Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The Final Hours Of Twilight

Naturally, from the market, they headed to the Academy next.

However, on the way, Adonis suddenly handed a pouch to her

“Your share,” he said simply.

Valentina blinked, befor she untied the cord and peeked inside.

Obviously, there were gold coins… Thousands of them.

But she was shocked as though why he was giving them to her.

“How much is this?”

“Thirty five thousand.”

For a moment she thought she heard wrong.

“Th-thirty five thousand?”

Adonis nodded casually as if the amount meant nothing.

Valentina stared at the coins again.

Her hands trembled slightly.

Then she quickly closed the pouch.

“No. I can’t take this.”

Adonis raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?”

“This is too much. You were the one who fought the boss. You risked your life. I just helped.”

“You did more than help, Tina.” Adonis replied calmly.

“But still…My contribution doesn’t justify half.”

Adonis snorted,

“I said it’s your share.”

Valentina remained silent. But a strange warmth filled her chest.

It had been years since someone trusted her with something valuable.

Slowly she spoke,

“My family… we’re not rich.”

Adonis didn’t interrupt.

“In fact, we’re quite poor.”

“My father used to be a small merchant. But several years ago something went wrong during a trade expedition. He was accused of smuggling illegal artifacts.”

Adonis frowned slightly.

“And?”

“He was arrested.”

She swallowed a tear of grievance.

“The nobles who judged the case demanded compensation for ’damages to the crown’s trade laws.’”

She smiled bitterly.

“We had to borrow money from lenders just to avoid losing our home.”

Adonis understood immediately.

Debt.

The most suffocating chain in any society.

Valentina continued,

“Even enrolling in the Academy required another massive loan. My mother sold almost everything we owned.”

Her eyes lowered toward the pouch again.

“Thirty five thousand gold…This amount alone could pay off half our family’s debt.”

For a moment she seemed lost in thought.

Then she looked up at Adonis again.

“I know everything I’ve gained so far… my power… my bloodline…all of it exists because of you.”

She clutched the pouch tightly.

“If you hadn’t appeared that day… I would still be the girl being forced to wash laundry and complete homework for those bullies.”

She smiled, bright and infectious.

“But now. I can fight.”

“I can protect myself.”

“I can protect my family.”

“And that is because of you.”

Adonis watched her quietly.

Valentina lowered her head slightly.

“So thank you. Not just for the gold… but for everything.”

Adonis scratched the back of his neck.

“You’re being too dramatic.”

Valentina blinked. “What?”

“I didn’t save you out of charity. You’re useful to me, that’s all.”

She stared at him with deeper meaning,

“I was right, You really are terrible at accepting gratitude.”

Adonis shrugged, “Maybe.”

Valentina suddenly stepped closer.

She leaned forward slightly and hugged him.

It was sudden. But warm.

Her crimson hair brushed against his cheek.

“Still, I’m grateful to you, Adonis,” she whispered.

Adonis froze for a second.

Then he awkwardly patted her head.

“Alright. I understand. ”

Valentina pulled back with a bright smile.

“Now I’m even more motivated.”

Adonis raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

“To grow stronger.” Her crimson eyes burned with determination.

“One day I’ll repay everything you’ve done for me.”

Adonis chuckled. “You’re silly.”

It was currently nearly evening. The Academy ground had been covered with a golden hue.

The magically enchanted road to the dormitories felt long and serene.

The duo walked side by side, enjoying the peace.

However, suddenly another girl entered the fray.

​Lucia.

She emerged from the golden haze of the dormitory road. Her usual brightness was extinguished, replaced by a gray, pallid exhaustion.

She stopped ten paces away, her frame trembling as if a cold wind only she could feel was trying to knock her down.

She was nervous.

​Adonis stopped, feeling an unsettling premonition.

​”Adonis, you… your…” Lucia’s voice was a ragged whisper, breaking under the weight of the words she carried.

​Adonis took a step forward, his eyes narrowing into slits of burning crimson. The draconic pressure he usually held in check began to leak out, cracking the enchanted cobblestones beneath his boots.

“Say it!” he demanded.

​Lucia looked up, her face streaked with tears that shimmered like liquid salt in the dying light.

“I’m sorry, Adonis. Your mother… she was found dead. You should return to her as soon as possible.”

BANG!

​The world didn’t explode. It didn’t scream. It simply stopped.

​The golden hue of the sunset turned to the color of rusted iron. The sounds of distant student laughter and the rustling of leaves vanished into a high-pitched, deafening ring.

Adonis felt a physical sensation in his chest, not of a heart breaking, but of a void opening that began to swallow every memory, every warmth, and every reason he had to stay grounded to this earth.

Thud.

​His knees hit the stone with a sickening thud, the impact spider-webbing the ground, but he felt no pain.

He couldn’t feel his limbs. He couldn’t feel the wind.

​”Adonis!” Valentina cried out, her composure shattering as she lunged forward to catch him before his face hit the dirt.

​Behind his eyelids, a single image played on a loop: a woman with tired, gentle eyes and calloused hands, tucking a threadbare blanket around a younger version of him.

She had been the only person in a kingdom of monsters who looked at him and saw something worth loving. She was the one who had traded her youth, her health, and her pride to ensure he had a path to this very Academy.

​And now, the hand that used to smooth his hair was cold. The voice that whispered his name in the dark was silenced forever.

The only supporter he had in a sea of chaos had been cut, leaving him to drift into a storm of his own making.

—

​The journey that followed was a blur of motion and gray light. Lucia had arranged an express carriage, its magical horses galloping until their lungs burned, but to Adonis, the carriage felt like a coffin.

​He sat in the corner, his back pressed against the velvet padding, staring at his own hands.

These were the hands that had just slain a Giant King. These were the hands overflowing with the power of a Progenitor Dragon.

And yet, they were utterly useless. All the levels, all the Ether, and all the “Taboo” strength in the world couldn’t reach back through time to pull one woman out of the shadows.

​Valentina sat across from him, looking in grief.

She was bound to his soul, so she could feel the jagged, frozen emptiness radiating from him. It was a hunger far worse than her own, a hunger for a past that no longer existed.

​Lucia sat beside him, sobbing quietly into her cloak, her heart aching at the sight of the boy who had walked like a god only hours ago, now reduced to a hollow shell.

She reached out to touch his arm, but pulled back, fearing that he might shatter if she exerted even the slightest pressure.

​Adonis looked out the window as the Capital’s lights began to flicker in the distance.

His eyes were no longer red with anger, nor violet with power.

They were dark, bottomless pits.

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