"And finally, I'm slowly becoming bald. While taking a shower this morning, I accidentally grabbed a big chunk of my hair. That's everything I can think about."

Michael finally finished stating every single flaw he had, from his physical flaws, emotional flaws, to even some embarrassing moments that Emilia didn't even ask for.

"That's… thank you for sharing all that, especially the fact that you were an addict before." Emilia suppressed a smile.

Obviously, she wasn't stupid enough not to realize that he was intentionally decreasing his value, trying to make himself get rejected without any unnecessary drama. She was rather happy that she had a higher chance to ruin the marriage, as her mother was definitely hearing everything at the banquet.

And because of that, Fafnir easily guessed his purpose for participating in the competition.

"He wants to take the rewards and go back to his lovely kingdom, not marry." Greed voiced Fafnir's guess, lazily wrapping himself around Emilia: "I swear that kingdom is filled with brainwashed people! Even the demon kingdom in the Abyss doesn't brainwash the demons like that."

Fafnir rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore Greed.

'Wait, there is a demon kingdom in the Abyss?'

Fafnir and Dante knew that most demons came from the Abyss, but they didn't know that they were united enough to have a kingdom.

If they had a kingdom, why were so many of them escaping to Terra alone? Was that for resources?

As if guessing his internal questions, Greed added: "The Abyss isn't the best place for living. Most weak demons die early there for… let's say semi-natural reasons. If a demon ever found a chance to go to Terra and breathe normal air, most of them would take it without hesitation."

"If not for their addiction to absorbing vitality, they'd have been living calmly somewhere hidden, maybe a village or alone in a forest. Hmm… maybe a lot of them are living like that already."

Fafnir tried to ignore Greed as best he could, but when he started imagining how his master's life would be there, he couldn't help but clench his fists.

'It's all because of you.'

"You should thank me, actually." Greed chuckled: "Because of me, you are free to do whatever you want. Maybe you can use this freedom to unite with your sister too, right?"

The image of a woman with similar features to Fafnir flashed through his mind.

'She… isn't my sister.'

"Hmm? I don't understand. She is Fafnir's sister, and you are Fafnir. She is naturally your sister, right?"

'No, she isn't!' Fafnir yelled: 'I'm not Fafnir. That's just a name given to me by my master because we look identical. I might have his memories and personality, but I am not him!'

Greed smiled: "He didn't give you the name. I just mimicked his voice, like how I am doing now, and formed the thought of naming you Fafnir. Technically, I am the one who named you Fafnir, and that's because I know you are truly him."

"..."

Fafnir went silent immediately. He had forgotten that Greed likely muttered most of what he thought was his master's thoughts. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Just how many thoughts had he given to Dante to manipulate him?

No, there was something more dangerous than that.

Dante could talk loudly to make sure that his words were truly his… but Fafnir couldn't.

Fafnir couldn't talk at all.

And if Greed could appear in front of Dante and mimic his voice, then what would stop him from mimicking Fafnir's voice too?

If that was the case… was he manipulated too? Did he follow Greed's instructions without noticing before?

Fafnir felt a sense of disgust and hatred when he thought about that possibility.

'I hate you from the bottom of my heart.'

"You technically don't have one."

'Shut up!'

Furious, Fafnir tried to find anything to eat or drink to cool his mind, but all the food that remained on the table was in front of Emilia, and all the remaining drinks were alcoholic.

'...I hate my life.'

Because of Dante's memories, Fafnir inherited the hatred toward alcohol, which was caused by Dante's uncle.

Fafnir would rather die than drink any alcoholic drink. In his and Dante's minds, being drunk is dangerous, and it'd make them no different from that uncle.

"Okay, it's your turn now." Emilia snapped Fafnir out of his daze and smiled: "Your name is Fafnir, right? Tell me about yourself. First, why are you unable to speak?"

"Tell her anything." Greed yawned lazily: "Even that saintess can't detect your lies when you can't speak to begin with."

Fafnir thought of a response before writing: "Maybe because I am a shadow. Shadows are silent."

That was just a random guess from Fafnir. To be honest, Fafnir himself didn't know the reason.

Maybe all shadows were silent, but wasn't he supposed to be a bit special?

