Ah Xion finally made her request, which did not come as a surprise. From the moment she arrived, everyone in the mansion had anticipated her actions. Initially, it was expected she would act, but it took nearly a week before she couldn't restrain herself anymore.

"Sin?"

Doro heard this word and felt like laughing. From a human perspective, he was certainly guilty of sins. He helped the Demon King's resurrection and attacked the Saintess Charlette. These, of course, were Doro's sins. As for the past, whether those were sins... everyone should have an answer in their hearts.

On hearing Doro's retort, Xion seemed slightly uneasy: "What I mean is, they will consider my connections to give you..."

"Considering your connections, can my act of helping the Demon King revive and attacking the Saintess Charlette just be dismissed?"

Doro's surprising words were something Ah Xion had never imagined: "What do you mean by this?"

"I committed acts that are considered 'sins' by humans, an irrefutable fact, regardless of my initial intent or whether I was first betrayed by humans. If there really is such a thing as sin in this world, then I am unforgivable. In such a situation—can I redeem myself? On your behalf, can my sins just vanish? Can what I did be erased?"

What was he really trying to say? Wasn't this what he wished for? Didn't he want to return to his past life?

Did he no longer want to embrace such glory and splendor?

Ah Xion didn't understand. She thought she understood Doro well, but now it seemed he was so unfamiliar. Had he changed so much in the past ten years?

"Sins will never be repaid; what has been done has already happened. Even the Demon King, even the gods, cannot return to the past to reverse what has occurred. History is a set fact." Doro's gaze was as heavy as cold lead, pressing down on Ah Xion's heart. "If humans can forgive my sins for your sake, can they also offer me sins for the sake of others? Just like what happened before."

Ah Xion's heart trembled: "No—Gedora, that's not what I meant..."

"That is exactly what you meant, Sword Saint Ah Xion."

Doro's gaze was deep: "You act as if you are obsessed with swords, like you don't want to know or understand anything else. Yet, you know better than anyone—because of this demeanor, because you have no desire for power, you have obtained an almost transcendent status in the Human Empire. As long as it concerns swords... humans can forgive you anything. As long as it provides a sword-related reason... all actions of the Sword Saint are thus supported."

His gaze was like a saw that, though not sharp, was full of jagged teeth, slowly cutting into Ah Xion's heart, spying on her inner secrets.

"In your eyes, are sins truly important? That is something important to me. I am the one tormented by these words, so you shamelessly speak of them in front of me, knowing they will affect me."

He laughed self-mockingly: "You are right, I indeed can't remain indifferent to this term. My ideal way of acting is to ignore you—but my talking to you now proves I can't be calm. Sword Saint Ah Xion, you have succeeded. You remain as sharp as ever. You make me very angry."

She didn't mean that!

Ah Xion wanted to shout in defense, wanted to express her true intentions to Doro...

Yet, did herself truly mean none of it?

Was she really completely ignorant, was her heart truly only filled with swords?

If her heart was really only filled with swords, she wouldn't have told Doro, "A true swordsman should be like me, wearing revealing clothes; any form of armor is disrespectful to the sword," while herself dressing him in Hero's Armor, blessing his quest against the Demon King.

Nor would she have reclaimed his name when Doro was despondent, trying to let him rejoin her tutelage.

Nor would she have struck down the traitor Frodonick who tried to harm Doro.

Nor would she have come here, settled here, and here... at this moment, issued an invitation to Doro.

She knew everything.

Precisely because she knew everything—she greedily wanted to obtain him.

Memories flowed in the Sword Saint's mind.

After first meeting the person named Gedora, the future Saintess Charlette timidly followed behind this young man. He was confident and flamboyant, wielding the Hero's Sword that no one else could hold, looking at her with an exploratory gaze: "Are you Sword Saint Ah Xion, the one who will be my mentor?"

To say it nicely was being high-spirited, to say it not nicely was being rebellious.

From the first meeting, the Sword Saint was certain—this youth would surpass her.

Because the sword trembled.

