Sunshine warmly gave life to the world.
A cool breeze swept through the area, the birds chirping, countless flowers dancing, and the fragrance of plum blossoms filling the air.
The atmosphere was peaceful.
Zayden, who was lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes and raised his body to sit.
He narrowed his eyes, feeling disoriented and confused.
After his mind became much clearer, he blinked a few times.
’Did I fall asleep?’
He tried to remember what had happened.
The last thing he remembered was lying beside Aria’s grave.
And... he did not remember what happened after that.
When his gaze finally adjusted to everything around him, he was stunned.
There were no graves beside him.
Zayden frowned.
"Zayden."
Suddenly, a woman’s voice resounded behind him, which made his body tremble.
The voice that he really wanted to hear again, directly.
The voice that made all of his pain go away.
The voice that gave him the sense of home.
Zayden turned to look back, and what he saw made him want to cry.
Aria was standing there with her beautiful smile. She wore one of her favorite dresses. She looked casual but also elegant.
Her hands were behind her back, and her expression showed how happy she was to see him again.
Zayden instantly stood up and, with trembling steps, approached Aria.
Aria was still smiling as she kept her gaze locked with Zayden’s.
"Why do you seem like you want to cry?" she asked softly with her cheeky smile.
Zayden did not answer. Instead, he kept walking toward her until he finally reached her.
He touched her beautiful face and rubbed her cheeks.
He finally could touch her again.
His tears finally fell.
"Aria."
His voice trembled.
Aria was still smiling as she lifted both of her hands and touched his cheeks while also wiping his tears.
"Why are you crying, my dear?" she asked softly.
Zayden did not answer. Instead, he hugged her.
He hugged her tightly.
As if he did not want to let her go.
He hugged her as if he wanted to absorb all the warmth from her body.
He stroked her long hair with full of affection.
Zayden’s tears continued to fall without answering her question.
Aria only smiled and let Zayden cry in silence while continuing to hug him.
His body was trembling. Only the sound of a sobbing man could be heard in this moment.
After Zayden was able to calm himself, he finally separated from Aria.
He looked at Aria with watery eyes.
"I just had a really bad dream," he replied.
Aria raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"A bad dream?"
Zayden nodded, but he did not say anything more. He glanced elsewhere as if he simply did not want to talk about it.
Aria nodded in understanding and continued smiling.
"Zayden, my love," she said with full of love, which made Zayden turn to look at her again.
"You have to keep moving forward and stay strong to face any challenge in the future. Just like all this time, you have become a strong figure for me. The figure that protected me. And you have already done your best for me."
"Now you have to become a strong figure not only for yourself but also for our daughter. She still needs you, her strong father."
Zayden’s eyes trembled.
"What are you talking—"
"Zayden, keep living on. Keep moving forward."
Aria’s words cut him off as her body turned transparent and slowly disappeared into particles of light.
"Aria!" Zayden shouted and wanted to hug her again.
But his hug only met with air.
He couldn’t hug her.
"Take care of our daughter, Zayden." She showed her most beautiful smile.
"I love you."
"Aria!"
Zayden could only watch as Aria disappeared into particles of light, and at the same time, his surroundings suddenly shattered.
It was like reality itself was crumbling.
Darkness consumed Zayden entirely.
"Aria!" His shout resounded in the darkness.
At that exact moment, Zayden suddenly opened his eyes, and his gaze clearly saw the ground.
His breathing was uneven, and sweat rolled down his face.
He looked to the side and narrowed his eyes as he saw the sunrise.
The sunrise created a beautiful sight. The warmth and soft hues of dawn spread across the horizon, covering the vast grassland and the hills.
Zayden turned to look at his surroundings and finally realized that he had fallen asleep with his head on top of Aria’s grave.
"Kid, are you okay?"
His master asked in his mind.
Zayden took a deep breath and released a long sigh.
"I’m alright, Master. I just didn’t realize that I had fallen asleep. It looks like I’m really just too tired. I’m still too reckless. I’m sorry, Master."
"It’s alright. Taking a rest once in a while is no harm. It could help release some of your stress."
