Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 723: 337: Choosing Destiny

Chapter 723: Chapter 337: Choosing Destiny

The moonlight is like a curtain, the gaze like stars, swirling with longing.

The whispered murmur, love like a raging fire rising, yet like a gentle breeze caressing a rose.

The evening wind makes the golden maple outside the window sing softly, the osmanthus hides shyly in the clouds, not peering into the world’s entanglements.

Leaning on the couch, fingers gently smoothing the girl’s hair.

Ines buries her face in her lover’s chest, listening to the strings of his heartbeat, as if time stands still, with only the warmth in her heart quietly flowing in the peaceful night candle.

Slightly closing her eyes, waiting to hear everything Leon has to say…

After a long time, she softly sighed:

“So, do you really have to go?”

“I’m sorry.” Leon instinctively tightened his embrace on the girl in his arms: “I won’t make any excuses for myself, just like your significance to me, I cannot abandon her… Olivia is also my beloved wife…”

But before he finished speaking, Ines suddenly laughed lightly at this.

Leon looked down at her in confusion.

“~Fool, I’m not talking about that, it’s just having a little more affection for another woman, why would I care about such a trivial thing.” Ines supported Leon’s shoulder, sitting up as her waterfall-like golden hair cascaded down, her lightly furrowed brows filled with helplessly teasing her husband.

“It’s been so many years… time and again you’ve saved me from confinement and danger, how much have we experienced together?

You put me on the throne, how much have you sacrificed for me?

Do you think I am a shallow, jealous woman who only knows how to take?”

Ines gently caressed his face, no longer her usual frivolous and playful self, whispering tenderly: “I am the queen ruling the North… and the wife who eternally supports all your decisions and your backbone… the harbor that welcomes you to dock and shelter.”

The moonlight embroidered on those long lashes, Ines lifted the ends of her hair, lowered her head, and gently pressed on her husband’s lips, the corners of her mouth rippling into a smile: “…I will never let you feel sad, nor will I constrain you with chains.”

A bit shaken by her stance, the tolerance beyond two lifetimes, for a moment left Leon at a loss for words.

“I… truly don’t deserve you.” He felt somewhat ashamed.

Ines gently caressed the side of her husband’s face where the hideous scars had already disappeared, she remembered every time, every terrifying injury and pain he had borne for her: “If you are undeserving, then no one in this world deserves me.”

The girl tilted her head: “Though, honestly speaking, sharing your affection… I’m bound to get jealous in the future, but… just thinking of how you managed to ‘tame’ that terrifying golden lion, huh~… makes me want to see her proud demeanor being subdued by you…”

Startled in his heart, seeing the topic heading in an unwanted direction, Leon hastily interrupted: “Ahem, well, before I return, the army must remain stationary, at worst, I will find a way to persuade Olivia to retreat and cease fighting.”

Ines sighed slightly, nodded and said: “That’s exactly my concern, how do you intend to persuade her now? Considering your previous injuries… Olivia now isn’t the familiar Miss Olivia in your memory, how can you easily take risks before your strength is restored?”

Leon shook his head at her words.

“Before more bloodshed occurs, I must try, and I can’t figure out why Olivia didn’t deliver the final blow on me.

I can only guess that she might still harbor a trace of friendship from back then towards me, perhaps we still have a chance to calm down and talk.”

“Friendship?” Ines asked in confusion.

Leon awkwardly showed his face.

“There was no intention to conceal this past from you, it’s just that… after Olivia raised troops, I was afraid you would overthink, so I didn’t mention it intentionally.”

He gradually began to recall the past experiences.

Along this path of destiny, when he fled with Lokhak and Azeryan, indeed they reached Selva Village.

But…

In this destiny, there was no Spiritual Field with a different flow of time from the outside.

Not trapped by the Nightmare Forest covered by the Cursed Domain, this subtle difference allowed them to smoothly pass through the forest, reaching Selva many days earlier than the original fate.

The three didn’t achieve the feat of crossing the Cursed Land, had no Thorny Sword, and thus didn’t connect with the Thorns Flower family, nor were they driven away by Uncle Bryan.

However, they still met the enthusiastic Olivia and became friends.

But, after a few days of temporary stay, the three consecutively set off to leave.

In this world, despite their joint escape from slavery, the journey of escape went more smoothly without the ensuing crises that repeatedly forced him to save his companions from danger.

The different experiences didn’t allow the three to establish a deeper friendship, and they focused more on their individual goals.

Azeryan embarked on the journey to return home.

Lokhak, driven by hatred, participated in the local war Orland launched against Kantadar.

He was the last to leave Selva.

The smooth escape route, having not faced life-threatening crises repeatedly, made him, brimming with spirit, unwilling to live unproductively as a farmer in a mountain village.

He declined Olivia’s offer to take him in and didn’t become a tenant at the Brian Family farm, choosing to venture north alone.

By chance, when he, posing as a Ranger Knight, had some success after risking his life, he returned to Selva Village to find Olivia, wanting to thank her for her guidance and help…

Selva Village had become a desolate graveyard-filled wasteland.

Shocked, unable to find Olivia’s whereabouts after a painstaking search, he once believed the girl had also met with misfortune.

In anger and regret, he investigated to track the remnants’ trail, eventually, he accidentally encountered the Thorny Flower Army’s battle encircling the remnants of Kantadar, once again meeting Olivia, clad in armor, covered in blood, holding the enemy’s head.

By then, she was no longer the innocent and bright girl, resembling a cold-blooded lion tormented by hatred and pain, ready to devour people.

Even though he may not have changed much had he stayed initially, the uncontrollable guilt made him unable to face the calamities she had endured.

Accompanying Olivia in joining the Thorny Flower Army, continuing to hunt down the remnants of Kantadar, until the girl finally found Dawson, personally ending her journey of revenge by beheading him… he witnessed the Thorny Flower family’s great admiration and honor bestowed upon this remarkably brave girl.

With no further worries, he chose to part ways amidst his guilt.

The girl didn’t retain him, by then, she had grown indifferent to everyone.

Destiny thus let him and her part ways, and they hadn’t met again until two years later on the civil war battlefield… faced with weapons, he made a vow in shame never to use the martial arts she had imparted, and from then they became irreconcilable enemies.

No wonder during the confrontation that day, Olivia questioned his reusing the body techniques and gun skills she had taught.

Now it seems, for granting him a spared life, was it Olivia still reminiscing the friendship from chasing Kantadar’s remnants together back then?

Leon didn’t know, he only remembered at that time, despite his best efforts, he could never again make the girl show the warm smile she had when they first met.

Being repeatedly struck down to the ground by Olivia during their duels made him even feel the girl might loathe his sympathetic actions.