The room turned quiet when Shin finally finished.

Shin was still looking at the three without any emotions showing on his face. His tone throughout the whole story was the same, uncaring with a hint of sadness.

Now, show me your true colours…

Shin still was sure that they were all acting, just to torment him later.

Kali was currently staring at Shin, her eyes were widened and her skin looked sickly pale. She closed her eyes, but her breathes couldn’t calm down after hearing of Shin’s nightmare.

Something like that really did happen to him, right?

Kali knew the answer without needing to think of it. Kali opened her eyes, this time staring at Shin with determination.

Laura had long ago collapsed on the floor, absent-mindedly listened to Shin as he continued telling his story. She stroked her eyes, finding it wet, she glanced down at her skirt, finding it damp with tears. Laura couldn’t think straight as she only looked dumbly at Shin, hoping that her emotions would be conveyed.

Shin glanced at both, he still couldn’t believe them acting like that.

He last glanced at Aria who was currently sitting on the bed, nearest him.

I knew it, just like before…

Shin couldn’t see Aria's pale skin, her worried eyes nor her tears. Shin could only see her eyes glaring at himself as a predator would stare at their prey, he could see Aria’s lips curving upwards as she was mocking him.

“Sigh…”

Shin could only sigh lightly while knowing that he had right.

“Hehe…”

Aria only laughed wickedly as she was glaring at Shin.

“Why don’t I try it too? It sounds fun to torment you.”

Aria’s tone was filled with excitement as she smiled brightly.

“What?! What are you doing, Aria?!”

Kali was the first one to react, denouncing Aria while standing up, wanting to stand in-between them.

Aria turned around and shoved her away.

“Don’t stand in my way, I want to have some fun, you know?”

Aria ridiculed Kali as she knew Kali was currently weakened.

Kali got shoved back further away from Shin, who was just helplessly smiling as he knew something like this would eventually happen.

Kali’s heart hurt even more as she glanced at the corner of Shin’s eyes which was moist.

Laura tried to stand up, before she even could stand up properly, she got knocked down by Aria’s fist.

“Don’t interrupt me…”

“I found something fun that I can play with, and I won’t allow anyone to stop me!”

Aria threatened the two of them with an ice-cold tone before turning around and stared at Shin like a savage.

“Hehe…”

“Shin…”

Aria crawled into the bed closer towards Shin, her mouth was smiling like she was enjoying all of this.

Shin could only see Aria’s vicious side, Shin didn’t close his eyes. Even when he knew that Aria would torment him and play with him as a toy, he wouldn’t resist. She was still his mother, he would only endure.

Shin could not blame anyone else than his own fate, his fate was to be tormented, deprived of everything and tortured. He only stared at Aria with a warm gaze as she was crawling closer towards him.

Aria managed to catch on all these changes on his face, she didn’t care anymore and pounced on Shin!

Aria placed both her hands near Shin’s armpits, she stretched her fingers while smiling wickedly.

The next second, Aria started to tickle Shin’s armpits rapidly!

“Uwa!! No, no, no, no, stoooooop! Hahahahah stop, please stop it, haha.”

Shin which for the first time got tickled, couldn’t stop laughing while begging for Aria to stop.

Aria smiled happily as she tickled faster and faster, she kissed Shin’s cheeks too without any break.

Kali and Laura could only dumbly watch Aria tickling and kissing Shin.

Kali felt like an idiot, placing her hand on her face while rolling her eyes. Even when her face was hidden, she smiled faintly.

Laura smiled too when she could only stare at the two of them playing on the bed.

“uwaa, stoop, I can’t take it anymore, ahaha…”

Shin’s voice weakened while he panted rapidly, Shin could feel Aria’s soft lips kissing his cheeks over and over again.

Shin could feel Aria’s warm body embracing him while tickling and kissing him repeatedly.

Aria finally stopped after seeing Shin could only twitch on the bed without any strength left in his body.

Aria licked her lips, making loud noises.

“Slurp, nom nom, it was delicious!”

Aria picked Shin’s fragile body in her embrace as she spoke softly in his ears.

“I will torment you like this every single day… You are way too tasty! Hehe.”

