Roel Ascart had a nightmare.

  The world he saw in his dream was pitch-black, reminiscent of a boundless ocean where the sun never rose. He walked on this boundless ocean with feelings of helplessness and confusion looming in his heart.

  Unlike the first time he met Grandar and Peytra, where he was guided to his destination in a dazed state, he was much more self-aware in this dream. There was no feeling of numbness at all. However, that didn’t make this dream any more pleasant; on the contrary, it felt much worse.

  The ancient gods’ guidance blurring his consciousness were, in a sense, their way of protecting him. The long journey he had to take in order to pay his respects to them would have heaped substantial mental fatigue on him otherwise, making him utterly exhausted by the time he was standing before them.

  Standing amidst the darkness, he slowly began to perceive his surroundings. He wasn’t too sure what was going on right now, but he sensed a familiar aura lingering in the area. It was coming from beneath his feet, within the ocean depths; it was the bone-chilling aura of a glacier.

  As if it had a life of its own, Roel had a feeling that the aura was waving its hand at him, beckoning him over. He hesitantly scanned his surroundings once more, and after affirming that there was truly nothing else around did he finally dive into the ocean.

  Oddly enough, he didn’t feel suffocated in the murky waters.

  He spotted a tinge of light far off below, a small hint of blue amidst this monotonous black world, located at the bottom of the ocean. It was coming from a glacier. Along with his approach, this glacier seemed to come to life. It floated upward and into his embrace, attracted to his presence.

  It was the feeling of a hatchling returning to its nest, delighted and relieved. Despite the lack of communication, Roel could still vividly feel its emotions. The glacier seeped into his body, and the water around him gradually began to light up in blue. Intuitively, he knew that it was time for him to depart.

  But amidst this harmonious atmosphere, an unimaginable pressure suddenly crushed down on Roel, leaving him feeling as if his body was being pierced by something. He felt goosebumps rising all over his body as warning bells blared in his mind. He looked into the distance, only to recoil in horror right after.

  A pair of eyes was staring at him, only to vanish in the next instant……

  “AH!”


  “Darling?”


  In a bedroom of Hundred Birds Gallery, the sleeping Roel suddenly lurched upright with a yelp. He gasped desperately for air. Unknowingly, his back was already completely drenched. His current state shocked Charlotte, who was dressed in her sleepwear beside him.

  Charlotte quickly rose up from the bed to examine the black-haired boy, who was still staring blankly ahead of him with eyes widened in shock, and after confirming that his physical condition was normal, she heaved a soft sigh of relief. She leaned forward a little and wrapped her hands around Roel’s neck, pulling him into her embrace to console him.

  “Darling, did you have a nightmare?”


  “Haa, haa. I think so……”


  “Everything is fine, there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s all over now.”


  “.…… Mm.”


  Feeling the consoling warmth coming from Charlotte, Roel’s eyes flickered around the room nervously before his breathing gradually calmed down. His shaken state triggered Charlotte’s desire to protect, and she tightened her arms around him. A short moment later, she began speaking to distract him from his nightmare.

  “I’m surprised. I never thought that I would see such an expression on your face.”


  “Hm? What kind of expression was it?”


  “A frightened look. You never showed fear despite the many close shaves we had on the Golden Fleet. I never thought that I would see such a side to you.”


  “.…… Isn’t it normal to be afraid of nightmares?”


  Roel argued indignantly in Charlotte’s arms, which only deepened the smile on the latter’s face. She reached out to stroke his black hair as she murmured softly.

  “Ah, I remember now. I think there was one time I saw fear in your eyes. It was when that monster nearly killed me in the ship’s hold. You were frightened then, weren’t you?”


  “.…… Yeah.”


  Roel hesitated for a moment before nodding.

  “.…… I nearly failed to make it in time. I was really afraid for a moment there.”


  “Hehe, do I mean that much to you?”


  “.……”


  Faced with Charlotte’s teasing question, Roel silently turned his blushing face away, which just further amused the auburn-haired girl.

  How adorable!

  “I-I promised big sister Isabella to take care of you then. Besides, if anything had happened to you back then, our Ascart House would face a great deal of trouble too.”


  “Oh? If that’s the case, why did you charge out after driving that monster off then? Wasn’t it because you were angry at him for almost taking my life?”


  “.…… I was just being safe.”


  “Bwahahahaha! Alright alright, darling. I believe you.”


  “Tsk.”


  Charlotte leaned closer a little and rubbed her cheeks against Roel’s affectionately, which made the latter click his tongue out of embarrassment. The two of them continued hugging for a very long while before Charlotte suddenly spoke up.

  “Thank you.”


  “.…… It’s nothing. It’s only right that I do that.”


  Knowing that the defense line around his heart had practically crumbled by now, Roel couldn’t help but sigh helplessly. It hadn’t been long since he got to know Charlotte, but the more time they spent together, the deeper he found himself succumbing to her charms.

  “Darling, are you feeling better now?”


  “Mm? Ah, yes. I’m feeling much better now. It’s just that…… something still feels wrong with what I experienced.”


  “How so?”


  “It didn’t feel like just a nightmare.”


