"…"
When Paul revealed that he was tempted by Elinalise because he was unable to rein in his growing libido, a profound silence fell over the room.
"What the fuck! Don't you have Zenith to satiate your dick?" Arther stated in anger.
Paul blushed for a moment upon hearing Arther, then he gritted his teeth and remarked, "Zenith was never there for me; she was always busy with Rudeus."
"You, you bastard! What else was I meant to do, then? Not give a damn about our son and moan under your cock? Tell me."
This time, it was Zenith who yelled back in anger instead of Arther. She was unable to accept that Paul would act in such a childlike manner.
'Man, I really want to break your marriage right now and take her with me, but you haven't fulfilled your job, Paul.' Arther pondered.
Arther would have forced Zenith to sever all ties with Paul and claim both Lilia and Zenith for himself if it weren't for the two future daughters—one from Zenith and one from Lilia.
However, it didn't seem like the right moment—at least not yet.
Haah!
"I'm not sure what to say to you guys at this point, but I get the impression that you don't want to confront each other, so I'll take the initiative and mediate to find a resolution. You both agree?"
Arther proposed sounding as helpful as possible, hiding all his nefarious thoughts.
"Yes." "Y-Yeah."
Paul and Zenith accepted his suggestion. They didn't want to do anything terrible, not with Rudeus on the line, and they knew they weren't in a state of mind to make any decisions.
"You see, I have multiple women of my own, so I don't really see anything wrong with you having multiple partners, but...
From what I know, you promised your wife not to take any other women, so that was kinda shitty on your part. Not to mention, Lise is my woman of all people." Arther's voice was a little icy.
"I-I am sorry. It was a mistake on my part." Paul's eyes dropped in shame.
Sigh!
"Man, if you were not my uncle, and I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt since Lise still has the curse, I would have killed you and talked to your corpse."
Everyone in the room shuddered as Arther let a small glimpse of his murderous intent slip through.
Rudeus directly passed out, not knowing what happened. Everyone else became pale as a sheet of paper.
They finally realised why this guy was called [Shura].
Paul perspired, recalling Ghislaine's attempt to dissuade him from taking on Arther and Elinalise, claiming that he was a killer and not a protector.
In fact, this same thought passed through both Lilia's and Zenith's minds too.
'T-This is his true nature?! How can a 7-year-old have such killing intent?' Zenith felt fear emanating from the bottom of her heart as she gazed at Arther.
'H-He definitely didn't tell us something about his early life.' Lilia, who was somewhat more composed than everyone else thought.
She was an imperial guard, so it was obvious to her that Arther was not as simple as everyone thought him to be.
"Arther, you are scaring them."
Just then, Ghislaine touched his shoulder to break the silence and shake him out of his reverie.
'You are still the same.' Ghislaine sighed in her heart.
She felt as though she was seeing the same Arther as when she had first met him two years prior—a person who didn't trust anyone.
"Ah! I am sorry for that, but I just can't help it when someone tries to touch something mine...
Coming to your situation, I am sure you both want to do your best to raise that little guy." He pointed at the unconscious Rudeus.
"Y-Yes."
They both replied at the same time.
"Good! It means you have to stay together at least until Rudeus is not an adult; after that, you can decide for yourself.
So just forget this event ever happened and go back to normal." Arther turned towards Zenith, whose face darkened upon hearing him say that, and continued,
"I know it is hard for you, aunt, but it is the best for the child. Not only that, I believe you and Paul can reconcile with each other too, cz I don't think you didn't know about his tendencies before marrying him."
His words put a stop to Zenith's thoughts of leaving Paul, at least for now.
After all, she always knew who Paul was. She never trusted him to carry out his promise, but still, her heart hoped that he would.
Looking at the contemplating Zenith, Arther spoke again, for the final time, "Uncle Paul, I don't care what promise you made to her before, but now I want to make one to yourself and not anyone else.
Promise yourself you will not forget this day, and be loyal to your only wife. I truly believe you have a good wife, and I don't want you to live miserably without her.
I can save your marriage this time, but if you end up doing something like this again, then maybe you will end up doing something irreversible."
'Of course that would be me taking your wife for myself.' Arther mused evilly.
"Th-Thank you! Arther-kun, I will be forever grateful." Paul said.
"Aunt, I think you should try to move forward for your child. I am sure he wouldn't do anything like this again.
Now, I think I should leave. I need to comfort Lise too."
With that, Arther left the house.
The others also left the scene. Lilia tended to the unconscious Rudeus while Ghislaine went back to the bath.
Paul and Zenith went to their room to speak to each other privately.
-----
The following day, three days prior to Arther's and his party's departure from Buena Village.
It was early morning as Zenith and Lilia completed preparing the breakfast. Rudeus remained in his sleep.
Paul had gone to the village for some work. Ghislaine and Elinalise were training together, while Arther simply practised the basic sword movements of the three core sword styles of this world.
He was trying to peer into the basic essence of these techniques to merge them into one perfect technique.
A technique totally optimised for the Mana flow of the Six-Faced World.
