Reaper of the Martial World

Book 7: Chapter 111: Lord Husband (1)

historical

Dyon’s jaw steeled. The Demon Sage couldn’t help but look toward him with pity.

He shook his head, sighing. ‘My daughter’s charms are simply too much. Of course, she gets it from her father. Such a valiant spirit in a woman! Who else but my seed could accomplish such a thing? It’s no wonder he’s smitten.’

The Demon Sage nodded to him, a deep pride welling up inside of him. He was apparently very certain that it was his genes and not Amphorae’s upbringing that made her like this. For that matter, could he even name the characteristics of Amphorae’s mother? Could he even remember her name? He’s simply terrible. Yet another case of a father taking credit for a mother’s work.

Seeing Amphorae’s eyes flutter, Dyon had half a mind to simply walk out. Wasn’t it better for her to not face him at all? If her memories awakened the moment she saw him like Luna promised, wouldn’t she be racked with guilt? Dyon didn’t want her to have to go through that.

He couldn’t lie to himself. It hurt. The thought of his wife falling in love with another was heart wrenching.

Thinking to this point, he chuckled to himself. What a hypocrite he was. What right did he have to feel this way? Hadn’t he boldly proclaimed to Madeleine that he only needed her? Then less than a year later, he met Ri. In fact, he could still remember just how conflicted Ri felt about sharing her husband, how did it feel for her then? Now he was on the verge of having a mental breakdown for the same thing he put his wives through everyday?

‘My mental state is so weak.’ Dyon looked up at the high ceiling above his head, as though he was looking for answers.

Dyon had known for a long time that this was the case. In fact, he still hadn’t completely gotten over his comprehension of Chaos. He was just managing to keep it together because the hopes of so many rested on his shoulder.

What he realized when his heart welled up with joy as he practiced array alchemy was that he had long since lost himself. If he was truly anchored in his own being, if he truly understood what it meant to be Dyon Sacharro, would he be shaken into despair so easily?

Year after year, decade after decade, he immersed himself in training. He tortured his body and his mind time and time again. Yet, he spent little time on his own spirituality. He had lost what it meant to be Dyon to the point where he was surprised when he remembered how much he loved array alchemy.

Then, when he grasped that love of his once more, what did he do? He began to torture himself once more. He quite literally just spent the last near 80 years of his existence doing nothing but training. And, other than making food for his beast companions and the rodents he was breeding, he hardly touched array alchemy at all.

Dyon realized that this was always his go to, his escape. Whenever he didn’t want to face the reality of what it meant to be himself, he threw himself into work.

When he was in the mortal realm, he closed himself off from everyone to the point where he completely neglected his childhood love, Clara.

In the martial world, he repeated these mistakes time and time again. Sure, he had a goal he wanted to accomplish, but to what ends? Was it worth hurting those close to him? Or even worse, hurting himself? Were these the things that he wanted for himself?

Even now, he was finding excuses for himself. ‘Amphorae will feel guilty, so I should leave.’ What a load of nonsense.

This man Amphorae was pining over was dead. Did Dyon really love Amphorae if he was willing to let her wallow in that misery? So what if she once belonged to another, was that her fault? Of course not.

Dyon’s mental state seemed to finally reach an equilibrium. A calm overwhelmed his senses, soothing his very being.

Waves of pure energy wafted through his Mind’s Eye, causing the Sovereign Seed to double in size. In response, the toddle grew from just two to three years of age, to five or six.

The Demon Sage felt these changes happening within Dyon, but his awareness only made him shocked. Regular lust wouldn’t have caused a breakthrough in mental state, could it be that this brat really loved his daughter? How is that possible? His father wasn’t even a seed in his grandfather’s sack when my daughter was born…

The truth was the Demon Sage went through the Epistemic Tower trials too, but how could he ever connect the Amphorae of then to his daughter?

As the Demon Sage thought, within Dyon’s inner world, a crown floating within a halo of black-gold trembled fiercely. The land below it shook, cracking, before expanding explosively. What once was a land of a hundred meters across, increased to an entire kilometer!

Amphorae’s beautiful eyelashes continued to flutter. Because of her hair color, they almost looked like red-gold fairy wings, descending upon mankind from the skies above.

And then… They opened. Shimmering gems of emerald, sparkling deep within.

At that same moment, Dyon had looked down from the ceiling, making the decision to face this head-on. He had run for too long…

When Amphorae’s eyes landed on Dyon, a flash of emotion crossed. It was first confusion, deep thought, realization, and then a deep longing.

“Lord husband?” Her lips trembled.

The delicate sleeping beauty stood with a speed Dyon couldn’t track, appearing before him in an instant and burying her head in his chest.