"As you may know, two of our students were critically injured after a feral devil attacked them while they were hunting their puppet. The devil has since been subdued and we are still recovering from some minor losses. During the subjugation, our team suffered major losses that include Several of our MilComs and two Genits."

The Marchelt finished his opening speech and awaited response from the press.

"Marchelt, do you believe that this is an isolated incident that has no connection to our enemies?" A man asked.

"I do. This feral devil seemed to have been practicing a flawed technique that caused its mind to decay and its body to become beast-like." The Marchelt answered quickly.

"And who were the students that were injured under the army's watch?" The man pressed on.

"Talise Valcor and Rieza Blaiz."

"What of the other team members?"

"Two of them were already knocked out when we arrived, and we had to knock out the third one as soon as we landed at the platform."

"We were lucky that there were no student casualties."

One week later:

"Little darling, are you going to pretend that nothing happened during the hunt? Half of your team was nearly wiped off the face of this world and you seem all to fine." Malece spoke down to a bedridden Simon.

Ever since the events of the Hunt, Simon had been laying in bed, consolidating his power and recovering his mental strength. As it seemed, using the chat room took a lot of his mental strength, causing him to temporarily weaken. Because of his circ.u.mstances, he was given indefinite 'sick leave' from the academy; so that he may recover smoothly.

That also meant that he had to return to the palace and reside under Malece's care again.

"I am just trying to relax right now. I do not want to remember the details of the Hunt again, I would rather stay in a decent mood and recover." Simon responded as he sipped a cup of steaming hot tea.

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"And there is no need to put up the 'caring wife' act. I can recover just fine if no one disturbs me." Simon coldly remarked.

CRACK

"Little darling, you do not seem to understand. Your words are heavy, so please make an attempt to speak a bit more kindly with me." Malece responded as she removed the fragments of a broken gla.s.s from her hands.

"You know very well that what you ask for isn't exactly easy. Just remember what you did to me, it's not a thing that one can forgive so easily." Simon spoke even more coldly.

"I do not have to talk to you actively until I come of age. I only need to put on the act when my ident.i.ty is revealed. Until then, I don't know you." Simon explained without too much care.

As it seemed, Simon had fallen out of touch with some things. He is definitely not as forgiving as in his past life and he does not hold as much empathy towards others as he used to. All in all, Simon seemed like an a.s.s, even if he had a reason to act as such.

"What if I do not want to wait? It is not like anyone can stop me if I want to rip off your garments right now. You wouldn't be able, the guards wouldn't be able, and neither would anyone else. So what is stopping me? Nothing." Malece glared hungrily at Simon but quickly suppressed it.

"There is something. You feel guilty, you wouldn't do that again. You already feel like a terrible person, doing it again will only make you feel like a monster." Simon laughed.

"Face it, I might just hate you for eternity. You will never be able to marry a being that loves you. You will never feel the touch of a being that loves you. You will only have desire. And this is because of you alone. I will never love you." Simon finished his words and drifted into meditation.

'Am I really so bad?'

Malece stayed in the room and pondered on her actions.

She remembered the night which chained them together and she remembered the following days and the coldness she felt. She knew that Simon did not forget the events of that night, and she had made attempts to get Simon to forgive her. But she only made him act more coldly towards her. The more she tried, the harder it became.

Even Malece could recognise that Simon only viewed her as nothing more than a boost to his power base. She only hoped that he would view her as more.

'What would I have done if I could go back in time? Probably nothing. There is little I can do. The need for an heir, at the time, outweighed the morality of my actions.'

She did not regret her actions.

If things were different and she was not encountering the end of her lifetime, Malece may have been more accomodating and made sure to acquire the other party's consent. Perhaps if she had done just that, Simon might have become a very warm and welcoming partner in her life. However, she had forgotten that a minor probably would not marry a person of a thousand years of age willingly.

Such a thing would be just wishful thinking.