Chapter 523: A Mature Novel

In truth, Sean hadn’t spoken up for Diana.

Not at all.

He simply understood Diana; he knew she must have had her reasons for doing what she did.

But regardless of her reasons, the fact remained that Elise had been gravely injured and left on the brink of death.

So Sean understood, but he didn’t condone it.

And he couldn’t bring himself to blame Diana.

After all, he and Elise were the ones having an affair. A wife catching her husband’s mistress and giving her a public beating was a common enough drama—stories like that made the news several times a year. But Sean still felt Diana had gone too far. If Diana had hurt him instead, Sean wouldn’t have been the least bit angry; he knew he was in the wrong and deserved a beating. Yet Diana hadn’t laid a hand on him, or even cursed him. She had targeted only Elise. No matter how you looked at it, it smacked of the strong bullying the weak…

Perhaps Diana, remembering the bond they shared as husband and wife, couldn’t bring herself to strike him. But that didn’t mean Elise should have to bear all the consequences alone… Her Highness the Saintess was most likely doing this on purpose to make him miserable. After all, it was he who had failed to protect Elise. Compared to physical punishment, the psychological torment of guilt and self-reproach was far more cruel.

For someone in Diana’s position, solving problems with murder and arson was no longer the way.

To her, killing was the lowest form of recourse.

And it was too easy to lose control.

Once someone was truly dead, many things became irreversible. Conversely, as long as they were still breathing, one could always come up with a perfect reason to explain everything away.

Diana was the same as always—ruthless in all things, yet always leaving herself a way out.

Sean was reminded of some things from the Era of Polymath.

He thought that this was the very reason he had fallen in love with Diana in the first place.

The way he got along with Diana was different from how he was with Daeli.

Whenever two people were together, there were bound to be times when their opinions diverged. Daeli would almost always go along with him, but Diana wouldn’t. She had her own ideas and would choose to stick to them. As a result, he and Diana often “argued” back then.

For example, Sean remembered that he had once thought of grooming Diana to become the Empire’s first Female Pope, following the path of the former Witch Empress, Hesinra. But Diana had refused. She said that, first of all, she was not Hesinra; she had her own path to walk. Second, she loved her father dearly and would not make things difficult for him, let alone usurp his power. Furthermore, with the Witch War hundreds of years in the past, the Church Court had unified the continent, and the Empire had entered an era of peace. There was no longer a need for a second Witch Empress.

At the time, Diana had even suspected him of having ulterior motives because of it.

They were husband and wife. If Diana became the Female Pope, then he would be the “Godfather,” and the entire Empire would be under his control. It was a classic case of ambition swelling, of reason being blinded by desire.

But in reality, Sean had simply wanted to experience the joy of nurturing her to power.

He had his own ambitions, too.

Mysticism, the Truth Technique, the Path of Divinity… With so many novel things waiting for him to study, if the Empire were actually handed over for him to rule, he wouldn’t have had the time.

But Sean hadn’t said this to Diana.

He had never been the type to explain himself.

In his mind, for Diana to actually think he was a man greedy for power was the greatest possible insult to a scholar like him, whose heart was devoted entirely to knowledge.

Because of this, they didn’t speak to each other for a whole month.

That is, until Sean made a big show of going to the Blazing Angel Family to see Daeli.

Only then did Diana finally break and come to him to make peace.

—He had plenty of ways to deal with the high-and-mighty Her Highness the Saintess.

But all of this was predicated on one thing.

That he was Carl Black, not Sean.

While Mysticism bestowed Power upon humanity, it also subtly changed people’s long-held beliefs. Although everyone still paid lip service to elegance and treated each other with courtesy, continuing the customs of a civilized society, deep down, the notion that “the strong are to be revered” had taken root. This was all the more true between a husband and wife.

Diana was a strong-willed person, and Sean was no pushover either.

So when a problem arose, what was to be done?

You listened to whoever had the bigger fist.

A moment’s thought made it clear. If, in a marriage, one spouse was a Little Wizard and the other was a Grand Mage, wasn’t it obvious who called the shots at home?

Most of the time, Magic Power wasn’t used for killing, but to secure one’s right to be heard. To put it bluntly, a Grand Mage was fawned over and flattered wherever they went, with people who would kill to lick the soles of their shoes. What right did you, a mere Low-tier Wizard, have to argue with a Grand Mage over anything?

High society had always valued marriages between equals, so this kind of situation rarely occurred. But unfortunately for him, this was now precisely his and Diana’s reality. Take this incident, for example. With his former temper, Sean would have long ago strung Diana up, given her a good spanking, and made her apologize to Elise. He wanted to do the same now, but he couldn’t!

In the end, it was because he was too weak.

Otherwise, Elise never would have gotten hurt. Even if Diana had still dared to lay a hand on Elise, he could have easily blocked the attack. But the more likely scenario was that Diana wouldn’t have even needed to show her face. A mere Captain of the Forbidden Guard? He could have dealt with him with a flick of a finger. How could he have been reduced to such a miserable state?

So, it was time for him to start working harder.

With his fragmented memories, Sean still didn’t know why he had gone from being a man with only Mysticism on his mind to his current self—an idle “Second Generation of Witches.” Although he spent most of his time handling proper business, it was rarely ever related to his own Cultivation.