Dungeon of Niflheim

"I could say the same thing." Getting used to Frost's teasing Khione mirrored his actions, her eyes roaming over his figure, appreciating the form hidden beneath the stylish suit. Unlike him however she actually preferred the more exposed version even though she lacked the guts to openly admit it.

The young couple both smiled at each other, the appreciation and evident heat in their eyes creating a singular atmosphere that made onlookers instinctually uncomfortable. A single phrase rang in their minds 'get a room'.

"Where's our next heading then my dear?" The day was still young and there was much of Niflheim for him to see.

"Hehehe shopping of course." With an ear spanning smile Khione boldly declared after finishing up the last couple transactions with the head receptionist.

"Shopping?" The word at least when mentioned by a woman conjured memories of Maya dragging him to and fro, dressing him in all manner of apparel that suited her tastes. He was quite fond of the act himself but usually when it was on his terms.

"No need to make such a sour face Frost it'll be fun trust me and don't worry about the money I have more than enough to support you." Another not so subtle dig at his lack of funds. She was completely unaware however that her words could be misconstrued as a promise to support him as a kept man, a notion that Frost may not be all that against. He could remain at home, run the Dungeon from his relaxing private space while his woman did all the real work, efforts he would lavishly reward them for in the bedroom….Yes such a life didn't sound all that bad.

In response Frost lightly frowned before smirking like a little thief. "If you put it like that it makes me want to see how bottomless those funds of yours really are." If she was rich then he didn't need to hold back and didn't need to feel guilty about lightening her purse strings. Who asked her to act so cocky in front of him.

"Hahahaha how cute but such a retort reveals your lack of and understanding of what it means to be truly wealthy." Khione was completely unphased by his counter and the few onlookers who overheard their discussion looked at Frost with pity and confusion. No one could rival the wealth of the Niflheim royal family, they could purchase everything for sale in the entire realm and still have more than enough left to buy it ten times over.

In the early years of Niflheim Shivali and his wives were incredibly industrious, forging and creating an uncountable number of high quality treasures, treasures with exorbitant price tags while also being high in numerical volume. Even now new treasures were added to the pile ever couple weeks or so, growing their endless wealth. The realm of Niflheim would never truly run out of money, as long as Shivali was willing to part with a single treasure or two the yearly budget would easily be accounted for.

Wanting to bleed Khione the youngest and most treasured Princess of the royal family dry was an impossible task.

'Tsk just how rich is she?' The gloating expression on Khione's face and the looks of pity from the onlookers made Frost's skin crawl and his heart once again feel a sharp pain as his pauper status was brought to the surface.

Defeated in a battle of words he solemnly followed after Khione as they headed back to the teleportation station. He would have to brave through the undulating discomfort several more times throughout the day if they were to see everything Khione had planned.

As they made a beeline for their next destination the royal guards who had been observing them closely under the orders of the Queens and secretly the King gave a detailed report after conversing with Blanche. Wanting to hear everything that happened when they were out of their sight. A request Blanche initially refused quite stubbornly, giving the royal guard not even the slightest amount of respect but after hearing that it wasn't just the request of a single Queen but several, one of them being Freyja herself and then also Shivali she immediately blabbed about everything including her own thoughts on the matter.

"Hahahahaha things are getting interesting, that damn training maniac is finally starting to see the allure of love." One of Khione's elder sisters bellowed with tears in her eyes. Watching the two of them interact on the slopes and hearing about their tit for tat from Blanche these women and two men were on the edge of their seats with anticipation as though they had front line seats to a world renowned play.

"Shopping huh? You think she's gonna buy something sexy for a special nighttime reveal hahaha." Another sister held onto her breasts that though being quite large were no match for her younger sister's.

"Slow down girls Nova wasn't built in a day, these things -especially when it comes to someone like Khione- take time…..as long as Frost keeps up the gradual attacks I'm sure she'll eventually fall into his embrace and grant us lots of grandkids." Commented Queen Skadi as she chucked some flavoured seeds into her mouth and took a sip of ice cold red wine, really making a whole thing out of this little peep show.

Freyja didn't give her own comments on the situation, but she was smiling and internally she agreed with Skadi's point of view.

The end result would depend more on Frost's actions than Khione's.

Shivali in his office received a similar report and saw the exact same footage but unlike the rest of his family he was struggling to smile. It was finally started to dawn on him that his little baby girl was growing up and would soon leave the nest and shack up with a man. What hurt the most was the fact that he was the one that caused it, he literally placed her on a silver platter and told Frost to dig in. As a Father in law giving such an obvious green light, the consequences would fall solely on his head, he wouldn't even be allowed to complain.

"My baby girl." He softly sobbed doing his best to overcome the rising mixture of guilt and loss. At least Frost was a good man, perhaps even the best around, she should been in good hands with him. He repeated this in his mind, strengthening the fact that his decision was the right one and the best thing for all those involved.

The tears still fell, however.

Back to actual date itself.

"Bleurgh!" Frost was no less prepared for the return teleportation, he wretched loudly at the prepared area but once again managed to keep his stomach contents where they belonged. Unfortunately his strenuous efforts to do so couldn't be seen as manly or attractive in Khione's eyes, she couldn't even look at him.

"You done?" She asked several metres from the side.

"1 sec..." He glugged done the offered glass of water, rinsed and took a few deep breaths before standing straight and proud. "All good."

"Ok first let me clarify our agenda." Seeing that he was no longing gagging Khione quickly returned to her state of excitement, pulling out a little notebook from left jean pocket.

"We're heading into the heart of the shopping districts where all the best stuff is produced from clothes to armour and foodstuffs to weapons, if you can think of it there's a shop selling it and if not there'll be one that'll offer to get you it as long as the price is right." The commerce amongst the Niflheim residents was strong and ever expanding drawing in customers from beyond the realm's boundaries.

"There's a few things I'd like to purchase but really I want to show you the creative talents of our blacksmiths, artisans, artificers and even seamstresses." Though a lot of good stuff was held in the treasure vaults of the palace the main shops here in the metropolis couldn't be disregarded. In fact considering Frost's strength and the strength of his people the items offered by the shops were more appropriate.

"There's also an interesting feature offered by the highest ranking stores that I'm sure you'll enjoy but don't worry if you don't enjoy shopping all that much the national gallery, museum and countless eateries are all in the same place, we'll manage to accomplish a lot before night draws in." Once the moon -or what served as the moon- loomed high in the sky and blue turned to black Khione planned to visit the botanical gardens and finish with a pleasure cruise along the Modanya current, an event Freyja not only underlined as unmissable but even circled several times to stress its importance.

Khione didn't understand the complete reason for her mother's suggestion, but she did know that it was quite a magical experience, both beautiful in sights and offered a vast array of drinks and foodstuffs. And if they were lucky they may even get to lay eyes on the Xianwu behemoth that resided in the massive ocean.

She decided to keep that possibility as a surprise however until they were on the ferry.

"I'm not against shopping per say especially if you're confident in your purse strings but I would very much like to visit the museum as a main attraction and not just a side event." It was clear to Frost that Khione had little to no interest in visiting a dull and boring museum that told a story that had likely been drilled into her since she was young.

"As I said before it will be a cold day in hell when I find myself running low on funds but even if that wasn't the case do you really have the guts to try and bleed me dry." Khione smiled in a threatening manner, her hands balling into tight fists as she loudly cracked her knuckles.

"…..Am I just going to be bag mule in the end?"