Chapter 123: Melancholy
Hearing Edith’s words, Miguel merely smiled as he said, "She fell for what I look like, not because of who I am."
Miguel had been a handsome man in his previous life as well. With how high his realm was, he had already stopped aging and maintained his young looks until the moment he died in the hands of his disciple.
Throughout those years, how many girls had fallen in love with him with just one look? If he went and entertained all of them just because of such superficial feelings, who knew how many women he would have managed to fuck until his death?
It was because Miguel did not want to abandon his emotions that he was more sensitive than the others when it came to this kind of thing.
For him, love is sacred and should not be sullied by superficial feelings such as lust and greed.
Edith shrugged her shoulders upon hearing his reply. To be honest, she was equally a greenhorn when it came to love.
She did not know how it happened, but she just felt that she was already in love with Miguel all of a sudden.
This was a feeling that transcended their master and summon relationship. Perhaps this was also the reason why Miguel offered to dual-cultivate with her in the first place, aside from her life being in danger back then.
As they were talking, a streak of light suddenly flashed as Aaliyah appeared in front of the two of them.
Miguel was not very strict when it came to them coming in and out of the grimoire. He had given them complete autonomy to come and go as they liked, as long as they did it at the right time.
But for some reason, though, the Scorching Water Tortoise has not tried to summon itself yet. Perhaps, even if he does give them the go signal, it might require a certain strength or intelligence before they could do so without waiting for his command.
Anyway, Miguel stated that Aaliyah could come out if she wanted to hang out with him, so she did so after feeling that it was the appropriate time to come out.
She looked at Edith and suddenly stated, "Strange. Why do I feel like you are getting more and more lively every time I see you?"
"Really? Haven’t I always been like this, though?" Edith tilted her head in confusion, puzzled at where Aaliyah was coming from.
Aaliyah shook her head, equally confused. "No. I didn’t think you were like that when we fought the Demon’s Heart. I felt it yesterday, but it’s even more obvious right now. It’s like... I can’t put it into words, but it’s like you’re glowing or something?"
At the side, Miguel merely smiled at their interaction.
He also looked at Edith carefully and thought that what Aaliyah said actually had truth to it.
Edith was definitely glowing. It added to her charm and made her look even more mature than before.
Miguel thought of the few reasons and realized that it must be because of the dual cultivation and Origin Energy effect.
He did not share this discovery with the both of them, though, and decided to keep it to himself for now.
"Right, since you’re already here, I wanted to ask you something about your past. Is that alright?" Miguel turned to look at Aaliyah and asked politely.
There was a slight pause in Aaliyah’s movements before she nodded her head with a little bit of hesitation on her face.
From the looks of it, it seems that she was still not ready to talk about her past yet.
Miguel smiled and patted her head softly. "Don’t worry, it’s not something that serious. It’s just about a certain rumor."
Miguel proceeded to explain to Aaliyah the rumors that the bandit leader heard and got obsessed with.
The powerful person that they mentioned that left that treasure was also called Fiery Empress, the same moniker that Aaliyah has.
Miguel also mentioned how they dealt with the bandits as well as the assassin sent by a certain Red Family member to clean Erika and the others, possibly to hide the whereabouts of the treasure map that the bandit leader wanted to obtain.
Upon hearing the situation, Miguel noticed that Aaliyah was frowning and was gritting her teeth in anger. A moment later, she released a defeated sigh and stated, "Even after so many years, it seems that the Red Family has still not changed."
Sadness filled her eyes as she recalled her past experiences.
She looked up at the ceiling in a bid to hide the tears welling at the corner of her eyes, but how could it escape Miguel and Edith’s heightened perception?
Edith looked subtly at Miguel, as though telling him to console her.
However, Miguel merely shook his head, as he knew that Aaliyah definitely didn’t need someone to console her at this moment. She just felt melancholy about her past. It was a pretty normal reaction, especially if someone truly has a soft heart.
Like Miguel said, Aaliyah recovered from her melancholy a moment later.
She then stood up and came face-to-face with Miguel.
Her hand reached out towards him as she stated with a calm face, "The treasure is real, but the treasure map is just a fake I created to deceive the traitors back then. As for the treasure itself,
She paused for a moment before her hand finally touched Miguel’s chest.
No. To be more precise, what she wanted to touch was the thing that was hidden beneath his clothes.
"As for the treasure itself, don’t you have it already?," she stated with a smile on her face as she looked directly at Miguel.
It was the necklace that he won from his bet with Gasper.
Their faces were only a few inches apart due to her actions. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Aaliyah turned to look away in embarrassment.
She did not know why she just did that.
She immediately pulled away from Miguel and sat back on the bed. However, Edith kept on staring at her with such an amused face that she could no longer take it and decided to return inside the grimoire.