Chapter 95: Trash!

The atmosphere between them quickly returned to its earlier tranquility. The wind high above the ground rustled gently through the canopy, carrying the scent of soil and wild grass from the valley below. Meira lay in Erik’s arms, her golden hair spread across his arm, occasionally tracing the contours of his chest with her fingertips as though searching for something interesting.

Erik stroked her hair, and neither of them spoke.

But at that moment, the space before them suddenly warped.

At first, it was only a tiny spot, as if the light itself had been bent. Then the distortion rapidly spread, forming a translucent area larger than a person.

Meira immediately sat up, the smile vanishing from her face.

Erik frowned.

"What is it?"

Meira did not answer. She rose directly to her feet, her body drifting lightly off the branch and into the air. At the same time, she swept one hand toward Erik, causing four layers of light bearing the auras of Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning to form around him almost simultaneously, overlapping to create a sealed protective dome.

Erik immediately understood.

Whoever was coming might be dangerous.

The distortion in space continued to expand, and a figure gradually emerged from within. At first, there were only blurred outlines, but the face and body quickly became clearer. However, the entire figure remained translucent, its feet touching no surface, clearly nothing more than an image projected from somewhere far away.

It was a middle-aged man with golden-brown hair, luxurious clothing, and the pampered face of someone who had been indulged for many years.

Erik had never met him before.

But Meira’s reaction changed the moment she saw him.

Her green eyes instantly turned cold.

"Jacob."

Erik paused.

He had heard that name before.

Meira’s former Partner—the man who had once been bound to her by a first-generation Contract.

The moment Jacob appeared, he stared directly at Meira. But only a few seconds later, his gaze shifted toward Erik, who was still sitting on the tree branch. The position of the two of them, Meira’s slightly disheveled hair, and the obvious intimacy of their previous posture quickly made his expression turn ugly.

Then Jacob sneered.

"I knew it."

Meira did not respond.

Jacob looked her up and down with undisguised disgust.

"You Succubi truly never change. Your Contract was only broken a few days ago, and you’re already lying in another man’s arms."

His sneer deepened.

"Is there anything in your heads besides lust?"

Erik frowned, but Meira remained calmer than he had expected. She merely stared at the projection in front of her and asked:

"You used the remnants of the Contract to find me?"

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"You still recognized it."

"It clung to me for far too long, after all." A faint breeze swirled around Meira. "I simply didn’t expect you to go to such lengths to follow the final trace of our connection from so far away."

Jacob’s expression instantly chilled.

"Don’t speak as though I’m the one who refuses to let go."

"Aren’t you?" Meira asked naturally. "Whatever existed between us ended the day you left."

Jacob laughed.

"Ended? The Contract between us existed until a few days ago."

"I wasn’t talking about the Contract."

Meira looked directly at him.

"I was talking about our relationship."

Jacob’s smile stiffened.

Meira calmly continued:

"All these years, you never appeared. You never asked how I was living, much less cared about Elowen or anything else connected to me. The only thing you kept was the Contract, because it benefited you."

Jacob narrowed his eyes.

"That was my right."

"Your right?"

Meira slowly smiled, but there was no amusement in it.

"You received energy from me, benefited from my elemental resonance, and even used the Contract to nurture your own abilities. You call draining someone else’s strength your right?"

Jacob immediately grew furious.

"Watch your words!"

"Am I wrong?"

"You were a Succubus who signed a Contract with me. Naturally, I had the right to use everything you possessed."

Meira fell silent for several seconds. Then pity gradually appeared in her eyes.

"This is precisely why I feel that breaking the Contract was the best decision I ever made."

Jacob gritted his teeth, his translucent projection beginning to flicker with his emotions.

"You think signing with another man gives you the right to speak to me like this?"

His gaze immediately shifted toward Erik.

"Is it him?"

Erik remained seated behind the elemental barrier and showed no intention of rushing out—not because he was afraid, but simply because this was Meira’s past. If she wanted to settle it herself, he had no need to take that right away from her.

He merely asked calmly:

"You’re Jacob?"

Jacob paused, and his expression grew even uglier.

"It seems this Succubus has told you quite a lot."

Meira’s voice immediately turned cold.

"Don’t call me that."

Jacob scoffed.

"Why? You are a Succubus."

"I wasn’t talking about those two words." Meira stared straight at him. "I was talking about your tone."

Jacob fell silent.

Meira continued:

"You no longer have the right to speak to me as though you’re addressing your property."

Those words clearly struck the very thing Jacob least wanted to hear.

He might not love Meira. He might not need her by his side. But in Jacob’s mind, the fact that a Succubus who had once belonged to him had taken the initiative to break their Contract and find another man was still an intolerable insult.

