Chapter 308: Chapter 170: The Happy Ending for the Pair (Three in One) Part 2
"I’m not that shameless yet."
"We can seek help from the Royal Official..."
"Other oath-sworn families and Great Nobles are all up to no good, but whether the opposing Royal Family is decent, well, that’s still hard to say now."
Enola did not respond, simply looking up at the boy’s profile with her sky-blue eyes.
Shiayar sighed and muttered, "Alright, alright, the biggest reason is that I can’t bear it."
"If we really took disaster relief from the Empire, who knows if by the time you grow up, some third or fourth prince might try to use that favor to arrange a political marriage or something..."
"I heard that the noble heirs in the Empire Capital are most useful as tools for political marriages. Such feudal traditions are unacceptable."
As he spoke, he looked up at the sky.
"Anyway, back in Ceylon, you promised me you’d be my beautiful girl for life."
"I’m a very possessive person. We’ve already made a pinky promise, so it’s too late for you to back out now."
Without further ado, Shiayar draped his fur coat over the little girl beside him. "Let’s go. The baked sweet potato stall is about to close; any later and we’ll miss it. When our family has money, we’ll return to the Black Tower."
Enola looked deeply at Shiayar. "Oh."
She tightened the fur coat around her, obediently placing her small hand in Shiayar’s palm.
She let Shiayar lead her by the hand toward the nearby streets.
However, just moments later, Enola noticed Shiayar’s steps suddenly halt as he quietly moved her behind him.
Sparkling cracks began to spread across the twilight sky.
A split second later, the sky shattered.
Surprisingly, despite the commotion, the people around continued on as if they saw nothing, as if nothing had happened.
"A traveler wandering far from home, are you?"
The Golden Elf, dressed in a dark gothic gown, floated in midair—slender, graceful, and ageless.
Her gaze first fell on Enola, who was behind Shiayar. It was an unremarkable gaze, yet it seemed to possess the power to see through one’s soul.
Enola felt the other’s gaze momentarily pause on the Chess Piece of Oaths within her soul, but it calmly shifted away soon after.
As if this Sacred Relic, representing one-eighth of the Empire’s authority and coveted even by Legendary figures, meant nothing in her eyes.
It was not until the Golden Elf’s gaze followed their clasped hands up to Shiayar that, for the first time, a ripple disturbed her tranquil golden eyes.
"A displaced person who has lost their sanctuary, with nowhere to return—"
"Though you have lost everything, you have become the pillar for the one beside you."
"To keep her from worrying, you carefully hide all your cowardice, fragility, and loneliness deep within your heart, feigning an air of omnipotence."
"Such a familiar gaze... It’s exactly the same."
The Golden Elf’s voice was somewhat hoarse.
She gazed at the young boy shielding Enola, his own face expressionless. A faint smile suddenly touched her lips.
"In that case, if you don’t mind, then follow me and learn," she offered.
"Not the rigid dogmatism of today’s Black Tower..."
"But real Arcane Arts."
「And so, from that day on—」
Shiayar became the sole student of "Eternal One Page" Hathaway.
...
Faint morning light streamed through the window, casting a soft warmth on Shiayar’s face.
Shiayar opened his eyes. The once soft, neat bed was now in complete disarray, covered in the marks of tossing and turning.
There was also the lingering headache, along with a feeling of weakness spreading from his torso to his limbs.
The tempestuous memories of last night resurfaced as Shiayar’s consciousness reawakened.
Looking at the crimson stains on the sheets, Shiayar was momentarily overwhelmed by the recollection of last night’s fear under the dominion of Her Majesty the Empress and her martial techniques like the "Star-absorbing Method," "Crane-controlling Dragon-capturing," and "Ambidextrous Combat."
As a Beastmaster who had transcended the Throne realm boundary, Shiayar wasn’t typically one for physical combat. However, his physical attributes, enhanced by his rank and Soul Pact, theoretically surpassed those of mortals and were comparable to Dragons.
Yet, his adversaries were even less human than he was.
Consider Her Majesty the Empress alone: she had been starving in the Imaginary Zone for a thousand years. Coupled with the dream-crafting abilities of the Succubus Royal Family as support, her assault was already beyond human.
A thousand years of longing, a thousand years of obsession, all unleashed in a single night.
Then came the Gray-Silver Witch, equally formidable.
She had entombed herself in the cold White Tower for five hundred years—
Her love, having fermented in solitude for a century amidst darkness and oppression, was now unleashed—raging and fervent, in no way less intense than Isadella’s.
Shiayar’s ’Black Tower’ was thus constantly manipulated and toyed with by Silvia, the White Tower Master.
Finally, she even had the White Tower descend from above, completely engulfing the Black Tower within it.
The elites cultivated by the Black Tower were also mercilessly absorbed and assimilated by the White Tower.
It was only Ennie, the last to appear, who showed him some compassion. Furthermore, during their ten years in the Garden of Eden, the two had developed such a profound unspoken understanding that Shiayar was already intimately familiar with her tactics. This was how he finally gained a moment’s respite.