Faye sat in the living room, listening to Malin recount his Northern exploits in one breath, from the previous trench battles to the ensuing night fights. For Faye, who had an older brother serving in the North, these weren’t particularly enthralling tales. However, considering Malin’s place in her heart, she had to admit she was quite nervous—that something might go wrong to the North, then the South; in those couple of days, Faye nearly thought she might never see Malin again.
By the time Malin talked about entering the terrifying Stairway Fortress, Faye was already feeling dizzy—that was the Evil God’s stronghold! Even mortals with the scantest knowledge understood that stepping into such a stronghold of the Evil God meant a perilous journey from which survival was a luxury, and dying with dignity was an even more far-fetched fantasy.
The likeliest outcome was becoming Chaos. Considering Malin had been in front of the Evil God, Faye imagined that if he truly transformed, given his strength, becoming a Demon Prince was almost inevitable. As for something akin to a Divine Envoy, like the Great Demon, that wasn’t impossible either.
All of a sudden, Faye felt disheartened by her own thoughts from earlier that day—she was powerless to do anything. In such desperate straits, she couldn’t avenge Malin, nor could she put down a transformed Malin by her own hand—now that Malin was already so formidable, if that day ever came, Faye, a Mage who only knew six-ring Spell Formations, wouldn’t even deserve to stand before him.
For the first time, Faye felt a burning desire to become stronger, to be a beacon of light in the darkness, guiding Malin safely when despair struck.
At least... if Malin were to unfortunately fall, she wanted to be the one to grant him release... That was the last act of love a couple in this world could do for each other.
When Malin got to what had happened with Jessica before their arrival, Faye finally heard a family name from his lips—Karna.
"You slaughtered Karna family’s third daughter and fourth son?"
Faye felt a headache coming—Karna was a major Noble of the Sydney Union. Even when the Mowish family was still a Duke, the Karna family staunchly supported Mowish becoming the new King.
"I heard about the Karna family from Jessica. Don’t worry, Faye. I return from the North, breaking the rumours of my death, and conveniently killed someone trying to take Jessica from me. And she, in a honorable duel with her sister, has done so under the witness of the Church of the War God," Malin said, flashing his usual smile. "If they seek revenge, it’s fine; let them come."
After thinking it over, Faye felt she had made things too complicated—Malin was no ordinary man, after all. He went North to create a new emergency Spell Formation, and on his way South, he escaped certain death with the help of the God of Justice. This meant he had officially taken up arms in the name of the God of Justice; he might die in a duel but would never fall to an assassin’s blade.
Unless the Karna family was ready for a collective burial, then Faye would actually think highly of them.
But attempting to assassinate Malin was one thing, succeeding was quite another.
And most importantly—neither the third daughter nor the fourth son was the eldest child; to a great family, sometimes such children were expendable.
This was the way of the Nobles. As long as the stakes were high enough, no one was indispensable; Faye was even sure that if the benefits were sufficient, she would be sacrificed by her father or that mother.
For instance, like the naive way Mother Manli wanted to marry her to her own family’s progeny, without considering whether any of those misshapen fruits could compare to Malin.
Of course, even if the benefits were sufficient, Faye’s birth mother wouldn’t agree; after all, no Short-lived Species in this world could force a Long-lived Species to do something unwillingly.
However, both she and her mother stood behind the same man, supporting the same family, and only under identical interests did mother and Mother exchange benefits and reach a consensus.
This was the way of the Nobles, just as mother described it, the make-believe game amongst Short-lived Species that elves despised the most.
"Right, where’s Clovis?" Maya, who had been playing with Milani up till now, suddenly asked, catching Faye off-guard. She glanced at Malin, then replied, "Clovis said she’d return to the Mage Tower last night for an experiment. When she’s engrossed in her research, she won’t leave for days. My mind’s been in a mess, and I didn’t inform her. What about you guys?"
"I thought she would be with you." Lillim slapped her forehead and added, "Now that I hear about it, it’s not bad news. If she’s in the Mage Tower, hasn’t interacted with outsiders, she won’t be harassed like us; that’s an unexpected comfort."
The little lamb said this and leaned back on the sofa, crossing her slender legs.
"You’ve all been harassed?" Faye asked, then remembered that afternoon in her room, a Head Maid had indeed reported someone wanting to meet her, whom she’d ordered to be sent away. "By the way, where did they get the news from?"
"Probably that Divine Envoy. Besides announcing it at the Church of the Harvest Goddess, he must’ve notified other churches too. With Malin being taken away by the Evil God, as the most valued Apprentice of the Church of the Harvest Goddess, to avoid any mishaps, he surely would have done that," said Jessica.
Her words left Faye with no desire to argue back—indeed, albeit uncompassionate, that was absolutely the right course of action. Faye could despise that Divine Envoy, but she couldn’t fault his actions.