Chapter 868 Changed Perception
Rhea had her reservations about Max as a mortal, however, the difference between the old Max and the current one was so stark that she could almost no longer recognise him.
At the time of childbirth, when Mira was soul-bound with Max, it was a decision that Rhea regretted immensely.
She did not want the daughter that she nourished with her own essence to be soul-bound to someone who was going to be a burden to her growth rate all her life, however, time had proved her reservations wrong.
Not only had Max never been a burden to Mira, but over the recent years he had one-sidedly led the levelling increase so much so that it was Mira who had become the leech in their relationship.
As a mother, Rhea could never approve of her child's love for another man while she was still young, however, now that she was of age and much more mature than she was as a kid, Rhea felt more open to letting her explore love, especially because she approved of the man she was in love with.
As the younger brother of the Supreme Lord and a warrior who was going to reach the monarch realm alongside Mira in a matter of few years, Rhea now approved of Max as a suitable groom for Mira as there was literally no other individual in the entire universe with the same potential and pedigree as himself.
Although marrying a half-dragon might jeopardise the future of the royal black dragon clan since Rhea could never be sure how their children would turn out, she had made her peace with this uncertainty and was willing to support Mira in following her heart.
Sighing, she put on the brightest smile coupled with the most enthusiastic fake attitude that she could muster as she said " You know Max, Mira is not the only one you should meet when you visit Draconia, there's your aunt Rhea as well- "
Saying so, Rhea opened her arms slightly inviting Max for a hug as Max could almost not believe his own eyes when she gestured for it.
Giving his aunt an awkward hug, Max put on his own fake best smile as well as he wondered how the times had changed?
Even Mira was surprised at her mother's behaviour as it was a well known fact that her mother did not let any individual except herself to touch her, much less a man like Max.
Yet, she gestured for a hug off her own volition which meant that she was giving Max the ' Family ' treatment.
" It's always a pleasure to meet you, Queen Rhea " Max said as he curtly greeted his aunt with a slight bow as Rhea waved it off-
" Please, call me aunt or if you want to marry my daughter, you can call me mother " Rhea said, directly dropping a bombshell on Max which made the Draconic Primordial Vampire cough violently.
" Mother! Please….. " Mira said as pleaded with her eyes for Rhea to not embarrass her as Rhea rolled her eyes at the naivety of her child.
Although Mira was not well versed with the ways of men, Rhea was….
If Max did not find Mira attractive he would not be hugging her at an angle where her breasts would push against his chest.
He was clearly sizing her out under the most innocent act, however, Rhea had seen many men like him through her hundreds of years of lifespan and she could identify lust when she saw it.
Nonetheless, she backed off after Mira pleaded as she gave the young couple some space and some ideas on how they could spend their day, however, she insisted that they join her for dinner to which the duo agreed.
In Max's mind the dinner was just a polite invitation, however, the reason behind why Rhea had invited the duo to dinner was to ensure that if the spark between them was not ignited in the right direction during the day, then she could guide them in the proper direction before nightfall.
***************
( Meanwhile Kartikeya )
Kartikeya joined the tri-state tournament after wiping the floor with every other contestant in the Won Knight preliminaries.
He joined under the alias of ' The Brute ' and his fighting style perfectly matched his name.
For Kartikeya who had been raised by Rudra, fighting others of his age was no big deal at all. Without even using a single attack, without drawing his sword, only using his fists alone he won the Won Knight preliminaries and became the first ranked seed in the tournament.
If he truly wanted, he could have won the preliminaries unscathed, however, at times he took a punch or an attack that he could have easily blocked or avoided, just to see if his body's conditioning was strong enough to take attacks of the type, laughing like a madman after every hit that he took.
His speed, power, and brute style of fighting caused panic in every opponent he faced as he mercilessly bludgeoned his opponents for victory.
During his fights, whenever he saw some new attack combination, or some move that he had never seen before he would watch it with great curiosity and even if it ended up hitting him, he could be heard saying ' This is fun! ' while his opponents would be screaming ' MONSTER! '
With a death tally of 51 and victory streak of 250, he made quite the impact within the preliminaries as he became the talk of the town not only in Radiance, but in all three participating kingdoms.
To prevent causing an uproar and from opponents unnecessarily pulling out, Patricia had concealed his true identity as Rudra's son, making him compete under his new alias only, so that he could have his fun while the grown-ups analysed his power and potential in peace.
So far, after the preliminaries even Patricia felt goosebumps running down her spine as she inspected Kartikeya's performance as his fearless style of fighting was like watching a supreme monarch.
He rampaged on without a care in the world, meeting every challenge head-on without deceit or trickery and leaving behind a trail of cold bodies in his wake.