Ion didn’t respond to Rhode quickly or launch another attack. Through Alice, Rhode more or less understood the reason why Ion didn’t attack again. Apart from Rhode, Nalea and Siena also posed quite a huge threat to Ion. The fact that Rhode summoned so many demons to the main plane and started a bloodbath was specifically for show. With the twin sister’s wisdom, it was impossible for them to not realize who Rhode was going against. If they didn’t take action, perhaps Rhode and Ion would lead the continent to turmoil. War had nothing to do with justice and evil and its process was to kill and be killed, destroy and be destroyed, and wreck and be wrecked. Casabianca was only an extreme example but even so, it exemplified the nature of war.
Rhode could finally heave a sigh of relief, at least for now, as this might possibly be a short-lived period of peace.
“Clean here, and clean there. We must make this place sparkle like a shiny gem. Our beautiful master is picky and we will be in trouble if Master isn’t happy. Our beautiful master is scary and will simply kill, kill, kill…”
“…”
Rhode gazed grimly at the singing fairies who were cleaning the porcelains along the corridor. Meanwhile, the fairies who were seeking death totally didn’t realize how close they were to tasting death as they flapped their wings and worked hard to wipe the place. Their melodious singing sounded like sounds of nature to most people, but beware, that was under the premise that they weren’t aware of the fairies’ language. On the contrary, once one understood their language like Rhode did, one would sense a deep, natural feeling of maliciousness.
After staring at the fairies for a few moments, Rhode shifted his gaze away and considered if he should get his younger sister to shut down the auto-translation feature specifically targeting the fairies’ language. It was impossible to ask the fairies to change their ways because this was simply their way of speaking. If Rhode were to ask them to shut up, they would simply turn into mutes. Of course, on the good side, these fairies were innocent and straightforward. But on the bad side, these little fellas were entirely black on the inside and just a bunch of inconsiderate beings… Fortunately, most people didn’t understand their language. If not, perhaps Marlene and Lize would have lashed out at them already. Rhode couldn’t imagine their reactions once they heard the songs of the ‘busty silver-haired cow’ and ‘golden washboard’. Perhaps from a certain aspect, it would be worse than the end of the world.
Rhode shook his head at this thought and tossed the ridiculous thoughts to the back of his head. He strolled toward the window and gazed at the beautiful city before him. Hovering in the air was Grandia, as mesmerizing as usual. The sun shone dazzlingly from above the pitch-black sky on the enormous city as though it was floating in the sea of white clouds and amplified its fresh, exotic beauty. Rhode stepped out of the palace and went on the green, lush lawn that was cleaned and trimmed. The fairies might be talkative, but they were rather serious in their work.
It was just that their mouths were simply unbearable…
“… Rhode…”
At this moment, Rhode heard Christie’s voice and turned around to see the petite, little girl smiling and scuttling toward him with arms spread wide apart. Bell followed behind her closely as usual, but unlike in the past, she wore a plain, black dress today. Even though Rhode didn’t assign Bell any additional work, her duty was basically to accompany Christie. On the other hand, Christie was also glad to have a companion of the same age by her side. After all, others were occupied with work and even Anne who ate and slept all day would follow Rhode whenever he had to leave. This was why Christie spent most of her time alone with Bell by her side—so she wouldn’t be that lonely, at the very least.
“Christie…”
Gazing at the petite girl, Rhode smiled and extended his arm for her to dive into his embrace. He stroked her silky, long hair and nodded to Bell. Then, he shifted his gaze to Christie and let out a soft sigh.
Of course, it went without saying that Rhode adored Christie. But now that he looked at her, he felt complicated emotions. Previously, he treated her as his other younger sister and didn’t expect her to be his daughter at all… He felt strange whenever this thought came to mind. He also thought of discussing this topic with someone… but for some reason, he found it hard to talk about it. He felt like he was in some sort of a melodramatic TV series, where two lovers were forced to leave each other due to various reasons. After 10 years, the protagonist became a popular artist, started a blissful family, and eventually met his past lover and her daughter… Of course, Rhode couldn’t be considered as having a perfect, blissful family. But the thought of having a teenage daughter after graduating from university at over 20 years old gave him a lot of pressure.
