Chapter 354 (1): How Did the Lando Family of the surface World Turn Out Like That?

An hour later, Auston moved Twilight Despair away from Wayne’s neck with an expressionless face. Wayne had convinced Auston, but not entirely persuaded him. With that face and name, Wayne couldn’t make Auston move on even if he talked his mouth dry.

The hatred of having one’s wife killed could not be resolved. Wayne had only managed to make Auston lower his weapon by showing the discrepancies between the inner and surface worlds with the photo and by making a promise:

“I’ll help you kill Death Knight Wayne and avenge Master Silvia!”

It was an offer Auston couldn’t turn down. “Why should I believe you? What if you’re on his side?”

“White Night Creed can prove that I’m not the Death Knight. Moreover, if I were on his side, we would be able to raze the Lando Estate to the ground together. We wouldn’t have to resort to deception to catch you off guard.” Wayne raised his longbow, proving himself to be the Moonlight Knight.

Auston silently turned around, gesturing at Megan to let Filomina go.

The four women hurried over for an explanation. Blanching, Filomina grabbed Wayne’s arm and said, “Darling, you said that you were the Darkness Knight’s illegitimate son and the Lando family’s young master. What went wrong?”

“The Wayne of this world is the Death Knight and has been through different things,” Wayne answered simply.

“Darling?” Auston stopped to frown at Wayne, locked in Filomina’s grasp. He said coldly, “When you talked about the surface world, you said that you were my daughter’s fiancé. How did you become her darling?”

“You have another fiancée?!” Filomina’s eyes widened in rage. “Are we not engaged and living together in the surface world? And I’m pregnant with your child. How could you betray me and become engaged with someone else?!”

What a scumbag! x3

Megan, Sophelia, and Anastasia turned to Wayne at the same time. As women, they felt an inherent distaste for bastards who juggled two relationships.

“Such is the way of high society,” Wayne said shamelessly, wearing his scummy heart on his sleeve. “Filomina, the fact that I’m engaged to Veronica doesn’t stop me from living with you. By the way, you were the one who pursued me...”

“Impossible!”

“Why? You practically threw yourself at me.”

“Back then, the headquarters of the Church of Moonlight sent you to Londan to be the District High Reverend. In Luzerbourg, the Windsor Ministry of Magic ambushed you, with Obed the traitor orchestrating everything. I was on a business trip to Luzerbourg on behalf of the Lando family for a contract. I rescued you and exposed Obed’s conspiracy...”

Wayne told the story that jump-started their relationship, adjusting the plotlines to portray the High Reverend as not only a woman who gave herself away for free, but also a homewrecker who went after an engaged man.

“Impossible!” Filomina’s chest heaved with fury. Even if Wayne had saved her life, she would’ve never thrown herself at him when she knew that he had a fiancée.

Indeed, while Mina was quick to give herself away, she had too much pride to willingly be a homewrecker.

Wayne nodded to himself with a slight smile. The problem didn’t even stump him.

He showed her the White Night Creed and said unhurriedly, “It should’ve been impossible, but what if I am an archdeacon of the Church of Nature, with a High Reverend of Nature as a master, who wants to make me the church’s Anointed One? What would you do?”

“Steal you... away?”

“Yes, so that’s what happened!”

“...” x5

Filomina stared at him blankly, while the others threw him looks of distaste. Auston, especially, looked at Wayne like he was a piece of trash.

“Silvia had to be mad to take you in as a student and willingly marry our daughter to you!”

“I must admit, I am very good at fooling women.”

Noticing that Auston was weighing Twilight Despair and pondering tearing up their fresh alliance, Wayne brought up a secret that only the two of them knew: “Auston, is Monica still around?”

Auston paused, shaking his head with his eyes closed.

“Fine. I’ll tell you about it once we’re back.”

Wayne’s eyes twitched. The inner world could replicate the surface world fully, but the strong with absolute power were exceptions, such as Darienne, Moula, and Leo, as well as Thoggua, the ancient god’s vassal in the Frozen Land.

Speaking of Thoggua, Wayne turned to Anastasia and asked, “Ana, could I conclude that the seal on Thoggua is gone based on the fact that you’re not in the Frozen Land?”

“Do we... know each other well?” Wayne addressed her with such familiarity that it gave the Holy Maiden a bad feeling.

“Very well. You’re my lover,” Wayne said honestly. “After the crisis of the seal in the Frozen Land, you came to Londan to establish a base for the Church of Darkness, and we began living together.”

“...” x5

The revelation was so absurd that even Auston found the capacity to be surprised in the drowning sorrow of losing his wife. He looked at Wayne like he was a once-in-many-centuries scumbag rather than a regular scumbag.

Filomina felt like she had been struck by lightning. Despite her being good at math, she had lost count of Wayne’s entanglements. Was her other self insane or stupid to bear a child for such trash...?

Wait, the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness could never lose her purity. The Goddess of Darkness would be the first to voice Her objections. Yes, Wayne must be lying!

“As you said, I am the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness. I’ll never lose my purity unless I’ve resigned,” Anastasia said. Wayne’s false accusation could be considered harassment, but she hadn’t lost her temper. She said rationally, “Besides, given my... condition, would you really lie with a puppet?”

“You were going to say something else, weren’t you, Ana?”

“What do you mean?”

“After losing your physical form, your thoughts have been tormented every day. You’ve been longing for a release. However, because the seal on the ancient god’s vassal was awakening, while Auston, the Darkness Knight, was nowhere to be found, you’d been guarding the seal of Darkness in his stead. You didn’t immediately choose death because you couldn’t shirk off the responsibilities on your shoulders. Am I right?”

