Velc gulped hard, fear twisting in his gut as his son dared to speak out against the princess of this Empire—a woman known for her terrifying authority. Her expression had already shifted, her calmness melting into cold fury.
‘Does he have a death wish or what?’ Velc screamed inwardly, his heart pounding. He quickly stepped forward, desperate to defuse the tension before it escalated. “Kai, you need t–” he began, but his words were cut short.
Kai smirked, a cocky glint in his eyes, and casually shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t fear anymore, Father… I, your son, am more than capable of handling this,” he declared, his voice laced with pride, chin slightly raised as if already victorious.
Velc’s lips twitched awkwardly. He turned his head toward Xara, silently pleading for support. But she didn’t move, didn’t say a word—just stared at Kai with a firm, disapproving frown etched deep into her expression.
Kai slowly turned his gaze toward the rest of the room, his voice rising with frustration. “You all are looking down on me… just because I’m not acting like the so-called real one. Because I’m fake, huh? But let me tell you something—I’m the one chosen among the Chosen Ones!
The Mother Goddess herself said that to me! And now, I’ll show you just how real I am!”
As his eyes began to glow with energy, a sudden, immense pressure descended upon the dining room like a storm. The air thickened, almost too heavy to breathe.
The dining room seemed to groan under the force, as if something massive and invisible was pressing down on everyone’s shoulders and chests.
“Arrhh!” Timmy gasped, his body trembling as the overwhelming pressure crashed into him.
“Arhh!” Velc staggered, gritting his teeth. His eyes widened in disbelief as he recognized the power. ‘I-It’s almost… almost like my father’s presence… Don’t tell me… m-my son… this is… this is his power?’ A mixture of awe and pride flickered across his face.
Hearing their reactions, Kai grinned, basking in the chaos. “How is it now, huh?” he taunted, his glowing eyes sweeping the table, searching for awe and fear. But his expression soured when his gaze landed on Aqualina.
She was calm… Too calm?
Aqualina sat as if nothing was happening. No signs of strain, not even the twitch of a brow. Her expression was completely still—cold, bored, unaffected.
Kai narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m almost at level 80… there’s no damn way she should be able to withstand this…’
His lips curled into a grin, trying to cover his growing doubt. “Oh? Hiding your embarrassment, are we? It’s alright if you feel my power—you don’t have to act tough—”
Slap!
A sharp sound cracked through the room, and Kai flinched, immediately turning toward the source.
Aether sat there, casually rubbing his shoulder as if he had just swatted away an insect. His expression was smug, relaxed.
“Bugs these days… are just annoying,” Aether muttered nonchalantly. He gave Kai a single, amused glance with a half-smirk before turning toward Xara. “Don’t you agree, Mom?”
A tick throbbed on Kai’s forehead, a vein pulsing with fury. Why the hell wasn’t this lowly slave being affected by his aura?
He narrowed his eyes and released even more pressure, focusing it directly on Aether—trying to crush him, to make him kneel.
Thud!
Timmy collapsed to the ground, unconscious, unable to withstand the power. Velc was barely holding himself up, his arms trembling. “K-Kai… you need to stop… arhh…”
Aether noticed Kai’s growing aggression and sighed inwardly. He couldn’t blow his cover so suddenly, not yet.
“Arrhh…” Aether let out a shaky groan, clutching his chest. “I… I… this… arrrh!!”
Kai’s eyes lit up with vindication. He stood tall and raised a clenched fist in triumph, grinning widely as he turned toward his mother. His heart was thudding with pride,
‘See! See, Mother! I’m better than that slave you adopted!! Look at him! Look how he crumbles beneath me!’ He shouted inwardly.
But then—
“M-Mom…arrhh! H-Help…” Aether suddenly collapsed—not onto the floor, but into Xara’s lap. He practically launched himself out of his chair, landing face-first against her thighs like he’d passed out mid-air.
What the hell?
If someone falls unconscious, they slump backwards or crash onto their table or chair—like Timmy did… That was natural.
But this guy…
Xara’s lips visibly twitched. She didn’t move, but her expression spoke volumes. She knew Aether wasn’t affected by the pressure at all. Not even a little.
‘This guy…’ She gritted her teeth, her thoughts seething as she looked down at the audacious man using every little moment to tease her.