He was also afraid to discuss this matter with the other ‘Christie’ because both Christies lived in a single person. If Rhode were to tell the other ‘Christie’ about it, this Christie would learn the truth too. Rhode was terrified to even think of Christie’s reaction once she heard the truth.
It was only now that Rhode understood why the melodramatic TV series were always slow-going, where a situation that could be explained clearly in three sentences had to be dragged out to more than a dozen episodes. This naturally made the audience anxious about the story, but it was an entirely different matter for the protagonist.
I shall tell her the truth after I find a way to treat her body’s conditions.
In the end, Rhode made this decision. As for how to treat her body conditions, Rhode had discussed with his younger sister. According to his younger sister, she used her power in her original body to teleport the ‘combined soul’ that she and Rhode fused through the spatial barrier to Christie. If it weren’t for the fact that Christie was a being created from his younger sister’s original body and was linked to her soul to a certain degree, perhaps it would have been impossible. Back then, Christie only received a spiritual form and had no physical body. This was why she had to choose a female body to be pregnant with something like a test tube baby. The young lady on the High Cliff Village was perhaps chosen by Christie because of this reason.
But the young lady was an ordinary human, after all, while Christie’s soul was the soul of a Creator Dragon. This logic was similar to how ordinary humans couldn’t inherit the dragon soul power and only the ones with unique abilities (like Lilian) could inherit the dragon soul power. Christie’s body couldn’t withstand the overwhelming dragon soul power, which was why she became so weak… because an ordinary human body couldn’t contain the strength of a Creator Dragon.
The conclusion Rhode and his younger sister reached was that after Christie strengthened herself, his younger sister would use her power to modify and reshape Christie’s constitution entirely and make her body suitable to contain the dragon soul power. Once the dragon soul power set perfectly in the body, the weak body conditions troubling Christie would be gone.
But now, Christie still wasn’t able to use her power freely, which was why Rhode could only wait.
“How do you feel? Is everything fine with your health?”
“… Yes…”
Christie lifted her head and nodded with a delightful smile.
“… Everything is good… just that Big Sister Anne is always sleeping… and rarely plays with me anymore…”
“Ugh…”
After hearing Christie’s complaint, Rhode secretly wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. Of course, he knew what situation Anne was in. Come to think about it, it is about that time of the year… Winter is almost here…
Rhode instinctively felt his waist hurting at this thought. But since he had awakened the physique of a Creator Dragon, a similar situation shouldn’t happen twice.
“It’s okay, she will be more active after some time.”
Of course, Rhode wouldn’t tell Christie the truth. He gently patted her head and consoled her instead. Christie also didn’t seem to doubt him at all. She smiled, narrowing her eyes and nodded slightly. Rhode gazed at her adorable grin and smiled back at her when suddenly, he realized that something was amiss. Bell who stood at the side was staring at him blankly. Or more specifically, she was gazing at his right hand that was stroking through Christie’s hair and her eyes were filled with melancholy that Rhode never saw before.
“Bell?”
Rhode turned to her curiously.
“…”
Upon hearing his calling, Bell lifted her head, her motionless eyes glinting in some panic and complications. She gaped, but eventually shook her head, saying nothing. Rhode observed her expression and pondered in silence. Then, he extended his left hand and petted Bell’s head.
“…!”
As soon as Bell sensed his touch, she opened her eyes wide and stared at him in disbelief. She shifted her gaze to Christie, before back to Rhode. Then, she took two steps back, turned around, and left all of a sudden. Rhode and Christie were baffled to see her behaving this way. They watched as Bell walked away from them, before exchanging curious gazes with each other. It wasn’t surprising that they were so astonished because Bell was usually an emotionless person. She never spoke, only quietly followed Christie and Rhode, and would do anything they told her. But something was obviously off with her reaction just now…
What exactly happened?
