Chapter 354 (2): How Did the Lando Family of the surface World Turn Out Like That?

Sophelia swallowed her grumbles. Her surface world self was too incompetent. Not going after a powerful man like Wayne? Windsor would sooner or later face doom under her rule.

Wayne threw Sophelia a disapproving glance before turning to the one person who had not spoken up.

Megan.

“You look just like Master. You’re Me—”

“I’m not. I haven’t. Impossible!” Megan shook her head and bit out, “We have no relationship in the surface world. I’m in love with someone, and that someone is definitely not you.”

You’re way too nervous, Aunt Megan!

Wayne cursed inwardly. He blamed the inner world for making Megan misunderstand him.

“I’m just curious, Aunt Megan, have you become the second mistress of the Lando Family in this world?”

“...”

They all turned to Megan and Auston. Wayne seemed to be insinuating that there was a second mistress in the Lando family in the surface world.

Megan’s heart thumped. “What did you call me?”

“Aunt Megan. What’s wrong with that?” Wayne asked in confusion. “Master is a little bit violent. For Auston’s health and to prevent him from getting launched left and right, I call you Aunt Megan when there are other people around and Second Mother in private.”

How nice!

Megan was envious of her surface world self. She took a deep breath and tamped down her ambition. “Young Master, would you tell me about the surface world?”

“It’s a long story. In the surface world, you’ve been following Auston for sixteen years. He knows about your feelings but chooses to ignore them. That angered me, so I created many compromising scenarios for you, and every time, Master ended up launching Auston into the sky, but never punished you...”

Wayne stroked his chin and said with certainty, “Auston is a classic case of a cowardly opportunist. He must have developed feelings for you a long time ago, but shamelessly kept them to himself so that he could keep being a good husband. Once you make a mistake because of your suppressed feelings, he’ll have the justification to hold you and Master both.”

Megan broke into a smile, her eyes curved into crescents.

But then she remembered that this was the inner world, and Silvia had died. Her dream would never come true. Her smile faded, and her expression dimmed. She despaired at her situation and felt envy and resentment for her other self. How nice would it be to live in the surface world?

Like a demon, Wayne had managed to put everyone through torture with a few choice words.

Auston scoffed as he listened. “Don’t believe his nonsense, Megan. He said so himself: he’s good at fooling women.”

“What are you suggesting? Do you think I’m gonna fool my second mother?”

Auston sneered. “Ha, you shouldn’t have told such an outlandish story and denied my feelings for Silvia. That’s the biggest flaw in your lies.”

How cruel. Megan’s still here! Wayne frowned. In the surface world, Auston was still considerate of Megan’s feelings even when he rejected her. He would never say such words. Wayne was frustrated when he saw Megan continue to support Auston with a blank face despite her heartache.

“Auston, you see Megan as an irreplaceable family member in the surface world, yet you dismiss her so carelessly in the inner world. You’ve disappointed me. Take your words back, or Aunt Megan would be sad.”

“Young Master, Master—”

“Aunt Megan, you gave him too much leeway. It used to be the same in the surface world. If not for my help, the Lando family wouldn’t have another addition to the dining table this year.” Wayne used his most deadly hand.

Megan was beside herself with joy, while Auston snapped loudly, “Nonsense. If you continue to deny my feelings for Silvia, I’ll kill you!”

“Ha, you’re nervous, aren’t you?”

“It’s you—”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m speaking nonsense. Everything I said is a lie. Happy?”

“You—”

“See? You’re getting nervous again!” Wayne huffed. “If all I said is lies, if you don’t have a guilty conscience, why are you so eager to explain yourself? Explanation is a cover-up, and cover-up means there’s truth to be concealed. You feel guilty.”

“I don’t!”

“You do!”

Wayne argued with full confidence. Putting aside the fact that he was lying, he was the only one from the surface world and the only one who knew what had happened there. How could a local like Auston accuse him of lying without evidence? He was bullying an honest outsider!

Bah, what a black-hearted local!

Auston shook with rage, drawing Twilight Despair to spill Wayne’s blood. Unfazed, Wayne said with a sigh, “I’m only good at fooling women because of your influence. You’re a great sinner, Auston.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Auston growled.

“Didn’t the Queen get fooled by you many years ago?”

“Um...” Sophelia turned away and nodded silently. Although her first relationship had given her good memories, she had to admit that Auston had fooled her thoroughly back then.

“That’s Auston from the surface world!” Auston raised his voice.

“Are you! Not! Auston?!” Wayne was louder.

“...”

Auston’s face tightened. It felt terrible to have his words used against him.

“That’s right. I’m Veronica’s fiancé and have many girlfriends. You and Master both know about this one and that one.” Wayne pointed at Filomina and Anastasia, shooting Auston a look of disdain. “Have you considered why, as a father, you have not sunk me in a river in a barrel of cement?”

“Because I can’t defeat you.”

“No, because you want me to do this. Only after I’ve messed around and set an excellent example before Master could you embrace both dragons and mount them.” Wayne continued to make false accusations—no, they weren’t false accusations. Since that was what he had been doing to Auston, Auston had to be doing the same to him. There was no doubt about that.

Auston was so furious that he ended up laughing. “Even if I were planning that, Silvia is Veronica’s mother. Would she really let you fool around and hurt Veronica?”

“Master raises me like her own son, and Veronica is her daughter-in-law.”

“...”

How did the Lando family in the surface world turn out like this? Just because of the addition of this vermin?

