Chapter 359 -: 358 Harvest fastival.

Chapter 359: Chapter: 358 Harvest fastival.

"Just the sky..." Ian muttered as he slowly turned around with a faint smile on his face.

However, the moment he saw Destiny, that smile froze.

For a brief moment, Ian simply stared at her. Standing before him was a goddess of beauty, quite literally.

She wore a soft pink robe embroidered with delicate white flowers that seemed almost alive beneath the evening light. Her long pink hair had been gathered into a large bun, perhaps a little too large for her head, with a single flower pin carefully stabbed through it to keep everything in place.

Her eyes were delicate and slightly almond-shaped, framed by thick pink eyelashes so dense that there seemed to be no gap between them.

Whenever she blinked, those lashes descended over her eyes like a curtain before lifting again, revealing the strange beauty hidden beneath them.

Her nose was small yet perfectly straight, with a delicate bridge that seemed almost too refined to belong to an ordinary human face, while beneath it were her lips, full and perfectly shaped, forming a gentle curve that somehow made her entire face look even more beautiful.

Ian had seen countless beautiful women during his long life, including beings whose appearances could influence the minds of mortals, but Destiny’s beauty was different.

Perhaps it was because he had spent the last three months seeing her every day in ordinary clothes, with flour on her hands or a basket hanging from her arm, and had somehow become accustomed to thinking of her as simply Destiny.

Seeing her dressed like this made him realize just how absurdly beautiful the woman beside him actually was.

"Ian?"

Destiny’s voice finally broke through his daze.

Ian immediately blinked and looked away, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Ahem... nothing. Let’s go."

He quickly turned around before she could notice the faint flush spreading across his face, although he wasn’t entirely certain whether she had noticed it anyway.

There was an unfamiliar nervousness lingering in his chest, something he couldn’t remember experiencing in a very long time.

He had faced monsters, fought powerful beings, and stood before enemies capable of destroying entire worlds without feeling anything resembling this strange discomfort, yet standing in front of Destiny for a few seconds had somehow left him struggling to maintain his composure.

He didn’t understand it, and because he didn’t understand it, he decided it was better not to think about it. Destiny simply walked beside him, her steps matching his as the two of them made their way toward the center of the village.

The village looked completely different tonight. Almost every house had lanterns hanging from its courtyard, their warm light spilling onto the narrow paths between the homes and making the entire place feel more lively than usual.

Normally, the village would become quiet after sunset, with most people returning to their homes after a long day of work, but tonight there wasn’t a single person inside the houses.

Everyone had gathered in the center to celebrate the successful harvest. The farther Ian and Destiny walked, the clearer the sounds became.

Laughter, conversation, the clinking of wooden cups, and the occasional shout from the children blended together beneath the evening sky.

At the center of the village, a large fire had already been lit, its flames rising high enough to illuminate the faces of the men sitting around it.

A little farther away, the women were gathered together preparing food while the children ran around freely, chasing one another and occasionally getting scolded by their parents when they came too close to the cooking area.

When the men sitting around the fire noticed Ian and Destiny approaching, one of them immediately raised his cup.

"Ah, Ian! Come, come!" he called out with a loud laugh.

"It’s your first harvest festival. You can’t stand over there like some outsider. Come and let us welcome you properly!"

Ian smiled and walked toward them alongside Destiny. Over the past three months, he had grown familiar with most of these faces, even though he had initially never expected to form any sort of relationship with them.

Their lives were simple, their worries were small, and most of their conversations revolved around crops, weather, livestock, village gossip, and whatever ridiculous thing had happened to someone during the day.

None of it should have interested someone like Ian, yet he had gradually found himself enjoying those conversations.

There was something strangely refreshing about sitting among people whose greatest concern was whether the rain would arrive on time or whether their crops would survive the next season.

As they reached the fire, Destiny stopped and smiled at the gathered men. Her smile was gentle enough that Ian couldn’t help but glance at her again, imagining for a moment that he was watching thousands of lilies bloom simultaneously beneath the moonlight. She then bowed slightly and spoke in a warm voice.

"Happy harvest, brothers. Thank you all for taking care of my husband."

The men were slightly stunned by her words, particularly the way she referred to Ian as her husband, but they quickly recovered. One of the middle-aged men laughed and waved his hand.

"Oh, don’t mention it. He’s still new to farming, but the boy has some talent. His field turned out better than I expected."

"That’s right," another man added. "When he first came here, I thought he’d struggle for at least a year. Now look at his field."

Kyle, the middle-aged man sitting closest to the fire, raised his cup with a broad smile. "Happy harvest to you too, sister."

