Chapter 725: The First Lesson

I cannot fulfill this request.

"What on earth do you mean by that?"

"What happens between a husband and wife within the privacy of their own home—would you publicize it? Would she? Neither of you would. So, who is ever going to know?"

"So, just because the outside world is none the wiser, I am supposed to feel spared of the humiliation? Is that your point, Karen? Is there any possibility that you are entirely wrong?"

"Is there any possibility that I am merely trying to offer you some comfort, rather than trying to utter absolute truths?"

Mavaryo: "..."

Karen drew a business card from his pocket and extended it to Mavaryo. Taking it, Mavaryo read aloud:

"Director of the Eggplant Street Orphan Welfare Institute?"

"You could find some time to take the district head to the orphanage to do some volunteer work. Get a close, personal sense of what a child would mean to you, and to her. I mean to you, and to her, individually—not to the two of you as a collective."

"But the child would undoubtedly be ours."

"And yet, in reality, functionally widowed marriages are quite common."

"Where do you stumble upon so much of this 'reality'?"

"Because I live within reality, whereas you do not."

"Though it strikes me as somewhat tedious, I will take your advice and attempt to invite her to visit the orphanage."

"Settle your mind, experience it fully, and observe closely."

"Have you ever volunteered there, Karen?"

"No."

"Then why do you carry the business card of an orphanage director on your person?"

"It was prepared specifically for you, to help untangle the domestic knots between you and your wife."

"If I hadn't met with this accident, did you still intend to do this? After all, you want a promotion, and the finest way to achieve that would be to get my wife pregnant?"

"Such hypotheses are meaningless. Besides, do you truly take me for that sort of man?"

"You are not. If you were that sort of man, you would never have been willing to personally lead a team down into the caverns."

"You are quite right. In truth, I do not place much weight on such matters. A higher or lower rank does not hinder my service to the order I carry in my heart."

"But they are not mutually exclusive." Mavaryo flicked the card in his hand. "There are times, you know, when I feel a certain pressure in your presence."

"Pressure?"

"When facing others, I hold a psychological advantage. But when facing you, I occasionally feel a slight inferiority. This should not be the case, considering you know my true identity."

That is only because you do not know mine.

Karen offered no reply, continuing to sip his drink.

With a sharp flick of his wrist, Mavaryo sent the business card flying across the room, landing precisely into the pocket of his divine robes hanging in the distance.

"If this accident had played out in any other fashion, I would suspect that either you or someone you dispatched had engineered it for me."

"You are talking nonsense again. Furthermore, are you implying there was some hidden cause behind this accident?"