Chapter 299: Kindred Conversation
CH299 Kindred Conversation
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[A.N: If you haven’t read my pinned review, please do so. If you already have, please remember what I said — keep your modern biases to yourself and view things through the characters’ worldview. I don’t want the comments blowing up over a topic I’ve already addressed.
Alright, enjoy the Chapter.]
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Entering his dorm accomodation after so many months away, Alex found it meticulously clean. There was only one person who had both the authority to enter his Enclave residence in his absence and the motivation to tidy it so thoroughly.
That person was currently standing in the middle of the living room —
the majordomo of the Enclave itself, Zora Frost-Pendragon.
Or more aptly, Alex’s fiancée.
Zora ran her fingers over a row of books along the shelf in the corner. She sensed his arrival and, without turning around, asked,
"What took you so long? I even finished the mountain of paperwork on my table before you returned."
Alex walked over and hugged her from behind.
"Master seemed bored," he said. "He wanted me to narrate my experiences from the past few months in full detail. I think I actually did well to escape as quickly as I did."
Zora turned in his arms and hugged him back.
"I’d think you’d enjoy sharing your exploits after being away so long," she said with a teasing smile. "They’d make quite the tale."
"You know me," Alex replied, grinning. "I’m a quiet person who doesn’t like to boast about his exploits." Then, with a cheeky smile, he added, "Besides, I had something important I needed to do upon my return."
"Oh? And what’s that?" Zora asked, playing along.
"This."
Alex leaned in and kissed her.
Zora returned the kiss without hesitation. The two pressed together passionately, as though making up for the time they’d been apart. Their lungs proved remarkably resilient — they remained lip-locked for several long moments.
Only when Alex lost focus, and his hands began to wander a little too boldly along the enticing curves of her backside, did Zora break the kiss.
Alex gave her an apologetic smile — though he didn’t actually apologise.
Zora shot him a reproachful look, but she didn’t scold him either.
After a quiet moment, they both moved to take seats at the table.
"Alright," Zora said with a hint of excitement. "Let me see it."
Alex smiled and reached into his pocket dimension, retrieving the Coinage Moonstone, and passed it to her.
Unlike Merlin, Zora had been in constant contact with him through the rune-phone. She already knew most of what had happened during his time away, but seeing the artefact in person was something else entirely.
Zora channelled her Spiritual Force into the ring and inspected its internal space.
"Wow... its inner volume is even larger than the best Nullcore Orb we have at the Enclave," she murmured, astonished. "For something so small and convenient to carry, to hold that much space... I don’t even know what to say."
"This is just a prototype," Alex said proudly. "The proper version I envision should be at least a hundred times larger. My crazier dream is to make one with a world-sized internal dimension."
"And what would you even need a world-sized storage space for?" Zora asked, intrigued. "What are you planning to keep inside?"
"I don’t know," Alex admitted with a shrug. "But it won’t be a lifeless void like this one. Maybe I’ll grow precious herbs in it or something."
Zora wanted to roll her eyes. It was clear Alex had been more focused on the scale of his interspatial ring than on any practical use for it.
She returned the ring to him.
"Do you plan to make it a staple product of the Golden Palace, or will it be a premium item?" she asked.
"Premium, of course," Alex replied. "I don’t intend to make many of them. Aside from crafting one for you, Master, Father, and maybe a few members of our family, I doubt I’ll make more than a handful for sale. Spatial Energy is too precious — it has too many other uses for me to waste it making ordinary interspatial rings."
"So that means I should be expecting a ring from you, then."
Alex froze. He knew exactly what she was hinting at — but given Zora’s playful nature and fondness for double meanings, he decided to pause and make sure.
His mind fired into overdrive, racing at light-years speed to reach the conclusion that she didn’t mean that kind of ring. After all, this world didn’t have any formal tradition of exchanging wedding rings per se.
Any type of symbolic trinket — ironically, almost never a ring — would suffice.
"Of course," Alex said finally, nodding with mock solemnity.
"I’ll hold you to it," Zora replied with a knowing smile.
Alex chuckled softly and returned the ring to his Sanctuary’s pocket dimension.
The two locked eyes for a brief moment. They both knew the light-hearted interlude had ended — and that it was time to address the elephant in the room.
"Father told me that you and he conspired to pick wives for me," Alex said first. "Is that true?"
Zora hesitated. His choice of words wasn’t quite how she would’ve liked to phrase it.
But after a moment, she nodded. "Yes."
Alex frowned. "Why? I’d have expected you, of all people, to be against that — not the one facilitating it. It doesn’t make sense."
