Little Tyrant Doesn't Want to Meet with a Bad End

In a dimly-lit room, Roel slowly opened his eyes and saw that Alicia had left her seat, but the teacup on the table remained steaming hot.

He wasn’t surprised by Alicia’s absence. He gently raised the teacup, swirled it, and took a sip. As the fragrance suffused his nose and his mouth, the Heat Regulation Spell on the teacup dissipated. Shortly afterward, there was a slight spatial distortion behind him.

Alicia emerged from the spatial distortion. Behind her was a dark plain and traces of a white fog.

“Lord Brother, is the reinforcement of your powers progressing well?”

“Yes, I’m done. Where did you go?”

“I went out to soak in some moonlight in preparation for the upcoming battle. There’s no moon in this dimension,” Alicia replied with a helpless smile.

Roel nodded in comprehension.

Alicia had significantly depleted herself after the series of battles she had been through, as well as her maintaining her Divine Domain and controlling the Black Moon for an extended period of time to treat Roel. As formidable as the regeneration of her Silverash Child Bloodline was, she needed to bask in moonlight to draw out its fullest potential.

It was not the first time Alicia had basked under the moonlight; she often did it back when they were living in the Ascarts’ manor too. Thus, Roel wasn’t too perplexed.

What he was concerned about was the situation outside.

“How is it going outside?”

“Shrouding Fog’s whereabouts have been revealed after losing Light Devourer’s cover. We’re currently on the move, but it’s only a matter of time before Carolyn catches up.” Alicia walked up to Roel, sat down, and hugged his arm. “A battle is inevitable tonight.”

“…It’s fine. We have already completed our preparations,” Roel replied with a reassuring smile.

However, Alicia still reserved her concerns.

Even though the conflict between them was irreconcilable, Carolyn was still Roel’s ancestor. She wasn’t confident that she could draw a line as to how far she should go during the battle.

Alicia knew that she would do everything she could to protect Roel if Carolyn sought to kill him, but her means were fatal. In the first place, she didn’t have absolute control over those means, and it would be hard for her to hold back in the midst of an intense battle, too.

She was unnerved by the thought that she might accidentally kill Carolyn.

“Lord Brother, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Is it really fine for me, a foster child, to fight with Carolyn?” Alicia asked.

“…” Roel was taken aback by the unexpected question.

He put down his teacup and turned to Alicia. His perplexed expression slowly mellowed.

Roel reproached himself for not noticing this earlier. He reached out to grab Alicia’s little hand and said with a smile, “What are you saying? What do you mean by ‘foster child’?”

“I am adopted, after all. You should feel closer to Carolyn, whom you share blood ties with, right?”

“That might have been so in the past, but it’s different now, right?”

“Different?” Alicia tilted her head in confusion.

Roel was rendered speechless. He shook his head and reminded, “You were my foster sister, but that’s in the past. What are we now?”

“Now? Ah…” Alicia blinked her eyes as Roel’s words finally sank in, and her cheeks turned red.

Their relationship had changed after having spent that night together. It might have been inappropriate for her, as a foster child, to fight against an ancestor of the Ascart House, but she was definitely justified to do so if she was protecting her lover instead.

After all, as Roel’s lover, she was bound to be more important to him than an ancestor from a thousand years ago.

“Are there people in this world who abandon their wife to blindly worship their ancestor from a thousand years ago? In any case, I can’t bring myself to do that.”

“W-wife?!” Alicia exclaimed.

She stared at Roel in disbelief. Her lips quivered, and her ears reddened with embarrassment. However, Roel’s expression remained perfectly straight as if he was just stating a fact.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing!”

Alicia fell in defeat after seconds of exchanging gazes. She dived into Roel’s chest and nuzzled against him. Roel chuckled at the sight, as he suddenly discovered that she had a weakness too.

All along, Alicia had been the more aggressive one in their relationship, making her look bold. Yet, her defenses immediately collapsed as soon as Roel launched a counterattack. She was the definition of a glass cannon.

Looking at the woman buried in his chest, Roel’s playfulness was stoked. He leaned closer to her furiously blushing ear and whispered, “What’s wrong, Alicia? Do you not like my answer?”

“T-that’s not it! I… I’m just taken aback. You used to avoid such questions, Lord Brother, so it’s a bit hard for my heart to take your sudden change in attitude…”

“…”

Looking at Alicia’s teary eyes shook Roel’s heart. He tightly hugged Alicia, and the latter returned the embrace.

“I love you, Lord Brother.”

“I love you too.”

After confessing to each other, the two of them continued holding each other to feel each other’s heartbeat. Only after their emotions had calmed down did they finally separate.

Roel then seriously looked at Alicia and said, “Don’t harbor any reservations. Go all out.”

“B-but what if I accidentally kill our ancestor…”

“Kill Carolyn? I don’t think that’s possible,” Roel replied with a sigh. “You have heard Edavia’s words. Carolyn will be a difficult adversary for us. I don’t want her to die either, but we’ll likely be the ones to die if we hold back in this battle.”

“…” Alicia’s body stiffened. She pondered those words before slowly nodding.

Carolyn was an enemy unlike any foe Roel had fought before. Edavia, despite having lived for countless years and witnessed many legends, feared her. Even if Roel and Alicia joined hands, there was no guarantee that they could gain the upper hand over her.

Furthermore, there was another major issue.

“Alicia, you should have sensed Carolyn’s aura, right?”

“Mmhm.”

“That’s the Savior’s aura, and it has permeated deep into her. It’s bound to have affected her mental state after so many years; she might even be on the verge of insanity. That could be the reason she was so extreme,” Roel said with grim eyes, knowing that the upcoming battle would be tough.

Alicia nodded as her eyes slowly firmed up. She knew how she should move now.

As the two of them made their own mental preparations, the building they were residing in suddenly shook a little, producing a small ripple in the teacup. Roel’s eyes narrowed, and he quickly turned to Alicia.

“It’s that attack from the sky. Shrouding Fog has been struck.”

“Has Carolyn caught up with us?”

“Not yet. There’s still a bit more.”

Roel spent a moment in thought before making up his mind. “Why don’t we take the initiative to confront her instead, since we won’t be able to avoid her?”

Alicia nodded.

The two of them made their final preparations before heading toward the white fog.

“Let’s set off.”

“Mm.”

Alicia opened a spatial crack with a wave of her arm. The two of them held hands and walked into it.

…