Chapter 353: Finally Here

The atmosphere tensed up on Lilian’s arrival. Nora, Charlotte, and Alicia stopped what they were doing and stared at her in disbelief.

This woman is here too? How is this possible?

Such a thought crossed their minds.

The reason was simple—Nora and Charlotte had dispatched their elites to intercept Lilian. Alicia arrived a little later than them so they weren’t really certain about it, but the chances were likely that she had chosen to do the same too.

Doing a quick count, there should have been at least five Origin Level 3 transcendents working in unison to intercept Lilian, but such a formidable force only managed to stall Lilian for this short period of time?

Just the thought of how powerful Lilian was left the three of them with deep frowns.

They were oblivious to the fact that Lilian was actually a walking fortress that wielded the power to summon armies at her beck and call. The forces they had dispatched to deal with her were all tied down by her armies.

Lilian was indubitably a formidable transcendent, but even she didn’t have the power to rival the combined elite forces of the Ascarts, the Sorofyas, and the Genesis Goddess Church. However, it would be a different matter if she only had to stall them. It wasn’t hard to do so when she could conjure soldiers with a wave of her hand.

That being said, she was still apprehensive about confronting the three women standing before her. Just Roel’s foster sister was already a handful to deal with. She was capable of exerting prowess on par with Origin Level 3 transcendents despite being at Origin Level 4, and her means were nothing to make light of.

There was no doubt that Nora and Charlotte would have trump cards too. Lilian had no idea how great their combined burst power would be.

But above all, she was more worried about Roel’s feelings and the political implications of her actions.

Before the mansion, Lilian exchanged gazes with the three women, but before they could say anything, the embraced Roel suddenly looked backward at Lilian and broke the silence.

“Senior, there’s something I would like to talk to you about,” he said solemnly.

Lilian blinked her eyes in surprise. It seemed to be something important judging from Roel’s attitude. She hesitated for a brief moment before releasing him from her embrace.

Roel took a step back before turning around to look at her with a solemn look on his face. He revealed the series of decisions he had arrived at earlier on, as well as the potential threats he could face in the future.

Lilian listened to him quietly with a melancholic look on her face.

She thought that it was good that Roel was working hard not just to blindly acquire power but to create a future of happiness for himself, but to be frank, she didn’t bear any hopes for the plan he had in mind. She knew Roel far too well to know how he would react in certain situations.

Roel was thinking of building a peaceful and cozy family for himself, but how peaceful and cozy could a family be when the world was plunged into chaos? Just because he chose to turn his back on the problems of the world didn’t mean that the problems of the world would turn their backs on him.

The Ascart House had produced generations of heroes, but the so-called heroic deeds were only possible because the world was in a mess. It was not that they wanted to become heroes, but that they had no choice but to step up under the pressures of the world.

Roel could empathize with the weak, and that was why he couldn’t turn a blind eye when malevolent forces sought to trample all over them. It was not his Ascart Bloodline that was the most unstable factor here; it was his righteous personality.

When human civilization was on the verge of collapse, he would surely step forward and protect it. Ultimately, he was still an Ascart through and through.

It was one thing if Roel was living in a peaceful era, but with the invasion of the deviants, that seemed unlikely to be the case.

“Senior, I’ve carefully contemplated the matter, and I don’t think that it’s appropriate for us to get into that kind of relationship just because of our ancestors’ words,” said Roel.

There was hardly any change in Lilian’s expression when she heard those words, but deep down, she felt her heart sinking into the abyss. She knew that her attempt to win Roel over had failed.

It was through employing a tactic similar to that of Nora’s that she was able to make great progress in her relationship with Roel within such a short period of time.

She befuddled Roel’s feelings by making him mistake the feelings of camaraderie they shared as love, and the effects of the bloodline resonance as physical manifestations of their feelings. She highlighted the mission that their ancestors had entrusted to them so as to justify their relationship, as if their union was the decree of fate.

She was hoping to quickly take Roel down and make him hers through this ploy.

Due to Roel’s lowered mental capacity and resilience arising from his abnormal state, she managed to make huge breakthroughs. Within half a month, she was able to accustom Roel to physical intimacy with her. She even nearly baited out a confession from him!

Unfortunately, her tactic came with a fatal flaw. Should the target be given enough time to compose himself and think things through, he would realize how illogical the situation was, thus breaking the illusion.