"Oh, but it does, Alex," Zora replied calmly, to his surprise.
"How?" he asked quietly.
"You are a scion of bloodline nobility," Zora began, her tone firm but calm. "Not only that, you inherited your family’s purest bloodline — before going on to fuse it with the pure heritage from your mother’s lineage. Whether it’s your Furor bloodline or the new fused one, it’s your duty to ensure its continuity. That means producing as many descendants as possible.
"Do you really think you can achieve that with only one wife? Do you think your family would allow you to have only one wife?"
"My family has no say—"
"You’re not naïve, Alex," Zora interrupted sharply. "Do you truly believe that? You are a noble, not a commoner. Of course your family has influence over you."
Alex frowned, staring at the woman before him. After a long moment, he shook his head.
"No, that might explain why you accepted the situation," he said slowly, "but not why you would actively facilitate it."
"Like you, I also carry a powerful bloodline," Zora replied evenly. "And in my case, it’s even more critical when it comes to progeny. Much like the matriarchal races of the Eternal Valkyrie Empire, my Frost (Ice Phoenix) Bloodline ensures that all female offspring inherit it, while male offspring have only a one-in-four chance.
"For that reason, it’s tradition within the Frost family that when marrying a noble, we... encourage the groom to take other wives as well — to safeguard the continuity of his bloodline. In return, should a child bearing the Frost Bloodline be born, that child belongs to the Frost family."
She paused, her gaze steady but softened by sincerity.
"If I were marrying a commoner — especially one without a bloodline as rare and significant as yours — I could keep you to myself. But you’re not a commoner, Alex, and your bloodline is anything but ordinary. It would be cruel and selfish of me to hoard you alone.
"Knowing your family would want a say in your future wives, I chose to accept that reality and work within it. I sought your father’s blessing and support so that I could personally be involved in choosing your partners."
She looked at him softly,
"I figured I know your tastes well enough — and I’d stand a better chance of selecting women you’d actually get along with... and that I could tolerate — better than your father or the other family elders. Luckily, Earl Drake was surprisingly cooperative. He allowed me to vet the women on his shortlist.
"When I chose only one and rejected the rest with solid reasoning, he told me to find the other candidate myself."
Zora gave a small shrug. "And that’s how we got here."
Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. His ego and lingering past life biases screamed for him to reject everything he’d just heard — yet logic, and his understanding of this world’s customs, pushed him toward acceptance.
Thinking from Zora’s point of view, Alex could feel her sincerity. And she wasn’t exactly wrong. Given the nature of her bloodline, there was no way any noble family head — not even Earl Drake Fury, for all his love — would allow a singular marriage to her.
In fact, depending on the family, it would be difficult enough to marry her at all, let alone in a monogamous union.
Zora had simply played the best hand she could, given the cards she’d been dealt.
"Why didn’t you just tell me all this? Why keep it from me?" Alex asked quietly.
"That was my deal with Earl Drake," Zora said. "You weren’t to know until you completed your training at the Enclave. The kind of man you became would determine whether you had a choice — or even a voice — in your marriage."
"What? What does that even mean?" Alex frowned.
"If you hadn’t succeeded in the Earl’s evaluation, he wouldn’t have allowed our marriage," Zora explained. "Then he would have decided your marriages entirely on his own, without your input. He said, ’The weak have no say. This is our Fury way’."
"And knowing you, Alex, you would have rebelled and made things far more difficult had I told you earlier."
’Damn you, old man.’ Alex groaned inwardly.
He let out a slow sigh.
Another reason he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with Zora was because he knew she was right. Drake had already impressed upon him that there would be marriages outside of love — marriages most likely chosen by him or by the family elders.
True, Alex had come to accept the idea, especially after learning that Zora was in the know. But he also understood that, had the Legend willed it, Drake could have simply forced the situation.
Like Zora had said, he would have had no say.
Rationally, he concluded that Zora had simply made the best of the situation.
In a way, she had done exactly what he would have done— accepted the lot fate had thrown her and made the most of it.
"Fine. I understand," Alex said at last, much to Zora’s visible relief.
"You’re... not angry?" she probed.
"Angry? No." Alex shook his head. "I was never angry in the first place. If I were, I wouldn’t have hugged you — much less kissed you. I can’t hide my feelings like that." He scratched his cheek wryly.
"I was more worried, actually," he admitted.
"Worried?" Zora blinked, confused. "Worried about what?"
"I was worried you didn’t believe I could cure your bloodline problem," Alex said softly, "and that you were making arrangements in case of your death... so I wouldn’t end up alone."
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