La''s smile turned sardonic at Obstruction''s words.


    Indeed, if they yed their cards right, they could make two parties in good terms turn hostile. However, Obstruction was targeting the wrong parties. He had no idea what rtionship the Time Keeper and the Void Master had. More specifically, the rtionship between Ste, the First Time Keeper and Can, Kyran''s predecessor.


    The two were friends before they got engaged. Their engagement was mainly for political reasons, but they had no qualms about it. As a matter of fact, Can was not a candidate to be Ste''s betrothed. But since the Tower Family did not want the union of the two families to be too constrained, the Patriarch then let Ste choose her partner.


    Ste could have chosen any of the Ashton Family''s genius bachelors. However, she chose Can— who, at that time, was known as the bastard son of the previous Patriarch with zero talent for magic— much to the chagrin of thetter''s elders.


    Nevertheless, the Ashton Family Elders could only grit their teeth and keep their opinions to themselves because the Tower Family was not opposed to Ste''s decision. The union of the two families might appear to be a mutual benefit, but in truth, the Ashton Family were the ones who would benefit the most from it because of her status as the Time mage.


    As for the Tower Family, who others believed had received an unfair bargain from the union, they actually epted Can wholeheartedly. They treated him well—pletely contrasting to how the Ashton Family treated him.


    Ste chose Can to be her betrothed, not because she was secretly in love with him but because she knew he would never take advantage of her status as the Time mage. That was how much she trusted him as one of her close friends. Furthermore, she hated the thought of getting intimate with a man she did not know— not that she ever thought of bing intimate with Can.


    Can, on the other hand, agreed to the arrangement because he did not want his cousins to take advantage of or hurt Ste for their own selfish reasons.


    To Can and Ste, marriage for convenience did not really matter. What mattered most was both respected each other. They also had no delusions about ''falling in love.'' After all, Ste knew Can harboured special feelings for La, though he never considered pursuing her.


    There were many reasons for this.


    Unlike the Tower Family, the Winfrey Family ced great importance on having a ''strong'' mage to marry La. The main reason was that they wanted to be the ''Leader'' of the Four Great Families. But apart from this, it was mainly because La was a healer yet also very sickly. They wanted a strong-bodied mage to be her husband to ensure La''s offspring would not inherit her ''sickly'' body.


    For this reason, the Winfrey Family proposed a union with the Regis Family.


    The Regis Family, oblivious to the insidious n of the Winfreys, epted the proposal with no qualms.


    Truthfully, Zane agreed to the union mainly because of the same reasons Can agreed to be Ste''s betrothed. Zane knew how important La''s healing ability was and did not want others to use her for their own benefit.


    The four were friends and believed they had to look after each other.


    Romantic love and such were not their priorities. Their era did not allow them to prioritize those things because of the ongoing war with the demons.


    In any case, another reason Ste chose Can to be her partner was to avoid strange rumors about him and La because the two were ''unusually'' close. After all, La and Zane were already engaged then.


    Ste also felt sorry for Can since he was mistreated by his father''s family just because he was born out of wedlock and possessed no magic energy.


    Unfortunately, Ste did not expect her feelings for Can would develop into real love.


    Fearing Can would call off their engagement if he discovered her growing feelings, Ste chose to keep a safe distance from him. However, because of this, she failed to notice the gradual change happening to him.


    When it was revealed that Can possessed the most powerful Ancient magic— Void, the distance between him and Ste had already grown to the point she could no longer recognize him.


    Ultimately, one thing led to another and then Can became the Dark Sage. Soon, he also died after trying to save La.


    Recalling this made La''s brow furrow slightly. She never understood why Can thought he had to save her from her own magic.


    In any case, Ste med herself for what happened to Can. She was convinced her decision to keep a distance from him started everything that led to his death. If she had been with him all those times, she could have given him advice and even helped him carry whatever burden he had.


    He would not have to face everything alone.


    Guilt and regret. These two emotions of the First Time Keeper were why La was convinced the current Time Keeper would never turn against Kyran.


    These emotions were imprinted in the current Time Keeper''s Time core, and after being passed on to many generations, they have likely grown stronger.


    "You don''t know anything about a woman''s heart," La said after a short pause.


    Obstruction did not say anything. He only stared at her, which unnerved her a little.


    Ignoring his stare, La looked at the huge array above and changed the subject, "My people will arrive soon. Once they dealt with the veil, we can make our move to stop the Dark Sage''s Ultimate Weapon from fully awakening."


    "Once the veil is gone, I will leave the Human ne."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    La frowned. She looked at Obstruction again and said disdainfully, "What ever happened to ''I will settle your affairs''?"


    Frankly, she never really believed Obstruction would settle her matters. She only felt disdainful at the fact that he brazenly dered his retreat.


    "We will. So long as you keep the Macabre cier in tact. If possible, take full control of it, too," Obstruction replied meaningfully.


    La did not respond. However, she heard the words he did not say aloud.


    She did not expect Obstruction to realize she had not taken full control of the mirror. Nevertheless, this did not seem to deter him. If he was, he would not have said ''we'' when he responded to her usation.


    Then the ''we.'' Obstruction seemed he could no longer deal with the current situation alone and nned to ask another outside for assistance.


    "Bringing another outsider would require a separate invitation," La started, managing to keep her wits about after recalling she already gave out three invitations, which was her limit using an ancient incantation.


    These three invitations had been given to Deception, Ruin and Savagery.


    When Obstruction wanted toe, La reced the invitee from Deception''s invitation to him. It was quite easy because they were together and the invitation was with Deception.


    If Obstruction wanted to, They would need another invitation if he wanted to bring someone from the outside when he returned to the Human ne.


    ''It is impossible to create a new invitation. I could send another invitation only after I retrieved the ones I gave to Ruin and Savagery. However...''


    Just as La was pondering this, Obstruction had already replied.


    "There is no need for an invitation. Our faction leader has ways to enter a ne."


    La raised her brows at this.


    "So he is an even more powerful Space mage?"


    Obstruction''s mood seemed to darken at La''s remark


    "Do you think Space magic ismon?"


    La only shrugged in reply.


    La harbored no ill intent when she said that, but hearing her speak casually about Space mages was a huge insult to Obstruction.


    Sensing La''s nonchnce, Obstruction no longer pursued the matter and asked, "How long must we wait for your forces?"


    "It depends," Ste replied with a smile. "But rest assured, this time around, I will not lose."


    Obstruction did not respond and only looked at the huge array above.


    Currently, the amount of magic fluctuations in the surroundings has stabilized. Whether this was good or bad, they had little time to consider anything else. In the end, he could only agree and wait.


    At another location in the Regis Estate, True Void''s body started to dim. This rmed Kyran, who was keeping an eye on him nearby. Nevertheless, thetter remained silent and did not voice his doubts.


    Kyran did not want to disturb True Void''s awakening.


    While silently observing, Kyran suddenly sensed strange movements with his heightened senses.


    Unlike Obstruction and La, Kyran and the rest of the Regis Special Forces were unaffected by the veil. And with Kyran close to the estate''s Outer Walls'' border, he actually sensed movements almost everywhere.


    Kyran''s eyes narrowed as he turned to the high wall behind him. He looked at True Void, who was still caught in a trance. He knew then that it would be bad to leave True Void unguarded to investigate the movements outside the walls.


    In the first ce, those movements might not emit killing intent, but they were obviously up to no good.