"Master, my apologies for my offense, but I just feel strange that you talked as if you understand that sleep could relieve some stress. I thought that you never sleep as a spirit artifact, and because of that, the way you trained me is like someone who did not understand the concept of resting or sleeping."
Hearing Zayden’s response, a bulge appeared on the dragon’s forehead.
Despite his face still being covered with blinding light, the bulge seemed to have appeared clearly.
"Do you want me to drag you here and let you experience it again?"
"No, Master. Have mercy. I’m just saying." Zayden quickly replied.
The dragon released a sigh as if he was trying to control himself.
He understood that Zayden was the type who was quite blunt with his words.
He had understood it during the time he trained Zayden.
Zayden’s answers were sometimes like sarcasm or even a sneer.
So the dragon did not take it to heart.
There was a moment of silence as Zayden enjoyed the sight of the sunrise.
Only after fifteen minutes did Zayden finally stand up.
He tapped his butt to clean it from the dirt and turned to look at Aria’s grave.
He smiled at her as if she were still there, looking at him with her charming smile.
He really wanted to make her grave much more beautiful. He wanted to engrave his words of love for her.
But he did not want to leave any clues of his return if someone came upon the grave.
They could only guess who had buried Aria and his house staff, but they would never expect that Zayden Dravenhart was the one who buried them.
"Aria, I will go first. I promise to come back again in the future. I promise to bring you justice. All of you too, Ira, Elis, Rowan, Feris," Zayden said to all of the graves.
Zayden looked at Aria’s grave for a moment before he finally took a step, and then another step.
His figure left the five graves with a posture of determination and the oath that he had sworn inside his heart.
His amicable and warm expression had already returned to calm.
His calm eyes did not show any ripple.
But beneath that calm gaze lay his wrath, his agony, his sorrow, and...
His desire for revenge.
’This empire must fall.’
’The imperial family, the Reinfort family, all of those traitors, everyone that blocks my path toward revenge. I will bring down all of them.’
’They will feel despair.’
’They will feel how I feel.’
’They will feel the regret of turning me into this.’
’The regret that they will carry until their death.’
The sunrise behind him shone upon his figure, as if signaling that the new Zayden had been born.
The new Zayden who was ready to create a storm.
Zayden kept walking, intending to leave the place that had already become his home for so long.
However, before he could leave the line of dead plum blossoms, he sensed someone in the distance.
That person actually dared to enter the sealed area.
The figure was entering from the same way he had entered last night.
Zayden’s eyes narrowed, but he kept walking and approaching this newcomer.
He had already transformed himself into the disguise that he had used last night.
He then hid behind one of the trees. He had already made sure to hide his presence to the maximum.
If there was nothing that triggered him to reveal even the slightest bit of his presence, even a sixth-stage cultivator would not be able to detect him.
Zayden could sense that this person was familiar, which made him narrow his eyes.
Zayden then finally realized who it was.
’Rick?’
The person who had come was Rick, the branch leader of the Spider Net Pavilion of Bakdum City.
Zayden’s eyes narrowed further.
’Why is he here?’
Rick seemed to observe the poles of execution for a moment before he looked toward the line of trees.
Zayden’s eyes glistened.
He did not know why Rick had come here, but he was ready to kill Rick if he approached his house.
And sure enough, Zayden saw Rick continue walking toward his house.
When Rick reached three hundred meters from his house, Zayden was ready to deliver a killing blow.
However, before Zayden could make a move, Rick’s voice resounded.
"Sir Frederick, are you here? This is me, Rick."
Now Zayden was confused.
’Why is Rick making himself known? Why is Rick looking for me as if he knows that I came here?’
"Sir, if you are here, please show yourself. I come with no ill intent."
Rick’s voice resounded again.
Zayden thought for a moment before he asked his master.
"Master, what do you think? Why did he come here and look for me? He seems confident that I’m here."
"This is quite strange. But in my opinion, it looks like that guy might have connected the dots from his conversation with you last night. He obviously found something from the way you acted and decided to come here, maybe to test his theory."
His master answered.
"I did not sense that he has any ill intent. And I did not sense anyone besides him within an area of more than fifty kilometers. But you still have to be careful. His presence here has many unknown and dangerous possibilities for you."
Zayden nodded.
After contemplating for a moment, he decided to confront Rick.