Asher was clearly calling Robert "father," yet Robert felt as if he had just been slapped across the face.
He clenched his teeth and finally replied, "I agree."
Elly, standing to the side, almost instantly snapped back to her senses. She screamed in despair, "No, Robert, you can't do this!"
As she spoke, she crawled and stumbled toward him, clutching tightly at Robert's leg as she cried. "Robert, are you really going to abandon me? Didn't you say before that you would give me everything? Didn't you say Lucen would be your only heir?! Lucen was killed, you should avenge him! You can't do this!"
Asher suddenly laughed. That light chuckle became the final straw that completely shattered Elly's sanity.
She shrieked and lunged at him like a madwoman. "Bastard, I'll fight you to the death!"
But before she could even touch Asher, a barrier shot forward and instantly severed Elly's head. Fresh blood sprayed out like a fountain, yet the moment it neared Asher, it immediately evaporated.
Robert looked at Asher, his eyes filled with unreadable emotions. "Is that enough?"
Asher smiled faintly and shrugged. "Just finish everything you're supposed to do."
Facing Elly's body with head and torso separated, the other wives no longer dared to beg for anything.
They could be exiled, but at least they would still be alive, even though their lives from now on would no longer be filled with wealth or luxury, and would be far from easy.
Here, only Robert's fifth wife, Scarlet, was not targeted. Simply because even when Liona had been in her weakest position, she had never kicked her while she was down or done anything harmful to her.
Robert handled everything at the fastest possible speed. By the time the blood contract was completed, Liona still felt a sense of unreality. She looked at Asher, who had already returned to his normal appearance, and could not help saying, "Asher, why don't you hit Mother once?"
Asher could not help but find it a little funny. "Mother can hit me."
Liona immediately shook her head. She had loved Asher since he was young, how could she ever bring herself to hit him?
But everything had truly happened too suddenly. After the joy faded, Asher knew he still had to explain things to Liona.
He only said that all this time, he had always been fully conscious and aware of everything that happened, it was just that his body had been unable to express anything.
Finally, today, it was as if a seal had been broken, and only then did he become what he was now.
In the end, Liona accepted this explanation.
After all, her son had finally grown strong, finally possessed the ability to protect himself. She herself now held half of the power of the Aurelius family. From this moment on, she would be the solid wall shielding Asher. No one would ever be able to bully the two of them again.
On that very same day, news of Asher's battle with Thora spread like wildfire.
Storytellers who had observed everything from afar began to recount the events with great fervor. Flames descending like a century-defining storm, light snuffed out before true power, Thora being completely crushed, a new miracle of Talentia. The tale spread at an astonishing speed through taverns and places of leisure everywhere.
By the following day, Asher's victory had already spread throughout Citadel Cinderfall.
Countless messages of inquiry arrived at the center of the Aurelius family from clansmen scattered across Talentia, expressing admiration and longing, hoping to form connections, while lamenting that they had been too far away in the past to care for Asher.
But all of that was merely justification, gilded words to make themselves sound better.
Back then, Asher had been nothing more than a useless person. Who would bother caring? Who could have imagined that one day that useless individual would transform into an Awakened of rank A, with a Talent of rank A as well.
That was right. Current public opinion temporarily believed that Asher had awakened a rank A Talent and had also cultivated to rank A.
At Asher's age, this was indeed terrifying. Yet he had defeated Thora. No matter how unbelievable it seemed, this was an undeniable fact.
Many people predicted that the standing of the Aurelius family among the three great families would soon begin to shift.
There were also many who felt that this matter was far from over. With the head of the family killed just like that, the Valerius family would certainly seek justice.
Regardless of how fiercely those at the top fought among themselves, ordinary people like them could only watch in excitement and gossip from the sidelines.
As for Asher, when he woke up from a night's sleep, he saw that the second card had lit up a little more, beginning to reveal a corner of its true form. It continued to flicker faintly, clearly indicating that his renown was still steadily increasing.
Evidently, yesterday's battle had spread far and wide.
Asher changed his clothes and then had breakfast.
The servants' uneasy expressions were plainly visible, even though he had not done anything at all.
Asher did not particularly care. Servants showing respect to their master was only proper.
Ordinary servants were sometimes even treated as objects of ridicule by young masters and mistresses. Asher would naturally never do that, but he also would not allow the boundaries of authority to be blurred.
After finishing breakfast, Asher prepared to head to the library to learn more about this world.
Just then, however, there was a sudden knock on his door. A servant reported that Mrs. Scarlet had come to visit.
Scarlet was a woman with a cool, refined air. Her skin was snow-white with a hint of pallor, her hair black as a raven's feathers, and her vivid red eyes made her look like an ancient vampire, though Asher did not know whether vampires even existed in this world.
She entered and bowed her head in greeting to Asher.
Yes, they were all Robert's concubines. Their status could not compare to Liona's, much less to Liona's son.
It was only in the past, when Liona and Asher had fallen into decline, that Elly had been able to climb over her and lord it over her.
Asher noticed that Scarlet was holding a child in her arms. He waved his hand and said, "It's just us here. There's no need for such cumbersome formalities. After all, there never were any before."
A trace of embarrassment surfaced on Scarlet's normally indifferent face. She spoke softly, "I was discourteous in the past, Asher."
Asher did not dwell on it, and Scarlet did not dare say more. She looked at Asher and said sincerely, "I came today only to thank you, Asher. Thank you for not driving Elysia and me away."
Elysia, Scarlet's daughter, was only two years old this year. However, she had already been tested at birth to possess a Talent of rank B, and because of that, she had received a small measure of "fatherly affection" from Robert.
Asher did not pay it much mind and said, "There's no need to thank me. Thank your own kindness and sense of propriety instead, Scarlet."
Hearing this, Scarlet did not say anything further.
Just then, Elysia, who had been staring at Asher the whole time, suddenly stretched her hands forward and began to wave them nonstop, babbling something indistinctly.
Scarlet could not help but try to soothe the little girl, but at that moment Asher had already stepped forward and extended his hands. Scarlet froze and could only hand Elysia over to him, though the worry on her face was impossible to hide.
Even though Asher had spared her and her daughter, the ruthless he had shown yesterday was something Scarlet could not easily forget.
Asher held Elysia, lifting her up and down a little. Not only was Elysia unafraid, she even laughed joyfully, her bright red eyes seeming to flicker with a hint of light. Her small hands reached forward as if trying to grab Asher's hair.
Noticing Scarlet's face had gone pale as paper, Asher gave a faint, mocking smile and then handed Elysia back to her. "Alright. If there's nothing else, you may leave."
Scarlet nodded in response, then hugged Elysia and left.
Elysia kept wriggling, climbing over her mother's body, revealing her round little face from behind Scarlet's shoulder. She smiled happily and waved goodbye to Asher, two small white front teeth visible as she babbled.
Asher turned his head away without responding, yet the corner of his lips could not help but curl upward as he muttered, "A little brat who still smells of milk."