Myths Reawakened

Wayne drove his car out of the vitality field, pulling over at a luxury restaurant. He reached out reflexively as soon as he got out of the car, but didn’t find his secretary’s waist. He turned around, only seeing the back of Hesione’s head.

She refused to get handsy with him before her colleague, especially a colleague who recognized her.

“Come here!” Wayne made the order telepathically. Hesione froze.

He went up to press a kiss to her forehead before putting an arm around her slim waist to direct her into the hotel. Her nonstop whine was music to his ears.

Behind them, Hestia was furious, while Gerar had retreated behind Kael because he couldn’t bear to watch any longer.

Taking over Gerar, Kael looked at the door to the restaurant in confusion. “How did I get here? When did I get out of the car?”

“Kael, you’re back?” Wayne asked.

“Huh? Since when was I gone?” Kael blinked in confusion, then he realized what had happened. Arching an eyebrow, he boasted, “So? Do you see how powerful half-awakening is?”

“I saw,” Wayne said derisively. “Gerar said that you were a lecherous man who didn’t know temperance, so he would rather die than integrate your memories.”

“Hmph, I am him. He’ll never get rid of the stain in his life. It’s only a matter of time that he admits his past.”

“Aren’t you worried about being erased?”

“Why should I? I’ve been happy.”

“...”

You call that ‘happy’? I feel bad for you.

Wayne had nothing to say about Kael’s optimism. Once they began to awaken, reincarnated angels would recover their memories as angels, which would become the dominant ones in their minds. Since their angel sides were overwhelmingly stronger, they could choose whether to integrate their memories as humans to keep that aspect of them, or they could overwrite all their human memories so that they would be free of their influence.

Hesione and Hestia had both chosen the former option rather than letting their thirty years' worth of memories vanish entirely. Auriel was likely to have chosen the latter, having his long years as an angel wash away his human side, leaving only the key information.

As for what decision Gerar would make... objectively speaking, Wayne would say the terrible memories weren’t worth keeping!

He believed that Kael was most likely going to vanish. Even if Gerar kept part of him, it would be a small part. Kael, however, didn’t seem to care.

“Let’s go. We don’t have a lot of time.” Wayne tightened his arm around Hesione and kissed her again. “I’m buying. Eat, drink, and lead a carefree life. You should forget your worldly concerns.”

“Blegh—” Kael waved him away. “I’ll pass. Your two companions are so hideous that I lost my appetite. I’m going to Fallen Angel. That’s my Heaven.”

You are a fallen angel! x3

Watching Kael walk away unhesitatingly, Wayne shook his head, leading his secretary and bodyguard into the restaurant.

Since they were here already, might as well get some food into their stomachs.

***

Meanwhile, the royal family’s dining room, Buckingham Palace.

A long table was set with a white tablecloth. A gramophone was playing elegant music. The dining room had an expensive, classical elegance to it.

Emphasizing the expensive part!

Queen Sophelia treated the three distinguished guests from Heaven to a meal. She had dressed for the occasion, wearing a sapphire necklace that emphasized the fair expanse of skin serving as its canvas. The guests in question were none other than Auriel, Olga, and Fred.

Olga and Fred quietly enjoyed authentic Francan cuisine that couldn’t even be found in Franc. Seeing the dark look on Auriel’s face, they refrained from making any comment for fear of being subject to his ire.

The last two reincarnated angels had arrived from the Papal State in response to his call. Good news, Vilkul and Gerar were both powerful Cherubim who were considered top combatants even back in Heaven. Bad news, they held such a status that, as fellow representations of the Seven Sacred Virtues, they refused to listen to Auriel, stating that they had descended on behalf of Śār Lahr.

The two Cherubim made their stance clear: they would answer any call about finding the Anointed One, but if it was about politics, they would be as mobile as someone suffering from a spinal injury.

To convince Auriel into reconciling with Hesione, Gerar even lied that the Lord of Pride was in Londan. It was evident how foul Auriel’s mood would be now.

The seven reincarnated angels had split into three factions, so there was only so much manpower Auriel could command. Thankfully, Hesione fared even worse, with only Hestia on her side.

Auriel believed he had the advantage in numbers.

Fine, the advantage in numbers wasn’t an advantage at all. In a battle between Seraphim, Thrones couldn’t be anything but cheerleaders. They might as well not exist.

The reason that Auriel believed he had the upper hand was simple: as the Lord of Envy had concluded, Hesione had voluntarily fallen and become lost in human romance, falling head over heels for a scumbag.

She was useless now. Auriel was confident that he could easily defeat her to help the Windsor family return to power. Then he could continue to be Mikhael’s best friend in Heaven.

He had this in the bag, for sure! There was nothing to fear!

“Your Majesty, have you compiled the information on the Lando family?” Auriel lowered his glass of wine, wiping his mouth with a white napkin.

He was graceful, but the Queen, even more so.

Given her air of nobility, she only needed a little touch-up to make her radiantly beautiful. She could captivate anyone with the added labels of ‘Queen’, ‘widow’, and ‘mother of two children.’

