After Kaymin and Ejiro left, Aiden eagerly turned his attention back to his sister-in-w. “So, what do you know about those brats?”

  “That was actually the reason I had Jordy call you here,” Sharanthia replied. “You’ve had the most iion with them over the st five years. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinairy when they’re together? Like them being drawn to one another or that they improve faster when together pared to when they’re apart?”

  Aiden’s eyes lit up when he heard her question. Over the st five years, he had beely studying the bond the two youngsters have, and it was exactly as his sister-in-w described.

  But it wasn’t only that; they also seemed to have a sixth sense as far as the other one was ed. It was that sixth sehat allowed Amira to sense Ace’s observatioe her soul being so much weaker.

  “Judging by the look in your eye, I’m guessing they’ve dispyed signs of everything I’ve mentioned,” Sharanthia sighed with an expression of helplessness and a hint of longing.

  Aiden failed to uand the meaning behind her expression, but he didn’t interrupt. Instead, he simply waited for her to tinue.

  “If I’m not mistaken, Ad Amira should be soulmates,” Sharanthia expined.

  “Soulmates?” Jordon asked doubtfully. “Isn’t that just a myth created by hopeless romantics?”

  “I assure you they’re very real,” Sharanthia replied as the look of longing deepened. “Amira’s parents were soulmates.”

  As Jordon’s older brother, Aiden obviously khe truth about Amira’s birth, but that didn’t stop him from being surprised at the suddeion. “What exactly are soulmates?”

  “Exactly what most people believe them to be. Your soulmate is your PERFECT partner.” Sharanthia expined, emphasising the word perfect. “Although where those helpless romantics get it wrong is that one is by no meaio end up with their soulmate. In fact, the ces of you ever meeting your soulmate is infinitely small!

  You have to remember that there are millions of small pnes like this, each with lifeforms numbering in the billions, some even irillions, and that’s excluding the seven divine pnes and the fher pnes.

  Now sidering that your soulmate could be any one of those life forms, whether they’re of your race or not, you should be able to imagine how likely you are to meet your soulmate.”

  “So you mean there’s someo there more perfect for you than I am?” Jordon asked, uo pletely suppress his jealousy and paranoia.

  “Just like there’s someo there more perfect for you than I am,” Sharanthia firmed, not sugar-coating her words. “But that doesn’t make our love any less real!”

  Even though Jordon uood his wife’s words, it didn’t make it any easier to hear. Still, Aiden had no i in their marital issues; he was more ied in learning more about soulmates.

  “Not to interrupt your private discussion, but is that it?” Aiden asked curiously. “Or is there more to soulmates than what those two brats have dispyed thus far?”

  “Is that it?” the empress asked rhetorically. “They haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the true meaning behind a soulmate, but this is it for now. At least until the day es wheruly mate their retionship.”

  “What do you mean?” Aiden asked, his curiosity getting the better of him once again.

  “I’ll expihing I know,” Sharanthia replied as she cleared her throat. “As I said before, soulmates are two beings made perfectly for each other, which means that both individuals are equal in talent and potential.”

  “Equal?” Aiden asked as he thought about the talent and potential shown by both Amira and Ace.

  Although it was true Amira was unbelievably talented, potentially even more talehan him, it was not even close to Ace. As far as ialent and potential, Ace was the definition of a freak of nature.

  “Hmph, you think you’ve seen the limits of Amira’s potential?” Sharanthia snorted disdainfully. “You haven’t seen anythi!

  Like the desdants of the four supreme warriors, that brat Wukong, or even Ace, my ‘Viz’ family also has a bloodline ability.

  Uhose other bloodlihough, the average member of my family doesn’t awaken their bloodliil being a deity, but the earlier they awaken it, the more talehe individual is.

  Still, even my older brother, who was easily the most talented desdant my family had ever produced, including our aor, didn’t awaken his bloodliil he reached the seventh rank.

  Although I don’t know much about how much talent is ied from the children of soulmates, what I do know is that the talent and ability Ace has shown thus far doesn’t lose out by much when pared to Mira’s father. So I don’t kly which realm she’ll have to reach to awaken her bloodline, but when she does, I promise you, her potential will equal that disciple of yours.”

  Both Aiden and Jordon were shocked by that curreion, as her of them had been aware that Sharanthia came from a family with a bloodline ability.

  Still, after a moment of shock, Aiden was already past it. He just wao know more about the mystery of soulmates.

  “So what happens after the two of them finally have se… ‘mate their retionship’?” Aiden asked, quickly correg himself wheiced the dangerous glint in his sister-in-w’s eyes.

  “Two things:

  First, their souls will merge, creating a bond no different to the bond of equals, allowing them to clearly feel the location of the other person and unicate with them no matter the distaween them.

  Sedly, and most importantly, they will share their talents and abilities with others.

