Chapter 159: Would you like to withdraw?

Knight Kendrick had told him the gift would be ready and presented the next day, so that marked the end of the day’s training for him, and Kaelen returned to his room to wash up and start cultivating till the next morning.

On his way back to his room, he began calculating his hauls from nine days’ worth of training.

As a Slime, he didn’t have physical stats unlike some humanoid players, and so he couldn’t tell just how much he improved by staring at his system panel. But each time he flexed his arm and clasped his palm, he could feel the inexplicable difference.

He had increased his swordsmanship from beginner level to advanced level, according to Knight Kendrick. It wasn’t much, but it was an impressive feat to pull in nine days.

His muscles had become much more refined and prominent from the death pushups and sit-ups he increased every day till he couldn’t hold a cup steady. And when he ran across the estate now, it took more than 100 laps before he felt fatigue start to kick in. While his cultivation habit had yielded a little over 75 trillion evolution points.

He had also added some weight and had grown a bit taller than he remembered. All this improvement brought a smile to his face, and he made a mental note to keep the routine even after the grand tournament was complete.

He had just stepped out of the elevator door when he almost paused on seeing Emir outside her bedroom door, which was directly opposite to his. She was facing her door but tilted her head to look at him.

He forced himself to keep moving forward like she wasn’t there. After all, this had become their daily routine. But just as he placed his hand on his doorknob, she called out to him.

"Kaelen, the grand tournament will be kicking off tomorrow at noon," she said with a calm voice.

He paused. "So I’ve heard."

She didn’t say anything more, so he didn’t bother and pushed his door open to retire for the night.

"The marriage contract is also ready," she suddenly said. "If you’re not so worked up, it’ll be best if we can sign it tonight. I’ll be at the study."

Kaelen didn’t reply and closed his door after she was done speaking. Then he took off his clothes and hit the shower for a hot bath.

He spent a little while in there before stepping out and throwing on casual clothes. Then he grabbed a hair band he’d gotten from one of the maidservants and tied his hair back.

He exhaled sharply as he stared at his reflection in the mirror before he stepped out of his room and moved towards the study at the left end of the hallway.

He tapped the door lightly before pushing it open and stepping inside. There, he saw Emir sitting behind her table, looking through the pages of a book. She looked up from her reading glasses as soon as he stepped in, and she closed the book shut and put it aside.

"Take a seat," she said.

"There’s no need for that."

"Won’t you like to read the contract carefully before signing?" She asked almost immediately, like she’d predicted his response.

He didn’t refute her and sat opposite her after a moment.

She took out a stack of paper and placed them on the table before her, and Kaelen moved his hands to grab them when she pressed her hand against them.

"Before we sign these papers, I’d like to ask you something, Kaelen," she said flatly as she stared straight at him.

He didn’t take his hand back. "And what’s that?"

She was silent for a moment, like she was deliberating her words.

"Would you like to withdraw?"

As soon as those words rolled off her tongue, the room instantly fell silent as Kaelen’s eyes widened slightly in surprise and confusion.

"You’re no longer interested in the founding successor?"

"This isn’t about the founding successor."

"Then what is this about?" His brows furrowed.

She hesitated again but didn’t break eye contact. "I’ve been watching you for the past few days, and I began thinking..." she trailed off.

"Thinking what?" He asked impatiently.

"You probably hate me as much as everyone else does, and forcing you into a marriage with a cripple like me is probably a fate worse than death. If you think about it, your world was only exempted from the impromptu Global Descent out of fear of what I might do, but I won’t be able to stop them when the time is right, because then, the Creator would be on their side and they’ll lead more armies than you can imagine to trample Akkad under the heels of their horses. They will show no mercy when that time comes, and it will definitely come after me as well. By then, I wouldn’t have much strength to even protect my kingdom. In the end, we shall all fall."

Kaelen clenched his jaw. "What are you insinuating? Are you backing off now because you’re scared?" He sneered.

She smiled wryly. "Maybe you’re right."

Her reply struck a chord in his mind. Though he had accused her of being scared, he never believed that to be true. But this was the same woman who claimed she didn’t lie, and claiming she wasn’t scared would contradict her principles, so she went with a neutral answer.

That simply meant she was indeed scared. The War Demon that had opposed the universe and its cruel fate was now scared of the very thing she nearly destroyed.

At that moment, the scene from the carriage resurfaced in his mind. Her emotional burst after he unintentionally made a mockery of her effort.

Is that the reason she had decided to take a step back?

Did he just unintentionally crush the little hope the woman had been clinging to for ten thousand years?

But then, her feelings aside, what about the grand tournament he’d been training for for the past few days?

Was he really going to give up on that? His one and only key to saving his mother and achieving unimaginable strength?

"Don’t get me wrong," her words broke him out of his head. "The grand tournament has already been established, and you have become a candidate, which is irreversible even if I tried to change it. So even if you withdraw now, you’d still enter the grand tournament, and would still buy enough time for your mother and your world."

Kaelen’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. This was basically the best deal being dangled before his eyes. He could achieve everything he ever wanted without coming to any shady agreement with a villainess whose presence did more harm than good.

"So, Kaelen. I ask again." She paused for a moment as her eyes conveyed the message before her lips moved.

"Would you like to withdraw?"