Unfortunately, Auston didn’t take the bait, Auriel had no worldly desires, and the snakes who had worldly desires didn’t deserve the Queen’s favor. As a result, her honeypot had never caught anyone.

“Sir Auriel, I’ve only prepared partial information about the Lando family for you.”

“Are things complicated with them?”

“Yes.” Sophelia nodded gravely. “The Churches of Nature, Sun, Moonlight, Darkness, and Death all support the Lando family. The Papal State, too. The Church of Heavenly Father once sent an envoy to Windsor, who was seen to be having a pleasant conversation with a member of the Lando family that day.”

If she had a choice, the Queen wouldn’t be exposing her legs with black stockings to Auston. Every time her ex shot her a disapproving glance, it felt like she was stabbed in the heart. Her complicated feelings couldn’t be easily put into words.

There was the joy of rekindling an old flame, the resignation of being forced to fall, mixed with the shame of breaking a taboo, as well as the plea—

Anyway, she didn’t want to do it, but she had to in this reality.

“The Life Alliance and the Churches of Darkness and Death are involved, too?” Auriel huffed. The evil heretics should all be burned at the stake.

“To be more precise, the Death Knight and the Darkness Knight have appeared in support, and the Moonlight Knight and the Sun Knight seem to be on the Lando family’s side, too.”

Sophelia shook her head. Every time she thought about her past relationship with Auston, she had to lament her late father’s misjudgment. Auston wasn’t a shameless playboy, but an excellent man to invest in. He was loyal to his love and his family, and he had produced a good son.

If Father hadn’t separated her and Auston, but instead made Auston her consort, Wayne Lando would be Wayne Arthur Windsor instead.

Putting aside the reality, Sophelia really liked Wayne, and she envied Auston for having such an outstanding heir.

Auriel frowned when he heard about the involvement of the chosen knights. He didn’t comment on that since he only supported the Queen to undermine Hesione. What the chosen knights thought and what they would do had no bearing on him.

“What else? Does the Lando family have more supporters?”

“Yes, the Tulip Families.” Since Auriel was changing the subject, Sophelia shook her head and reaffirmed her stance as a pawn, answering his questions. “The snakes are beneath you, Sir Auriel. I won’t go on about them.”

“Wayne Lando...” Auriel narrowed his eyes, remembering how Hesione had defended Wayne. He asked in a low voice, “What’s so special about him?”

“He has incredible magical talent, a shrewd mind, and excellent connections. Even his father is intimidated by him. He’s likely the true head of the Lando family now.”

Sophelia shared her observations truthfully. Then she added, “He’s also a real womanizer. Be it fresh graduates or mature legendary mages, as long as he wants to, he can fool any of them.”

“What do you mean?” Auriel’s eyes widened. “He has more women?”

“Even I know several of them, one of whom is his younger sister...”

“Has Hesione lost her mind?!”

Auriel’s jaw dropped as he listened to the list of women Wayne had claimed. He couldn’t help but doubt the Seven Sacred Virtues. Purity, especially, should be ‘sharing’ or at least ‘gullibility’.

It was one thing for a Śār to lose her purity to a pretty boy, but it was another thing when the pretty boy was a well-known perverted scumbag. Hesione truly had forgotten about the honor and dignity of Heaven.

Wait, he isn’t actually a demon, is he?

Auriel’s head rang. Compared to believing that Hesione, prideful as she was, would choose to lower herself to fawn over a pretty boy with a group of women, he was more willing to believe that the women had been fooled by a demon.

What demon could brainwash Hesione? The Lord of Pride?

Auriel broke into goosebumps. The pretty boy better be a simple pretty boy. Otherwise, if a demon lord was involved, Heaven would meet an even greater humiliation.

“Sir Auriel, what’s so special about Wayne? You seem concerned about him.” Sophelia looked surprised, like someone who had just become a politician. “Yesterday, you said Angel Hesione is the mastermind behind the humiliation of Saint George’s bloodline. May I assume that Wayne is a Śār like you?”

“...”

Auriel’s face darkened. Even the wine in his glass tasted sourer.

“Sir Auriel?”

“You’re overthinking. He isn’t one, definitely not!”

Then he must be!

Sophelia’s heart burned. He should’ve been the son she gave birth to after ten months of pregnancy, but her father’s intervention put the child in Silvia’s belly instead.

“Your Majesty, Mr. Bedfrith requests an audience,” an attendant said.

“I’m with an important guest. Tell him to wait.”

“He said he had an important matter to discuss. It’s urgent,” the attendant said quietly.

“Sir Auriel, please give me a moment.”

Sophelia stood up gracefully. She didn’t understand what urgent matter Bedfrith could possibly be here to talk to her about. If it was about their shipyard, she had explained that the Lando family needed a little workshop. As fellow Tulip Families, they should all work together.

If the Bedford family was having difficulties, they should just make their foray into the tobacco industry!

Forest was just an agreement machine. He wasn’t anything to worry about.