Chapter 117
Chapter 117: Your Husband Beat Your Dad and Your Brother
Every piece of furniture in the hall had been reduced to rubble, and a swirling cloud of dust and debris filled the wide space, rendering everything hazy and indistinct.
The room was already in a state of complete ruin—several split planks dangled precariously overhead, the fireplace had been smashed apart and scattered across the floor, and the charcoal within had been blasted in every direction.
Viktor straightened his coat. Standing before him was Angus, now stripped of his armor.
His eyes were vacant, and he knelt on the ground, his gaze utterly clouded—as though he had witnessed something of incomprehensible terror and been left completely stupefied.
As though all sensation had been stripped away, his eyes had sunk into darkness—he could not even register the howling wind and snow battering at his back.
The blizzard lashed against him without cease, and even as the cold stiffened his body to rigidity, he could feel no temperature at all.
Viktor stood quietly at his side, the Crow perched on his shoulder as though nothing had happened.
Those who heard the enormous explosion came rushing in from all directions—Viktor turned his head and saw Kavra stumbling toward him.
Behind her followed a lean young man.
And behind him came a company of Knights, clattering in their heavy armor.
Everyone who arrived took 1 look at the wreckage before them and the vacant-eyed Angus kneeling on the ground—and froze on the spot.
What in the world had happened here?
Angus's body was covered in wounds, and the vivid red blood had not yet congealed in the bitter cold—mingling with the meltwater from the snow, it trickled slowly from each gash.
It was unmistakably the aftermath of a battle.
Kavra stared blankly, slowly raising her head to look at Viktor's expressionless face.
"This is what you called... having a proper talk?"
At this point, she could scarcely imagine what Viktor and her father had actually gone through—or why the 2 of them had come to blows in the first place.
And what made it even harder to accept—
Was that Viktor had emerged as the one standing unscathed at the end?
Was his strength truly at a level where he could confront an Imperial Grand Knight head-on?
At this moment, Kavra's emotions were extraordinarily tangled.
However dissatisfied she was with everything Angus had done—he was still her father.
Jaxiu looked at the kneeling, dazed figure of his father, and his expression showed no particular sign of surprise.
He simply raised his head again, fixing a cold stare on Viktor.
"Viktor Clavena is suspected of assaulting the head of the Delin Family, Count Angus."
"In my capacity as Count Angus's son, Jaxiu Delin, I hereby demand the mobilization of all Northern Frontier Knights for the apprehension of Viktor Clavena."
"This matter is to be reported to the Royal Capital immediately."
At these words, Kavra turned to Jaxiu with an expression of disbelief.
"Jaxiu, what are you do—"
"The facts are before your eyes. Regardless of Father's current condition, Viktor attacked him."
Kavra knew perfectly well that countless Knights present could bear witness to that.
Jaxiu's gaze never left Viktor for even a moment, and he continued with quiet composure:
"I know you are very powerful. You could kill any one of us here."
"The strongest person in this place has already been defeated by you. Right now, there is no one who can stop you."
"But even if you kill every single one of us, you cannot prevent this news from reaching the Royal Capital."
Jaxiu's words reached Kavra's ears, and a bone-deep chill swept through her entire body all at once.
In this moment, Kavra felt as though the family members before her had become total strangers.
From the very beginning—from the moment the invitation was extended to Viktor—they had been scheming.
Angus would inevitably make a move against Viktor. And at that point, regardless of whether both sides suffered or one prevailed—
The fact of Viktor and Angus's battle would inevitably travel back to the Royal Capital, and reach the Emperor's ears.
But most importantly...
It would reach Gwen.
Hadn't Gwen lost the Heart of Justice?
Very well then.
When Viktor—the man who had beaten her family—stood before her.
What choice would Gwen make?
The answer was self-evident.
Stubborn as she was, she would only see Viktor as a criminal.
Even if Viktor hadn't truly done anything wrong.
There would be no way to defend himself—
Unless Gwen's Heart of Justice recovered, and that ability to discern good and evil, truth and falsehood, returned.
But in that case.
Gwen would revert to being that stubborn, justice-bound Knight.
Which aligned perfectly with Angus's plan.
In an instant, Kavra understood everything.
Jaxiu wasn't giving Viktor a choice at all—he was giving Gwen a choice.
Either Viktor would stand convicted.
Or Gwen's ability would recover.
Only 1 of the 2 could come to pass.
Kavra's voice trembled uncontrollably:
"Jaxiu..."
"You feel like a stranger to me."
Jaxiu paid no attention to Kavra's anguish. His gaze remained fixed on Viktor without wavering.
He wasn't even on guard—he simply stood there.
At any moment, if Viktor so much as raised his hand, he could kill him without the slightest effort.
He showed absolutely no fear of death. Perhaps he believed that his own sacrifice would only make this plan more perfect.
And so Viktor moved.
"Not bad—clever little trick."
He looked directly at Jaxiu, his gaze carrying an arrogance that was entirely his own.
"Perhaps I should acknowledge one thing: your threat is indeed a variable I hadn't accounted for."
"But are you not underestimating me far too much?"
A ball of flame ignited from nothing directly before Jaxiu in an instant. The next moment, Viktor had transformed his entire body into a mass of elemental fire—only his head remained visible, floating in the air as he looked down at the lean young man.
The terrifying temperature made it difficult to breathe, yet Jaxiu showed not the slightest panic, even as he stood face to face with death itself.
"Young Master Jaxiu!"
