gifts, but the spirit puppy lay listlessly nearby.

 

They’d tried offering raw meat, cooked meat, puppy toys—nothing piqued the puppy’s interest.

 

Keith tried a bone. The puppy glanced at him before turning its head and lying down in another direction.

 

“I have no idea what a dog even likes,” Vansen muttered, feeling defeated.

 

They’d worked so hard to figure out the magic circle, only to get stuck here.

 

Keith felt a headache coming on. “How about dog food? Dog accessories? Making it clothes?”

 

The puppy yawned, clearly on the verge of falling asleep.

 

Xiaolu flew in from the doorway: “Keith, what are you up to now? And who is this?”

 

Xiaolu was intensely curious about the soul puppy. It flew over, trying to mount the dog’s back: “Goo goo goo!”

 

It couldn’t mount the puppy and passed right through it.

 

Suddenly intrigued, the puppy was equally curious about Xiaolu. It scrambled to its feet and followed Xiaolu around, going wherever it went. It lay down, hoping Xiaolu would ride its back, but Xiaolu could only fly through it.

 

Vansen: “Seems like it’s really interested in your parrot.”

 

“Well, I can’t exactly burn Xiaolu as offering to it can i?. Maybe have someone buy a stuffed parrot to test instead?”

 

…

 

A while later, Kaes returned. Hearing that Keith was in the library, he went straight to find him.

 

Just as he reached the door, he saw Xiaolu and the soul puppy running out of the library while Keith and Vansen were discussing something.

 

Kaes walked into the library carrying the wrapped clothes. Vansen was there, but he felt awkward mentioning it and simply said, “Keith, I got what you wanted.”

 

“So fast? Let me see the pink dress.” Keith smiled and stepped forward.

 

To Keith, Kaes looked like a child eagerly unwrapping a gift. Did Vansen already know of Keith’s peculiar taste? He thought to himself

 

Keith unwrapped the package to find two dresses. He picked up the green long dress and gave it a shake. “Why did you buy a green one too? What a waste.”

 

How could buying something for your fiancée be a waste? Kaes thought.

 

“Well…I think green looks better on you.” For some reason, the words just slipped out of Kaes’s mouth.

 

Keith: ?

 

Vaneon: ?

 

It took Keith a few seconds to process. His face flushed crimson as he hastily waved his hands. “No… I don’t mean I want to wear it. I meant to give it to the ghost nun to try on.”

 

“A misunderstanding! Total misunderstanding indeed!” Keith shoved the green dress haphazardly back into the packaging.

 

Help! He’s been mistaken for someone who liked wearing women’s clothing.

 

“…I’ll go see where they sell parrot specimens.” Vansen stifled a laugh as he walked past the petrified Kaes.

 

The remaining two fell silent for a moment, unsure what to do with the extra dress. Keith called the maid in and asked her to take it away: “Um… just put it in my room for now.”

 

The maid took the garment away. Kaes couldn’t help wondering if he’d put it in his room to show him later? He forced himself not to think about it, lest they’ll both freeze up again.

 

“Try asking the nun if she’ll take it. I think she’d probably like it.” Kaes cleared his throat, removed the puppy’s magic stone, and replaced it with the nun’s.

 

The nun ghost reappeared in the library.

 

Kees unfolded the skirt and found it was just his size—though it might be a bit large for the nun.

 

“Try it on quickly.” Keith handed the skirt to Kaes.

 

Kaes placed the skirt on the magic circle. It suddenly vanished! “What does this mean? Did she accept it?”

 

Both looked up at the nun. Her grimy habit had transformed into a pristine skirt, though it hung a bit loose on her frame.

 

The nun twirled, watching the hem sway. She was quite pleased with her new dress.

 

So you can even change summoned creatures’ clothes.

 

In life, she didn’t become a nun by choice. She loved wearing beautiful dresses and courting men. After being discovered no longer a pure bride of God, she was expelled from the convent and froze to death outside.

 

Now it was time to spend gold. Keith prepared to place coins inside, but the magic circle displayed a line of text only mages could decipher. Kaes asked, “What does it say?”

 

Keith studied the conjured magical script: “The magic circle can grant your summoned creature a mysterious gift. Requires one thousand gold coins. Each summoned creature may redeem only one mysterious gift… If not needed, skip… Whatever, let’s skip it.”

 

What kind of magic circle scams you out of a thousand gold right at the start?

 

“Wait, let’s try it.” Kaes actually intended to get scammed by the magic circle. He pulled out a thousand gold coins and tossed them in. The real money vanished, the magic circle acting like a bottomless money pit.

 

The magic circle displayed another line of text: The nun received a mysterious gift, increasing her attack power (equivalent to an S-rank mage’s level).

 

Seemed somewhat useful, but useless to them—S-rank was practically worthless.

 

Kaes tossed in a few hundred more, finally enabling communication with the nun.

 

The nun grinned with her gaping maw: “I adore the dress my master gifted me. Is there anything you require?”

 

Kaes: “I want information about your previous master.”

