All youths sitting around the dining table turned their heads in unison. Their gazes were fixed on the two figures who had just been pointed out by the prince: the black-haired youth sitting calmly, and the reddish-yellow-haired youth whose eyes were now wide open with a face full of confusion.
None of them had expected that the fourth and fifth people among them who were previously in the enemy camp during that era were Dylan and Arion.
Alrain, who had previously begun to relax and lower his guard, instantly had his gaze sharpen again, staring straight at the two youths.
"What's the meaning of all this?" Alrain asked in a low tone, demanding honest confirmation. "Dylan, Arion... can the two of you explain this right now?"
Receiving an intimidating glare from Alrain and questioning looks from the others, Arion immediately grew flustered.
"W-What am I supposed to explain to you? I don't even know anything about the era you all are talking about!" Arion answered quickly, trying to defend himself from an accusation he completely did not understand. "I'm just as shocked as the rest of you when I first found out the fact about you all miraculously returning to the present after death! Moreover... moreover, our husband once told me with his own mouth that in the past, I committed suicide after he refused to remove the slave seal from my body!"
Arion looked at all his family members hopefully. "If you don't believe my words, you can ask Allen, Alrian, Dylan, and Davin directly! They were there when he told me about it!"
"What he said is indeed the truth!" Alrian chimed in, spontaneously raising his voice to defend Arion. "Our husband himself directly told the story about that era to Arion right after Allen regained consciousness from fainting after the academy tournament. He said that Arion committed suicide in the past."
"Committed suicide, you say?" Oliver repeated the sentence in a tone of disbelief. The prince stared at Arion with a deeply furrowed brow, as if looking at an unfunny joke.
"You are a genius alchemist!" Oliver firmly refuted, rejecting the lie. "In that era, you did not commit suicide at the beginning! Your main duty within the alliance army opposing Arvin in that era was as the primary supplier of magic weaponry, high-grade healing potions, and mana recovery potions when that great war occurred!"
Arion froze. Oliver's statement mentioning that he was a genius alchemist in the past did not surprise him at all, as that was indeed his path in life. However, what shook him was the bitter truth that had just been revealed.
He did not commit suicide out of despair, but he was on the enemy's side, opposing and fighting his own husband in that era. Just like the others.
If what the prince said is the truth... then why have you been lying to me all this time, My Star? Arion thought softly.
Without realizing it, Arion's vision blurred. His tears fell, wetting both of his cheeks in a heartbreaking silence.
On the other hand, Davin, whose duty was as a logistics dispatcher for the alliance army, genuinely did not know the identity of the alchemist who helped them when that great war occurred.
I had heard rumors that there was a genius alchemist working behind the scenes, but I never expected if that alchemist was Arion.
"What are you crying for?"
That incredibly flat and cold voice suddenly shattered the silence. Everyone turned towards Dylan. He sat very casually, not looking affected at all by Oliver's words regarding him in that era.
"There's no use crying over something that has already passed like that, Arion!" Dylan reprimanded in an indifferent tone.
With tears still streaming down his face, Arion turned towards Dylan with a look of disbelief.
"What do you mean speaking to me like that, Dylan?!" Arion exclaimed with a trembling voice. "Of course I'm incredibly shocked! Knowing the fact that I was once my husband's enemy in that era is a very painful thing for me!"
"I don't care in the slightest about what happened in that era!" Dylan replied quickly and sharply Arion's words. His eyes radiated an unwavering resolve. "The past is the past. Right now, in this current life, my desire has been fulfilled! I'm already very satisfied and happy to stand here as his seventh spouse!"
"After Kylen, it will be my turn to make the Life-and-Death contract with our husband." Dylan continued his sentence. "And my duty now, as well as in the future, is solely to love, protect, and support my husband sincerely forever! Guilt from the past will only hinder my devotion to him!"
Arion, who had just been harshly reprimanded by Dylan, slowly began to calm himself down. Although they sounded cruel, those words succeeded in bringing him back to his senses. He realized his mistake of being too easily shaken by a past event that he did not even remember at all.
The reddish-yellow-haired youth took a deep breath, wiped the tears from his face, and then looked at Dylan sitting next to him with an expression now filled with a newfound conviction.
"You're right, Dylan!" Arion replied firmly, his voice no longer trembling. "He is my husband, as well as my savior from the nightmare of that slave tattoo! How foolish of me to mourn and cry over something that I myself don't even remember how it happened."
The black-haired youth nodded in relief after hearing what Arion had just said. And then, he turned his head and stared straight at Oliver, who had been looking at him the whole time.
"And for you, Prince Oliver!" Dylan hissed, every syllable containing the venom of a deadly threat. "Never mention that family name again in front of me! I'm not a part of them. I'm Dylan Vedegra, the seventh spouse of Arvin Vedegra! If you dare to say my name wrong again, I assure you I will shatter your mind into pieces until you go insane! And I will do it gladly, even if in the end I have to accept punishment from my own husband for hurting you!"
His gaze instantly turned incredibly cold and deadly. "Carve this warning of mine carefully into your head!"
Hearing the terrifying threat from Dylan and the declaration full of conviction from Arion, Oliver could only remain frozen in silence at the edge of the room.
In the prince's eyes, the level of loyalty possessed by all of Arvin's spouses was something utterly terrifying, yet at the same time, profoundly astonishing. This was the rarest thing, almost impossible to find, among any nobles who had more than one wife.
Based on what Oliver always saw in the palace and among the social elites, what inevitably occurred in a household with multiple spouses was jealousy that led to bloodshed. They would always feel that they were not loved fairly. Most first wives would oppress the other wives using their family's power if the second wife's position was lower. And the most prominent and deadliest of all were the dirty intrigues regarding inheritance rights. Disputes among noble descendants could easily break out into a civil war just over the contest for the position of the head of the family.
But inside this mansion...
Insane! This is truly insane! Oliver thought to himself, his chest rumbling with amazement at the loyalty of all of Arvin Vedegra's spouses. Even though in the past they were hostile to each other during that era, in this current era, their loyalty to Arvin is not shaken by anything at all. They protect one another. I feel incredibly relieved that I decided to meet Ordion and chose to live in this place with them.
"Oliver!"
The sudden call broke the prince's long reverie. He immediately turned his head and stared at the brownish-white-haired youth.
"Yes?"
"You'd better keep your mouth shut tight. Never say anything about this past reality, or about your memories regarding that era to your father!"
"What?! Why?" Oliver exclaimed spontaneously, disagreeing. "If I don't tell my father, he could be murdered by that devil again just like what happened in that era!"
"Just wait until our husband returns!" Davin replied firmly. "He has already calculated everything. We will not let you act recklessly and ruin all the scenarios he has meticulously arranged and planned!"
"But, my father is in danger! I cannot just sit still—"
"We completely understand your worry regarding the safety of His Majesty the King, Prince Oliver." Allen cut in with a friendly tone. "But think carefully about the fatal consequences that will occur if Dalvanel finds out and realizes that you have returned to the present, but with your memories intact about that era. I'm certain that you will become his primary target."