Seeing the youth in front of him just standing frozen still while looking at him, Davin tilted his head, feeling both surprised and confused at him.
"Why are you just staying silent like that while looking at my face?" asked Davin in wonder, breaking the silence that had occurred between them for quite a long time. "What is your name?"
Arvin, whose mind had just returned from game memories and a series of future strategies, blinked slowly. He looked straight into Davin's eyes and answered him directly without hesitation.
"I am Arvin Vedegra, just call me Arvin."
As soon as that name was spoken, Davin instantly widened his eyes. His heart beat fast. He was very shocked after finding out who the person currently standing in front of him was.
Images of massacre and total destruction immediately spun rapidly in his head. With a reflex movement driven by past anger, Davin directly gripped Arvin's clothes tightly with his two dirty hands while glaring at him very sharply.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice sounding very heavy, trembling, and full of intimidation. "Are you going to destroy this kingdom again just like what you once did to the Marland Kingdom and the Flamort Kingdom?"
Hearing that question full of hostility, Arvin immediately realized one very important thing. This shabby youth who was gripping his clothes apparently also remembered the events that occurred in the previous life era, where that great war took place.
Arvin's facial expression instantly changed. He did not brush off Davin's hands, but instead returned that gaze with a much more terrifying intensity.
"Release your hands or I will freeze you here!" threatened Arvin in a low tone, his eyes darkening filled with a very real killing intent. "If you want to talk, talk nicely without provoking me to act aggressively towards you!"
Feeling the suffocating cold aura slowly radiating from Arvin's body, Davin gulped. He slowly released his grip from Arvin's clothes, but still kept staring at the youth's face very sharply and warily.
"Tell me the truth, what are you doing here?" demanded Davin, taking one step back.
Arvin tidied up his slightly wrinkled shirt before looking back at Davin calmly.
"If you are asking what I want to do in the Victoriaz Kingdom right now, of course it is to be a participant in the inter-academy tournament! Can you see this silver badge on my right chest?"
Davin furrowed his brow, then shifted his gaze toward Arvin's right chest. And there, he saw an official silver badge indicating that Arvin was a tournament participant representing the Astoria Kingdom Academy.
"Just forget about those incidents in that era, Davin!" continued Arvin, not wanting to make the situation chaotic, let alone act violently. "You and I have returned to the past, just live the current life. Or could it be that you still want to provoke me to act aggressively?"
Davin stood frozen in silence, growing even more surprised by what he had just heard from the mouth of the man who used to be the greatest enemy of all humanity in his previous life.
"You... you also remember the events of that war?" asked Davin to confirm, his expression still showing a shock that had not yet subsided.
"Not only me!" answered Arvin quickly without hiding anything. "Alrain who is my right hand and Ordion also remember it very clearly. But, only Allen does not remember anything about what happened in that era!"
Upon hearing Allen's name being mentioned, Davin's facial expression instantly hardened.
"Allen you say?" Davin chimed in quickly with a tone of dislike. "I still feel very annoyed with him!"
"Annoyed with him?" repeated Arvin in confusion. "Why would you be annoyed with him? Wasn't he your comrade-in-arms in the alliance army in your previous life?"
"He was indeed my comrade-in-arms!" asserted Davin, clenching both his hands until they trembled. "But I don't know what he was actually thinking at that time! After I successfully killed the enemy general, he instead turned to attack and kill me without giving me a chance to react to open a gate!"
"That was because Allen finally found out about the truth!" answered Arvin quickly, defending his spouse. "Unfortunately, as I said, right now he doesn't remember anything about that war at all."
Davin became quite surprised by what he had just heard. His brain tried to process the meaning of Arvin's words.
"The truth?" he repeated, curious and slightly confused. "What truth do you mean?"
Arvin looked straight into Davin's eyes, his voice turning very cold upon remembering the trigger of all those tragedies.
"Dalvanel had killed my entire family by poisoning them cunningly. And I was only taking revenge on that bastard king for the deaths of them all!"
"Then, if it was only a personal revenge against the King of Astoria, why did you also destroy the Victoriaz Kingdom, the Marland Kingdom, and the Flamort Kingdom?" asked Davin probing deeply, demanding an explanation for the massive destruction in the past.
"Those three kingdoms had formed an alliance and intended to seize my territory to control a gold mine, enslave, and even kill the innocent people in my territory!" explained Arvin in a firm tone. "As a territorial ruler, it is certain that I had to act mercilessly for the sake of my territory and also my people, right?"
Arvin then raised his hand and pointed at Davin until the tip of his index finger touched the youth's chest.
"Keep this well in your mind, Davin! I will only act if disturbed or if someone dares to challenge me first! And I will only use this power of mine to protect what is mine, not to blindly invade other kingdoms! Do you understand?"
The sharp gaze without the slightest lie from Arvin's eyes made Davin stunned. He slowly began to understand the real reason behind the great war and the terror that occurred in that era.
Since long ago, history noted that the Vedegra family never once attacked another territory without reason, to the point they were highly respected and revered throughout the continent. Davin thought, his eyes beginning to realize his own mistake in the past of only being consumed by the alliance's provocation. If at that time he attacked purely to protect his people and territory, it's no wonder that he went on a rampage and annihilated the three kingdoms that tried to colonize him.
Davin's mind kept spinning, connecting the threads.
He went to war to avenge the tragic deaths of all his family members and was accused of being a terror spreader by the Astoria Kingdom's propaganda, so that many parties were deceived and joined in to destroy the Vedegra family. And after Allen finally found out the rotten truth behind that alliance, it is no wonder he immediately killed me after I killed Arvin Vedegra's right hand in that era.
The youth stared intently at Arvin's face, even though his mind was currently struggling hard in uncertain feelings.
Now, after hearing his explanation directly, it all makes perfect sense why that great war could happen. Did I side with the wrong person in that era?
"How about you just come with me now?" offered Arvin suddenly.
The youth's reverie shattered after receiving a direct offer from the person who used to be his greatest enemy. He blinked in confusion.
"Why are you inviting me to come with you instead?" asked Davin suspiciously.
"To change our future destiny, of course!" answered Arvin without the slightest hesitation. He then raised both his hands, showing the clean backs of his hands. "Right now there are already Allen, Alrain, Ordion, and Alvein. Before long, Prince Kylenciel will also join me and become my spouse!"
"Y-Y-Your spouse?" repeated Davin in shock, his eyes widening in disbelief upon hearing those big names mentioned. "What do you mean you are marrying all of them?"
Arvin nodded to confirm it with a proud expression.
"Actually, Allen has liked me for a long time. And in that era, I deliberately made him hate me so that his hidden power would awaken. Ordion was also the same as Allen. But in that era, he didn't dare to confess his feelings to me after seeing what happened to Allen."
Arvin took a slow breath before continuing his story.
"And as for Alrain..." he continued again with a slightly softer tone. "...he has liked me since I saved him after his escape. He joined me purely to seek revenge against Dalvanel who had killed his older sister after being made a sacrifice along with hundreds of other innocent people just for the sake of an immortality."
The shocking and cruel fact he had just heard from Arvin's mouth made Davin fall completely silent like a statue. He felt horrified and at the same time did not dare to imagine the dark massacre that occurred behind the scenes without him and the world knowing.
"And the main reason why I ultimately died at Allen's hands at that time, was because I basically couldn't hurt the person I loved very much." continued Arvin, admitting all his feelings and destiny without hesitation based solely on Alrain's story. "I, who at that time had already lost everything, even to the point of being hated by him, chose to die at his hands so that he could become a hero who had killed the greatest villain in the history of the world."