 

The nun replied directly: “My previous master was Adam Wood, the sole surviving bloodline of the former Wood Dynasty—and also Keith’s father.”

 

“He really is my father!” Keith was still deeply shocked by the confirmation. “But I watched his body burn to ashes back then… What other methods could he possibly have left?”

 

Nun: “He’s alive, anyway… As for his methods, he apparently had a protective spell. Simply put, at least one of the summoned artifacts he created requires a change of ownership to activate. Since I now have a new master, that means he can trigger this magic.”

 

“This magic is incredibly powerful. Unlike last time, where one could freely enter a space, it requires specific timing and location while carrying the summoning artifact he crafted. If the artifact is destroyed, the person inside will be ejected, leaving nothing to threaten him.”

 

No wonder the wizard had been silent all this time—he was waiting for them to walk right into the trap.

 

Keith’s memories of his father were during childhood. That was when he’d been forced to make animal specimens.

 

Vansen returned, bringing back a parrot specimen: “Try it out.”

 

They recounted the nun’s story to Vansen, who was equally shocked to learn the wizard was Keith’s father. “Does the Pope know? I heard from my master that he once had an apprentice—Prince Adam. Why would he lock his former disciple inside the Holy Tower?”

 

By seniority, Vansen should address Keith’s father as senior apprentice.

 

The Pope Master only taught sacred magic. How Keith’s father had strayed onto this path of darkness was beyond comprehension.

 

Keith swapped the nun’s magic stone for the puppy’s. The soul puppy gazed expectantly at the parrot specimen in Keith’s hand. When he placed it on the puppy, it accepted it.

 

A lifelike parrot specimen now perched on the puppy’s back.

 

The magic circle had just appeared again, tricking him into spending another thousand gold coins. He paid, curious if it would yield different results.

 

The magic circle displayed a line of text: “The summoned creature has obtained a mysterious gift, capable of increasing movement speed and providing a slow healing effect.”

 

This was still a blind box.

 

After spending a few hundred more gold coins, the puppy could finally speak: “Master, you may give me a new name.”

 

The puppy was rather slender, making its limbs appear long, with a head shaped like a car seat.

 

Kaes looked at Keith: “You name it.”

 

“Let’s just call him Bai Bai.” Keith stroked his chin—he was terrible at naming things too. “When did father activate that skill?”

 

Bai Bai tilted his head at him: “It started the moment the nun acknowledged her new master.”

 

All three grew tense. Just then, shrieks erupted from the crowd outside: “Look! Something’s floating down from the sky!”

 

They rushed to the window, their feet suddenly surrounded by a swirl of colorful bubble magic effects. They sped across the floor as if skateboarding.

 

“What kind of magic is this?” Keith couldn’t stop in time and slammed into the wall.

 

Kaes followed right behind Keith, colliding with him. He braced against the wall to soften the impact. Remembering the mysterious gift the magic circle had bestowed upon the puppy, he snapped, ” Bai Bai, put away your magic, or I’ll put you away.“

 

”Hahahaha!“ Bai Bai grinned mischievously, bouncing gleefully at their misfortune. Only after a stern look from Kaes did he behave. ”Yi yi yi.”

 

Bai Bai dispelled the magical bubbles beneath their feet.

 

“Doggie, where are you?” Little Green flew in searching for Bai Bai. “There you are!”

 

Bai Bai turned and cast a speed spell on Xiaolu. Little Green raced across the floor like ice skating, shouting as it sped by: “Ahhhhh! Gugu gugu!”

 

It couldn’t stop!

 

Little Green spun around in the library before wobbling out the door. Bai Bai laughed, chasing after it.

 

After the two noisy creatures departed, they gazed out the window at the street below, where countless pieces of paper drifted down.

 

The papers landed on the pavement, and curious passersby bent down to pick them up and examine them.

 

From their vantage point upstairs, the three couldn’t make out the details. Keith asked, “What does it say? Should we go down and check?“

 

Keith thought it resembled a swarm of advertising flyers, covering the street beside the annex. He held Keith back: ”Better to be cautious. It’s too strange. I’ll have someone clean up the papers and see what’s written.”

 

Keith dispatched several people to sweep the street. Some passersby were bewildered, others frightened.

 

The cleaners returned to report that the paper bore a portrait of a woman. She wore dazzling stage attire, her long skirt trailing on the ground, and a mask covering her face.

 

The text read: Welcome to the Lanqi Opera House. Fia performs for you.

 

Most eerie of all, the woman in the image moved. They heard her singing! It terrified them.

 

The woman sang “When I Die,” a song popular many years ago.

 

The servant, an elderly middle-aged man, had heard of Fia and trembled: “Governor, Fia was a wildly popular opera singer years ago. She’s been dead for ages. Are we supposed to listen to a ghost sing?”

 

Kaes: “Does it say when it starts?”

 

“No, it doesn’t. Ghosts can start whenever they want, right? Terrifying!”

 

The mere mention of Fia’s name sent panic through the city. Those who could afford it temporarily moved elsewhere.

 

Kaes halted all entertainment in the city, sealed the opera house, and prohibited entry.