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Madeleine sat on her bed staring out of the window into a massive backyard, gently holding a dull flower in her hands. She was dressed in a black night gown, her eyes red and swollen.

She weakly pulled her covers around herself, trying to hold her shivering back just a small bit more.

Sapientia Peak was unlike Patia-Neva peak. Students often visited for the Sapientia family businesses and bookstores, so a specific residence was cornered off from the lively atmosphere.

Madeleine’s room happened to face the back of the Peak. If she looked far enough, she could see over the roof top barrier and into the endless blue. The crescent shaped island was so far away from here that it was impossible to see even with peak foundation stage cultivation. Still, even if one could, Madeleine’s cultivation was slowly declining again.

Her world was darkening with every passing day. Dyon had helped her feel power she hadn’t felt in a long time, but now her illness was angry at having been suppressed and was raging even more. Now, her family was even more adamant about marrying her off, seeing her decline day after day, seemingly not realizing that it was their fault.

A creaking noise sounded through the silent room as the door opened. But, Madeleine didn’t even bother looking. Her eyes remained dull as she continued looking towards the lake.

‘You had reasons to remain strong… but where are mine?’ She thought to herself.

“Little Maddy, you must eat.”

A handsome man walked in with a beautiful woman. They were Madeleine’s parents. But, they got no response.

Toward such a thing, they could only look at each other helplessly. Although Elder Sapientia had met Dyon before, he had no way of knowing he’d have such an impact on his daughter.

The beautiful woman stomped her feet in anger, “This is what happens when you men think you know the best way to deal with a situation. How could you allow Oliver to kill him? Did you think this family would be the same after that? Do you think I like seeing my daughter like this any more than I would like seeing her dead?!”

The woman walked to Madeleine and sat beside her. But, Madeleine didn’t seem to notice as her mother gently stroked her hair.

“I’m so sorry my little Maddy. Mom’s not strong enough to deal with this for you. I wouldn’t have wanted him dead. But, now that he is, you must still marry Akihiko… Maybe over time, the pain will dull.”

Madeleine’s mother understood her daughter’s heart the most. She had been restricting herself for so long, and finally a hero came to lighten her load, and her family responded by killing him. She felt alone, heart broken… like she had the power to do nothing.

Elder Sapientia stood stiffly by the door, having no idea what to do with himself. Every time Madeleine saw Oliver, she would scream in anger, doing everything in her power to vent her feelings. But, that only made her illness worse and worse. He had no choice but to send Oliver away to live on another peak until the wedding.

He had no idea that killing a boy his daughter had only known for a small while would result in such a big reaction. Maybe he didn’t understand her as much as he should.

A gentle knock came from the door, “Master, young master Kami is here to see the young mistress again.”

“TELL HIM TO GO AWAY!” Elder Sapientia could only smile bitterly as his wife responded for him.

“You heard her. Tell him I don’t want him here again until the day of the wedding. If not, he’ll have to marry a corpse.”

The servant scurried away.

Elder Sapientia looked towards his wife and daughter, sighing. The truth was that both parents had made this decision together. But, if they wanted a chance to get through to Madeleine, they had to at least pretend that one of them had nothing to do with it… Right?

However, considering how completely unresponsive Madeleine was to her own mother’s pleadings, it was clear that she was probably aware of this already. Madeleine was simply too intelligent to believe that her father wouldn’t have spoken to her mother before making such a decision. It could be said that the fact she wasn’t lashing out at them like she had against Oliver was just the small modicum of respect she had for them as parents coming into play.

Madeleine knew before that Oliver was involved, and that was enough for her to hate him, but on Akihiko’s last attempted visit, he blurted out how Oliver had done it personally. This sent Madeleine into a whole new spiral of emotions. After that, Madeleine’s fury toward her own brother had reached the point she didn’t even want to be in the same space as him.

Two weeks had passed since that night and Madeleine wasn’t getting any better. It seemed like they had painted themselves into a corner they couldn’t get out of.

‘Don’t blame me too much little Maddy… What father wants to watch their kids die before they do…?’

**

Dyon breathed out a shaky breath. He had just finished going through all of the books in the central library and his eyes were red with fatigue.

‘It only took me a few days to read so many books in the outer pillars, but it took me such a long time to read less than 1000 books here? I guess the more complex the will of a book and the more profound the teachings, the longer the speed-reading technique takes.’

Dyon smiled, he had gotten a lot of gains. But, his main surprise were the Practitioner level array alchemy books. The outer pillars only had books to the 5th Common level, but the books here had up to the peak of Practitioner!

Although Dyon’s soul strength couldn’t form arrays past the 9th Common level, what he had learned here was good for future reference and deepened his foundational understanding. And, if he could upgrade his aurora past the Foundation Stage and into the Blooming Stage, and access the 1st practitioner level, he’d have access to a weapons’ array that would have his battle power soar.

Instead of relying on amplifying and harming his body, he would finally have strength separate from his own weak flesh!