Shuaa! Shuaa! Shing-!
Arther was currently showing off his naked upper body as he continued to swing his sword in seamless yet deadly movements.
"Everyone, food is..."
Ssshhhhh-!
Zenith and Lilia emerged to invite everyone to breakfast, but Ghislaine interrupted them in the middle and asked them to keep quiet for a bit.
By this time, Ghislaine and Elinalise had completed their routine training and were silently observing Arther.
Zenith and Lilia looked at them in confusion before Ghislaine pointed them to Arther, who was fully immersed in his sword training.
Elinalise quietly said, "He is in a trance right now."
"Wha—!"
Lilia nearly let out a startled cry, but Ghislaine quickly covered her mouth to prevent her from speaking.
"Just silently observe. He should be coming out of it within a few minutes." Ghislaine asserted.
"What? D-Do you mean to say he always goes into a trance when he trains?" Zenith was flabbergasted.
"Oops! We forgot to tell you about it. Tehe~" Elinalise grinned while tapping her forehead with her finger.
Both Zenith's and Lilia's eyes widened at this evident revelation as a wry smile appeared on their faces.
'Paul never had a chance. Nobody had!'
As they turned to look at the silver-haired man brandishing his sword, this idea consumed both of their thoughts.
They intently stared at Arther, whose shoulder-length silver hair danced in the air whenever he moved and shone brightly, reflecting the sun.
They saw that his body was drenched in sweat, from head to toe. His bare upper torso looked flawless, as though it had been carved from the purest jade.
With his manly, flawless chest, sculpted arms that were tightly bandaged to withstand more pressure while holding the sword, and ten-pack abs carved across his stomach, his physique resembled that of a Greek god.
His body was a perfect weapon against his enemies, and every swing of his sword demonstrated the care and attention he had given to it.
Zenith and Lilia both gasped in admiration of his rugged physique.
GULP!
Zenith felt as if Arther was really a prince charming from her dreams. After all, to her, he had been his biggest support since Paul tried to cheat on her.
'If only…'
Some dangerous thoughts flashed in her head before she firmly shook her head.
'What am I thinking?'
She had Rudeus. She couldn't let such corrupting thoughts invade her mind.
'Plus, he is polygamous. He will never…'
Ah!
'Do I want him to… No, no, no!
Zenith, you're a married woman!'
Zenith controlled her thumping chest as such dangerous ideas came to her mind.
Meanwhile, Lilia's mouth was also left agape as her eyes widened for a moment.
Evidently, she also had her fair share of thoughts, but that was for some other time.
SHING!!
With a final swing, Arther ended his training as he looked back at them, realising that breakfast was ready.
He retracted his sword and walked towards them.
All of the women's thoughts were assaulted by a potent sweat odour as he approached. They didn't find this smell repulsive; rather, it reminded them of the moments after passionate sex when their bodies glistened with sweat.
For a brief moment, all the women felt their little sisters tingle, and they clasped their thighs together.
Elinalise and Ghislaine, unable to control themselves much, latched on to Arther with towels and cleaned his sweat-filled body with their hands. Of course, they didn't leave any chance to take advantage of his body.
"You both…"
For a minute, Arther was taken aback by their actions. With a sigh, he drew them both into his arms and gave each of them a single kiss on the lips.
"Now stop lusting; we are at someone else's house."
Hmm.
His women nodded silently as he looked back at Zenith and Lilia, who were looking at them wide-eyed, and apologised.
"I am sorry. It's just that we haven't fucked in four days, so they are a bit more active than usual."
His answer shocked them even more, as even though they could imagine Elinalise being so desperate but Ghislaine too, they never imagined that.
Ahem-!
Arther coughed, bringing them back to reality, and said, "Let's eat."
"Y-Yeah." "Yes."
-----
"Arther-kun, can you bring Rudy here? I can't leave the boy out of my sight for too long."
Zenith asked as Arther came out of his bath while she started setting the table for breakfast.
"Sure thing, I will bring him now."
Arther swiftly replied as he thought in his mind, 'Finally…'
He swiftly entered Zenith's room and looked at the crib where Rudues slept.
'Let's try and see if I can completely seal your Mana. And end most of the future storylines in one go.'
At last, Arther revealed his real motivation for visiting Buena Village. He wanted to find out how much he could manipulate the story without the World's Will turning against him.
To find out more about how 'protagonists' employed Luck, he felt it was imperative to conduct this test.
Not only that, he wanted to learn at what point he would suffer a backlash to undermine the 'protagonist'.
'I can destroy every protagonist using underhanded techniques if they are not protected.'
With that thought, he pointed his finger at Rudeus's belly button, aka his Mana Pool, and sent his Mana into it.
[Warning!]
.....
Author's Note:
>> Finally, it was time to learn more about the protagonists.
>> I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Here is a nearly 2K-word chapter as compensation for not posting yesterday.
>> Check out my other work. I am sure you will definitely like it very much.
Title- LONE: The Journey Beyond
Link- https://www.webnovel.com/book/lone-the-journey-beyond_23576460306682905
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