Chapter 372: Misunderstanding or Flasehood

Leon took a deep breath to calm himself down, forcing oxygen into his lungs and trying to slow his racing heartbeat.

In. Out. In. Out. Control yourself.

However, in his mind, one critical thought dominated everything else: he absolutely needed to verify whether he could access and use his time dimension inside this cursed realm after this conversation ended.

Please work. Please, please work. If it doesn’t...

He genuinely prayed with every fiber of his being that it would function normally. If not, his future was looking catastrophically bleak ahead—trapped in a dying realm with an unkillable monster returning.

Now that he’d calmed somewhat and understood the full, horrifying real history of this realm, Leon decided to address the main outstanding issue.

This still doesn’t prove everything was just a misunderstanding. Ira herself supported my claims about the death threat.

He prepared to ask directly, but Archon Vyrra was already continuing—she’d just been building context for this exact part of the story.

She began speaking again with measured deliberation:

"Nearly ten years ago, during what seemed like an ordinary day, all the fighters from our clan were engaged in combat against beasts emerging from rifts that regularly appeared throughout our territory. In that particular battle, as was standard procedure, the strong warriors from our clan led their own specialized squads, covering different sections of the city’s border and defending their assigned posts."

Her voice took on a somber quality.

"During that engagement, Ira’s twin sister Miraya was fighting on the northwest border alongside Ira herself. Their father, Korvek, served as their squad captain, commanding and coordinating their unit."

The fact that she’d mentioned Ira’s twin sister—someone Leon hadn’t seen or heard about until this very moment—immediately told him this story wasn’t going to be a pleasant one.

Twin sister. Past tense. She’s dead.

Also, the way Ira seemed to be deliberately looking down at the ground, as if this particular story haunted her even to this day, further confirmed his suspicion that this was definitely a tragic tale.

Leon instinctively started slowly rubbing Ira’s back in gentle, comforting circles, trying to provide some small measure of support, and Ira doens’t mind it.

She needs this. Whatever happened clearly still hurts.

Even though it still wasn’t clear to Leon how this historical event was specifically related to him being threatened and nearly killed by her father, he didn’t interrupt the flow of explanation.

Let her finish. I need the complete picture.

Meanwhile, Korvek was internally raging, though he kept his expression carefully neutral.

I don’t like this. How he and my daughter seem so emotionally close when it’s only been a single day since they met.

He knew intellectually that he was primarily at fault for the current situation. But still, watching this interaction gave him an intensely bad feeling—different from the protective instinct that had made him try to keep Ira away from this outsider in the first place.

This is worse. Equally worse.

Archon Vyrra continued without pause, deliberately ignoring the small, intimate gesture happening between Leon and Ira at the table.

But internally, she actually quite liked what she was observing.

Good. He’s compassionate. Shows emotional intelligence.

Despite having tremendous power and going through such a terrible ordeal with her clan—being attacked, forced to fight for his life—this human outsider was still patient enough to sit and talk rationally rather than simply destroying them all in revenge.

Which he would never succeed in her presence, still, it was nice.

I like him quite a bit. A perfect potential match for my niece, Ira, there can be no one else better, actually.

Her tactical mind was already working.

Vyrra explained how on that fateful day ten years ago, there had been unusually intense pressure concentrated on the northwest defensive sector, which Korvek was leading.

"Ira and Miraya were fighting a particularly strong boss monster from a solitary rift together—a creature that was disrupting the entire battle’s balance while Korvek himself was occupied with his own life and death combat."

She paused significantly.

"They were able to finish the monster successfully. Lucky, we thought."

Leon, hearing this, was initially confused.

Wait. There has to be something tragic coming—like Ira’s sister Miraya dying in that battle. But they defeated the monster together, so what’s the actual problem?

Archon Vyrra could clearly see the confusion written across Leon’s face, and she understood completely—this reaction was entirely reasonable given what she’d said so far.

When I first heard this tragic news after that battle ended, I was also in complete denial and disbelief for quite a while before finally accepting the horrible truth. Archon Vyrra thought.

She continued with obvious pain:

"But—"

But what? Leon thought urgently, genuinely curious now.

What happened after defeating the monster?

Vyrra’s voice dropped low:

"Miraya was the one positioned to deliver the final killing blow from close range to finish the monster and close that rift permanently. Ira was supporting from behind, covering her sister’s approach."

She took a shaky breath.

"But somehow—impossibly—as Miraya struck the final blow and the rift began collapsing... the rift itself swallowed her whole along with its disappearance. It happened directly in front of Ira’s eyes."

Her voice filled with sympathy.

Poor Ira wasn’t even able to do anything. Couldn’t react fast enough. Her twin sister was somehow pulled into and consumed by a rift—something our race was never even supposed to be capable of entering. No one from this realm should be able to cross those barriers. It’s impossible."

Leon found this absolutely absurd.

How could that even happen? That violates everything she just explained about the realm’s fundamental rules!

Vyrra continued relentlessly:

"After that catastrophic battle, for the past ten years, Ira has desperately tried to enter various monster rifts, hoping to follow her sister or find some clue. She has never succeeded in crossing the threshold even once."Her voice became more clinical, trying to distance herself from emotion.

"I personally attempted it as well when I learned what happened, thinking this anomaly might potentially be a way for our race to finally escape this impending doom we face. But I was completely wrong. I cannot enter either."

Her expression showed genuine confusion and frustration.

"Miraya’s disappearance simply doesn’t make any logical sense given everything we understand about our realm’s fundamental laws."

However, her eyes suddenly sharpened dramatically, and she looked directly into Leon’s eyes with piercing intensity.

"Then, ten years later, you appeared out of nowhere. she knew vaguely of the sealed portal’s existence—the one supposedly guarded by the vengeful Red Dragon—which many in our clan believe is just dramatized history I created to keep them motivated. They think when the actual crisis comes, they’ll fight for their lives against whatever threatens them, even if it’s our own enraged deity."

Vyrra leaned forward slightly.

"However, your presence was unknown and completely different from anything she’d encountered. When she met you and learned your circumstances, she immediately assumed you might be like her sister—somehow accidentally sucked through a portal against the normal rules, knowing the existence of the seal."

Her voice softened.

"She brought you into our clan and insisted on taking you to meet her father, desperately hoping you might provide some clue to finding her twin sister. For ten years, she’d been searching unsuccessfully without any progress whatsoever. Your presence gave her genuine hope for the first time."