With a firm expression, he said. "I will not deceive someone and degrade myself for your freedom."
Rohan was fully aware that, all this time, he had been deceiving his followers through belief.
But to him, that was different. It was not personal. It was not intimate. He would never stoop to personal deception.
To pretend to like someone.
To pretend to love someone.
To him, that was one of the lowest things a person could ever do.
At least… that was what he chose to believe.
A moment later, Merlinda let out a soft, amused breath. "Degrading yourself?" she echoed lightly. "Haven't you already done that when you came to me, asking for money, asking for protection?"
She tilted her head. "And besides, if you truly don't want to deceive her, then don't. Be sincere. Try to like her. Try to care. Try, if you are capable, to love."
"Eurasia, she is pretty. She is strong. She is clever. She is everything men like you claim to want."
"So I have no doubt," she said softly, "that if you truly try, you will fall in love with her in the end."
With a sigh, Rohan asked, "Why not try another method?"
To him, even if he were to successfully get the favor of Eurasia, there is no guarantee she would be willing to let Merlinda leave the castle just because he asked Eurasia to do so.
"Something other than me deceiving your sister. Perhaps I can persuade her another way." he added.
"For example, is there anything your sister or your father wants right now? Something to please them?"
Still smiling, she softly said. "My father wants grandchildren. And the destruction of the Aurelius family. Preferably both, though not necessarily in that order."
"As for my sister… if you kill Monica, the current head of the Lastbender family, a Verdant soul mage… she might like you."
Rohan narrowed his eyes.
As if having the Lastbender family trying to kill me and the Octavian family trying to tax my church was not enough, I also have to deal with another family? No thanks.
And killing a Verdant soul mage? Simply impossible.
Having already decided to refuse the deal and tear down his own church, Rohan stood and walked toward the door. "I can't help you. Sorry."
A faint sigh slipped from her lips, more disappointed than surprised. "That is boring," she said, almost pouting. "Then I will take back my protection."
"You'll have to deal with the Lastbender family all by yourself."
Rohan didn't respond and simply left.
Merlinda watched the door for a moment, then sighed.
"Shame," she murmured. "I was starting to like him."
Outside the room, as he walked toward the stairs leading to the hall below, he noticed that Diana and Tiara were no longer following him.
Not only do I have no solution regarding the permit for my church, but I have also lost my bodyguards. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have come today.
Fortunately, he had prepared for this moment. He had ordered Luciana and Arminius to remain with him for a year because he did not want to rely too heavily on Merlinda for protection.
However, the regret still lingered because he had failed to achieve his objective today. With that thought weighing on him, Rohan headed downstairs.
He then noticed Eurasia sat on the couch, now awake. As he entered the hall, their eyes met, if only for a moment.
Unwilling to give up so easily, Rohan decided to give it a try. Not to flirt with Eurasia, but to convince her to let Merlinda leave the castle, or at least to find out why she was being kept inside in the first place.
As Rohan walked closer, she did not avert her gaze.
"What the hell do you want?" she said, her voice sharp and already annoyed.
Without hesitation, he spoke firmly. "Can we be friends?"
If she agreed, perhaps he could convince her to let Merlinda go outside. At least, that was his hope.
"No," she replied flatly. "Now get out before I lose my patience."
Okay, he replied in his mind.
Without another word, he turned and left the castle.
Even if I accepted the deal, there was no way I could ever make her like me.
With a defeated look on his face, Rohan crossed the bridge and made his way toward Edmund's house.
Along the way, Rohan realized he needed to be more careful. But thankfully, the moment he lost his bodyguards, all of his items were already available for use. Even the sword, which was currently not in his possession, could easily be summoned. Since it had become his property, the sword could enter his inventory no matter how far away it was.
He had already tested this before by dropping his glove, the Lightbringer, and then summoning it into his inventory. Once the item entered his inventory, he could summon it again for use.
But unfortunately, any items that the system did not recognize as the property of the Storm God, such as his long lost Ring of Punishment, could not enter his inventory.
With a reassured mind, Rohan continued walking at a deliberate pace. Nearly two hours later, he arrived just in time at Edmund's house. Not long after, he met David and Edmund, as the two had already entered the house.
Inside, despite being unable to make much progress regarding Gherman, David did not seem low spirited. He simply said he needed about ten more days to deal with Gherman and eliminate him from the City of Light. And dspite Gherman already confirmed to be an Azure mage, David remained quite confident.
Edmund, on the other hand, focused more on Sollo and how to approach him. Since they did not yet have concrete proof that Sollo was truly a member of the Shadow Cult, they needed to confirm it first before taking any action.
To get any confirmation, they would either attack him immediately if possible, or observe him to understand what kind of man he was.
Rohan and Edmund, of course, chose the latter. The two immediately agreed to move to the southernmost part of the city to investigate and learn more about Sollo.
As for David, he would return to prepare and continue his own plan on his newly gained territory within the city.
With everything decided, they chose not to meet again in the coming days. Their next gathering would only take place once they had made progress on their respective targets.
And at that moment, Rohan proposed an idea. He suggested requesting the Storm God to relay messages whenever any of them made progress, so that he, Edmund, and David would not need to search for one another each time they wished to meet.