  I don’t know how it works for others, but for those with differing bloodlines, like Mira’s parents, they will miraculously awaken the bloodline of their soulmate. Meaning Mira will awaken Ace’s bloodline and vice-versa – albeit slightly weakened in parison.”

  Hearing that, Aiden was once agai shocked by Sharanthia’s words. “What are we waiting for?! Let’s vihose two brats to hurry up and mate their re…”

  “Absolutely not!” Sharanthia excimed without giving her etric brother-in-w the ce to finish his sentence. “Even though I’m not opposed to Ad Mira being together iure, I won’t allow them to be together yet!”

  “Why not?” Jordon asked, fused by his wife’s decision. “If everything you said is true, then why make them wait?”

  “So far, all I’ve done is tell you the positives, but mating your retionship with your soulmate be a double-edged sword,” Sharanthia expined as her eyes began to water. “Remember what I said? After mation, your soul merges with your partner’s.

  I know I pared it to that of a bond of equals, but the truth is that it’s so much more thh! For a bond of equals, if your bonded partner were to die, although you may suffer heartbreak, there are no physical damages, but for soulmates, it’s different…

  The day Mira was born should’ve been a joyous occasion, but instead, it was one of great misery…”

  “It’s okay,” Jordon said as he took his wife’s hand in his to fort her. “If it’s too painful, you don’t o expin.”

  “It’s fine; I need you to uand the weight of such a decision,” Sharanthia said softly as she wiped her tears. “On the day of Mira’s birth, my family was attacked by one of our enemies.

  My brother, Amira’s father, went out to face them along with the rest of my family’s forces. You o uand, my brother’s talent was han Ace’s. Even my father admitted that he was inferior when it came tth.

  I don’t kly how strong he was, but I know that even in our home, the Divine Pne of Darkness, my brother was aehat most deities could only look up to.

  Still, even with my father and brother w together with the rest of our family, they were still defeated. In the end, I was told by my brother to take his wife and run as far aossible.

  At the time, I had just broken through to the saint realm, so I didn’t uand much of what was going on, but I khat I couldn’t afford to waste time, so I did as I was told.

  In the end, I barely mao escape with my heavily pregnant sister-in-w, but because she was already in bour, I had to create a makeshift cave for her to give birth in.

  That was where Amira was born. But unfortunately, before she even got the ce to hold her newborn baby in her arms, she began to cry untrolbly as she said her e to my brother had disappeared.

  That was when it happened; she was affected by the curse of having found her soulmate…

  Despite being nowhere near where my brother was when he was killed, her soul began to dissipate.

  As she was dying, my sister told me to desd to a random lower world and made me promise to look after her daughter.”

  “Thia, you…” Jordon held his wife’s hand, uo find the words to fort her.

  He knew she came from a different pne, but he didn’t realise that she desded from one of the divine pnes and from such a seemingly powerful family at that.

  Still, he didn’t care about any of that; all he cared about was that she was in so much pain. He wished there was something he could do, but he uood that he was simply too weak to help her.

  Fet disputes in the divine realm where deities run amok; he couldn’t even handle his own family’s disputes in their Yun Pne.

  Oher hand, Aiden’s thoughts were focused on something else. “You’re worried that if Ad Amira were to mate now, with Ace being the son and enemy of O’Brien, he will end up getting himself and by extension, Mira killed.”

  Sharanthia didn’t reply, but it was clear from the look on her face that Aiden had hit the nail on the head.

  “Thia, you know just as well as I do; although Ace isn’t O’Brien’s match, Arianna is,” Jordon said. “There’s no way she would let Ace be killed by him.”

  “If Ace were an ordinairy boy, you’d be right!” Sharanthia sighed. “I realised it the moment I saw him, the moment I looked into his eyes; he’s so simir to my brother!”

  “What do you mean?” Jordon asked doubtfully.

  “She’s talking about his pride!” Aiden sighed. “Right now, as much as he hates it deep down, Ace is willing to live uhe prote of Arianna and I, but there’s going to e a day when Ace goes after O’Brien, and at that time, he won’t permit Arianna or myself to intervene.”

  “Won’t permit?” Jordon asked back with furrowed brows. “And you’ll just let him it suicide like that?”

  “It’s Ace’s life to live how he sees fit,” Aiden shrugged casually as he took another swig of alcohol before looking back at his brother’s wife. “I’ll follow your wishes. I won’t tell either of them the truth, but I won’t do anything to get in their way either.”

  A soft sigh escaped Sharanthia’s full lips when she heard his response. She uood that she was being selfish as if they were to mate their retionship before that iable day; with the boost in talent he’d receive from Amira, his ces of defeating O’Brien would definitely go up, but she refused to allow her little Mira, the girl she saw as her own daughter, the only livio of her beloved te brother, die needlessly…

  Even if it meant Amira would grow to hate her iure.