The Knights who witnessed the scene immediately drew their silver shields and unsheathed their swords, throwing themselves in front of Jaxiu to shield him.
But they could only stand guard before him—because the overwhelming dread held them frozen in place, utterly unable to advance a single step.
The terrifying temperature continued to spread even beneath the raging blizzard, great waves of snow pouring frantically into the room, vaporizing into wisps of white smoke the instant they touched the ground.
Even from a great distance, the heat hit them like standing at the face of a volcano.
Kavra was equally shaken. Standing beside Viktor, she looked at him with an expression that was almost pleading.
"Viktor—don't..."
But Viktor paid no heed to Kavra's entreaty. He simply maintained this form, looking down at Jaxiu with cold indifference.
"What exactly gave you the impression that you had any leverage over me?"
"Do you really think you're qualified to threaten me?"
Behind the flame-body, an enormous hand formed in an instant—like a hand that could incinerate the sky itself—and closed around Jaxiu's frail body.
The violent searing sensation tore into Jaxiu, the air around him burning away entirely. The desperately low oxygen concentration sent his lungs into a frenzy of craving, yet there was nothing he could do.
The terror of death spread through every bone in his body, seeping into the marrow.
In Viktor's eyes, Jaxiu's Health Bar was on the verge of hitting its limit.
Just a few more seconds.
And he would become another Experience contribution for Viktor.
Swish! Swish!
2 silver-white daggers plunged between the 2 of them like barriers cutting off magic—the flames flickered with a brief instability.
Kavra's figure flashed past at blinding speed, seizing Jaxiu and pulling him away.
Viktor, now fully embodied in flame, made no move to stop Kavra.
He simply watched everything with cold eyes—a gaze so frigid that even Kavra herself seemed beneath his notice.
Kavra had saved Jaxiu—but under the scorching heat, the flames had already swallowed him into unconsciousness.
She set Jaxiu down on the ground, then turned to face her brother-in-law once more—this figure seemingly consumed by a wrathful blaze—and lowered her head.
"Viktor... I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing to me?"
The colder Viktor's voice became, the more intensely the flames around him seemed to billow.
"Do you think what they did made me angry?"
Kavra fell silent, head still lowered, uncertain even of what expression to wear when facing Viktor.
Perhaps he had come to her home with genuine expectations, accepting the invitation in good faith.
And in return, he had been subjected to this scheming.
She didn't dare to say what emotion Viktor was carrying right now—but there had to be some measure of displeasure.
The firelight before her gradually dimmed, and the wind and snow came like lashes against Kavra's body, cold reclaiming her entirely.
Viktor stood steady in the snow, wearing that familiar coat.
The blizzard still howled all around them, and the sound of the coat whipping in the gale was long since drowned out.
The coat, flickering with red light, gradually dissolved into the depths of the snowfall, and a faint, feeble glow slowly lit.
"Tell Gwen to come find me in the Extreme Northern Ice Plains."
Kavra watched Viktor's silhouette grow smaller and smaller as it disappeared into the blizzard.
Without realizing it, her eyes drifted to the Crow perched on his shoulder.
Within its gaze was a light that seemed filled with calculation.
At last, Viktor dissolved entirely into the wind and snow, leaving only a final sentence drifting on the air, carried up and away by the storm.
"The score between me and your Delin Family—from this moment on."
"Has only just begun."
Whoooosh—
The enormous, indifferent cold wind swallowed everything whole, burying it in the depths of the Extreme Northern Ice Plains.
Kavra let the freezing wind pour into her clothes, kneeling on the ground, utterly drained of strength.
The dazed Angus and the unconscious Jaxiu were on either side of her.
And all she could do was watch this catastrophe unfold before her eyes.
Helpless to stop any of it.
***
Royal Capital. Delin Manor.
Gwen jolted awake.
She felt the soft bed beneath her, pressed a hand to her head, and furrowed her brow.
That strange dream again.
In her dreams, Gwen always found herself looking at a golden scale suspended in the air, herself watching it from not far away.
A faint, distant voice would drift gradually into her ears, always pulling at her, as though beckoning her to step forward and touch it.
What Gwen found strange was this: every time she gave in to the temptation and reached out her hand toward it, Viktor would always appear somewhere in the dream and draw her outstretched hand into his arms.
Every time that happened, Gwen would wake up.
Her face reddened slightly, and she was entirely at a loss.
Why did she keep dreaming about Viktor?
Perhaps it was because Viktor had been training with her in the mornings quite frequently lately.
Or perhaps it was because people had been mentioning Viktor in front of her often recently—and always adding remarks about how well-suited the 2 of them were.
She shook her head, doing her best to push the thoughts aside.
She wondered how Viktor was doing.
She had stubbornly refused to return home, but she knew that Viktor had accepted her father's invitation and gone to visit her family.
With her sister's support on his side, nothing should go wrong.
Gwen thought to herself, threw back the covers, and got out of bed.
10 minutes later, a composed and ready Gwen stood on the Training Ground, preparing to begin her morning training for the day.
The moment she drew her sword, she saw a Maidservant approaching at a hurried pace, her expression unusually grave.
"Miss Gwen..."
"Hm?"
Gwen was slightly taken aback.
This early in the morning—what could be so urgent?
The Maidservant delivered the message with some hesitation, stumbling over her words.
"Miss Kavra sent a letter back. She—she said..."
"Your father and your brother were beaten up by your fiancé."
Gwen: "?"