Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world

Chapter 109 : Apology in front of everyone

Following Alex's words, a hush fell over the space, broken only by En's quiet sobs.

Despite the great pressure on him, Alex stayed strong, looking right at Robert without any fear in his eyes.

As the situation seemed to be about to get out of control, Robert suddenly started laughing uproariously.

"Now you look like your father, interesting" as he said this, the pressure on Alex suddenly disappeared like it was a lie.

Robert turned to En and ordered him "apologize"

"B-But father-"

"Do it

En, with clenched teeth, turned to Alex and apologized amid his tears of pain.

"I-I'm...sorry" 

Just saying those words seemed to drain all the energy from En, but he had no choice but to do it.

"Good, but I'm not the one he should apologize to" replied Alex to En apology.

"Then who ?" Questioned Robert.

"Anna" seriously replied Alex.

"N-Never!" Exclaimed En.

"Apologize to her" ordered Robert.

"H-How can you a-ask me to apologize...to a commoner, father?" En asked, his forehead veins pulsating.

"Would you rather stay in that state ?" Asked Robert.

"Y-Yes!" 

"Then suit yourself" replied Robert before seating on his seat and completely ignoring En, since he decided to be prideful and refuse to apologize, then it was his problem.

"If you think that your pain will stop once I run out of mana, then you are in for a surprise because my mana reserves are nearly full, and it will stay like that for a long, long time" said Alex as he turned to walk towards the others participants.

"W-Wait, I-I will do it!" Said En with gritted teeth.

It's true that En relied on the idea that whatever Alex did to him would stop once the latter ran out of mana. However, from Alex's words, he began to realize that this might not be a viable solution after all. Of course, Alex could be bluffing, but the question was: would he dare to call that bluff? The answer was clearly 'no'. Consequently, En didn't have any other option but to apologize.

"I'm glad to see that you've changed your mind," said Alex. He swiftly returned to the participants' sitting area, where Anna was seated next to Amelia. Despite her initial refusal, he pulled her to the arena.

"Now that she is here you can apologize and don't worry about everyone seeing you apologizing to her" said Alex with a smile.

'This kid is a demon' chuckled Adrian.

Alex could have allowed En to apologize to Anna in the participants' sitting area, where the incident occurred. Instead, he brought Anna here deliberately, ensuring that everyone could witness the scene, knowing this would add to the humiliation of En, who was naturally prideful.

Gritting his teeth, En bowed to Amelia from where he was laying and uttered:

"I-I'm sorry for w-what I said earlier"

"I-It's okay" replied Anna with flushed cheeks.

"Hmm, it seems too easy for me, maybe you should give him a slap or two" suggested Alex.

"...."

"...."

"...."

'Does he not know when to stop?' wondered everyone after hearing Alex's suggestion.

"Cough, Cough, after careful consideration, we will be the bigger ones and let go of things, but only this time!" Said Alex when he saw the weird glances everyone was giving him.

After he said that, he snapped his fingers and the same pitch black smoke that had entered En body came out of it, freeing the latter of his torment.

"Since your little feud has been solved, get out of the arena, we will immediately proceed with the second round of fights" said Adrian.

"Come, let's return to the participants sitting area" said Alex as he dragged Anna along with him while En was escorted by a butler towards the spectators lounge.

'Seems like he holds a grudge against me for trashing his twin' thought Alex as Zo glared at him while passing by them while making his way to the arena center.

"It's normal that he holds a grudge against you, don't you think so? You pretty much humiliated someone that shares the same face as him, gods only know how many people will make fun of him thinking that it's his twin" giggled Amelia as she stopped to speak with Alex and Anna on her way to the arena.

Since she was the first to fight in the first round, she was also the first to fight in the second round of fights, and coincidentally, her opponent was none other than Zo, En twin brother.

"I don't really care if he holds a grudge against me" replied Alex as he shrugged.

"Well I do care since it's me that's going to fight him; Since I'm your sister, I'm sure that he will try to make me suffer like you did to his twin as some sort of payback against you"

"As if something like that will happen" replied Alex with a smile.

"It might not happen, but I'm still going to be the object of revenge of someone because of your actions!" Pouted Amelia.

"As for you Missy" continued Amelia as she pointed at Anna, "why didn't you tell me about the two of you ?"

"Uhm, well, it's kind of-"

"Not now, we are going to have this discussion later, as for now, I have a fight to win!" Said Amelia while strolling toward the center of the arena.

"Good luck" wished Alex, but he just received a snort as a reply, making him smile.

Seconds later, Alex and Anna returned to the participant's lounge.

The moment they came, everyone focused on them, well more specifically on Alex.

'Why is he looking at me like that?' wondered Alex as he saw the look Jonathan was giving him.

While everyone had a curious and some of them even had fearful expressions as they started at Alex, Jonathan instead had an interested smile on his lips as he observed Alex.

'I will ask him later' thought Alex as he sat on his chair.

"I am going to stay standing" said Anna.

"Nonsense, you can sit with us, I'm sure that no one is going to mind, right ?" Asked Alex as he eyed the other.

No one protested, knowing that if they did so, there was a chance that they become the next En.

"See? No one is against you sitting her, come seat next to me" said Alex, tapping the chair next to him.

Anna nodded and sat with an embarrassed face.

After Anna sat down, Alex turned to Talia, that was still seating next to him.

"Now it's certain that we are going to fight against one another, how do you feel about it, beautiful?"