Chapter 319 (1): Contact Goddess of Darkness. I Want to Hear Her Voice.

Everything else aside, Bourne was honest. The condition was for him to end the fight in thirty seconds, so he did.

He didn’t let Wayne and Yvette wait for long. Not long after he conjured his vitality field, it dissipated. It hadn’t even been ten seconds.

Wayne glanced at his watch before looking at Bourne, whom Darienne was stepping on. He commented with little thought, “Why are you rewarding him, Darienne?”

You call this a reward? How high society of you! What about you, brat? Do you end up being stepped on by Filomina and Kristen often?

Darienne looked at the legendary mage under her foot. He’d stopped moving, his crimson blood pooling in seconds. She wiped off the blood that got onto her white dress shoes and came up to Wayne in two steps. “How long did it take?”

“Eight seconds.”

“Tsk, eight? I must have gotten weaker because of a lack of training.”

“Of course. You’ve been playing cards every day. When would you have time to train?”

“Damn it. I’ll quit drinking from today on!”

While bantering, they appeared almost identical. Speechless, Yvette thought to herself that the pair of degenerates was a match made in heaven.

Bourne remained on the ground. As haughty as he had been earlier, he felt just as humiliated. Silently, he bled without making a sound, attempting to make his retreat by keeping himself invisible.

Wayne didn’t address him. Objectively speaking, the legendary mage didn’t have to feel humiliated. He did look like a joke lying prone on the ground, but he had looked quite cool a moment ago, when he was posturing.

Not everyone dared to raise their voice at a chosen knight!

Instead, Wayne browsed the shelves around him, unsealing and going through documents he found interesting. Darienne also flipped through the documents. One never stopped learning. None of the chosen knights was uneducated; in fact, they were all elite scholars with a deep reserve of knowledge.

They rarely made use of their knowledge only because it was easier to rely on their raw power, creating an image of brutes.

Bourne remained on the ground. After making sure that no one was paying attention to him, he silently rose to his feet and wiped the blood off his face with the sleeve of his robe. She was too strong, way beyond his weight class. If she hadn’t greeted him out of politeness, he wouldn’t have even stayed standing for eight seconds.

So, who the hell was she?

Bourne glanced at Wayne and Darienne, who were browsing through the documents. Not daring to bother them, he quietly went up to Yvette and smiled humbly. “Vice Minister, do you know who the esteemed, dignified, graceful, stunning woman is?”

Such was life. Even a legendary mage had to bend down.

Yvette sighed softly and opted not to use the chance to put Bourne down. “She is the Goddess of Moonlight’s chosen knight in the mortal realm.”

=͟͟͞͞=͟͟͞͞(⁰灬⁰;)

Moonlight Knight!

Learning that the powerful woman who had made quick work of him was the Moonlight Knight, Bourne suddenly lost the feeling of humiliation. Moreover, he concluded that he had misunderstood Wayne. The olive branch handed to him was Yvette, and he only had himself to blame for failing to seize the chance his new superior granted him.

Hopefully, his superior would see his ready admission of his mistake and give him another chance.

“You haven’t answered my question, Bourne. Why are you here?” Yvette asked the obvious question with a scowl. Under Auston’s and Sophelia’s appointment, she was now tasked with supervising the entire Ministry of Magic on Wayne’s behalf. Bourne had committed a great crime by barging into the ministry late at night when he was already a criminal. He would meet his punishment.

Forget salary. He would be working for free for the next ten years.

Bourne stammered, struggling to string together a sentence, but couldn’t give an appropriate excuse. He had come here to move his research results away, setting the warehouse on fire to erase all evidence. That, however, was something that could be done but not put into words. Saying it would invite a heavier sentence.

“I’ll report to the Minister and Vice Minister Auston,” Yvette said with an expressionless face. “You'd better prepare yourself mentally.”

“Couldn’t you give me a chance?”

“Times have changed.”

Yvette’s concise response silenced Bourne. Times were different. Auston was going to be the new owner of the nation. What had been allowed wasn’t allowed. Perhaps it would still be allowed in the future, but definitely not now.

Bourne sighed, going up to Wayne meekly and explaining the progress he had made in his study on Astral creatures to show his value.

“Good. I need an assistant. You’ll be the deputy leader of the research team from now on.” Wayne nodded and patted Bourne on the shoulder. “Do your best. On behalf of the Lando family, I promise that you’ll be rewarded in the future.”

Then he dismissed Bourne with a wave, telling him to get the hell away and not bother Wayne’s study.

***

The night passed uneventfully. The next day, Wayne drove Darienne to the high-end restaurant on the premises of the ministry’s headquarters before returning to his office building to continue reading the documents.

He hadn’t mentioned how Bourne should be disposed of. Under the legal framework of this nation, even a prince would receive the same judgment as a peasant. He couldn’t make exceptions for Bourne just because he appreciated his talent.

