Chapter 25: APeace on the Verge of Being Lost

Kael turned his head, gazing at Xavier, who was now lying weakly on the grass.

It turned out that the legendary wolf had secretly followed them all the way here. This fact only further piqued his immense curiosity: what bloodline did Lizzy actually come from?

The most likely possibility was that she was the daughter of a high-ranking Imperial noble, or perhaps even someone who had been cast out despite her noble blood.

However, other possibilities remained open as well. After all, the power the wolf had unleashed just now was far more massive and terrifying than when he had attacked Kael in the forest that day.

"It seems he’s only just recovered from his old injuries and has to gradually expend the energy he has left," Kael silently analyzed. "Even the slash wounds I carved into his body that day have now vanished without a trace. But... why did he choose to fire such an enormous magical flare into the sky? Did he realize that his remaining magical energy was running low and deliberately summon the kingdom’s reinforcements? A magnificent Mythical Beast would go this far for us? No... it must be because he wants to protect Lizzy."

Kael couldn’t help but arrive at that conclusion.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps approached him, accompanied by a voice that was as sweet and gentle as it was unmistakably affectionate, brimming with a mixture of worry and overwhelming happiness. Kael didn’t even need to guess twice to know who it belonged to.

"Kael...!"

Lizzy sprang forward, rushing straight into her husband’s arms and wrapping them tightly around his neck. She buried her face against Kael’s chest.

"How dare they hurt you this badly! I... I even wanted to torture those bastards a little longer before taking their lives!"

Kael smiled faintly and raised his hand to gently stroke his wife’s back.

"We were only apart for a few hours, so why have you missed me this much, hm? Besides, wounds like these... they’re just minor injuries. They’ll heal on their own once they’re treated."

Hearing such an affectionate display suddenly unfolding right before her eyes, Cherry, who was standing not far away, immediately snorted in annoyance. The sharp pang of jealousy rose within her once again, but she knew this was absolutely not the right time to vent her feelings.

"Take care of those wounds before continuing your embrace, Kael!" Cherry snapped. She turned a full 180 degrees, presenting her back to them with her arms folded across her chest.

Lizzy paid absolutely no attention to Cherry’s sarcastic remark. She loosened her embrace for a moment, gazed into Kael’s eyes with a loving sparkle in hers, then patted the ground beside her.

"Sit beside me, Kael. Let me clean and treat your wounds."

"Wait a moment, Lizzy," Kael replied sincerely, gently holding his wife’s wrist. "Before that, I need to find Loyd and make sure he’s all right."

Those words immediately triggered a terrifying reaction. Lizzy’s pupils narrowed sharply, and a thick aura of murderous intent began seeping from her body once again.

"Is that cowardly man more important than me?! Tell me, Kael... should I just kill him right now so you won’t have to waste any more time paying attention to him?!"

Kael instantly felt a chill run down his spine as cold sweat poured down his temples. Without wasting a second, he quickly pulled himself back and sat cross-legged right beside Lizzy, wearing the most obedient and peaceful smile he could muster.

"Hehe... Of course not, darling! Naturally, I should let my beloved wife treat me before thinking about anything else. Besides, the situation in this village is safe now, right?"

Seeing how obedient Kael was being, the anger on Lizzy’s face evaporated instantly, replaced by a sweet blush.

"Now that’s more like it!"

With great care and tenderness, Lizzy reached into her medical pouch, applied green antiseptic ointment to his wounds, and then wrapped clean white bandages around the injuries covering Kael’s body.

"You have so many wounds, Kael... From now on, you must get plenty of rest and stop doing reckless things," Lizzy scolded him in a caring, almost motherly tone.

"Yes, yes... I promise I’ll get enough rest later," Kael replied with a soft chuckle, affectionately ruffling Lizzy’s white hair. "Thank you so much, Lizzy... for always worrying about me."

Although he was smiling, Kael’s thoughts had already drifted far into the future. He couldn’t deny the bitter reality that the magical flare Xavier had released would certainly have been detected by the palace’s magical surveillance network. Sooner or later, the official forces of the Leonheart Kingdom would undoubtedly be dispatched here to investigate the source of the black magic explosion.

The Leonheart Kingdom... was the place where he had last worked as a mercenary. It was the kingdom he had fought to defend with everything he had during the war several years ago, before he and the Black Wolf mercenary group set up camp to collect their pay.

But before that...

Kael still clearly remembered the day he first set foot in the central palace. Shortly after their glorious victory over the Vermilion Kingdom’s forces and his triumph over a legendary Three-Star Knight, Kael had been specially summoned by the king to appear before his throne.

At the time, the King of Leonheart had been deeply impressed by Kael’s extraordinary combat achievements. He had intended to reward him with immense wealth and officially appoint him as a royal Knight, granting him an honorable position.

However, Kael had flatly refused all the offers of gold and noble titles. Of course, refusing a direct offer from a king was no simple matter. He had to choose his words carefully to avoid being perceived as insulting the royal court.

Instead, Kael had calmly made one special request to the ruler. Rather than asking for gold coins for himself, he had pleaded with the kingdom to provide substantial funding to renovate and build proper facilities in the impoverished villages where Tessia and Yohan had been born, a neglected and underdeveloped region that had long been abandoned by corrupt nobles.

And his final request... was simply for a high-quality Knight’s sword forged from pure steel. It wasn’t for himself, but to be placed upon the grave of the late Luis as a final tribute.

Kael had stubbornly refused worldly wealth because he didn’t want to profit personally from the blood and deaths of his comrades-in-arms. He wanted all those rewards to be distributed to the living, to those who were still in need. As for Luis... in Kael’s eyes, that stiff young man deserved to be remembered as a true hero who had fallen with honor.

During the great war against the Vermilion Kingdom, Kael had also crossed paths directly with the elite Knight order of the Leonheart Kingdom.

Although the arrogant royal knights had initially looked down on him as nothing more than a lowly mercenary, their attitudes had changed 180 degrees and turned into genuine respect after witnessing Kael behead the enemy’s Three-Star Knight.

"It seems... I really do need to prepare myself to meet them again," Kael sighed inwardly, letting out a long, weary breath.

To Kael, the arrival of the royal forces would undoubtedly bring a wave of extremely annoying bureaucratic complications. He hated crowds, and he dreaded the possibility that the peace of his new life with Lizzy in their forest cabin would be disrupted by interrogations from the royal nobles.

On the other hand, however, if he could cleverly take advantage of this situation, there might be some hidden benefits to be gained.

His curiosity about Lizzy’s past especially the dark assassin organization that had trained his wife since childhood, still left him with countless unanswered questions.

If he could track down secret records or uncover the network of the dark syndicate that had hunted Lizzy in the past, he would surely find reliable clues about the true identity of the woman beside him and her biological family.

Kael glanced at Lizzy as she neatly packed away her medical supplies, a sincere smile on her face.

He was absolutely one hundred percent certain: Lizzy was no ordinary girl from a commoner’s family. Her rare, naturally white hair, along with the fact that she was protected by an ancient Mythical Beast, was already undeniable proof that a grand destiny had been deliberately concealed within his wife’s past.