’Alright, I admit that I have made a mistake in having to test their integrity...’ Davis thought as he reflected.
He was the one making things worse right now with the decisions they have taken. He had thought that Ezekiel Alstreim would either say yes or no, but if even the ’sacrifices’ begin to sacrifice themselves for real, he really didn’t know what to make of this other than that he was wrong to test Ezekiel Alstreim, to test them.
However, it wasn’t like he now wasted time as he had come to know that they won’t sacrifice others but sacrifice themselves for each other.
He didn’t know what to say to Ezekiel Alstreim’s thought of taking another woman and impregnating her to sacrifice the baby as that was messed up. Still, compared to sacrificing Nero Alstreim and Niera Alstreim, he could understand that sacrificing an unloved child, especially when the child was given birth to the sole purpose of sacrifice, was less messed up.
Furthermore, he could never understand what it means to be stuck here, so he wasn’t in a position to judge them from his perspective.
Nevertheless, thought was just a thought unless it turned into action, so he didn’t feel that Ezekiel Alstreim was wrong in this case. He felt that if Earth’s humans were to be stuck in this place, they might even be more ruthless and moral-less. After all, most relationships that were based on mutual trust and respect merely became a contract after the advent of contract unions and wedlocks.
Most of them would save their own hides instead of caring for each other like these three people.
Nevertheless, he was personally moved by this Niera Alstreim’s sacrifice, and that was why he had decided to tell her the truth.
"It’s as I said." Davis raised his head with a wry smile, "I was the one who set up this whole situation. You were right when you said that you found me suspicious when the guardian magical beast appeared, you know? Except, that guardian magical beast is mine, listening only to my words. So if you look at it from another perspective, I was the one who had forced you all to come to this..."
Niera Alstreim turned her body, her purple eyes looking at him with disbelief etched on her face. Her mouth was slightly agape before it moved.
"Why?" Her voice was full of confusion and sadness,
Davis shook his head, "I didn’t mean for you to do all this as it was just a trial I set up with the help of my Nadia to see if Ezekiel Alstreim is worthy of being let out from this sealed space, so even if he made a decision to sacrifice one of you, it isn’t as if my magical beast is going to devour one of you two. Because it would just mean that I will not bother to let Ezekiel Alstreim out of here, that’s all."
"I don’t understand..." Niera Alstreim’s expression shook, "You have a way for us to return to the outside world? You must have a reason to do all this, right?"
Davis became taken aback at her composure to still stay calm before he nodded, "I do... because between the struggles that took place between my family, and Grand Elder Valdrey Alstreim was a short one, but we won in the end."
"You... You killed them?" Niera Alstreim gasped.
Davis waved his hand, "No, half of their property was taken away before they were just imprisoned for a year as it seemed that the people responsible for hurting my mother was from another family outside our Territory called the Yantra Family from the Flowing Mist Sect. Nevertheless, since Grand Elder Valdrey Alstreim’s subordinate and your elder sister’s subordinate were considered part of Yantra Family’s spies, they were made to repent."
"By the way, your elder sister had confessed to my father without knowing that she was the one which caused much suffering for my mother because her subordinate was the one who schemed against both of them to turn against each other."
"Do you understand?"
Looking at her be dumbfounded, Davis chuckled.
"You don’t, right? You won’t know which is really the truth without going to the outside world, but I can’t easily let you all out as I didn’t know your true characters, and that was why I had to see you, people, for who you truly are when the situation turns bad, whether you all dare to care for your close ones or are you just a den of snakes waiting for the opportunity to backstab."
"If Ezekiel Alstreim just declined to offer sacrifices, it would’ve been all well and good, and I would’ve decided to take him and all else out, but you all just had to decide for yourselves on what to do, huh?"
Davis narrowed his eyes as he uttered, "You have disrupted my plan three times, making things far more difficult for me than anyone with your naive and innocent actions, Niera."
With Fallen Heaven, he could overturn almost any schemes that came at him, but a sensitive situation like this was something that always gets to his heart, making him feel helpless.
"I..." Niera Alstreim’s eyes quivered as she looked like she didn’t know what to say to the blame he put on her.