Yvette was to charge Bourne according to the rules, but avoid killing him or leaving him braindead. He was still waiting to exploit the legendary mage like a sheep!

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Hey, how much longer are you going to keep reading?”

Came evening, Darienne enjoyed authentic Francan cuisine with Wayne keeping her company. She said with a frown, “I know what you’re doing. Just tell me if you don’t want to play cards with me. There’s no point in dragging things out.”

“I’d like to play cards with you, Darienne, but I’m busy. As you can see, I have little time so soon after our successful rebellion.”

Wayne listed the facts and stated that the Lando family lacked manpower. With only one son and no daughter, Auston needed him to share the burden because no one else could.

“That’s not right. I remember that your master, Silvia Lando, has a daughter with Auston. Veronica, I think her name is.” Darienne argued. She remembered clearly that the mother and daughter had played card games with her back in Frozen Land.

Even if she forgot everyone else, she would never forget her card buddies.

“That isn’t the truth. My family is a little complicated...”

Wayne mapped out the relationships in the family and explained how everything came to be for Darienne, leaving her with a headache. She lost whatever understanding she had of the Lando family.

“Cut it. I don’t care about your family tree. I won’t be staying in Londan for long, so you’re going to play cards with me until I leave.” Darienne huffed, telling Wayne to turn around. She wanted to see a table set with poker cards, chips, and card players in ten minutes, counting from now.

Manor of the Church of Moonlight’s High Reverend.

Due to the arrival of the chosen knight of Moonlight, Filomina’s manor had become a casino. Filomina couldn’t even complain since Darienne was the Moonlight Knight; others would kill for a chance to play cards with her. Filomina wouldn’t have been here if she hadn’t ridden on Wayne’s suitpants.

At the table, Darienne rubbed her hands together in anticipation, telling Anastasia to quickly deal the cards. It had been over twenty-four hours since she played a card game, and it felt like it had been twenty-four years.

Filomina kept a wary eye on Anastasia, their card dealer of the night. As Kristen had said, the Holy Maiden of Darkness was looking at Wayne strangely. Although Filomina didn’t think it was likely, Kristen was adamant that there was something between her and Wayne, even betting with Filomina on it based on her experience.

The stake was high. If Filomina lost, she would have to listen to Kristen and call her older sister going forward.

She couldn’t lose!

Filomina held up her hands. Noticing that Kristen was staring at her with a blank face, she wondered what had happened.

Kristen smothered a sigh. Filomina was perfect in look, figure, and temperament. Judging by appearance alone, she was flawless, and as a master, Filomina took good care of Kristen.

As a woman in a relationship, however, Filomina fell short in various ways, allowing the scumbag to play her like a fiddle. She was infuriatingly naive. Though she was a rival to Kristen, Kristen couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. How was Filomina going to survive when she lacked awareness so badly?

She would’ve lost to Vera in three rounds.

Given her lack of experience, Filomina was destined to lose everything in the game of love. Kristen knew that her master wouldn’t be able to read her gaze, so she asked, “Where have you been today, Wayne? Eating with Lady Knight?”

“Of course not. I’ve been conducting research. I was reading documents at the Ministry of Magic late at night and didn’t get a wink of sleep.” Wayne answered easily, pointing at his bloodshot eyes to support his claim.

“Thank you. You’ve worked hard for the family all night.” Kristen spoke gracefully like a noble lady. Filomina gulped. She was inexperienced, not dumb. She immediately realized what Kristen was insinuating.

Wayne was gone for the whole night, and so was Darienne. Where did the two go last night?

Darienne enthusiastically lost the first game. When Anastasia pushed her chips to Wayne, she grabbed her corner of the table.

Immediately, Wayne, Filomina, and Kristen lifted their hands off the table, and Anastasia took an instinctual step back.

“What, do you think I can’t accept my defeat? Don’t look down on me. This is only the first game!”

Darienne cursed at losing her first game of the night. She told Anastasia to keep dealing cards. The first to laugh wouldn’t be the last to laugh. Now that Wayne had fallen for her act and lowered his guard, she would turn the tide.

A tide was a tide even when it was against her. Riding on a wave, even a pig could fly.

After Darienne lost nine consecutive games, the table flew up and lodged into the ceiling, stuck.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Amid scattering chips, Darienne pointed an accusing finger at Wayne. “Have you noticed that I have not won a single game since I started playing cards with you?”

“And? What’s wrong with that?” Wayne looked confused. “That’s how life is. There’s always a winner and a loser. I’m lucky, so I keep winning. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Bah, no gambling addict will lose every game!

Even if fortune favors you, the odds should have been fifty-fifty. You couldn’t keep winning!

“Say you cheated!”

“You cheated.”

“Not me, but you!”

“Not me, but you.”

“Hey, brat. I’ll teach you a lesson today.”