Jacob glanced at Erik and sneered.

"You think he’ll be any different from me?"

Meira did not answer.

"He only keeps you by his side because you’re still beautiful and still possess power. Once he grows bored, he’ll throw you away like any normal man would."

Meira chuckled.

"You don’t need to worry about that."

"I’m merely reminding you what you are."

Jacob looked her up and down.

"A lecherous Succubus who thinks finding a new man somehow makes her nobler?"

Erik’s eyes instantly turned cold.

Meira merely raised one hand behind her without looking back. Her meaning was clear.

Let her handle it.

Erik stopped moving.

The calmer she remained, the more Jacob seemed determined to say something even more vicious.

"Or does that man simply enjoy toys that someone else has already used?"

Meira finally frowned slightly—not because of the insult directed at her, but because Jacob had dragged Erik into it.

"Jacob."

"Hmm?"

"Are you finished?"

Her voice was so calm that Jacob paused.

Meira regarded him with indifference.

"I once thought that if I ever saw you again, I would be furious. But now that I’m looking at you..."

Her gaze slowly swept over the projection.

"...I only feel that the decision I made back then was incredibly foolish."

Jacob’s face immediately darkened.

"I lived for far too long with a meaningless Contract simply because I believed it was the responsibility of the first generation. But now, it’s gone."

Meira raised a hand to her chest, where her new connection with Erik continued to transmit that familiar warmth.

"I have never felt so relieved."

Jacob watched the movement, and his anger finally erupted.

"Bitch."

Erik immediately stood.

But Meira merely lifted her hand slightly.

"Don’t."

She still did not look back. Only when she spoke again did her voice soften slightly.

"Master, let your little dog do the biting herself."

Erik: "..."

Even in a situation like this, she could still say something like that. He truly had no idea how he was supposed to react.

Jacob, however, did not understand at all.

"Master?"

The contempt in his eyes intensified as he looked at Erik.

"You truly debase yourself enough to call a man that?"

Meira turned back to him.

"I like it."

"You—"

"What does it have to do with you?"

Jacob instantly fell silent.

Meira smiled.

"I like calling him Master. I like lying in his arms. I like letting him pat my head. I even like being his little dog, because at least every one of those things is something I chose for myself."

She tilted her head slightly.

"And you?"

Jacob clenched his hand.

Meira looked at him and slowly said:

"You never had me."

Those words struck him completely.

The air around the projection began to tremble, and Jacob slowly raised his hand.

"Fine."

His voice dropped.

"It seems words alone aren’t enough to remind you of your place."

A surge of energy appeared in the projection’s palm, and Erik immediately sensed the change.

Wind appeared first, followed by fire. The two elements rapidly converged. Wind spiraled around the flames, continuously compressing the heat inward, causing the fireball—which had originally been no larger than a fist—to swell rapidly as its center gradually shifted from red to white.

Erik narrowed his eyes.

He had watched Meira wield the elements many times, so he immediately recognized a resemblance in Jacob’s method. It was not exactly the same, but the way Wind surrounded Fire and caused the two elements to resonate clearly bore traces of Meira’s technique.

She had obviously noticed it as well.

Another layer of contempt appeared in her already cold eyes.

"You’re still using that, even now?"

Jacob sneered.

"Using what?"

"What you took from me."

His face stiffened slightly.

Meira looked at the growing fireball and said:

"You never had much elemental talent to begin with. Most of your current affinity with Fire and Wind came from absorbing my resonance through the Contract for all those years."

Jacob gritted his teeth.

"This is my power."

Meira chuckled.

"Is that so?"

She did not even intend to attack immediately. Instead, she merely crossed her arms over her chest, and that attitude enraged Jacob even further.

The fireball in his hand continued to swell. The Wind element wrapped around it, causing the temperature on the tree branch to rise rapidly. The leaves near the projection began to wither, and some even caught fire.

Erik glanced at the elemental barrier before him, but he had not felt so much as a tremor from beginning to end. Clearly, Meira did not regard Jacob’s attack as a threat at all.

Jacob raised his hand.

"I’ll make you understand that even though the Contract has been broken, what you left me is still enough to—"

Meira slowly raised one finger.

Jacob immediately stopped—not because he wanted to, but because the fireball in his hand suddenly began to tremble.

The ring of Wind surrounding it quickly veered off course. Jacob frowned and tried to tighten his control, but the Fire within only grew more chaotic, like something that had always obediently followed his commands had suddenly recognized the call of its true master.

Meira looked at him, her green eyes so calm they were nearly devoid of emotion.

She spoke only one word.

"Trash."