Reaper of the Martial World

Book 7: Chapter 337: Symptom (3)

“Okay, I’m listening.” Dyon’s hand absentmindedly stroked one of Ri’s tail. This sort of feeling only lost out to gliding across the curves of her body.

In truth, Ri was the Elvin Queen. As long as she wanted to take control, even her father would have to take a step back.

Although Ri kept it tempered most of the time, sovereignty was in her blood. Whether it be her royal bloodline, or her constitution, both were inclined in this direction. It was in large part due to this that her personality was so fiery. If she hadn’t met Dyon, that side of her would have only grown fiercer.

Unfortunately, because she sought the path of quick power, she abandoned much of her lineage. This resulted in her path being stalled and her personality becoming more reserved. It wasn’t until recently that she felt like she could be herself again.

The point here was that Ri had far more of a right to command the Elves than Dyon did. And, since she was his wife, he had no qualms about her doing so either. They were of one mind and soul, there was no reason for Dyon to ever distrust Ri.

“You know better than anyone the kind of control the Heavens have over the minds of us cultivators. Often times, even our personalities are chosen from birth to correspond with our constitutions. Good, Evil, Benevolence or Malevolence, sometimes many don’t even have a choice. There are only a rare few that can break from this mold…”

Ri spoke softly. She had once believed that Dyon was one of these people. Even without any affinities or constitutions to speak of, he carved out a place for himself. Once he finally grasped power, he became even more dazzling than before.

However, she now knew that even her invincible husband had chinks in his armor. When she learned of what happened with Chaos Flame and how he stormed into the Grand Templar Sect in a state of near hysteria, she felt a heavy weight on her heart. If even Dyon couldn’t escape, how could they?

That said, as she watched Dyon slowly climb out of that rut day by day, that lofty image he held in her mind didn’t shrink. In fact, it grew to a level incomparable to before. His place in her heart was unshakeable. Maybe if a day came where he wanted to toss her aside, she wouldn’t be able to find it in herself to blame him, but would rather blame herself.

This was all to say that Ri gained a new perspective on things. The Heavens controlled so much of their lives, wasn’t it better to celebrate those who could fight against it?

Ri had once hated Jade as much as Dyon did. She hated the Eostre Clan almost as much.

It was easy to forget, but Ri spent her childhood alone. After her mother was taken away by the kitsune and her father chased after her, she had no one else but herself. Although later on Primrose came to her aid, everything the Resistance became was formed by Ri’s own hands.

Thinking about how the Eostre Clan wanted to bulldoze all the work she put in down, it filled her with an unbridled anger.

But now, she had grown more mature. It was impossible for a Ruler to micromanage everything their subjects did. What one had to do was foster a culture that could breed good without their interference.

“… The Eostre Clan was neglected by the Elvin Kingdom for too long. In fact, my father’s disappearance placed even more burden on them.

“After dad left, there was no longer anyone who could lead the promising youths through the Holy Land’s protective Ancient Game. Because of that, the Eostre Clan’s burden grew even greater than it had been before. The number of their Clansmen who were forced into never using their manifestations again were too many to count.

“While they were helping the Elvin Kingdom to grow more powerful by leading our talented youths to the Holy Land, their clan was growing weaker and weaker at the same time.

“Slowly, the Eostre Clan’s place among the Nine Pillar Clans grew perilous. However, their plights were ignored. Without experts who could use their manifestations, they were simply far weaker, and thus had far less of a say.”

Although Ri was explaining things that occurred within a 12 or so year span, it had to be known that the Eostre Clan were struggling far before that.

Before King Acacia was found, it had been a long time since the last True Empath appeared in their Kingdom. The years of attrition was finally put to an end when King Acacia appeared, but then he suddenly disappeared, and for a greatly selfish reason at that.

It was true that it was his duty as a husband to save his wife, but he wasn’t just a husband. He was a father, he was a King. The lives of his daughter and his subjects rested on his shoulders, yet he tossed them all aside. Maybe some saw that as valiant, but even more would see it as reckless and self-serving.

“It’s true that what the Eostre Clan did was wrong. Their actions, while helping themselves, would have sentenced thousands of Elves to death.

“However, weren’t they pushed to that point by us in the first place?”

Ri couldn’t help but think of the state of the Elvin Kingdom back then. Why did it take Dyon’s arrival for so many orphans to get a home? Did the so-called Nine Pillar Clans even do anything after the orphanage was burned down? You even had bastards like the Grimbold Clan heir who tried to take the five year old Lyla as a concubine, thinking that she would be very beautiful in the future.

The Elves were infested with a disease, and the Eostre Clan were just a symptom of it, not the cause.

Dyon nodded. His wife’s thoughts on these matters were far more refined than his. But, he also knew that releasing the Eostre Clan after so many years of torture might not breed thankfulness, but rather, resentfulness. If they were going to do this, they had to be extremely careful.

“We’ll do as you say then.” Dyon said softly, cradling Ri in his arms.