At the moment of Marvin's death, someone somewhere sensed it. But she wasn't unhappy. She was instead glad and full of anticipation.
She was sleeping in a dark place when it happened. But her eyes shot wide open when she felt the fluctuations in the great dao.
Only her two eyes could be seen in the darkness. The two eyes were bright and white. Both the pupils and iris were white. They just had different shades.
She said, "Finally, he has awakened."
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Marvin felt his heart give out, and his body became weak. He became tired until his eyes closed. He fell asleep then.
He thought that was the end. So he was very surprised when he woke up again.
He opened his eyes, but the light was too bright. It blinded him, so he had to squint.
Even then, he could barely see anything. All he could tell was that there was a source of loud noise nearby and that someone was carrying him.
The noise was like the buzzing of insects. It was static, and it was annoying.
It was all he could hear. It didn't help that he was mostly blind. Everything, including the rough hands of the person carrying him, was irritating.
He thought to himself in annoyance, "What kind of brought hands does this person have? Do they use their hands to break rocks?"
Actually, he can understand why someone would have rough hands. He used to have rough hands too. That was when he was working on his father's farm, working hard to make a living.
But that is in the past. Ever since he had the idea to buy the produce of every farmer in his county, store it, and then slowly sell it at a bigger price, he has never had to do backbreaking work anymore.
His has been mostly a life of luxury. Which is why, despite understanding why someone would have rough hands, he cannot condone or appreciate them using their hands to peel off his skin.
He opened his mouth to tell whoever it was that was hurting him to let him go. But all that came out of his mouth was a gabbled mess.
The voice that came out of his mouth surprised him. It was nasally and of high pitch. It didn't sound like his voice at all.
Then he began to hear more droning sounds. Only this time, they are louder than before. He could hear them more clearly, but he didn't like what he heard.
The noise sounded like demonic chanting. It was strange and disturbing.
He tried to ask, "Where am I?"
But only garbled nonsense came out of his lips.
He couldn't tell the person holding him to let him go, and he couldn't tell whoever was making the annoying sound to shut the hell up. He could only go along for the ride.
It is literally the case. He felt as if the person holding him was swinging him about. It made him queasy and disoriented.
Eventually his eyes adapted to the light, and he could finally see what was going on around him.
The first thing he saw were giants. There were three giants in a room he was unfamiliar with.
The room was strange. It was small and had a garish red paint on its walls. But the most eye-catching thing in the room was the three giants looking down at him.
They said something to each other that he didn't understand. But he recognized the sound that they were making as the demonic chanting he heard earlier.
He was very confused and slightly afraid by everything he was seeing. But his fear took priority when one of them grabbed him and turned him over.
He shouted at it, "Unhand me, you monster."
His voice came out as a desperate cry. It also worked. The giant paused.
It said some things to the other giant in that same weird language. Meanwhile, he was beginning to have a headache because of their loud voice being this close to his head.
One of the assistants said to the midwife, "He didn't cry for a long time, but he still cried. It means his lungs are working."
But the midwife wasn't willing to take any chances. She said, "Let's just make sure. There is no harm in it."
A small cry wasn't enough to put her mind at peace considering who her client is. She had to make sure that everything was alright to avoid anything that might make her lose her head.
So she turned the baby over again and smacked his butt.
The baby finally cried. He cried long and hard. This made the midwife and her assistant sigh in relief.
Then the door of the delivery room was opened abruptly, and a tall man entered the room.
The man was tall and broad-shouldered. He had a white and fair complexion. His short hair was blond, and his eyes were blue. He was the picture of a handsome and healthy man in his prime.
The man looked around the room briefly. His eyes swept over the woman on the bed, but he didn't linger on her.
She was pretty. Not even the stress of childbirth diminished her beauty. She had long red hair and soul-stirring black eyes.
Her lips were full and red. The only thing fuller than them was her breasts. But the man didn't care for any of this. He only had the tiny life form in the room in his eyes.
He focused on the tiny boy in the hands of the midwife. Then strode over confidently to them.
The midwife and her assistant bowed low to him in respect. But he ignored their greetings and didn't respond. He only stretched his hand wordlessly to them, and they responded by handing the baby over to him.
He grabbed the baby from them with his large hand. His grip was a little rough, which made the baby cry out again.
The mother of the child said calmly from where she was on the bed, "Be careful not to break him."
He snorted and said without looking at her, "I know how to hold a baby."
She didn't say more because she could tell he was unhappy. It was clear in his face and the way he looked at her and her baby.
Not that he was ever happy about her pregnancy. But she didn't want to anger him lest he do something drastic.
The father looked the child over. The boy had sparse hair that was red like his mother's. He also had a beautiful face that looked similar to his mother's.
Those were not the only things the boy got from his mother. He also inherited her black eyes and her small hands.
He looked like a small male clone of his mother and had nothing in common with his father. But he was adorable.
Even strangers would call the baby beautiful. They would want to look at his face for a long time while admiring it.
They would call him cute and handsome. But the man didn't look impressed. If anything, the features of the boy reminded him of his mistake.
Even without the visual reminder, he is sure that the boy's existence will be a constant reminder of the greatest mistake he had ever made in his entire life. Having the result of his mistake look like his mistake only made matters worse.
His inspection took a whole two seconds. When he was done, he said, "He is passable."
Then he returned the child to the midwife and began to leave. He didn't want to stay there more than necessary. But the mother of the child still had something to bother him with.
She said, "Won't you take him to the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors and be named?"
He stopped mid-stride and turned back to her. This action revealed his livid face. It was as if she had just asked for both of his kidneys.
He looked ready to explode. But he didn't become violent. However, the increase in the brightness of his eyes showed that he was well and truly angry.
As if that wasn't enough, a terrible force exploded from the room and descended on everyone in it. Everyone was affected by the pressure.
The midwife and her assistants knelt on the ground in fear. The force had pressed them unwillingly to the ground.
The mother of the child felt the pressure settle on her chest, which caused her breath to stagnate. The force also caused the child to stop crying. Instead, he began to choke.
The man said, "Don't ever mention that again."
His voice was cold and venomous. His eyes were bright like that of a feline predator in the night.
He continued calmly, "I know what you're up to, but it won't work. He will never be a true son of the Dyson clan. You can call him whatever you want."
Then he swept his robe and marched out of the room. He didn't look back once, and he never did in the following years.
But behind him, the boy was staring hard at the man. There was fear and panic in the eyes of the boy because he couldn't breathe. However, there was also a look of surprise and shock. It is not a look that a baby should have.
When he had left, the mother of the child hissed.
She said, "So dramatic."
She knew she had overstepped her bounds by asking for a public naming ceremony, but he also went too far when he refused to name his son even in secret. He might as well have disowned the child.
Calling him dramatic is an understatement. But she didn't dare say those things to his face. She had to make sure that he was gone before she even dared to use an understatement to accuse him.