Wayne smiled. “Believe me, I know you very well. As for your condition, I’ve recovered your body and reshaped it for you. You’re a living human rather than a magitech puppet.”

Anastasia hurriedly defended herself in fright, “Even so, as—”

“As the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness, you must remain pure, right?” Wayne interrupted. Breaking from Filomina’s hold, he took two steps forward and unbuttoned his collar. “The Goddess of Darkness is right here. You’ll recognize Her as Her Holy maiden.”

Anastasia took an involuntary step back, still muttering how impossible this was. Seeing his confidence, though, she made up her mind and put a hand on his chest.

She immediately jumped and pulled back in shock. “You’ve sealed the goddess in your body. What did you do, you lunatic?!”

Everyone pulled their weapons in shock, alerted.

Auston looked at Wayne strangely with both astonishment and admiration. He wasn’t a once-in-several-centuries scumbag, but a scumbag from millennia ago, back in the mythical time.

“Ana, because of certain reasons, the Goddess of Darkness set Her eyes on me and descended through you to lure me, contaminating our pure love. In a fit of anger, I sealed part of her thoughts in my body.”

Wayne sighed. “If not for the seal requiring ninety percent of my thoughts, I would’ve been able to kill the Death Knight of this world with a wave.”

It was such an obscure topic that no one could speak up.

Filomina looked at him with admiration, sealing his arm in her bosom once more. See, the powerful individual who had sealed the Goddess of Darkness was sealed by her. Her other self had such a good eye for men. She had kidnapped his child with a simple trick.

It turned out that the Filomina of the surface world was neither mad nor stupid. Although Wayne was a lecherous playboy who messed around outside, all the flaws could be excused when he was so powerful. The strong should naturally go to the beautiful!

Filomina had reconciled with the reality.

“Wayne, have you really sealed the Goddess of Darkness?” Auston asked with a frown.

“Stop with the poker face. The others might not know, but I do. This Darkness Knight feels no loyalty to the Goddess of Darkness.” Wayne huffed. “There’s another reason I sealed the goddess. For the seal in the Frozen Land, the goddess sent a messenger to make you feel greater pain, targeting Master and Veronica...”

“How are Silvia and Veronica in your world?”

“They’re fine. Although you failed to protect them, I did.” Wayne waved at him dismissively. It was nothing.

...That’s good. Auston’s eyes twitched. He didn’t like Wayne. He really didn’t. He suspected that his other self disliked Wayne, too. There was no particular reason other than an inherent incompatibility.

Anastasia was still struggling to reject the idea that she could fall that far. Wayne retrieved the Shadow Cloak and said, “Ivan gave me this. You should be able to tell that it’s the real deal.”

Anastasia didn’t say anything. Her artificial face became confused. Whether as the Pope or her father, Ivan had no reason to give the cloak to a bastard who had tainted the Holy Maiden and his daughter. It didn’t make sense!

“It does. The night he came to Londan to catch us in the act, he found the two of us in a compromising state.”

“Impossible!”

“Alright, Ivan didn’t catch us in the act, but caught me with the Goddess of Darkness, who had descended through you. The goddess was going to silence him by killing him. I saved him. That was why he gave me the gift.” Wayne shrugged. He was telling the truth.

“You-you... The Goddess of Darkness is also your lover?!”

The news dropped like a bombshell and left everyone’s mind blank. Auston fared a little better since he lacked faith in the gods, but he still had to question the claim as the Darkness Knight.

How did my daughter’s fiancé win over my supervisor? How could the story of the surface world become that ridiculous?

Not even the inner world has gone that far!

“I have to admit that I’ve always been quite good at fooling women.” Wayne scratched his head bashfully, neither admitting nor denying the claim to frame the Goddess of Darkness.

“...” x5

You sure sound proud of yourself. Right, you should, since you have a goddess as a lover. x5

They each reacted differently. Anastasia was so stunned that her magitech brain was lagging due to information overload.

Auston was speechless for a long time. He envied his other self. With an heir like Wayne, the Lando family must be having an easy time. Whatever inconveniences the family encountered, just toss Wayne out and be done with it.

Megan was still suspecting Wayne’s identity, but she saw the playboy version of Auston in Wayne. Was he really Auston’s illegitimate son?

Filomina’s eyes lit up. Again, she had to commend her other self for having excellent taste. After staying single all her life, she slept with a goddess’s man.

Sophelia also perked up. She would like to welcome a visitor to her dormant channel. Why should she go for the Darkness Knight? He was just a pitiful middle-aged man who couldn’t move on from the loss of his wife. A real woman should go for a goddess’s man. The fact that they were father and son made it even more exciting.

Wayne felt proud of himself for the successful posturing before these familiar strangers. He wouldn’t have wasted the time to do this to anyone else, but the sense of achievement was incredible when he boasted to his acquaintances in the inner world.

That’s how you do it!

He was commending himself when he noticed Queen Sophelia’s strange expression. Her eyes were red, and her breathing had quickened. She obviously planned to devour him.

Seriously? I’m the son of your ex-boyfriend!

The Sophelia of the surface world would’ve never fallen this far, so it was likely the influence of negativity. Any other nobleman would be rolling in bed with his father’s ex-girlfriend tonight.

Meeting Wayne’s gaze, Sophelia gulped and put on a nervous expression for appearance's sake. “I have nothing to do with you in the surface world, do I? I’m not your lover.”

“You’re not.”

...Why are you involved with everyone but me? As a noble, you don’t want to go down the path your father has gone down?

You lack true nobility. You must have been a peasant before!