"You might get the ability to speak after Dante becomes Rank 3." Greed said suddenly: "But it depends on how he advances the Shadow Aspect. If not Rank 3, then Rank 4."

When Fafnir thought about Greed's words, he saw that they made sense, remembering the condition to advance to Rank 3.

Emilia squinted sharply: "And why are you a shadow exactly?"

"Class ability." Fafnir answered half-honestly, not mentioning that he was the ability itself.

"So you got a passive ability that turned you into a shadow? That's weird…" Emilia crossed her arms, thinking about her next question.

After a moment, she started raining questions down on him.

"Do you have a family?"

"No."

"Can you taste food?"

"Yes."

"Can you feel pain?"

"Technically no, but I feel something like vibration instead."

"Can you see colors normally?"

"Yes."

"Do you get tired?"

"No."

Fafnir answered most of her questions honestly. So long as they weren't too sensitive, he didn't have a reason to lie.

But just then, Emilia asked a strange question.

"Your sword technique… who taught it to you? Has that person been in this city before?"

Fafnir frowned deeply: "It was taught to me by someone I'd die for… and no, he never visited this place."

"Are you sure of that?" Emilia rubbed her chin thoughtfully: "I'm sure I have seen something similar before. Did anyone else learn that technique?"

"Yes, I'm sure. There is no way you have seen it before. My master didn't teach it to anyone else." Fafnir shook his head, glaring at Greed without anyone noticing.

"What? I'm older than her grandfather's grandfather. You think I showed it to her?"

'Yes.' Fafnir didn't deny the possibility: 'My master learned it from the relic. If one of your fragments has similar knowledge, then it's possible that she has seen another owner of that relic.'

'Even a demonic giant from Uldor was able to put his hand on one. The possibility is there.'

Greed smiled widely, giving a terrifying appearance to his centipede figure: "Maybe."

Unaware of Greed and Fafnir's conversation, Emilia shook her head and scratched it before asking one last question, giving Fafnir a wide grin.

"Considering that you are a shadow somehow… are you able to make children? If you can't, then can you control that shadow state at will?"

Fafnir froze as he subconsciously glanced between his legs.

'Wait… can I?'

That might be the only valid question Emilia had asked so far. After all, the main purpose of the marriage was making children!

Fafnir even noticed that Morgana glanced at them quickly before returning her gaze to the other nobles.

Michael as well leaned closer, clearly interested in hearing the answer.

Even Jin and Emeralda, who hated him, were looking at Fafnir from the corners of their eyes, waiting for him to write his answer.

Unfortunately, there was only one problem…

Fafnir didn't know.

At this moment… he didn't have a third leg. But if he willed it, he could easily make one or even more.

The question was whether the third leg would work for making children or not. Fafnir never tested that.

'Why do I feel like I can't?'

To make children, he needed sperm… and everything inside him was made of shadows. He didn't even have blood.

'It's either that I can't make children… or my children will be half shadows.'

Fafnir didn't know if the second possibility was a good thing, and he didn't want to test it.

Snap!

Emilia suddenly snapped her fingers, taking Fafnir out of his deep thinking: "Why are you taking so long to answer? Yes or no. Don't dare to lie."

Fafnir scratched his head in confusion. After thinking for a few moments, he finally decided to answer honestly.

"I don't know. I can't deactivate the shadow state."

"..."

"So you never tried before?" Emilia asked, sweating heavily: "Not with a woman in an inn or even yourself?"

"No. I would never do such things."

"Why not?!"

"Because it's inappropriate."

"..."

Emilia quickly looked with pleading eyes at her mother, who was clearly ignoring her daughter now.

If Fafnir was chosen… then they were supposed to test that before even thinking about marriage.

And that test would include waiting for 9 months to see the children, and maybe even watching the kid grow to monitor their health.

And honestly, Emilia herself didn't like that idea. This meant she'd have to make her potential husband sleep with another woman and have children with that whore!

Hell, she'd even have to take care of that child!

Either this… or she would have to just take the risk and test it with him, risking either a dangerous pregnancy, or having no children at all and ending in divorce after she already slept with him.

'No… I don't want that fate! Mom, please don't choose him!'

Emilia gritted her teeth and held her head with both hands, wishing that her mother would show some mercy.

For her, choosing Fafnir was truly the worst-case scenario.