Vahn obviously wouldn’t extract the reward while Seraphina was present. He left it as is, knowing that from the System logs, he could easily extract the reward later.
But what mattered right now was getting closer to her heart.
They walked slowly, both gazing at the sky, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
Vahn was shorter than Seraphina, yet his posture radiated a quiet confidence that didn’t feel immature.
Taking the chance, Vahn began to speak.
"Seraphina, the story I’m about to tell isn’t mine... so please, don’t mistake it for one of my own. It’s not
Seraphina didn’t interrupt. Instead she kept her ears open.
"There was once a world, far beyond cultivation, beyond all the immortals. A world that ran entirely on something called... science. A strange thing, I know."
Vahn’s chuckled slightly, as if remembering something he had long buried.
"One day, on a road where no one would ever expect, a woman gave birth to a boy. And she died just after that."
Seraphina’s mind painted the picture vividly. A lone infant, unaware that he had no family, no place to truly belong.
"The boy... he had no father. No mother. No family. No home. He was alone, just like all the other orphans in that place. Just another forgotten child, adrift in a world that had no place for him."
Her heart tightened for some reason. Why did it feel like Vahn was speaking a made-up story instead of a real one?
The tone in his voice, the sorrow; all it felt too real.
"But then, one day the boy, whose name was Elias, was taken in by a family. A poor family, yes. But they had love. They gave him a new name: Maxwell. They also gave him something he hadn’t known before: a place where he could belong. He finally felt what it meant to be wanted. To be needed. He was no longer invisible."
Seraphina felt relief. She could feel the boy’s relief, the relief of finally having a family, of no longer being alone.
But then Vahn’s tone changed.
"But that joy... that small, fragile happiness was ripped away from him. One day, a vehicle... a truck, too large to stop in time, crushed his adoptive parents without a second thought. No faces to recognize, just... the blood. And the boy? He was left to watch as the warmth, the light he had finally found, was swallowed by darkness. He was alone once more."
His tone was now indignant, almost lost.
"The boy’s happiness was stolen away, Seraphina. Again, and again, he was left with nothing. He grew cold by the loss and the cruel fate that seemed to haunt him at every turn."
Seraphina’s heart tightened. Why does his story resembles her’s so much?
She also had never known what it felt like to have parents, or a true family. She was raised in isolation. Even her closest companions had always been distant, unapproachable.
Her past was one of sacrifice, of silence and suffering. She had always been the one to give, never the one to receive. A Saintess, someone who was revered, but also someone who was meant to stand alone.
Vahn’s voice pulled her back into the story.
"But Maxwell, despite his hardships, didn’t give up. He found a way to survive, a way to keep going, though deep inside, he felt empty."
Seraphina’s heart trembled. Her own emptiness echoed in those words, so familiar, so painfully close. She knew what it was like to carry a burden without anyone to share it with. A burden of expectations, of duties that could never be put down.
Vahn softened his expression as he continued,
"At one point, Elias formed a new family, but it wasn’t the same. He tried to fill the hole in his heart with work, with power, with wealth, but nothing could heal the scars from his past."
Seraphina’s eyes met his for the first time in a long while, and she saw his understanding in his gaze. It was as if he knew exactly how she felt, even though she had never spoken of it. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t.
Those resonating words pressed against her chest, and for the first time in years, she felt the cut of vulnerability.
Could she really allow herself to be this open with him?
"I grew under my grandfather’s care. But only after losing him, I understand what it’s like to feel like nothing.
But it’s in those moments, when you’ve lost everything, that you find out what really matters. And it’s not the things you lose, but the strength to keep moving forward."
Seraphina’s heart fluttered as her own pain resurfaced in response. She had always carried the sorrow of her past, but in that moment, it felt insignificantly small compared to Elias Maxwell’s.
Nevertheless... for some reason now that she looked at Vahn, he no longer seemed distant. Her heart started to accept him as her own.
Their relationship grew one step closer.
[ Congratulations! Your emotional connection with Seraphina Dawnlight increases by 30% ]
[ Rewards Gained: Light Affinity +100%, Divine Grade Culinary Skill, Master Storyteller Title ]
--
Vahn barely held the excitement of getting such juicy rewards. Each of them was a cheat of their own. With them the path ahead would be easier.
Although, the story he told wasn’t just a made-up story. Except the ending, the whole story reflected his past life.
Afterward, Seraphina gradually told him about her own past. She grew alone like him. Her own parents forgot her existence ever since she was chosen as the Saintess at a little age.
Growing up alone in the Holy Land, she was always taught to be kind and helpful. Because she was the Saintess. Everyone just accepted her help; no one gave back anything in return. Gradually, she built a wall that no one could break so that her desires and human selfishness could not come between her duty.
But it seemed she was wrong all along. She too could live on her own right. She deserves it too. That’s what she learned from Vahn, who was younger than her.
His words were like those of a man who had seen through the world, and that’s what sometimes puzzled her as well.
Just who was Vahn Necrotis, and is there a connection to that Elias Maxwell he spoke of? She wondered.
For now she couldn’t find any answer, but to her Vahn was more than an unfamiliar husband.
He was now a friend with whom she was able to share her experience.