Chapter 59: Parents Are Wonderful (1)
The beautiful journey of Finn and Roni had finally reached its end. Finn slipped into his clothes smoothly, every movement calm and confident, while Roni struggled to stand up. The moment she tried, her legs wobbled helplessly before she crashed right back down onto her bouncy, tender ass. Her thick ass, thoroughly abused and marked, seemed too bruised and sore to support her fully, leaving her stuck on the ground in an adorably defeated posture.
A soft laugh slipped out of Finn, his eyes glinting with amusement at her state. Without hesitation, he leaned down and helped her start dressing again. "You're laughing, but this is all your fault!" Roni barked back at him, her round cheeks puffed up in outrage, making her look even more irresistibly cute despite her anger.
"Heh, no regrets at all, darling," he retorted with a wicked grin as he fastened her bra around her tender chest, deliberately pressing close and stealing a slow, lingering kiss on her sensitive neck.
While he was busy hooking her bra and teasing her skin, Finn suddenly noticed a thin black line encircling her neck. Curious, he reached out and grabbed it, realizing it was a necklace hidden beneath her clothes. The instant his fingers brushed over it, Roni jolted back quickly, her body reacting as if she had been shocked. "Ah… is there a problem?" Finn asked, raising an eyebrow at her sudden recoil.
"Oh no, no… it's nothing, really! Don't worry about it!" she flailed her hands nervously, the quick movement making her necklace bounce wildly against her chest, the cross-shaped pendant swinging back and forth in a bright orange shimmer.
"Beautiful necklace," he commented casually, though his tone hinted at mischief, deliberately steering the conversation into territory she clearly didn't want to enter.
"Ah… this… yeah, it's pretty," she stammered, carefully picking her words as her fingers fidgeted near her collarbone, her eyes darting away to avoid his probing gaze.
"So, how did you get it? Did you craft it yourself while hiding away in that fox cave of yours?" Finn pressed on, his voice sly, obviously enjoying digging into a topic that made her squirm uncomfortably.
"No, it's just…" she lowered her gaze and held the cross between her fingers, as if drawing strength from it. "It's a gift," she finally confessed, her voice turning soft and delicate. As she clutched the pendant, her eyes melted into a distant, glowing warmth, like she was reliving a gentle memory.
"A gift? From who?" Finn stood up abruptly, his muscles tensing, a sharp spark of jealousy slicing through his chest. The thought that some other man might have given her such a precious token made his blood boil. If that necklace had come from someone 'unworthy,' he wouldn't hesitate to cram it into her mouth and then toss her into an ice mountain without a second thought.
"Calm down, calm down, it's from… it's from my dad." As soon as she uttered the word 'dad,' her voice trembled, sinking into a deep pit of sadness. Her fingers tightened desperately around the cross, her knuckles whitening, as if she was holding onto a piece of him that she refused to let go.
"The sacred beast… the two-tailed fox," Finn muttered under his breath. Of course, she still didn't realize that Finn already knew about her father's terrifying identity. But the fact that she had hidden this from him all this time, never once sharing such a crucial part of herself, ignited a slow, burning unease inside him, whispering fears of deeper secrets still buried.
"He was a really wonderful man," she began, her voice fragile yet full of reverence. "He loved helping others, never looked down on anyone, and… and he always spoiled me so much." As she spoke, she gently rubbed the cross against her soft cheek, her eyes shining with unfiltered warmth and affection. Finn could almost feel the powerful, bittersweet emotions radiating from her body, wrapping the room in a heavy yet tender atmosphere.
"Yeah…" Finn turned his gaze away from her, his expression suddenly distant, his mind wandering somewhere she couldn't see. "I realize how wonderful parents are." The simple sentence weighed heavily between them, each word echoing with multiple, hidden meanings.
"He spoiled you a lot, huh? Looks like someone was daddy's favorite child," Finn teased, forcing a crooked smile, hoping to cut through the ocean of melancholy that had enveloped her.
"Oh yes, yes! My older brother always complained and told father that he needed to be stricter with me," she said, giggling brightly. "But father never cared; he always treated me with so much love and tenderness." She squeezed her cheeks with her palms, her entire face lighting up as she sunk into her nostalgic memories, lost in that long-gone warmth.
"Wow, so I'm in second place then?" Finn crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow in mock offense.
"Hmm, well, sir, you are definitely amazing… but… the difference is that dad wasn't a pervert who groped my body and hurt me," she shot back, spinning around sharply with her nose up, pouting in exaggerated annoyance.
"Pervert? I'm not the one standing here in just underwear," Finn countered, gesturing pointedly toward her nearly naked ass, still adorned with vivid red handprints from all the spankings he had given her earlier.
Roni's entire face erupted into crimson flames of embarrassment as she let out a shrill scream, her fists clenching by her sides. "Hehe, okay, okay, enough fussing around. Let's get you properly dressed and get out of here. The competition is tomorrow," Finn said with a chuckle, picking up the rest of her scattered clothes from the floor and helping her slip into them one piece at a time.
The two finally left the scorching, deadly volcano together. The primary goal had been accomplished: Finn's injuries were fully healed. As a bonus, he had peeled back more layers of Roni's heart, revealing precious secrets. And as for sharing a bed with her… well, that had already become a daily routine, a habit he maintained diligently after the waterfall incident to keep her from feeling neglected.
He had spent nearly two days inside that hellish volcano, and tomorrow, the long-awaited tournament would officially begin. With his resolve sharpened, he shifted into his fiery form and set out toward the Fire Kingdom.
Upon arriving, he rented a room in the Fire Kingdom without a second thought. The price wasn't a concern at all, thanks to the massive stash of gold he had brought from The Treehouse, safely stored in Sika's dimension. In the Fire Kingdom, gold was so rare it practically held mythical value, making him feel almost invincible in terms of wealth.
When he finally threw himself onto the hotel bed, a groan escaped his lips. The bed was horrible—made entirely from hard, solid stone. Apparently, the fire people believed that beds should be firm and unyielding, a concept Finn had grown to hate deeply during the five months he had spent sleeping rough outdoors.