"Hahaha! Long time no see, Val. Come and hug your husband," Leyvi said with open arms.

But Valenia hopped off the cloud, ignored him entirely, and walked straight to hug Anda, leaving Leyvi standing there in an awkward pose.

"Ugh…" Leyvi's eyebrow twitched. She got him this time.

"Madam, thank goodness you're alright. I was worried about you," Valenia said while holding back the grin that threatened to form on her lips.

"Pfft!" Anda, wrapped in Valenia's arms, almost burst into laughter seeing Leyvi's defeated expression. "Ahem… What are you doing, Val? Go hug your husband first."

"I'm your Alchemic Knight. Of course I care about you first. He can wait," Valenia replied matter-of-factly.

"Hehe. If that's the case, then I'll take this hug," Lilian said as she stepped in and wrapped her arms around Leyvi, taking the opportunity.

"Hahaha! Lilian is the best!" Leyvi exclaimed, burying his face happily into her generous cleavage.

"Eh?" Valenia's eyes widened. "Lilian… that… is that your voice…?"

"Hehe. My birth defect is gone. I'm no longer mute," Lilian said, beaming with joy.

Valenia stared at Lilian, blinking in disbelief, as the once-silent woman's newfound voice transformed her into a vibrant, cheerful presence, almost like a different person entirely.

A moment later, Valenia's face softened into a warm smile, and she said, "Congratulations, Lilian, I'm truly happy for you."

Lilian giggled, her voice bright, and replied, "Hehehe, thank you!"

Anda's eyes glinted with mischief, and she said, "Oh no, Val, what are we going to do? Lilian's become so much more adorable with her voice, and soon she'll steal all of Leyvi's affection, drowning him in her deep valley, so we need to step up our game and be even cuter to keep our share!"

Valenia rolled her eyes, having just arrived and already facing her madam's relentless teasing, thinking, Can't you wait a day or two? She crossed her arms and said, "I don't care, Lilian can have all his affection."

Leyvi clutched his chest dramatically, dropping to his knees, and wailed, "Ouch, ouch, my heart! I'm wounded, Val, please tell me that's not true, my darling Val doesn't care about me anymore, how can I ever recover from this?"

Anda knelt beside him, playing along with mock concern, and said, "Husband, don't be like this! You still have us, even if Val's turned into a cold-hearted, uncaring woman, you have me and Lilian, and we'll always stand by your side, so don't fall into despair, my love!"

Lilian, catching the cue, dropped to the floor on Leyvi's other side, wrapping her arms around him, and said, "That's right, husband, don't fall into despair, fall into my comfortable valley instead, it'll wash away all the bad memories and fill them with merry ones."

Valenia rolled her eyes again, exasperated, thinking, What in the world are they doing? Even Lilian has joined their ridiculous skit now, so embarrassing. Yet, despite herself, a gentle smile crept onto her lips, warmth spreading through her as she felt the familiar comfort of home wash over her.

Meanwhile, Victor stared at the scene with a dumbfounded expression. He had finally decided to step out of his room for the first time after holing himself up and avoiding everyone, only to be greeted by such a ridiculous display.

What is wrong with this family? My sister really chose them, huh? Tch. As expected. Tall guy gets all the happiness in the world.

Without another word, Victor turned around and quietly returned to his room. He decided to continue avoiding people and instead poured himself back into perfecting his new alchemy formula.

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After that, Anda took Lilian away, giving Leyvi and Valenia some time alone together.

Two days later, after a particularly satisfying session, Valenia, still in her sexy undergarments, suddenly brought something up.

"Oh, right. Leyvi, can you open these space rings for me?" she asked, showing three rings resting on her palm.

"Eh? Where did you get these?" Leyvi blinked, sitting up. "Did you kill someone? What happened?"

Valenia casually recounted what had happened on her way here.

Leyvi let out a long sigh. "It's good that you're alright. They got what they deserved. Trying to bully my Val, what a joke. They picked the wrong target." He reached over and took the space rings from her. "Let's see what they had on them."

