Book 5: Chapter 6: Accept (1)
Dyon’s world went dizzy for an instant. He wasn’t used to being the one teleported away as he was always the one controlling it. It seemed Clara had improved quite a bit in these two years. Although with a peak 3rd stage soul, her teleportation radius was only a few hundred meters, that was more than enough to move directly from one side of the palace to another.
“What are you doing?” Dyon said weakly, stumbling forward only be caught by who he assumed was Clara.
There was no response, but Dyon could feel himself being lifted up into the air before being dropped down on something soft. The feeling felt familiar, so he immediately understood that this was the very same bed he had woken up on.
Flashing gold lights assaulted his blurred vision, fading away in the next instant.
Then, Dyon felt something tight binding his wrists, before he felt the same sensation on his ankles. Before he knew it, he was spread out like a star. If he could see himself now, he’d look like a cross between a pale ghost and an incredulous housewife.
“You can’t be serious. Can we talk about this? What is going on?!”
Dyon once again received no response, all he felt were his pants being but off and a slightly comfortable breeze hitting a place it shouldn’t usually hit.
Even in this state, Dyon couldn’t help but laugh. “And you call me a pervert. You want to take advantage of a wounded man like this? Have you no shame?”
“Hmph, you should be more worried about whether you can get it up or not. It’d be pretty embarrassing if you had ED at only 18.”
“Hey, wait. You aren’t serious, are you? This isn’t even the solution I had!”
Dyon suddenly felt a weight climb on top of him. And somehow, despite his weakness, it felt exceedingly comfortable.
“Don’t lie to me. Not now.” The laughter in Clara’s voice had disappeared, Dyon could only remain silent.
“I know the truth and what it takes to use The Seal, you just weren’t willing to tell us. So, instead, you made us run around madly trying to get you to the Epistemic Tower when all along it had taken you ten minutes to think of a solution. Do you think you were being brave? Or selfless? Do you think that this is something that pains me? Do you like making decisions for me that much?”
Droplets of liquid fell onto Dyon’s torso as he felt two small palms touch down to his chest.
There seemed to be something deeper about Clara’s words… As though her tears had nothing to do with this situation, but rather guilt at not having died along with her father and friends… As though she resented Dyon’s decision to take her away…
When she thought that she’d at least be able to have Dyon lifting her up by her side, to dull that pain, he had fallen into a coma and been struck with amnesia. He couldn’t even see her properly anymore. Dyon had no idea how much is pained Clara to see him like this.
“Forget it. All that matter now is that your wives and me are too smart for you to fool for so long. In fact, I’m certain that Madeleine and Clara figured it out a long time ago, they just weren’t willing to tell me for the same reason you weren’t.”
Clara couldn’t have been more correct… Madeleine was the first to understand the method to heal Dyon, and she understood mere moments after Little Lyla called Dyon out for withholding information. Ri wasn’t too far behind either…
The reason it had taken Clara almost two years to understand was because this solution wasn’t just about being intelligent. It required being intelligent and having a strong understanding of the martial world, something Clara just didn’t have back then.
Dyon stared at the ceiling silently. From the moment he had woken up, his vision had been getting worse and worse, almost as though as he ran out of energy, so did his senses go as well. But, that didn’t stop an overwhelming guilt from sinking deep into his stomach. Whether Clara truly figured out what she had to do or not no longer mattered, what mattered to Dyon was that she would have to do something like this for the sake of saving his life… He didn’t feel like it was fair.
“Do you know how long it took me to figure out that it wasn’t normal for others to be able to use treasures you had bound your soul to? I feel silly just thinking about it.” Clara said softly.
Dyon could feel her shifting on his chest before soft fabric landed on his face. He was agitated in not being able to see, but just the thought of what was happening made him immediately react.
Clara felt something poking at the small of her back and when she turned around, she couldn’t help but be stunned.
“Pervert! You can’t even see!” Clara harrumphed, but the beating of her quickened, as she whispered her next words in a voice Dyon was too weak to hear. “Why couldn’t that thing shrink like the rest of you…”
“What can I say, your clothes smell nice. Plus… Apparently it’s been two years…” Dyon would shrug, but his hands and feet were tied. In fact, they were done so tightly that it made him question Clara’s strength. “You’ve been cultivating?”
Clara nodded although Dyon’s vision was blocked by her dress. “Ri and Madeleine wouldn’t let me go until I reached the ninth foundation stage. But, it seems I can’t continue from then on. No matter how hard I try, I can’t sense my meridians.”
Dyon sighed. Although the seals were effectively undone now, Clara’s energy cultivation talent was technically still locked in The Seal right now.
A sudden realization came over Clara. “Stop distracting me! I know the truth now and you won’t get out of this.”