Shin’s cheeks turned red as he looked down. Tears emerged from the corner of his eyes before running down his face.

He finally understood, it was all clear to him now, he was the one misunderstanding everything from the start.

Shin hugged Aria with all his force, what he got in return was a soft hug.

Shin sniffled countless times, trying to repress his tears. Shin only closed his eyes as he was welcoming all of Aria’s warmth inside of himself, he felt an unimaginable power in his own body, circling everywhere from his legs to his head. The power strengthened his bones, blood vessels, organs and his skin. Shin only felt his body becoming lighter, he didn’t think much of it as the power circled around his body.

“Have you calmed down now?”

Aria asked softly as she caressed Shin’s cheeks, pinching him gently.

Shin only nodded while enjoying the touch of Aria’s fingers. His eyes closed while appreciating every touch and warmth he could feel.

“Shin.”

Aria spoke tenderly as she pinched Shin gently.

“I will never hurt you.”

“You are my treasure. In my heart, you’re the only one left.”

She could only speak those words. Aria knew after she heard Shin’s nightmare or more to say how he lived before, that Shin wished for a warm family but, couldn’t see himself somewhere like that.

Aria could only force Shin to trust her, her plan was simple, it was to force Shin into submission with kisses and tickles!

Shin could only let out a bright smile as he listened to Aria.

“Mother, I’m sorry.”

Shin remembered how rudely he acted, his face twitched as he worriedly looked at Aria.

“D-do you forgive me?”

Shin’s mouth dropped downwards as tears emerged from his eyes. Shin didn’t want to lose this warmth the moment he gained it.

Aria’s eyes were warm as she ruffled Shin’s hair and she kissed his cheeks once again.

“I will never leave you, Shin.”

Aria’s gentle voice entered Shin’s ears, letting his body feel at ease.

“You don’t have to ask for forgiveness to me.”

Aria’s eye dropped as her face expressed emotions of grief and sadness.

“It’s me who’s supposed to ask you for forgiveness. I was the one who couldn’t protect you, it’s all my fault that you went through all those awful things.”

“No! It wasn’t your fault, mother!”

Shin yelled out as he heard Aria blaming herself for everything, Shin shook his head without stopping.

“No, mother. It wasn’t your fault!”

Shin didn’t know what to say, so he could only hug Aria, trying to express his own deepest feelings to her through his hug.

“Can you see?”

Aria softly spoke.

“Our hearts are connected, mine and yours. Shin, I know it was hard for you to be all alone, but I will stay by your side from now on.”

“Um, um.”

Shin could only nod weakly while accepting Aria’s heartfelt words.

“growl…”

A low growl sounded out from Shin’s stomach.

Shin’s face turned bright red as he shyly looked away while using his left hand to cover over his stomach, trying to suppress the growling sounds.

“Hihihi. Aria, you played with Shin that much that he’s even hungry now, hihi.”

Kali snickered while teasing Aria. Kali had a faint smile on her face as she stared at Shin’s embarrassed face.

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“I will go right away and check if the chefs have made cooked something.”

Laura swiftly stood up and left the bedroom, before she went through the door, she glanced back at Shin and smiled brightly.

“Aria, would you mind me trying something?”

Kali suddenly asked Aria, her smile vanished as she glanced at Aria and then back at Shin.

Aria only narrowed her eyes before nodding.

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Kali gestured Aria to step away from the bed while staring at Shin.

Aria reluctantly left Shin’s hug, she could only see Shin’s worried eyes before he sat properly on the bed. Aria stepped off the bed, placing her arms on her waist as she glared at Kali.

Kali didn’t mind Aria’s glare as she only looked at Shin, she walked step for step closer to Shin. She could see Shin’s finger intertwine and worriedly looking back at her.

“Hihi, I have something to tell you.”

Kali's mouth turned into a delightful smile as she had already figured out her feelings.

Shin didn’t speak, but he could feel his own back sweating.

“Didn’t you ask if I was a fairy or a witch, did you not?”

Kali snickered while smiling happily.

“Um, y-yes.”

Shin could only nod weakly while looking at Kali.

“Well, I have something important to say.”

“Hihi…”

Kali laughed as she continued speaking.

“To everyone else, I will be the witch they all know me as.”

