Lady Lily's smile didn't waver, and she gracefully stepped back with a curtsy, "My wish is to serve you, Mr. Arclight. I would be delighted if my presence pleases you as well."
She was not openly asking him to take her, but the subtle hint was there.
"You are dedicated to your work as always, Lady Lily," Lucian replied with a slight worry at the tip of his tongue, "Trying to do what you think is expected of you, without understanding your own heart, can lead to regret later. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Lady Lily only ever showed interest in sharing her craft, not her body, but it seemed like she was trying to break out of her courtesan shell, "You are too considerate, Mr. Arclight. But I assure you, my heart knows what it wants."
Lucian smiled at Lady Lily while begging the heavens to keep her from straying from her path.
He wanted to restore his fate in humanity after all, "I don't want to take advantage of your confusion, Lady Lily. I know Young Master Edmund has your heart, and I respect that. If you are doing this to forget him, then it's better not to start something we might both regret."
A flush crept up Lady Lily's neck, not realizing that Lucian wasn't being considerate of her feelings, but was looking down on her for moving on too quickly, "I'm not confused, Mr. Arclight. My feelings for him are in the past, and I have found someone more deserving of my affection."
She looked at him, yearning for some progress, as if she wanted to move beyond their flirting stage, "I have never met a man like you. Kind, yet firm, gentle, yet sharp. You are everything I've ever wanted in a man and more. I would be honored if you would allow me to be by your side, in any capacity you desire."
Lucian was tempted to burst out laughing, not because of her feelings, but because of his own. He should be feeling flattered, but all he could think was 'Being a womanizer sucks.'
It kept proving him how fleetingly women's hearts could change, and he was afraid that one day he might be the one being replaced by another.
Even Lady Lily, who came in contact with the most influential men in the kingdom, was crumbling under his cheap tricks. The bar must be low if she thought he was the right one.
He didn't want to be too harsh on her, so he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I will think about it." He took her books from her hands, and closed the door, leaving her speechless.
Lucian locked the door and threw the books on his desk, then walked back to his bedroom, cuddling his son, who was still asleep.
If only one person was enough to help a knight's rank advancement, the church wouldn't be thriving like it did.
The higher the rank, the more believers were needed to grant blessings.
The priests practiced self-brainwashing, in order to turn themselves into knights' devotees for a brief moment.
Lucian had grown his own cult of followers instead, and since women were better at the job than men, he might as well take advantage of Lady Lily's change of heart.
"Your mother is a one-man woman, unlike the rest of them, right?," he whispered, thinking about the promise ring, "She won't give up on us that easily, will she?"
His son didn't answer, his little chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Lucian sighed and went to splash some water on his face. His schedule was packed and it was time to go through the golden stage trial.
His control over his body, his muscles, his bones, blood, and organs could recover from injuries because they went through the knight stages, but his eyes never did.
They never went through the same tempering as the rest of his body, and thus were not as malleable.
He looked up at the mirror, his eyes glowing gold, 'I have to find a way to bind her to me with the next emerald stage...' he said to his reflection. 'So nothing can tear us apart, not even death.'
He was going to combine both his shackled powers and the northern cultivation method to create his own path.
Lucian's fingers pressed against the sink, cracking it slightly under the force.
Maybe his parents' relationship was a bit twisted as Edmund had stated. They used to be his only role models when it came to what love meant, so his wish ended up being a little twisted as well.
His reflection turned a little demonic in the mirror, the gold in his eyes swirling like a vortex, 'No matter what it takes...I won't let her escape.'
He embraced the surge of energy from the statement as if it was a trigger for his eyes to shine brighter, reacting to his resolve.
The moment he closed his eyes, golden chains appeared around him, hanging from the ceiling, from the floor, and from the walls. They were an illusion, but they felt real to the touch, like they were an inner part of him.
He tugged at one of the chains around his wrist, making a loud clinking sound echo in the bathroom.
The golden glow around the chains intensified, reflecting in his eyes.They were waiting for his wish to get fulfilled so they could bind him and seal his fate.
"Arrgh," he groaned, falling to his knees before the sink. His eyes began to bleed like molten gold, dripping down his face and onto the floor. "Ah...GAHHH!"
He clutched the tiles with his hands, the shackled chains moved to restrain him, preventing him from dying from the damage he was inflicting on himself.
The shackles refused to let him leave the world but also restricted his freedom. They were keeping him alive, but also keeping him captive, forcing him to walk toward his destined fate.
After his observations, he realized that the awakened shackleds might be moving in the prophecy' favor, not against it. Lucian didn't play the second male lead role, so the world seemed to choose Edmund to stay by the heroine's side as her support instead.
"Hah...haaaah..." Only blackness remained in his eyes after being burned to crisps, making him temporarily blind. 'I need eyes to see her with... I need to see her face...her smile...her eyes.'
The chains began to tighten around him, moving like snakes, crawling over his skin, and wrapping around his head. They seeped into his skull, reaching for his eyes.
"Ghhhaaa," Lucian slammed his fist on the floor, cracking the tiles beneath him. As the chains restored his eyes, he took the chance to increase their density to the point of blocking the light from passing through them. "Gaah!"
Another failure.
Again, he repeated the process of destroying his eyes, making the shackles heal them, and then trying to increase their density to hide the light by activating his golden stage.
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"Haah, haah..." Lucian panted on all fours, blood and sweat mixing on the floor beneath him.
His eyes were no longer glowing despite his shackled power being still active, his irises had become like a piece of amber, golden in color, but with no light shining through.
"Waaah," his son cried in the other room, waking up from his nap, and calling out to his father.
Staying in his shackled state to speed up his recovery, Lucian struggled up to his feet, leaning on the sink for support.
He washed his face, cleaning the blood and sweat away, then moved to check on his son, who was crying in the bedroom.
He picked up his son and held him close, 'Hm?'
Favorability points: 78
Lucian blinked at the floating number above his son's head.
He had just burned his own eyes to ash and rebuilt them specifically to get closer to freedom. But looking at the numbers, he realized he was far from being free.
He felt like he had just stepped out of one cage and locked himself inside a much smaller, far more terrifying one.