"You are qualified to become my disciple, Gedora."

Sword Saint Ah Xion, with Charlette's incredulous gaze, embraced the youth named Gedora and formally accepted him as her disciple.

In fact, Ah Xion used to dress very conservatively.

Later, she dressed scantily—people believed that this was inherently Ah Xion's style, and it was simply exposed because she had taken a disciple. She was always someone whose words matched her deeds... naturally, there were defenders for the revered Sword Saint; no one doubted the Sword Saint's devotion to the sword.

However, only Ah Xion herself knew.

She was enjoying the attention.

Her first lesson to Gedora was that no matter how afraid, you must keep watching the opponent. You must absorb all of the opponent's movements, focus entirely on watching them—only then is there hope of defeating them.

This was certainly a proper lesson, however, as she was being watched by Gedora as an "opponent," a different kind of emotion gradually grew within her heart. Her attire became increasingly revealing as well.

When Gedora asked about this, she gave him a legitimate excuse with a straight face.

"So, teacher, you're wearing less and less because your swordsmanship is becoming more refined?"

"Of course."

"I also want to reach your level, teacher."

At that moment, Ah Xion guiltily averted her gaze, as she had naturally lied to this boy.

However, the boy made rapid progress. When he took on the mission of defeating the Demon King, they had a battle—Ah Xion lost.

She felt it was unbelievable that in such a short period of time, this boy had surpassed her... Nonetheless, when she thought about his mission to defeat the Demon King, she found it all to be inevitable, after all, she could never be a match for the Demon King, she might even die at first sight.

To defeat the Demon King, one must at least reach such a level.

She felt both dejected and delighted.

When she bestowed the name of Ah upon him, when he became A·Gedora, Xion thought—I'm no longer his teacher; in that case, perhaps it's possible...

There are many girls around him.

They are youthful and beautiful, confident and bold, unlike herself, an older woman. She's much older than A·Gedora—although she can maintain long-lasting youth because of some past events, compared to those girls... she has no confidence.

So she could only watch in silence.

They successfully defeated the Demon King—the world was saying that the Hero and the Saintess, Charlette, were destined to be together. Some also said that perhaps he and the mage, called the "Wise Person," in the team were a perfect match, a pair of bickering lovers, others said...

Various opinions, Xion just listened.

Until—everything began to unravel.

Earlier, she took in a boy saved by A·Gedora, a boy who admired A·Gedora's figure, as her new disciple. They often talked about A·Gedora.

She knew better than anyone what kind of person A·Gedora was.

Therefore, when those slanders, destructions, and disappointing things happened to A·Gedora, Ah Xion felt secretly pleased instead.

Those girls would lose him.

However, what dissatisfied her was that Frodonick, despite being such an admirer of A·Gedora, also participated in this grand betrayal. He lost his essence on the path of pursuing A·Gedora, thinking that his admiration for that person was admiration for the Hero, foolishly believing that as long as he became a Hero himself, he could become the same as A·Gedora.

Xion didn't care at all.

She knew Frodonick would live in torment in the future.

Therefore, she found A·Gedora, who had just hidden away to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

Suppressing the excitement in her heart, at that moment she said to him, "A·Gedora, your sword has lost its sharpness, I will reclaim the name I bestowed upon you."

She saw Gedora's hand holding the wine glass, stiffen for a moment: "Are you here to clean house?"

"You can once again become my disciple. I will once again teach you to become a qualified swordsman, even not as a Hero, you can be the next generation's Sword Saint."

She earnestly expressed her intention.

But she was only met with Gedora's cold and turbid gaze.

From those eyes, Ah Xion saw something called "distrust."

She had never seen such an expression in this man's eyes.

"Go away, Ah Xion."

He no longer called her teacher, he returned the name Ah to her.

Ah Xion felt unprecedented confusion and helplessness, she deeply felt fear.

"Don't force me anymore."

The Sword Saint Ah Xion fled from in front of her former disciple.

She couldn't see Gedora's self-mocking and bitter smile.

In the end, she was just saying those words.

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