When Kali spoke this far, Shin could only gulp heavily as he was glaring at Kali crawling on the bed closer towards him.

“But.”

Kali spoke slowly as she crawled closer and closer to Shin.

“In your eyes.”

“I will be your only fairy.”

Shin could only hear Kali’s tender voice as he stared into her purple eyes, seeing her placing her arms around himself and pushing him into her embrace.

“Hihi. Shin, aren’t you overjoyed? You got yourself a beautiful fairy, hihi.”

Kali’s tender voice entered Shin’s ears. Kali knew that she had fallen for Shin the moment they met when he was staring at her eyes deeply while his face expressed curiosity towards her.

The more Kali found out about Shin, the stronger her heart beat. At first, Kali didn’t know what this kind of feeling was. But, when she saved his life, she felt her heart relieved and when she heard how Shin had been living, she could feel a stabbing pain in her heart.

Kali could finally understand what her feelings were, love. Kali who had always been shoved away was accepted entirely by Shin.

Shin could only see a beautiful fairy in Kali. Kali who was shown this kind of emotion, could not hold herself back any longer. She had finally promised herself that she would stay by his side, no matter what.

“Um… I knew it.”

Shin could only speak feebly when his eyes were staring deep into Kali’s eyes.

“You’re a fairy.”

“Hihi”

Kali could only laugh and tenderly stroking his hair.

“Shin.”

Aria voice sounded somewhat cold as she stared at the two of them. In body size, they might look perfect for each other.

But…

“Shin, do you really want to love a 1000-year-old girl? She’s almost a hundred times older than you.”

“Ugh!”

Kali could only glare at Aria angrily, how could she continue with yelling out her age every time?!

Shin nervously thought of something as he looked down on his hands, his smile vanished as he worriedly glanced up at Aria again.

“Mother”

Shin’s voice almost sounded he would cry at any moment, which made Aria shocked as her eyes widened.

“What is it, Shin?”

Aria asked anxiously, it was Aria’s first time seeing Shin timid like this.

Kali also looked worriedly at Shin, wanting to hear what could have made him depressed.

Shin showed them his fragile hands covered with scars.

“Can my weak body really cultivate? I want to become stronger, but, but, my body.”

Shin’s head dropped downwards as he was worried to hear their answer. Shin understood that people could live longer if they were stronger, but could he also cultivate with his weak and fragile body? Shin didn’t want to disappoint Aria, Kali nor Laura if he couldn’t even cultivate to become stronger, would they throw him out while glaring at him in disdain?

Both Aria and Kali looked dumbly at the situation. The strongest divine energy which barely appears once ten millennia and the wielder think he can’t even cultivate his own powers?

If anyone heard this, they would rather believe that they were gods than something like this.

The first one to react was Kali as she pounced on Shin, hugging him excitedly while mocking Aria with her eyes.

“Of course, Shin. I promise you that you will be able to train your powers, I will personally help you with all I got.”

Kali didn’t forget to stick her tongue out to tease Aria even more.

“Cough cough!”

Aria only could cough loudly as her expression became darker because of Kali’s shameful actions!

“Shin, Kali’s right. You are able to become stronger, and we will all help you.”

Aria could only glare angrily at Kali while knitting her fist together with brute force, making her bones crack.

“Hihi. Shin, do you want to know the stages of powers?”

Kali hurriedly glanced away from Aria and stared at Shin with warm eyes and a bright smile.

“Kali, you can tell him about it as we walk to the dinner table. You can’t have forgotten that Shin’s hungry, right? Hehe”

Aria mocked Kali as she walked towards Shin and lifted him off the bed.

“N-no way, there’s no way I can forget something important like that!”

Kali tried to look away while trying to deny Aria.

“Hehe, let’s go already.”

Aria could only snicker as she glanced at Kali amusingly.

“Kali, what are the stages you talked about?”

Shin who was being lifted and who knows what, managed to see that his clothes were swapped before noticing. Shin pouted as he walked in the middle of Kali and Aria and wanted to know more about the power stages.

Kali’s who’s currently brightly smiling as she remembered her and Aria changing Shin’s robe in one go, licking her lips as she was thinking of devouring Shin.

