At the entrance to Migurdia Village, the biting chill did not come from the Demon Continent's desolate, sulfur-laced wind.
It came instead from the man behind Roxy, her father, Rowin, who stood as silent as a mountain.
The deathly aura around him was almost tangible, as though it had seeped out of some netherworld abyss, weighing heavily on the surrounding air.
Cui Ciyou's appearance, and the unmistakable intimacy between him and Rowin's daughter, had clearly been the spark that ignited this dormant volcano.
On the surface, Cui Ciyou remained perfectly composed. A faint smile even lingered at his lips, as though he had not noticed the soul-freezing killing intent behind him.
Cui Ciyou was not nervous at all, but Roxy thought he was.
She thought he was merely pretending to be calm.
Tenderness and love quietly welled up in her heart, and her small gesture was delicate and gentle.
She quietly took Cui Ciyou's hand, convinced she had done it without anyone noticing.
As their warm hands met, Roxy hoped to give him a little reassurance.
Yet to her father, Rowin, this heartwarming sight was nothing less than fuel on the fire.
The deathly aura surrounding him abruptly intensified, and even the air seemed to thicken with his anger.
In blue eyes just like Roxy's, a dark storm churned, threatening to grind the fellow who had "stolen his precious daughter" into dust.
Cui Ciyou closed his hand around Roxy's soft little hand, reassuring her that she need not worry.
Hand in hand, the two walked calmly into the village, a place at once familiar and strange.
Before their eyes, remembered scenes overlapped with reality, creating a peculiar sense of dissonance.
In Roxy's memories, the Migurdia village had always been simple and primitive, with waist-high fences serving as little more than