Worries

In the skies above a pitch black mountain, near the Ashton Empire's Borders.

"We'll be crossing the borders soon," Davis said as he looked at the outposts in the distance.

He then looked beside to see a beautiful figure who looked serene in the dancing wind, except the figure was still wearing his imperial black robes where half of its left sleeve flailed around in the air.

He asked, "Are you worried?" Guilt was still visible in his eyes.

She looked at him and smiled, "... Sort of... I wonder how our people will react after seeing my state?"

Davis rolled his eyes, "Why are you worrying about that? I should be the one who is worried!"

Evelynn chuckled on hearing his statement.

He sighed and explained, "What? I brought you out without any elite guards to protect us! I was too arrogant, and now, I've learnt my lesson! Except, you paid the price for it!"With a silent pause, he murmured, "I'm going to get beaten by my mother for sure!"

Evelynn giggled and shook her head, "You'll see when we get there... The strong dictates the weak."

Looking at her non-blaming eyes, Davis went silent. He was extremely uncomfortable with her patience and forgiveness.

He decided to ask the question which had been weighing on his mind for a long time, "You don't blame me for what had happened?"

Evelynn glanced at her severed arm, "Why would I? My arrogant self just had to go slap them because they insulted me. It was a blunder on my part, sigh."

"If they had insulted you, then you are in the right to strike them back," Davis replied in a strong tone.

She added, "It would, that is if I had a status or cultivation that was at least equal to them..."

Flicking the sleeves and narrowing his eyes, he shouted, "You are my fiancee! How did they even get the courage to touch you?"

Hearing that, she wryly smiled, "We aren't married yet... To them, I am just a commoner who just got lucky." Her gaze then moved away from him, "Besides, they must have thought that I am nothing more than a decoration."

"You aren't! You are my wife!" Davis shamelessly declared as he looked away.

"Hehe..." It caused her to giggle continuously from happiness. Suddenly, she felt that losing an arm wasn't a worse matter at all.

Evelynn then smiled brightly at him, "I know!"

Looking at her bright smiling face that was void of blame, Davis felt even more guilt.

Just like Shirley, he also wanted to get forgiveness from her. But unlike Shirley, it was largely sincere on his part.

"You're not going to yell at me? About saving Shirley?" David asked with a faint fear in his heart. After all, he did accidentally kiss Shirley in a moment of desperation and in the following chaos, Shirley unconsciously licked his face while it was all seen by Evelynn through the Imagery Crystal.

Evelynn blushed a little while recalling the scenes displayed from the Imagery Crystal.

Seeing her go silent all of a sudden, he couldn't help but ask her once again, "Are you mad at me?"

"As a wife, you can yell at me you know..." Davis reminded her gently, afraid that she had been holding back all this time.

Her expression suddenly went awry before she sighed, "Despicable! Is what I would at least say... but I know that you did it accidentally. There's no reason for me to get angry at you."

A few moments of silence passed before he uttered, "... Thanks for understanding."

Meanwhile, a slight sigh escaped from Evelynn's mouth as she thought, 'I'm not trying to hog you all to myself anyway.'

...

Two months later, the two of them finally arrived at the outskirts of the Loret Empire's Royal Capital.

They didn't meet any obstruction in their return journey as well. Nobody was unfortunate enough to get seriously injured by Davis for just stopping them.

These two months, his demeanour slightly changed to a cold one as he pondered on how to conduct himself.

From time to time, he wondered about Ellia's whereabouts, he took care of Evelynn with utmost care. Read some books in the meantime, stacking up on his knowledge.

Whenever he glanced at her severed harm, he sighed. He vowed to one day regrow her arm as soon as possible.

He decided to cast away his optimistic and cheerful personality which was gained by living in the Royal Castle for seven years, but not entirely.

He decided to deal with his loved ones in a fond manner while dealing with strangers in an ice cold and ruthless manner.

It was easy for him to do that, because, his original personality in his previous life was of a cold one, to begin with. He didn't change but merely returned to what he was before he came to this world.

Additionally, the Golden-Horned Wyvern slightly bonded with the both of them.

Plus, to his headache, he even heard a weird rumour that was spreading around the last few days when he neared the Loret Empire Royal Capital.

"We've finally returned home!" Leaning on Davis's shoulders while looking at the familiar walls, Evelynn let out an exhausted noise, tired from the return journey.

She had changed back to her black silky robes sometime after her right arm healed completely, even the scars had completely disappeared during this time.

Only her left arm was bandaged on the severed end. It was a painful experience for her, but as a result, it made her pain threshold increase a lot. With this, she knew that she will be able to make progress in Body Tempering Cultivation.

Though she looked content, there was a genuine worry, visible in her eyes when she looked in the direction of her home.

"It's fine, I'll come along with you. We'll check the rumour later." Looking at her worried gaze, Davis comforted her.

He felt that he has to man up and receive the curses from her family for not being able to protect her.

As long as they don't go overboard, Davis felt that taking unusual insults would be fine as well.

Crossing the walls, they passed without even facing a single obstruction as the chief guards over the walls knew that the Golden-Horned Wyvern was the mount of the Emperor. They even bowed down out of reverence and respect.

The first destination they arrived to wasn't the Royal Castle, but the Cauldon Family Manor.

Davis resigned himself to be called incompetent and such, while he stood on the Golden-Horned Wyvern which was hovering above the manor with a towering presence.