“Cough, yes yes, about the power stages.”

Kali hurriedly coughed and began explaining.

Kali stretched out her left pinky finger.

“The first has no name, people usually just call it mortals. Around 2/3rds of everyone on this continent is stuck in this stage, they are those who can’t cultivate to become stronger to a higher degree. But, even so, they should be able to live for around 250 years and has some fighting power.”

Shin stupidly stared at Kali’s pinky finger, commoners could easily live over 200 years!

“What’s next?”

Shin asked without wanting to wait anymore.

“Hihi, calm down.”

Kali laughed as she glanced at Shin’s eager expression. She stuck out her left ring finger while speaking.

“This next stage is the borderline from mortals and cultivators in this world. This stage is just plainly called Cultivation Warriors, for those who managed to enter this stage, they will usually be stuck in here till they die unless they manage to advance into the next stage. Cultivation Warriors have a life expectancy of 500 years and they are strong enough to lift a 400 (882 pounds) kilograms boulder.”

Shin widened his eyes as he thought of someone lifting a 400 kilograms boulder and living for half a millennium.

Kali then stretched out her middle finger on her left hand.

“The stage after Cultivation Warriors is; Throne. Those who are in Throne stage are usually those who have really good potential, they can live over a millennium and they can break boulders weighing over two tonnes.”

Shin just absent-mindedly listened to Kali, not knowing what to think. Do people like that really exist?

Kali’s index finger popped out next as she explained briefly.

“After Throne is; Emperor. They can live for a couple of millenniums and can break mountains as they wish.”

Shin started to get numb from all the information he was hearing, people managing to break off mountains, it all sounded crazy in his ears.

“Are you listening?”

Kali asked as she glanced at Shin who couldn’t even show an expression anymore. She nodded as she knew this was all weird for him.

“There are only two stages left, the one after Emperor is; Half-Divinity. As the name suggests, they are on the borderline of divinity to become a god or goddess. Those in this stage can live for tens of millenniums and just their aura can destroy anything in their paths.”

“The last one is Divinity, becoming a god or goddess. There hasn’t been anyone at this stage, just rumours. The rumours are saying that those in this stage can live till the end of time and just their presence can destroy this world.”

Kali swiftly hurried her explanations.

Aria just stretched her body as she was yawning.

Shin just looked down for a while.

“How strong are you three?”

Shin curiously asked Kali and Aria.

“Well.”

Aria then took over and spoke.

“Laura is currently in the Emperor stage, she has a surprisingly good talent and managed to quickly become an Emperor.”

Shin’s eyes turned round as he thought of the maid – Laura who could live for millenniums and destroying mountains wherever she goes.

Then Shin thought of something weird as he looked at Kali and Aria in surprise.

“Then, y-you two??”

“Hihi. Shin, both me and Aria are currently both in Half-Divinity stage. I was quite lucky to come this far, but Aria here is a true monster.”

Kali stuck her tongue out as she said the word ‘monster’ clearly.

“Hey! Don’t call me a monster in front of Shin!”

Aria angrily lifted her fist up and shook it.

“Mother is Half-Divinity?”

Shin just figured out something.

“Isn’t mother just 105 years?”

“Ugh…”

Aria flinched when she heard Shin just simply saying her age.

“Hihi”

Kali snickered while looking at Aria teasingly.

“Yes, Shin. That’s why your mother is special here, being only 105 years and a cultivator in the Half-Divinity stage.”

“Let’s not talk about this! Look, we’re already here, come let’s eat!”

Aria just walked away from Shin and Kali, hoping that they wouldn’t continue talking about her age.

“Haha, mother’s funny.”

Shin smiled faintly as he glanced at Aria who’s embarrassed about her age.

“Um, you’re right.”

Kali nodded before staring at Shin once again. She hurriedly lifted her fingers up and pinched his cheeks.

“Ah, it feels so great. I can do this forever.”

Kali's expression turned into one of delight as she pinched Shin's cheeks.

“Ouch, why did you pinch me?”

Shin pouted as his cheeks turned red before running away from Kali.

“Hey, don’t run away! I haven’t had enough, I want to pinch more!”

Kali yelled out in despair as she saw Shin running away from her while laughing out loudly.