****
After an eighteen hour long sleep, Gabriel finally showed some signs of waking up. It wasn't often that he received such a peaceful and comfortable sleep.
Before he could even open his eyes, he felt a warm breath brushing against his neck. There was a comfortable warmth around him. Moreover, he felt as if his arms were wrapped around something soft.
Confused, he slowly opened his eyes, only to have his eyes widened in surprise. He was wide awake as soon as he realized that he wasn't in the Holy Region anymore! Instead, he was lying on a warm bed.
What was more shocking was that there was another person on the bed right next to him. Moreover, the other person was extremely close to him!
The other person was none other than Avilia who was somehow sticking extremely close to him physically. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was calm. From the signs, it didn't appear as if she was faking it! She was actually asleep.
However, what was this situation? How were the two of them in the same room and on the same bed? That question kept rising in Gabriel's head, especially since he wasn't much different from her.
Even his own hand was wrapped around Avilia's waist while her graceful hand was resting on his chest as she remained so close to him that there was no room between the two of them. If both of them weren't wearing their clothes yet, it could've easily been misunderstood into something else entirely.
Gabriel didn't make any movement. He first tried to make sense of the situation.
'From what I remember, I was in the Holy Region. I won the test and was about to kill the Ninth Lord when someone arrived and intervened. Who was it? Why can't I remember their face? Just what happened after I defeated the Ninth Lord?'
Gabriel was so confused. He knew he saw someone in the Holy Region but he just couldn't remember anything. It was as if the part of his memories were clouded.
'How did I get out of the Holy Region?' he wondered. 'If Avilia is here, that means I'm definitely out of that place. But why can't I remember coming out?'
Before finding out about what happened in the Holy Region, there was another question in his head that he wanted the answer to. He didn't remember how he came here. That also meant that he didn't remember if Avilia was here when he arrived and fell on the bed or not.
If Avilia was already here sleeping when he came, that meant he was the one who snuck inside. In that case, he could easily be misunderstood by Avilia if she woke up and found him here. If that happened, he knew that it would be hard to explain.
On the other hand, if he was already in this room when Avilia arrived, why would she sleep here? That also didn't make sense. Since he was the one who didn't remember, he considered the first possibility more prominent.
'I have to leave without waking her up.'
In the end, she just decided to go with the safest option. No matter who snuck inside, he needed to get out of here before Avilia woke up!
He looked at the sleeping face of Avilia. Usually when Avilia was up, he never really noticed her face that carefully. However, now that she was so close to him and sleeping, he could see more clearly.
Avilia looked really beautiful as she slept. It was as if she was a beautiful princess of some Empire. Just by looking at her in this situation, no one could've guessed that she was someone who could kill without blinking an eye.
Avilia's face was close to Gabriel's neck as she was in his embrace like a little kitten. If he wanted to get away, he first had to take out his hand from under her. But doing so without waking her up was harder to execute.
'If I find out that it was someone's scheme to get me in this situation, I'm going to teach them a nice lesson!'
Gabriel slowly pulled out his arm from under Avilia's body.
"Umm?"
Gabriel had managed to pull out a little when Avilia seemingly made a noise.
Gabriel immediately closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. If Avilia woke up, it was better for him to pretend to be asleep. He didn't want her to misunderstand him even more if he truly snuck inside subconsciously.
Avilia was sleeping comfortably. However, feeling some movement, she came out of her deep slumber.
She slowly opened her eyes, still in a monetary daze.
As she came to her senses and saw what was before her eyes, her eyes widened as well.
She had been waiting for Gabriel in this room for so long, that she didn't even realize when she fell asleep herself. As there was only one bed, she slept on the bed.
The bed was so big that five people could sleep comfortably. That's why she thought that could rest if she took the other corner. Now that she opened her eyes, she was shocked.
Both of them were sleeping in different corners of the bed. However, now they were both in the center of the bed in each other's embrace as if they were passionate lovers.
Avilia's face turned slightly feverish as she felt Gabriel's hands around her slim waist.
'How did this happen?' That was the biggest question in her head. 'Fortunately he's still asleep. If he was up and misunderstood me, I wouldn't know how to explain the situation myself...'
Avilia sighed in relief that she wasn't seen like this by anyone, not realizing that it wasn't the case.
****
[An hour ago....]
The Head Priests of Light arrived near the room but they didn't enter. They were still curious that Gabriel wasn't up yet.
"Could something have gone wrong?" Head Priest Qian wondered. "I think we should at least check once. It's been too long..."
The other Head Priests also agreed. They opened the door and carefully peaked inside so as to not disturb anyone inside.
Through the small opening in the gap, the Head Priests saw inside the room. As for what they saw, it made their expressions quite awkward as if they had done something wrong.
Inside the room, there was only one bed. On the bed, two people were lying close to each other. Both people seemed asleep, but the closeness of the two was enough to surprise the Head Priests who had been single all their lives. It was enough to make them believe that the two youngsters were indeed husband and wife.
