Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)

Third Person’s POV

The goddess he had admired within his heart was actually crying, with such tenderness and love visible upon her face while gently stroking that strange Eryndor’s cheek.

For a brief moment, Misril’s heart tightened.

However, his expression soon relaxed again when he carefully observed their facial features.

The similarities between Eleanor and Ethan were too obvious once he paid attention to them.

Their violet hair was almost identical, while their facial structures and several other features also carried an unmistakable resemblance.

Misril immediately came to the conclusion that they must be family, perhaps siblings.

That thought caused him to quietly sigh in relief, as he had never even considered the possibility that they could be mother and son.

Aria, meanwhile, was actually somewhat delighted to finally see this completely different side of Ethan.

Until now, the young man she had encountered had always appeared arrogant, mysterious, and distant, behaving as though almost nothing in this world was capable of truly affecting him.

Seeing him like this made him seem much more approachable and human in her eyes.

However, the moment her gaze shifted toward Aurelia, her expression changed slightly.

The beautiful young woman was holding Ethan’s face with both hands while crying uncontrollably, and Ethan’s reaction toward her was surprisingly soft.

There was even a faint trace of happiness and warmth within his expression that Aria had never seen before.

Seeing this, something inside her heart suddenly sank, and she didn’t understand why.

It was only a strange and unfamiliar feeling that appeared within her chest for a brief moment, leaving her confused before she hurriedly suppressed it.

Erius was similarly stunned, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at Ethan and the two women.

A sinister thought slowly emerged within his mind.

’So this is his weakness...’

For the first time, he realized that beneath all of Ethan’s arrogance and indifference was something that he had never considered before.

It was his weakness, which was now laid bare before him.

A sinister smile slowly formed within Erius’s mind as countless thoughts and possible plans began racing through his head without pause.

But before Erius could think any further, another group of people suddenly appeared from another road leading into the ruined city.

The moment he saw them, his expression immediately changed, and his face turned ice cold.

It was none other than Princess Arlene’s group.

Among them were the famous Edhan Icedust, the second-ranked member of the academy’s elite Violet Batch, and the scion of the only ducal family of the Ice Emperor City, the Icedust Clan.

There was Reed Ironstride, the notorious Beanpole Berserker of the Ironstride Marquis family, and Pebba Earthroll, the powerful fatty of the Earthroll Marquis family.

All three were powerful rankers within the academy, and their arrival naturally drew everyone’s attention.

Misril’s expression also stiffened the moment his eyes landed upon Edhan.

He barely glanced at the other two in his eyes, but Edhan was different.

He considered the second-ranked young man one of his genuine rivals within the academy, and seeing him arrive alongside Princess Arlene, who was openly opposed to Prince Erius, immediately made Misril become cautious.

His posture unconsciously straightened as he observed Edhan carefully, while his expression became more serious.

However, Arlene’s gaze wasn’t fixed upon Prince Erius.

She didn’t even seem particularly interested in the tense atmosphere between the two groups.

Instead, her eyes immediately fell upon Ethan, and seeing him with the two women, a faint smile appeared on her beautiful face.

She quietly wiped away a single tear from the corner of her eye as she watched them.

The decision she had made an hour ago seemed to be turning into the most successful and perhaps the best decision she had ever made.

She had chosen correctly.

And now, seeing Ethan finally reunited with the people she knew he had been searching for secretly, she felt a strange sense of relief within her heart.

Arlene didn’t approach him.

She remained where she was, quietly allowing Ethan to have this moment with Professor Eleanor, whom she had already come to know was his mother, and the beautiful young woman beside her, Aurelia, whose exact relationship with Ethan she still didn’t understand.

Yet even without knowing who Aurelia truly was, Arlene could vaguely sense how important she was to Ethan.

The way he looked at her and the way she held his face, with tears covering her cheeks, told Arlene that this wasn’t an ordinary relationship.

And as she continued looking at the scene before her, the events that had taken place only an hour ago slowly resurfaced within her mind.

...

One Hour Ago...

Deep inside a dark and dimly lit cave, a sphere of compressed lightning suddenly shot through the darkness.

It carried an extremely dense and dangerous destructive energy, causing the surrounding air to crackle violently as it flew forward.

BOOM!

The lightning sphere slammed directly into a huge ice mantis.

The enormous magical beast didn’t even have enough time to react before the terrifying lightning engulfed its entire body.

A blinding flash illuminated the dark cave, and when the light finally faded, the ice mantis had already been reduced to charred remains.

Edhan slowly lowered his hand.

The lightning sparks surrounding his fingers gradually disappeared as he calmly continued walking forward without even looking back at the corpse.

The rest of the group followed behind him as they continued moving through the dimly lit cave.

Arlene’s blue eyes remained fixed upon Edhan for a moment, as admiration couldn’t help appearing within them.

As one of her distant relatives from the Icedust Clan, Edhan had always been someone she admired greatly.

She had heard countless stories about him since childhood and had watched his reputation continue to rise within the New Moon Magic Academy.

Now that she was personally witnessing his strength, that admiration naturally became even stronger.

A single casual attack from him had reduced a Rank Three ice mantis to ashes.

"Ugghh... we can finally escape this damned cave."

Unlike the other silent and serious members of the group, Pebba’s face was filled with exasperation on seeing the charred remains of the mantis as she continued eating the food she pulled out from her spatial ring, using it to relieve the tension and suffocating feeling that had been building inside her chest throughout their journey.