Chapter 391 His Lost Wife
By the time Zara returned, more than two weeks had passed in both worlds.
Owen understood the situation and nodded. "Go on home."
Zara left the base and arrived home in the middle of the night.
Then...
"Holy shit!"
She flipped on the lights, planted her hands on her hips, and snapped, "Do you have any idea how out of line this is? I can call someone to have you arrested right now!"
An unexpected figure stood in the living room.
The problem was, it was not Lucian.
It was someone else.
With flawless features and eyes that seemed to hold the night sky, who the hell else could it be but Cyranth?
He stood in the middle of the room wearing a cloak made from some unknown material. It was pure white and shimmered with a faint glow, as though it came with its own special effects.
His presence filled the room.
He showed no surprise at Zara's return. Holding the red cord between his fingers, he looked at her coldly. "You were willing to give me this, yet you refused to tell me she was with you?"
Zara clicked her tongue. "That's a ridiculous accusation. Why was I obligated to tell you anything? I didn't kidnap her. She came here on her own!"
Cyranth truly was every bit as formidable as his title suggested. He had managed to sense Soraya's presence across worlds.
Going to the base first had clearly been a mistake.
Cyranth lowered his gaze and said quietly, "You helped her, so I won't hold this against you."
Zara stared at him. "Say that again. You have the nerve to hold anything against me? What right does a lousy husband like you have to blame me? Your own servant colluded with outsiders and got your wife killed. What were you doing at the time?"
Soraya had clearly been harmed by the mystic beast clan Sylphra descended from.
That was why Zara had immediately understood Sylphra's panic when Owen mentioned a mystic beast clan.
Sylphra must have known what had happened back then. That was why she had been so terrified.
Pain entered Cyranth's voice. "I already made her pay. Back then, I..."
He seemed about to explain, but ultimately stopped himself. Closing his eyes, he said with quiet resignation, "It was my fault."
Whatever had happened, he could not deny his responsibility for what Soraya had become.
Any excuse would have been meaningless.
Zara gave him another look. "Did you just get here?"
She went into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, then brought one for Cyranth as well.
She said, "She's asleep. She has kindergarten tomorrow, so the least you could do is come back during the day. You should leave. If my fiancé shows up and finds us alone together in the middle of the night, how am I supposed to explain this?"
She added, "A man and a woman alone at this hour, and you expect me to tell him you're here to see a three-year-old girl? No one with a functioning brain would believe that."
Cyranth's gaze seemed to pierce straight through the bedroom door and settle on Soraya sleeping inside.
Whatever he was thinking, his expression was grim.
Understandably so.
Anyone would struggle to process finding his wife reduced to a three-year-old child.
He tried to restrain himself, but finally said, "I'm taking her with me."
"No!" Zara immediately shot to her feet. "Absolutely not."
Cyranth turned toward her, his eyes cold. "Why not?"
Zara's answer was perfectly reasonable. "You know damn well why. The law won't allow it!"
And neither would the author.
Because it was illegal.
Cyranth fell silent.
Cyranth clearly dismissed Zara's words as nonsense.
Just then, his expression froze. It was as though he had suddenly seen something. The coldness vanished from his eyes, replaced by a rare hint of bewilderment.
Zara followed his gaze.
Soraya was awake.
A few seconds later, the bedroom door opened. Soraya looked at Zara first. "You're back?"
Then she noticed Cyranth.
Zara felt as though dramatic music should have started playing, complete with one of those slow-motion filters that made a single glance feel like an eternity.
Cyranth's expression shifted. Excitement and nervous uncertainty tangled in his eyes.
Soraya, by contrast, seemed far calmer upon seeing him. Confusion flickered across her face for only an instant before she turned to Zara. "Does Dad know you brought another man home?"
Zara fell silent.
What absolute nonsense.
Soraya was actually trying to frame her. Truly unforgivable!
"Hey, hey, hey! Start acting like a three-year-old, Soraya." Zara crouched down and picked her up. "Since things have come this far, there's something I have to tell you."
Then she looked at Cyranth and, under his pained and bewildered gaze, slowly continued, "Soraya, we did find you abandoned, after all. And now your biological father has finally come looking for you."
Soraya fell silent.
Cyranth fell speechless.
His expression darkened. "I am not her father. Do not joke about that."
"Fine. Then you're her brother."
When Cyranth opened his mouth again, Zara cut him off.
"Enough. You need some kind of identity. Brother, uncle, or father, take your pick. Judging by the way you're looking at her, you're not seriously planning to leave again, are you?"
She did not need any special powers to know the answer was no.
"You'll need a believable relationship when people ask who you are. Although you could always go back and wait. It's only another decade or so. For someone like you, ten years should pass in the blink of an eye."
Soraya looked between them. "What are you talking about?"
Cyranth looked at her, apparently realizing how complicated her current identity as a child made everything.
"Her spirit is gone," he said at last. "If it isn't restored, the memories remaining in her soul alone won't be enough. She will never grow older."
He raised one hand and flicked his slender fingers. A thread of light drifted slowly into Soraya's body. "I will find her spirit. Until then, I must trouble you to continue looking after her. Once this is over, I will reward you generously."
"Now you decide to look for it?" Zara looked Cyranth up and down. "What were you doing all these years?"
Pain crossed Cyranth's face, mingled with hatred for whoever had caused this. "I only realized she had no spirit when I saw her just now."
In other words, not only had he remained unaware of what had happened to Soraya all these years, but he might not even know how she had been harmed.
Zara rolled her eyes, showing the ruler of a forbidden zone none of the respect his status supposedly deserved.
Cyranth gazed deeply at Soraya one last time before letting out a slow sigh. "Keep her safe."
The next instant, brilliant light erupted around him. His body dissolved into a cloud of pure white feathers that swirled magnificently through the air. One by one, they faded into translucent shadows before disappearing completely.
Zara fell silent.
The effect was ridiculously impressive.
So impressive, in fact, that she could not help muttering, "Look at him. What a show-off."
Zara thought to herself, "Once I learn how to do that, I'm absolutely using it too!"
Soraya looked up at Zara, still curious. "Who was he?"
She did not appear to remember Cyranth at all.
Zara smiled. "Children don't need to know everything."