Chapter 422.1

A black-haired man and a golden-haired woman stood face to face in the middle of Tark Prairie, their lips sealed to form a tight mana circulation. Slowly, the golden-haired woman began to regain consciousness.

The moment she returned to reality, she remembered everything as if she had just awoken from a dream, be it her fight against Grandar, Artasia’s black butterflies, or Peytra’s petrification. All of these details flashed across her mind one by one before eventually halting on the composed face of the black-haired man when she plunged her hand into his chest.

“!”

The recollection of what she had done to Roel left her so horrified that her blood seemed to have frozen in place. Taking quick shallow breaths, she slowly lowered her head and gazed upon the glaring wound in the latter’s chest. Her body began to tremble.

“Roel, I-I…”

“You just came back. Stop looking around and rest a bit.”

Sensing the intense fluctuation in Nora’s feelings, Roel quickly covered her eyes.

He was in terrible shape. His mana was depleted, his body was severely wounded, and the side effects of the Crown’s Stones were soon going to set in. However, he knew that he mustn’t collapse right now.

Nora had succumbed to her divine instinct due to having witnessed Shrouding Mist devouring Tark Stronghold whole, leading to the disappearance of her father and many others. If Roel were to collapse right now, it would expose another opening in Nora’s mental state for the divine instinct to exploit. That would have rendered his efforts futile.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Warm tears fell on Roel’s icy-cold hands, and a hoarse voice kept murmuring apologies to him. They had known each other for many years now, but this was the first time Nora had broken down into tears before him. Seeing her in such a state pained his heart.

“You don’t need to apologize. What a troublesome princess you are,” Roel feigned a complaint with a smile.

Perhaps due to the damage he had taken, his mind was slowly blanking out. All that was left were the raging emotions within him. He let go of all logic and obeyed his instinct, gently leaning in to kiss the woman before him on the lips.

What was different this time was that the woman reciprocated his sentiments.

As if fearing that he would suddenly disappear as well, Nora’s response was unprecedentedly intense. A passionate kiss mixed with the saltiness of tears; t…