  .

  .

  .

  At the same time, oher side of the pace, Ace, who’d been unscious for the st 72 hours, opened his eyes for the first time.

  “Ugh, my head is pounding,” Ace muttered as he sat up, gently rubbing his temples in an attempt to soothe his migraine.

  With the aid of some of the Rohault Empire’s fi doctors, all of his physical injuries had pletely healed over a day ago, but he was too drained mentally to awaken from his deep slumber.

  He wasn’t shocked by this, though. As powerful as his soul was, Ace was well aware that both [Observation and Armament Hak were both draining on his spiritual essence, but that was nothing pared to the drain his [queror’s Hak had on him.

  Sh his repeated usage of his newly awakened ability, for the first time since saving Lina Baruch from her would-be kidnappers all those years ago, Ace had pletely drained his spiritual essence.

  Still, he couldn’t help but grin proudly at his long overdue aplishment. ‘Pops, I finally did it. I finally learnt to trol my [queror’s Hak.’

  As happy as he was about his achievement, he didn’t let it go to his head. In a world which was several times more powerful than his st, he was still far from invincible.

  The good thing about this, though, was that he had only just begun to scratch the surface of his new ability. He still had a lot of room for improvement, including learning how to infuse his [queror’s Hak into his attacks.

  Thinking back to the few times he watched Whitebeard csh with the other Emperors and the power it gave them, Aew that the moment he reached that level of trol, it would allow him to close the gap between him and those at the peak of the ninth rank.

  Thinking to there, Ace couldn’t help but look at the teen sitting on the chair beside his bed, using his mattress as a pillow, as a gentle and loving smile suffused his lips.

  It was thanks to Amira’s words that night that he was able to finally take that step. What Ace found odd about it all was that it wasn’t the first time someone had said it.

  After Whitebeard learnt that his sed division ander also had the qualities of a king, he uood that it was because of Ace’s father issues that he was uo trol his [queror’s Hak.

  Like Amira, he too had told her that the sins of the father aren’t for the son to bear and that whilst he was no saint, Roger wasn’t the devil the wover painted him out to be. He even told him that if there was ohing he was sure of, it was that Roger’s love for him was han that of his mother’s.

  But still, even though those were the ho words of the ma only respected most in his previous life but also had a deep and personal retionship with his father, Ace was still flicted when it came to his father – Gol D. Roger!

  A, when those same words came from Amira, they somehow mao pee the barrier he had subsciously put up around his heart. How could he not be thankful?

  As if she could feel his eyes on her, Amira woke up to see Ace’s big dark eyes staring at her.

  Feeling the iy of her ‘cssmate’s’ gaze, a furious blush surfaced on the caramel cheeks of the light-skieen.

  “What is it?” Amira asked softly as she fought to calm her erratic heart.

  “I love you!” Ace decred sincerely without blinking, as though he couldn’t bear to take his eyes off of the princess in front of him for even a fra of a sed.

  Amira sprung out of her seat and stared at Acredulously as her now chaotic thoughts tried to themselves around Ace’s words. “You…

  Wait…

  What…

  Where is this…”

  Before she could collect her thoughts, Ace ignored his headache as he stood to his feet and slowly took Amira into his ge oddly firm embrace.

  Amira was so taken aback by Ace’s touch that her brain seemed to shut down. Before she could even uand what was happening, Ace’s lips were pressed against hers, sending what may as well be aric shock through her body as it pletely melted into his.

  Although this was already Ace’s sed life, this was both of their first kiss, and it showed.

  The teique was… Unpractised, but both teens could feel the overwhelmiions of the other.

  When their lips finally separated, Amira’s vision was hazy as she was still somewhat on autopilot. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

  “Hear me out,” Ace voiced softly, taking her dainty but callous-filled hands in his own. “I don’t know what it is, nor I put it into words, but whether it’s this life or my st, I holy say I’ve never met anyone who has stirred my heart like you have.

  I know, teically, we’re still just children, but I also know there’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with…”

  Amira was so caught off guard by Ace’s words that all she could do was stand there and stare at A plete disbelief, but at the same time, her heart was filled with endless warmth.

  “But before then, I o settle things with O’Brien for everything he did to my mother!” Ace said calmly.

  Unlike what one would expect when talking about the man who forced themselves on his mother, there was no hatred in his tone, but that didn’t take away from his resolve.

  He still hated O’Brien to the very depths of his soul, but with his most ret breakthrough in his state of mind, he would no longer allow his hatred to cloud his judgement.

  For his ehis new Ace was hundreds, if not thousands of times more fearful, but for Amira, that intense look of resolve made him thousands of times more intoxig.

  “When that’s done, I give you my word; there will be nothing capable of stopping me, Gol D. Ace, from taking you, Amira Rohault, as my wife!”

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  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon

  Book 6: Chapter 38 – A Race