He felt no sympathy for the three Valenia had killed. They were actual villains, scum preying on others. Leyvi only felt disturbed when innocent people were involved. But in this case, there was no guilt. Not even a shred.

Leyvi then used his Formation Dismantling benefit to easily break through the restriction placed on the rings.

"Let's see… what do we have here… eh? Who's this guy?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked through the first ring. "He's got a lot of outfits similar to the ones Brother Lin Wei always wears. Is he someone from the East Region?"

"Correct," Valenia said. "One of them was from the East Region, the other from the West. Their leader came from the Protogaea Continent. You've heard of that continent already, right?"

Leyvi nodded. "Yeah. I have a friend from there. He's a clo—crown prince of a kingdom. Talks like he owns the world, so if you ever meet him, just be patient. Haha."

Valenia blinked in surprise. Friend with a crown prince? She couldn't even imagine how arrogant such a man must be. Her experience dealing with just a noble was already hard enough to tolerate. How much worse would it be with a prince? She wondered if Leyvi had been ordered around by this so-called friend the way she had been, but chose not to ask. She didn't want to risk hurting his pride as a man.

"Wait, what are these beads?" Leyvi suddenly exclaimed, spotting hundreds of small, silver-patterned orbs nestled deep within one of the rings. As soon as he touched them, a familiar aura pulsed faintly through his fingers.

Valenia immediately realized what he had found. "Those are the things I wanted from the rings—Metal Essence Beads. How many are there?"

"Hahaha! I knew it!" Leyvi said with a grin, quickly moving on to inspect the other two rings. "They're definitely Metal Essence Beads! This is great." A few moments later, he finished counting. "Each ring had several hundred. Altogether, there are nearly thirteen hundred beads."

"That many?" Valenia's eyes narrowed, her anger bubbling to the surface. "Hmph. Those bastards deserved to die. They were hoarding all these, and yet they still tried to rob me when I had nothing on me. Unbelievable."

Leyvi gently stroked Valenia's red hair, a calming gesture as he sensed the change in atmosphere brought on by her anger. The air around them had become laced with sharp, invisible edges, like countless tiny needles poking at his skin from all directions.

Although the sensation was new, it reminded him of something similar he had experienced when Anda lost her temper. It had been flames and intense heat when Anda did it. Now, it was sword intent, and it seemed Valenia had unknowingly developed the ability to influence her surroundings through it.

Several minutes passed before she gradually calmed down. As her emotions settled, the prickling sensation faded entirely, and the air returned to normal.

"Leyvi," she said softly, "you looked pretty excited just now. Do you need the Metal Essence Beads for something?"

"Hahaha! You're spot on," Leyvi replied with a cheerful grin. "I need about a hundred of them to push my metal affinity to the current limit."

Valenia tilted her head slightly, puzzled. "But I thought you already had high affinities for the five elements. Why would you still need to improve it?"

"Hahaha. That affinity came from a treasure," Leyvi explained without hesitation. "It's not real affinity. I've been relying on that treasure all this time, but I don't want to depend on it forever. So, I'm working on building a genuine connection to the five elements from the ground up. After all, my martial skills depend on them."

"A treasure?" Valenia repeated, blinking in surprise. It wasn't the mention of the treasure itself that shocked her. Everyone in the harem already had their suspicions that Leyvi possessed some incredible secret that had changed their lives. What surprised her was that he was finally choosing to speak about it, even if just in part.

Until now, none of the women had dared to ask him directly. They respected his silence, knowing that whatever it was, it lay at the heart of his path. And yet here he was, offering that secret freely, as though it no longer burdened him.

That simple act filled her with joy.

"Huh? What is this?" Leyvi muttered as he pulled something unusual from the space ring that belonged to the man from the Protogaea Continent.

"A jade slip? Is there anything special about it?" Valenia asked, leaning in slightly to get a better look.

"Hmm… this jade slip has multiple restrictions placed on it. They're even more complex and tightly layered than the ones protecting his space ring," Leyvi said, examining it more closely.