Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

"What’s going on?"

Leaving the fifteen demigods to reflect on their choices, the Field Marshal and I arrived beside the Cloud Turtle, only to find Corey and Anna arguing. More accurately, Anna had been on the verge of getting physical, but the endlessly stretching space kept widening the distance between them. Visibly, they had barely moved, yet the space separating them had already widened into something greater than a chasm.

"You finally dare to show yourself, huh?"

Anna wasn’t just enraged that I had personally gone to check on Susan while sending Corey to see her, but also that I had shared my plans to capture Seraphina to her through the Field Marshal instead of telling her directly.

"You’re my fiancée. If you wanted to see me, you could come find me anytime you wanted. Or is there some rule that says I’m the only one supposed to come looking for you?"

Anna’s brows furrowed, but she restrained herself upon noticing Corey and the devil nearby.

’He wants me to go to him when he personally goes to Susan? Fine. I’ll go to him, alright,’ she thought bitterly before asking, "What is this Dark Realm plan I’m hearing about? Apparently, you deliberately chose not to involve me in it."

"Hey, I never said he did it deliberately. I said he did it because of your narrow-mindedness," Corey immediately shot back in his defense.

Inside the domain, she had grown noticeably bolder, knowing Anna could not be near her without my permission let alone beat the shit out of her like earlier.

I stared at Corey wide-eyed, wondering if she was doing this on purpose because I hadn’t come to her rescue earlier when Anna used her as a human football to vent her frustration and anger toward me.

Whether it was out of ignorance or revenge, I needed her out of here. "Corey, did you meet Jill? Why didn’t she come to the assembly?"

"I sent her a text, but she didn’t reply," Corey answered nonchalantly, even though she was perfectly aware that wasn’t what I had asked her to do.

After getting beaten by Anna, Corey finally understood why I had assigned this task to her instead of personally checking on them myself. Because of that, she hadn’t gone to check on Jill directly as I had instructed. Instead, she chose the safer option and contacted her through text, though she still hadn’t received a reply.

Even though Corey knew Jill was weak, she didn’t dare take chances with the only daughter of one of the founding fathers of the Five Regions. Who knew what kind of cards she might still be hiding up her sleeve? Besides, she had already been beaten enough because of her philandering best friend.

"You didn’t get a reply? Then go check on her—"

"I already did. She seemed busy with the launch of the Slime Fairy cards across the Five Regions, so I didn’t bother disturbing her," Corey lied smoothly, silently resolving that while she would continue carrying out her duties as her best friend’s enforcer, she would never again run errands for him. She had learned her lesson.

I knew for a fact that Corey was lying. We had already launched the Slime Fairy cards throughout my new empire and the black markets across the Five Regions through Jill’s channels.

Before I could call her out on it, Anna lost her patience and snapped, "Wyatt, quit stalling and tell me what you’re planning with the Dark Realm." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Field Marshal, give her a devil merchant quota and help her settle in," I ordered, not really knowing where to begin explaining my plans for the Dark Realm to Anna.

Anna still wasn’t aware of many things beyond the Card World. She hadn’t even visited the Lil’ Red Storm Realm yet. There was simply too much I needed to tell her, so much that I had no idea where to start, which was why I left the task to the Field Marshal. Once Anna was brought up to speed, I would explain the plans she was so demanding to hear about.

Those TV shows were right about one thing: once you propose to a woman, things only go downhill from there. I missed the old Anna, the one who would shower me with attention, try all sorts of things just to catch my eye, and make bold advances in places I would never have expected.

"My lord, please allow me!"

Before the Field Marshal could respond, Peyote suddenly spoke up, volunteering for the task of helping Anna become a Devil Merchant and familiarize herself with the Devil Merchant Code, surprising Corey, the Field Marshal, and me alike.

I looked into Peyote’s enormous turtle eyes and, seeing he was serious, turned to the Field Marshal. She gave a small nod and added, "I don’t mind."

I then nodded at Peyote and said, "Alright, let me give you a devil merc..."

"Don’t worry, Master. I have a few. I’ll give one to the mistress," Peyote said as he noticed me reaching for a devil merchant quota. This time, the three of us were even more surprised by his behavior.

"Alright, I’ll leave her in your care."

With that said, I grabbed Corey and headed toward the demigod squad, while the Field Marshal lingered for a moment, eyeing Anna and Peyote before following after me.

"You do know he has three fiancées, right? If you flatter the other two, they might get somewhere. But with me? I can never forgive the dark races that invaded our land and killed so many of my ancestors and people."

Anna pointed this out to Peyote after seeing the lengths he was willing to go to curry her favor. Though she had no idea what a devil merchant quota was, let alone how incredibly important and valuable it might be, it had clearly provoked a visible reaction from her fiancé, who was rarely ever surprised.