  As Roel thought back on the nightmare, his hands began huddling closer to his body out of insecurity. It was still vivid in his mind, the tremendous pressure of the stare and the utter panic it invoked in him. He had heard theories in his previous life that dreams usually stemmed from real life encounters, but the nightmare he had was so inexplicable that it seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

  Not to mention, the content of his dreams was also……

  “You managed to tame Glacier Creator, but you were spotted by a bizarre pair of eyes?”


  “Yes, that would be roughly it.”


  “Wait a moment, this…… Could it possibly be…… the Mother Goddess?”


  “.……”


  Roel fell silent before Charlotte’s question, that, in turn, induced the dilation of the latter’s eyes. Her face gradually paled as she came to realize the implications of the matter.

  It was not a joking matter to be under the watch of a god, and it usually bore an ominous premonition. Since ancient times, one of the greatest fears rulers had was to catch the attention of a god and be turned into a puppet, which was why they made sure to tread carefully and not offend the gods…… but Roel actually absorbed the powers of one of a God’s Envoys!

  Charlotte felt incredibly panicked, and seeing this, Roel quickly grabbed her hand to comfort her.

  “It’s just a guess at the moment. There’s no need to worry too much about it yet. It might just be an ordinary nightmare.”


  “But……”


  “Don’t worry. Even if it’s more than a nightmare, the situation isn’t that dire yet.”


  Roel fell into deep thought after. It had been around a month since he had absorbed the powers of Glacier Creator. This was the first time a slight mishap had happened, so it would be unwise to jump to conclusions so quickly. Furthermore, there was also insufficient information for them to conclude that those powerful eyes belonged to the Mother Goddess.

  Even if it was truly the Mother Goddess, it still wasn’t a huge cause of concern yet. According to legend, it had been a long time since She had passed away, though it looked more like She had just fallen into eternal sleep at the moment. In any case, as long as She was unable to interfere with present reality, the threat She posed would be minimal.

  Admittedly, it was an optimistic point of view, but as the saying went, ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst’. He would definitely make thorough preparations for it on the off case that things went awry, but till then, there was no point worrying too much about it.

  Wait a moment, could this be the reason why Grandar told me not to absorb Glacier Creator?

  Many possibilities rose in Roel’s mind. He felt that there was really a need for him to meet with his old friend and have a chat about it soon.

  “I’m sorry, Roel. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have been put in such a position……”


  A choked voice sounded in Roel’s ears, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned his head in astonishment, only to see tears brimming in Charlotte’s eyes. For some reason, he felt an ache in his heart, and he quickly moved in to console her.

  “What nonsense are you spouting? This has nothing to do with you. It only happened because I absorbed the powers of Glacier Creator in order to enhance my bloodline.”


  “But…… if not for me, you wouldn’t have met that monster in the first place.”


  “I only came across that monster due to my bloodline ability. Have you forgotten that big sister Isabella is engaged to my ancestor, Winstor? Even if you hadn’t asked me to look for the heritage of the Golden Fleet with you, I would have still continued investigating the matter by tracing down Winstor’s footsteps. I was bound to stumble upon the Six Calamities eventually. So, it isn’t your fault at all. Listen to me and stop thinking too much into it.”


  Roel wiped off the tears from Charlotte’s eyes as he spoke. The auburn-haired girl nodded softly as she hugged him even more tightly. There was a long moment of silence before she finally raised a question that she had been hesitant to ask all this while.

  “Roel, did big sister Isabella eventually……”


  “.……”


  Instead of answering Charlotte’s question, Roel hugged her a little tighter. Charlotte was stunned for a moment before she found herself unable to hold back her tears anymore. She rested her head on Roel’s shoulder as she began crying pitifully.

  Roel quietly patted her back to console her.

  The Witness State was, ultimately, just a parallel reality. In the real history, without Roel’s interference, the Earth Goddess wouldn’t have made an appearance to curb Sire Darkness, which meant that the downfall of the Golden Fleet would have been inevitable. In the end, Isabella never got to meet Winstor again, and that letter became their final exchange.

  After learning of the feelings between Isabella and Winstor, Roel could finally understand the actions of his ancestor a little, be it why he chose to turn a blind eye to all those women courting him, or why he continued to travel far and wide his entire life, never truly resting at all.

  It was for vengeance. He wanted to exact vengeance for his wife.

  It was likely that the frightening monster known as Sire Darkness was eventually hunted down by Winstor, which would explain why humankind never came to be threatened by it. The enemies he had devoted his life to putting down would have been more than just Sire Darkness; there was also the Saints Convocation and the rest of the Six Calamities. He was determined to splatter the blood of his enemies in honor of his one true love.

  HIs enemies probably trembled in fear before his wrath, until he mysteriously vanished from the face of the world.

  Centuries later, Winstor and Isabella’s bloodline descendants encountered each other once again, and they had inherited their respective houses’ bloodlines in full too. What could fate possibly hold in store for them this time around?

  Roel had no way of knowing what awaited in the future, but if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that he would never err as Winstor once did.

  Feeling the warmth on his shoulder, his determination became stronger than ever. He knew that it was time to stop hiding and make his move now.

  Tomorrow, I’ll look for Alicia.