Aether smirked inwardly, his face buried in the warmth of her soft, supple thighs. Oh, how he wanted to stay there, to nuzzle in deeper, to lose himself completely… but he had to hold back.
He had to keep the act going.
He knew it wasn’t the right time yet to drop the mask… after all, he just started something… something he needed to do!!
Veins popped on Kai’s forehead, but he simply snorted, proud and smug, believing he had taught Aether a proper lesson. He then turned toward Aqualina, expecting her to be subdued like the others. But when he saw her still unaffected, calm and unmoved, Kai grinned cockily.
“You really are a stubborn one, aren’t you?… But now you understand my worth, don’t you?” His tone was playful yet arrogant, eyes narrowing with self-satisfaction.
“You want me back now, right?” he added, flashing her a confident grin as he gradually pulled back his aura, removing the pressure that had blanketed the room.
Aqualina’s lips twitched slightly, as did Aether’s—both clearly reacting, not to the pressure, but to Kai’s absurd sense of delusion.
Kai misread her expressions and grinned even wider. “Too bad,” he said, his voice low and mocking, “I ain’t going to marry you anymore. I. Lost. Interest!” His tone was laced with superiority, as if he were the one bestowing mercy.
Aqualina’s lips twitched more violently now, clearly on the edge of snapping.
Kai looked at her as if she were pitiful, a creature beneath him. “You lost me… now and forever, Aqualina. You’re worthless to me now,” he said with a disgusted sneer, as if just the sight of her sickened him.
“I didn’t see it before. Love blinded me. But now… now I see you for what you really are—a snake. A sly, manipulative woman who tried to use me.” His voice darkened, dripping with accusation. “All this time, even when I gave you my everything, my loyalty, my heart… you never returned anything. You were like a leech, clinging to me, slowly trying to destroy me from the inside.”
He shuddered dramatically, as if remembering some narrow escape. “Thank the Mother Goddess I dodged that bullet.”
His eyes narrowed further, his face twisted with bitter resentment. “To think I actually loved you… a bitc—”
Cough!!
Aether suddenly let out a harsh, choking cough from Xara’s lap, still feigning unconsciousness. He wasn’t about to let that next word escape—not if he wanted to avoid an all-out bloodbath.
Velc nearly choked on his breath, hearing that word almost spill from Kai’s mouth. He hurried forward, trying to defuse the escalating disaster, “K-Kai, calm down,” he said quickly. But inwardly, he was screaming, ‘You damn idiot! Calling The Princess with filthy words… arrh… I’ll be the one suffering if her mother finds out about this!’
Despite that, he couldn’t entirely hide the pride swelling in him—his son had awakened true power… But still, poking a sleeping dragon like Aqualina’s mother was pure suicide.
“Let me speak, Father!” Kai growled with passionate fury. “Do you even understand how long I’ve wanted to say all of this? How much I’ve suffered holding it in? This… this is my time! My moment! I will make her regret everything. She’ll beg to have me back! Just wait and watch!”
Velc’s face went pale. “E-Even so, you need to watch your damn mouth, Kai. What if she tells her mother everything?” he said, panicking with genuine concern.
Kai scoffed, chest puffed out with confidence. “So what? I am the Chosen among the Chosen Ones! Even the Empress herself can’t touch me—not when the Mother Goddess is the one guiding and blessing me!” he said with blind faith and a fiery seriousness in his voice.
Aqualina let out a long, tired sigh. Then, raising her eyes, she asked flatly, “Have you finished speaking?”
Kai smirked again, arms crossed like a king before his court. “What? Already begging fo—”
“I wasn’t talking to you, you worthless mongrel,” Aqualina cut in coldly, and she didn’t even glance at him. Instead, she looked straight at Velc and calmly raised her hand. “The dissolution?”
Velc swallowed thickly, visibly nervous, but finally gave a small nod. He had no choice. Aqualina was here for a reason—a formal, irreversible one. She had come to officially dissolve the engagement.
“Wait… what?” Kai’s cocky smile disappeared instantly, his face falling into confused disbelief as he watched his father retrieve a scroll from within his coat.
Aqualina’s lips curved into a slight smirk. “Just so you know… I didn’t come here to see you. I came here to dissolve our engagement. That means, I don’t give a damn about you. I don’t care who you think you are.”
“W-What…?” Kai whispered, stunned.