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Long years in the Abyss had afflicted Carolyn’s mana with the Savior’s depravity and madness, such that no one could have convinced her to stop other than Paul.

In fact, the first thing Paul did after pushing down Carolyn was to fix the holy armor, which was why Roel and the others could have a peaceful conversation with her afterward. Even so, the repairs were temporary due to time and resource constraints.

Once the effects of the holy armor wore out, Carolyn’s mental state would revert to its earlier unstable state. Fortunately, Paul would be by her side, and Carolyn had strong willpower too. The two of them should be able to overcome this ordeal.

On the other hand, Roel looked fine on the surface… but that was only on the surface.

While he was following Antonio back to the eastern border, he couldn’t help feeling that a long time had passed. It had only been days since he set out on this journey to rescue Alicia, but a lot had happened within this short period of time.

His battle with Alicia, the two clashes with Carolyn afterward, meeting the Six Calamities’ origins and Genesis Goddess Sia, his reunion with Astrid and Paul…

So many things had happened that he struggled to keep up with the situation. He had even made a breakthrough to Origin Level 1 in the process and acquired greater strength, but now he needed a rest.

Roel dragged his heavy feet behind Antonio, and they soon arrived at Brolne’s frontline camp, where he was welcomed not by cheering warriors but the Ascarts’ and Brolne’s medical teams, as well as Carter Ascart himself.

“Father? What is he doing here?” Roel asked.

“I was the one who contacted Marquess Carter. Lord Astrid was about to awaken, but you weren’t around, so I could only relay the news to Marquess Carter,” Antonio replied.

“I see.” Roel nodded.

Carter looked at Roel with a conflicted expression.

It was joyous news that Roel had safely returned with Alicia in his arms, but at the same time, this posed a conundrum to him. Or rather, this would have been a conundrum to any patriarch.

All along, Carter had always been concerned about the Ascart House’s small family tree, which was why, for a period of time, he had been proactively encouraging Roel to get into contact with the opposite gender.

Not even in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that his long-awaited expansion of the Ascarts’ family tree would happen not downward but upward.

The first thought that came to his mind after learning the full story was: This won’t be easy to deal with.

Whether it was in terms of strength or seniority, Astrid and Carolyn were more qualified than him, not to mention that Carolyn, the first matriarch of the Ascart House, had her name printed on the very first row of their genealogy.

This beckoned several crucial questions.

Who is going to be the leader of the Ascart House from this day onward? And what is going to be our relationship?

By right, Carter should have relinquished his authority as the Ascarts’ patriarch to Carolyn, but he was hesitant to do so as Carolyn hadn’t been freed from the Savior’s influence yet. She had already displayed extreme tendencies, and it was worrying to hand over the reins to someone like that.

Determining seniority was going to be a pain in the ass too.

Carter didn’t have any gripes with Antonio getting together with Astrid, but it was a different story for Paul and Carolyn.

While Paul had Charles’ memories from a thousand years ago, he was still Roel’s classmate. Should he get together with Carolyn, the seniority would be all messed up.

Paul is Roel’s classmate, so that makes him one generation younger than me. But if we look at it from Carolyn’s side, his seniority would be many generations higher than mine… So, should he be calling me ‘uncle’ or should I call him ‘great-great…-great grandfather’?

Such seemingly trivial formalities were of great importance in the circle of nobility.

Carter’s cheeks twitched in distress as he struggled to figure out how he should address them. To his relief, the medical team rushed in then to tend to the bloodied Carolyn. Thus, he turned his attention toward Roel. He first looked at the deeply asleep Alicia in Roel’s arms and heaved a sigh of relief before directing a heartened expression at Roel.

Roel also looked at Carter with a heart brimming with sentimentality.

Far too many things had happened over the past year. He knew his father hadn’t had it easy.

Carter had received a series of heavy blows in quick succession, from Roel’s disappearance, then Alicia’s disappearance, to him sustaining severe injuries on the battlefield. It was hard to think what had been on his mind while he was recuperating in the empty Ascart manor.

It was a relief everything was resolved. Roel came back from the Witness State, and Alicia regained her memories and returned to their side. The Ascart House was finally reunited in whole after undergoing so many difficulties.

For that, Roel was thankful.

Carter reined in his emotions and patted Roel’s shoulder, saying, “It has only been a few days, but you had an arduous journey.”

“It was indeed tough…” Roel replied with a bitter smile as he recalled the fights he had. “But I’m back now.”

“That’s good, that’s good.”

Carter raised his hand, and the Ascarts’ medical team rushed forward and carefully took Alicia from Roel’s arms. Roel’s taut nerves finally loosened.

“…Father, I’ll leave Alicia and Lord Ancestor to you.”

“Leave them to me. You should take a rest too even though you aren’t injured. Why don’t you…”

“Yes, I should rest…”

Roel finally lost control of his body and collapsed to the ground. The last thing he heard were shocked exclamations before everything went dark.

…