Roel’s words were more than enough to tell Lilian that the spell had already been broken. At this point, she could only do everything she could to retain Roel. Only when she successfully kept him by her side could she find new opportunities to strike and break into his heart.

So, Lilian stepped forward to wrap Roel in her arms once more, but before her hands could reach him, a flood of Golden Soul suddenly surged forth to create a wall between the two of them. Her face immediately darkened.

“What are you doing?”

“I should be asking you that, Miss Lilian.”

Just thinking about how she had been cuckolded over the last few days made Charlotte’s blood boil with anger. With the Golden Soul wrapped around her body, she stepped forward and eyed Lilian coldly.

“You seem to have developed quite a few interests over the last few days, Miss Lilian.”

“What?”

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. An imperial princess of the Austine Empire actually kidnapped my fiancé and, for whatever reason, chose to pretend play as his maid. Did you feel good flirting with my fiancé in the neighboring room?” Charlotte spat with clenched jaws.

“…”

Lilian’s expression stiffened up whereas Roel blinked his eyes in bewilderment.

The next one to step forward was Nora. She had a smile reminiscent of a benevolent angel, and her tone sounded warm and peaceful too. Yet, her words told a vastly different story.

“Miss Lilian, we’re aware that you share the same bloodline as Roel. On behalf of Roel, I’d like to thank you for the protection you have offered him while he was suffering from his side effects. I’ll take over from now on, so you need not worry about this anymore.”

“You’ll take over?”

“Indeed. You have done well guarding my protectee before my arrival, and this is more than enough. I’ll personally escort him back to the Theocracy, so you need not bother with this anymore. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to trouble someone whom we have barely met.”

“Nora?”

“!”

Roel was alarmed to hear Nora’s words, and Lilian’s amethyst eyes narrowed sharply. In response to her emotions, the surrounding atmosphere became so heavy that someone could have very well injected lead into the air.

There wasn’t anything off with Nora’s words at first glance, but the subtle cues she was clearly drawing a line between Lilian and them.

“Nora Xeclyde, I advise you not to provoke me. Roel and I are connected by an intimate bloodline bond, and our feelings for each other blossomed in the midst of danger. There’s no deeper bond than the one we share. There’s no room for betrayal or hypocrisy between us, and that far surpasses what you could ever have. I don’t expect you to understand the bond we share, but I won’t allow anyone to insult it,” uttered Lilian coldly.

She shot a glance at Alicia right after, and as expected, it provoked the ire of the latter.

“There’s no deeper bond than the one you share? Hahaha! If you truly believe that, why are you in such a rush? Shouldn’t you take your time advancing your relationship instead? You have only known each other for two months, and you have already gone so far as to kidnap Lord Brother and declare that you would bear his child. Are you an animal in heat?”

“That’s our responsibility and mission. Forget it, I don’t think that you’ll ever understand our relationship, foster sister Alicia.”

“Old woman, what did you say?!”

The scent of gunpowder between Alicia and Lilian was choking. Roel felt utterly exasperated, not knowing what he could do to defuse the situation.

“Lilian Ackermann, to think that you’re really lusting after my fiancé! Unbelievable! Don’t even dream of it!”

“Miss Lilian, I’ll get straight to the point. We don’t trust you or the Austine Empire behind you. We’ll take care of Roel’s safety on our own. You are free to do whatever you want; just don’t come close to Roel ever again.”

Lilian glared at Nora and Charlotte with wintry eyes. While Nora and the others didn’t trust Lilian, it was the same vice versa too.

“I can’t entrust Roel to people who are susceptible to be influenced by their family members. Leave him behind, and the rest of you can leave!”

“What if we refuse?”

“…”

“…”

Through the veil of the Golden Soul, Lilian stood off against Nora, Charlotte, and Alicia. Deathly silence settled amongst them as the concentration of mana in the vicinity started to rise.

Roel knew right away that things were going to blow up, literally. Yet, he was unable to do anything in his current state, and it left him greatly frustrated.

In this desperate moment, he suddenly felt a mild mana reaction coming from his front pocket. Surprised, he quickly took a look at the System.

【Blessed Wheat
Remaining Uses: 2】

The next moment, multiple silhouettes appeared in the shadows.

The Saints Convocation had finally arrived.