CHAPTER 58: AFTERMATH

It had been over a week since the explosion.

A week of rumors, whispered gossip, and political maneuvering that made Azel want to roll his eyes into the back of his skull.

No wonder he hated politics in his past life, it was unwanted attention.

The first and most important piece of news to the outside world was that Azel Thorn, son of the Sword Saint, had miraculously survived the palace blast while the Second Empress had perished, the Emperor and First Empress were out of the castle on that day.

The more "tragic" part — depending on who you asked was that he’d been gravely wounded in the process.

The first two days after the incident, he was confined to bedrest, patched up by healers while a steady stream of officials came by to "express concern."

By the third day, however, he was already up and moving — though still bandaged choosing to recuperate somewhere far less suffocating than the castle.

The second development was that the princesses of the Starbloom Empire had been sent away for "training" far from the capital — a convenient excuse to remove them from the political scene.

Even Ira, who technically wasn’t a princess, had somehow tagged along.

Azel suspected that Naelia was adamant to be accompanied by her, and he could only imagine what this training entailed but he hoped they could grow stronger as well.

The third, and perhaps most telling, update was that the treaty between the Starbloom Empire and the Aegis Empire remained entirely intact.

The supposed death of Empress Edna — who had been married off to secure peace had apparently changed nothing.

The message was clear: politically, she had been expendable.

And yet, she didn’t care.

Not a single bit.

Not when she was nestled in the warm, bandaged arms of the man she loved.

Edna shifted slightly in Azel’s lap, the dull scent of ointment from his healing wounds mixing with the faint trace of his natural scent.

His arms — strong even in recovery were locked protectively around her, one hand idly brushing her hair while his gaze remained fixed on something distant.

Here, away from the suffocating castle corridors, there were no false smiles, no "accidental" brushes of hands from noblemen trying to test boundaries, no poisonous court ladies trying to trip her in both the literal and political sense.

Here, he didn’t see her as a pawn.

Here, he loved her.

She tilted her head to nuzzle against his neck. Lillia lay asleep on the bed nearby, curled up like a kitten.

Ever since Azel’s return, the little girl had insisted on sleeping with them both, sandwiched between or in his arms, and Edna found — to her surprise that she didn’t mind.

In fact, she had grown to... like it. The security of being held while drifting to sleep was something she had never experienced before.

Still, Lillia’s presence didn’t stop Edna’s more... possessive instincts.

Her lips hovered near Azel’s shoulder.

She let her tongue dart out, tasting his skin — salty with sweat, warm under her mouth.

The bandages didn’t reach this high, so she could mark him without disturbing his injuries.

He tensed slightly at the touch, and her lips curved into a smug little smile.

Then she bit him.

Not hard enough to cause him pain — not that pain would bother him but enough to make him feel it.

She deepened the bite until the faint metallic taste of blood touched her tongue.

Only then did she release him, leaving behind a fresh mark that stood out vividly against his skin.

Satisfied, she shifted back into his lap, curling into him like she owned him.

"This is the third time you’ve marked me today," Azel sighed, his tone carrying equal parts amusement and mild exasperation as his arms instinctively tightened around her. "Don’t you have anything else to do?"

"Nah," she replied, cheeks tinged with the faintest blush. "I prefer marking you."

He chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. Without warning, he scooped her up as though she weighed nothing.

"Have you decided on what I asked you?" he asked, adjusting her slightly so he could look her in the eye.

Edna puffed her cheeks out.

"I told you, I’m too old to learn either aura or magic." She gave an exaggerated sigh, though in truth, it wasn’t about her age — she simply had no desire to go through the tedium of training.

What she really wanted was to be his stay-at-home wife, free to laze around and monopolize his time.

Still... if he insisted...

"But," she added reluctantly, "if you insist, I’ll become a mage."

Azel’s brows lifted ever so slightly.

’Of course she chooses the path with the lifespan boost,’ he thought.

A mage’s life span grew with every rank up, so the choice made sense — though he suspected her reasoning was far less practical and far more "because I feel like it."

Still, it wasn’t a bad decision.

Edna had potential — more than she realized.

And he wanted her to be able to protect herself, especially if they ever got separated in a dangerous situation.

"In that case..." Azel raised his hand, the faint shimmer of his storage ring catching the light.

With a flick of his wrist, dozens of small, crystalline spheres poured out onto the floor between them, clinking softly as they rolled to a stop.

The air itself seemed to hum faintly with energy.

There were fifty E-rank mana cores and one D-rank core — the latter glowing faintly brighter than the rest.

He had tried to spin the Fate wheel with regular Fate tickets, and he got 51 Items consecutively, all of them being monster cores.

Edna stared at them with mild disinterest. "So... I just eat them or what?"

He gave her a flat look. "No. Sit down."

She did so, lowering herself to the floor with none of the regal posture she once carried as an empress.

"I’m only doing this because it’s you," she said, crossing her legs and resting her elbows lazily on her knees. "So, how do I absorb it?"

"Close your eyes and feel the energy inside the core," Azel instructed, keeping his tone even.

It was straight out of the beginner mage training manuals he’d read in the game — the same ones that worked in this world.

Edna picked up one of the faintly glowing E-rank cores, the surface smooth and almost warm in her palm.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled slowly, focusing on the faint thrum beneath her fingertips.

She wanted to impress him.

She wanted his eyes to only be on her.

Almost immediately, she felt it — a pulsing warmth, like a slow heartbeat, radiating from the core.

The longer she focused, the more she realized it wasn’t alone. Threads of that same energy drifted through the air around her, invisible but present.

"I can feel it," she murmured, eyes still closed. "The mana in the core... in the air... everywhere. Except your body. But there’s a crazy amount coming from Lillia."

Azel froze for a fraction of a second.

Then a chime sounded in his vision.

[Congratulations. Your partner, Edna Starbloom, has unlocked Hidden Talent: Mana Genius (LV. 1)]

Azel stared blankly at the notification.

’Right. Everyone’s a genius except for me.’

He suppressed a sigh.

Well... at least this "genius" happened to be his so it wasn’t bad at all.