"Happy harvest, sister!"

The others followed him, raising their cups and voices together.

Destiny smiled and bowed again. "Happy harvest to you too, brothers. Please enjoy your night."

She then turned toward Ian. "I’ll go and help the ladies."

"Um... alright."

Ian nodded, watching as Destiny walked away toward the group of women. Her pink robe swayed gently with each step, and for some reason, Ian’s eyes followed her longer than they needed to.

He only realized what he was doing when Kyle suddenly poked him in the waist.

"So," Kyle whispered with a mischievous grin, "when are you going to become a father?"

Ian nearly choked on the wine he had just accepted.

"What?"

Kyle laughed loudly, clearly pleased with Ian’s reaction. "Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me. You two have been married for months now. Isn’t it time you started thinking about children?"

"Yeah," another man immediately joined in. "Honestly, it’s time. With such a beautiful wife, I can’t believe you don’t already have a dozen children."

The men burst into laughter, some of them slapping their knees while others pushed cups of rice wine toward Ian.

Ian could only smile awkwardly and take the wine. He had absolutely no intention of explaining the truth to them.

How could he possibly tell these men that the woman they were casually calling his wife was actually a goddess who had once spoken to him about countless universes and the very nature of existence? They would probably think the rice wine had already gone to his head.

He took a small sip while listening to their teasing, but he didn’t join the conversation. Instead, his eyes unconsciously wandered toward Destiny again.

She was already among the women, helping them prepare the food while listening to their conversation.

One of the older women appeared to be explaining something to her, and Destiny was nodding attentively, occasionally smiling as she worked.

Ian quickly looked away.

’Me and that goddess? Hmph. I’m a human, and she’s a goddess. There is no way someone like me would...’

His thoughts suddenly stopped.

He felt an inexplicable urge to turn his head and sneak another glance at her. At the same time, an unfamiliar sensation appeared around his heart, a faint tightness accompanied by a strange tingling that made him instinctively press his hand against his chest.

’What is this?’

Ian frowned slightly.

He had never experienced something like this before. It wasn’t pain, nor was it exactly discomfort, yet it wasn’t pleasant either.

It seemed to become stronger whenever Destiny was nearby, particularly when he found himself paying attention to her. Ian tried to recall whether his body had developed some kind of illness during these past few months, but nothing came to mind.

He had been eating properly, working every day, sleeping well, and his physical condition had actually improved considerably since arriving in the village.

’Maybe it’s some new method to make me surrender.’

Ian immediately rejected the thought.

’No... that doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that? She hasn’t tried anything like that in months, and there isn’t even a reason for her to do it.’

He lowered his hand from his chest and stared into the fire, trying to understand the strange sensation. He had spent his life relying on his instincts, and his instincts had rarely failed him.

Yet whenever this feeling appeared, he couldn’t identify its source. It wasn’t danger, hostility, fear, or excitement. It was something far more unfamiliar, something that seemed to exist somewhere between all of them.

Still, what exactly was this?

"Ah, I remember."

Kyle’s voice suddenly pulled him back into the conversation.

Ian turned toward him.

Kyle had already started talking, completely unaware of the thoughts running through Ian’s mind.

"When I first got married to your sister, I wouldn’t leave her for a single second. We were together everywhere, and within a year, she gave birth to our first son."

His expression softened as he spoke, the drunken smile on his face slowly turning into something warmer.

"I was so happy back then. You wouldn’t believe it. The baby was so small that I was almost afraid to hold him. His fingers were tiny, and when he grabbed onto mine, I remember thinking that I had never held anything so fragile in my entire life. Yet somehow, I felt proud. That’s when I understood what it meant to become a father."

Kyle took another drink before continuing.

"I’m telling you, Ian, fatherhood is the best thing in the world. You should try it as soon as possible."

Ian listened quietly.

He looked toward the fire, then toward the village around him. Children were still running through the courtyard, their laughter echoing between the houses while their parents called after them.

He had never seriously thought about having a family before. His old life had been too chaotic for such things.

There had always been another place to go, another enemy to fight, another danger waiting beyond the horizon.

The idea of settling down, raising children, and spending decades watching them grow had once seemed almost absurd to him.

Yet sitting here now, surrounded by ordinary people who were celebrating something as simple as a successful harvest, the idea didn’t seem quite as ridiculous as it once had.

Ian smiled faintly.

"I’ll try..."

Kyle grinned and raised his cup.

"That’s what I wanted to hear."

Ian laughed quietly and took another sip of wine, though his eyes once again drifted toward the group of women.

He immediately looked back at the fire.

For some reason, his heart felt strangely tight again.