“I’m not making baseless claims. I have written proof!” Wayne took out a slip of paper. “This was drafted by Aunt Megan and signed by you. You cannot deny the truth when there’s such clear-cut evidence.”

He had many such permissions signed by Auston, all won through bets. This one, for example, said that Auston wanted him to mess around and would hide the affairs from Veronica and Silvia for him.

Seeing the slip of paper, Auston scowled darkly and fell into self-doubt. Did he really want to embrace multiple women? Did he really covet Megan and would stop at nothing to do so, thus bearing the majority of the responsibility for Veronica’s misfortune?

Megan also stilled when she saw the paper. The handwriting did belong to her and Auston. So... Master wanted her. She would succeed after pushing a little harder.

“There’s more!” Wayne retrieved a stack of photos that he nicknamed When the High Reverend of the Church of Nature is Working Overtime, featuring Auston and Sophelia. The first collection had been destroyed by Silvia, leaving only one photo for her to look at when she was in a foul mood, so that she could hit the threshold for a de-stressing session.

Wayne later had Mona develop three more sets, one for personal collection, one for everyday viewing, and the other for spreading awareness.

The others passed the photos around, speechless. The Darkness Knight’s persona as a devoted husband fell apart. No one would believe him when he claimed to love his wife in the future. As for his fight with the Death Knight...

Well, it made sense. After their first three fights led to no victors, the subsequent clashes became a different kind of battle.

Sophelia began to get ideas. If her surface self could succeed, she should be able to do the same. But no, Auston’s son was more remarkable for bagging even the Goddess of Darkness. Why would she want Auston when she could have Wayne?

Sophelia held her fist to her mouth and coughed into it. “Knight Wayne, my other self might have rekindled my relationship with Auston, but this is the inner world where power trumps all. I no longer have such feelings for him.”

“So?” Wayne gave her a withering look. He would love to take a photo of the Queen’s pathetic reaction if he had a camera to show her in the surface world, giving her a thorough humiliation... Oh, wait, there should be a camera if he looked a little harder. Though he couldn’t develop the photos here, he could in the surface world!

He smothered a cheer, feeling rejuvenated. He had come to the right place. His trip to the inner world was more than worth it.

“Knight Wayne, I’m curious. How did Auston and I get back together in the surface world?” Sophelia smiled, attempting to lure Wayne as his father’s lover.

“You became King Auston’s plaything after the Lando family’s successful rebellion. That’s it.”

“...”

Sophelia froze and fell silent like she had been struck by lightning, while Auston held onto the photos with trembling hands and blank eyes, muttering, “Impossible.”

He was clearly broken by Wayne and had fallen into serious self-doubt.

Megan felt bad for him. Inspecting the photos and comparing them, she frowned. She silently went up to Wayne and said quietly, “Young Master, I’m not sure if I’m right, but the photos—”

“Someone’s missing, yes?”

“Young Master—”

“You said the same thing in the surface world, Second Mother.” Wayne raised an eyebrow. “I told you that you were able to become the second mistress in the surface world because of my help. Do you still doubt me?”

I believe you, a hundred percent!

Megan didn’t know if Auston had bought it, but she did. Wayne had predicted her reaction, which meant that they had talked about the same thing. Given how little she spoke, she would’ve never said such things to someone else unless she truly trusted them.

“Young Master, I—”

“I understand. I’ll help you in this world, too.” He smiled when he saw Megan’s frown. “I know. I misunderstood, didn’t I?”

Megan nodded and silently returned to Auston. As expected of the young master of the surface world, he was a man of action and great eloquence. She had nothing to worry about with Wayne around.

The Megan of the surface world would tell Auston about the flaws of the photos, but not the Megan of the inner world. She hoped that Auston would come to understand himself and stop making her wait.

After a moment, Auston recovered from his daze and destroyed the photos with a dark expression. Darkness devoured everything, leaving not even a scrap.

“It’s fake. It’s all fake. You can’t fool me!” Auston stiffly insisted that the surface world and the inner world were different, that he only shared the same name and face with the scumbag Auston of the other world, and they were different people.

“Then stop treating me with prejudices. I’m also different from this world’s Wayne.”

“...”

“Speak, Auston!”

“I’ll try to differentiate you.” Auston made a thoughtful sound. “Come with me. There’s something important I have to tell you. It’ll decide if we can kill the Death Knight on the first attempt.”

Wayne strode up to him. Since Auston clearly didn’t want others to know, he told Filomina to stay and wait for him.

The two of them went down to the underground base. Only Megan was allowed to follow. Auston’s trust in Megan was a constant across worlds.

There was a great amount of supplies in the underground base. Wayne summoned one of the many cameras and confirmed that it was still functional before storing it in his personal storage.

Deep within the underground base, thunderous snores came from a dark room. A two-meter-tall blond hunk lay asleep on the floor, wrapped in bandages. His facial features were masculine and sculpted, with a full beard and dense hair covering his thick arms. His torso was stocky and powerful.

He radiated such heat that even from afar, Wayne could sense the incredible warmth his body emitted.

“This is the Sun Knight. If there aren’t as many tragedies in the surface world, and you really are Veronica’s fiancé, you should know her.” Auston looked down at the snoring man from the door, his eyes glinting with sorrow.

Wayne had been silent since he entered the door. Staring at the blond man in shock, he finally stammered, “V-Ve—”

“William?!”