"Do you still have those laughable feelings after hearing all this? Do you feel that if I had taken you a while ago, it would’ve been worth it?"
Niera Alstreim’s expression shook that she wanted to say to not mock her feelings. However, she gritted her teeth in grievance and screamed as she closed her eyes.
"I may not know anything, but I can at least say that you aren’t an enemy to us because if you can kill those Infernal Lightning Palace people, then you can kill us too! If you haven’t done it, then that means that you have a good reason to do all this, and since you didn’t take advantage of me, I will believe that your words and actions are done for the family’s sake!"
"What...?"
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! I hate you for making me feel confused like this!!!"
Niera Alstreim flew away as she wiped her tears with her sleeves, making Davis watch her leave with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He didn’t follow her but still followed her with his soul sense, making sure that she doesn’t do something stupid yet right such as telling them about this mess.
’Wait, I guess that it’s fine because the trial doesn’t matter anymore as I’ve come to know their decisions...’
If they hadn’t taken decisions like that, a little woman like Niera Alstreim wouldn’t have come to make a hasty decision like coming to his place and offering herself on a platter to him without much-solidified feelings. As she said, she probably just wanted to experience one of the joys of being born a human before she died, and she simply chose him because he was perhaps the one who stirred tender feelings inside her for who knows what reason.
Davis thought but still followed her with his soul sense, wondering what she would do.
Niera Alstreim flew back to the tiny town that they had built in this week. She quickly made it as soon as possible but had already wiped away the traces of tears on her face. However, as soon as she arrived, she was spotted by her father, who came to her side.
"Niera, why are your eyes red? You look as if you just cried..." Nero Alstreim narrowed his eyes before he recalled that she had been visiting Davis Alstreim every day now. His expression suddenly changed.
"Could it be, that brat-"
"I got rejected..." Niera Alstreim suddenly uttered as she kept her head lowered, "I confessed and got rejected..."
"What!? How dare that bastard Davis be this rude towards you!?" Nero Alstreim’s expression turned into one of anger that he couldn’t help but inwardly curse.
’Don’t you know how to properly turn down a woman’s favor!? Damn you, Davis. Now, my daughter’s heart was broken for the first time in her life...’ He couldn’t help but feel pain in her stead.
He knew that this would eventually happen, but thinking that Davis protected the promise to protect Niera instead of taking advantage of her innocent feelings, he inwardly nodded in appreciation but still kept his face as if he was angered.
Davis, who was listening to them, became shocked that she didn’t reveal the truth, "Damn it, what’s going on in her mind? Don’t tell me she’s going to ruin my plan again even though I haven’t planned anything ahead than this...?"
He inwardly sweated, wondering what she had in store for him. But just because of this, he started feeling that she wasn’t bad. The aphrodisiac she used was definitely one of those used for intimate nightly affairs and not the deadly ones that would make them crazed for lust, making them have no control over their body other than wanting to seek pleasure.
It meant that she was aware that he might push her away as well because a Law Manifestation Stage Expert can still control themselves in front of the aphrodisiac she used.
If she had used the deadly ones, which he doubted if she could obtain, but if she did have and use it against him, he might’ve really taken her on the spot.
At this moment, he didn’t have the confidence to defend against a deadly aphrodisiac. It had been more than seven months since he dual cultivated that he felt that he was beginning to near his limit. His dragon blood was boiling in anticipation that Nadia’s silhouette couldn’t help but pop up in his mind.
"..."
Davis felt a chill up his spine as he quickly shook his head and suppressed these thoughts.
’What the fuck!? Why did I think of Nadia right now!?’ Davis felt his heart pound a bit erratically.
By all right, it should’ve been Evelynn, Natalya, or Isabella he should be fantasizing about! Was it because that Nadia was the only woman by his side in this sealed space that he could help but feel strange thoughts about her?
He blamed the aphrodisiac’s aftereffects for making him feel like this as he listened to their conversation.
Keira Alstreim and Ezekiel Alstreim also appeared at this moment as if sensing something was wrong with Niera Alstreim.