Chapter 60 - Pet

"Why yes of course!" Halma laughed nervously.

She knew Petunia was not just a simple cat nor a simple alchemist, and using an ultra-rare potion such as Dandeloin to kill her friend was not really pleasant to hear.

"WHY?!" 

Suddenly, Halma forgot her position as the Queen because of Petunia's violent outburst. She looked so cute yet there was a demanding authority to her voice that Halma couldn't deny got her in the first half.

Halma cleared her throat and recollected her grace. "How dare you talk to me like that," she said calmly.

Petunia did not mind her words and even gave her a sharp stare while still sitting on the Queen's lap.

"Do you know how rare that thing is?" Petunia asked.

"Of course! I'm the Queen, I only use expensive things!"

"So that's why you used that ultra-rare potion to kill Gem, knowing she would live through it, just because you only have expensive things with you?!" 

Petunia could not believe Halma's reason for using such an important item for her experiments just to kill Gem. It broke her heart even more than finding out about Gem's death or Fily's betrayal! Such an impulsive person!

"So, what do I do to get the only remaining Dandeloin spirit in your hands?" Petunia sat down carefully, trying to strike a deal with the Queen whom she didn't even care about disrespecting anymore.

"Right… uhmm." 

The Queen had always dreamt of having a magical fox for a pet. And because most of the magical animals from outside of the borders were either violent or not magical enough, she couldn't hire anyone to tame one of the more advanced foxes for her.

But Petunia was a furry cat, not a fox. She may be special but she still used to be a human before actually being a cat. 

"What is it?" Petunia said impatiently while Halma was still busy thinking.

'Maybe I should just dare her to be my pet for the rest of my days here in this castle?' Halma thought.

In her eyes, having Petunia's cat form could already be the closest experience she would get from having a special fox from the outside world as a pet.

"Be my pet." Halma simply said.

"What!?"

Subsequently, this bold offer made Petunia blush. Her pride being crushed the more she thought about it.

'Being the Queen's pet? In exchange for a super-ultra rare item from her? Well, I guess it isn't that bad…' she pondered about it more.

"For how long?" Petunia asked.

"For only as long as I am here… will that be enough?" Halma said nervously. She was lenient to Petunia since she thought about how Venedette would be so against this and the chances of Petunia not agreeing to go back with her to her own castle.

She had to be conservative, or else she would miss her only shot of making her little childish dream come true.

"Fine. But let us discuss the terms first." Petunia said, seemingly taking the lead for this deal instead of her supposedly 'owner'.

"Okay, whatever you prefer." Halma took the bait.

Deep inside, Petunia was making fun of her for being too naive. But she knew too well not to underestimate Halma for things like this, she still needed to keep her guards high just so she wouldn't fall under the Queen's trap if ever she had another purpose in mind for making Petunia her pet.

"Why would she ask you to be her pet though, isn't that just weird?" Fily shared Petunia's concern right after being told of what just happened with the Queen in the throne room.

"Wait. Why am I telling you this? How do I know if this will get broadcasted to your mom or not?" Petunia suddenly stood back in an alert stance against Fily when they coincidentally bumped into each other on the highest tower of this castle and naturally started talking about their worries.

"Right… Should I ask my mom about it?" Fily said seriously, even preparing her Stat-hut on standby just in case.

"S-Sure. Go ahead." 

Within the time Petunia spent on the Queen's lap, she had a clearer view of how dangerous the Queen's passive powers of spreading despair actually was. Almost every maid who approached them instantly had grudges surface against each other after serving the Queen.

And although it was not enough for them to actually kill each other, it sure did affect their competitiveness and service quality.

They wanted to impress the Queen so much that they even resorted to sabotaging each other behind the scenes!

So Petunia, as the second most mature in Leviathan, decided to come up with a strategy that might be able to help them overcome this underlying challenge with ease.

"We have to be straightforward with each other at all times to avoid misunderstandings."

"That's right." Fily agreed whole still ringing her mom with the shared Stat-hut feature with Petunia.

This feature allowed them to spectate what each other was doing with their own Stat-huts without being seen by the other parties.

"I'm really sorry about earlier. I had no idea my mom was spying on me the whole time." Fily said solemnly when her mom suddenly answered her call.

"What's up?" her mom said with an intimidating voice that Petunia was least expecting since Fily's voice was as light and soothing as air.

"Can you really watch what I was doing this whole time?" Fily whined.

"What? Don't tell me you hadn't noticed me watching over you this whole time? Are you dumb?" Riveth hissed violently which made Fily look embarrassingly at Petunia for being able to witness that.

Petunia nodded at Fily to tell her it was okay but Fily was too embarrassed, she had to cut the call immediately. She even had a hard time looking back at Petunia after that.

"You did great." Petunia patted her back using her small paws which made Fily's heart sting a little bit.

"I'm sorry." Fily apologized again.

Now, she had to find a way to cut her mother's connection with her, or else she wouldn't be able to have her privacy anymore. She would be too embarrassed to even stay with Leviathan because of this!