Even though Theresa was unwilling to talk about her past, Erwin could already sense that she had opened up her heart to him.

As a result, he felt no qualms revealing his past to her.

Thus, he began to tell her about the time he had spent back in the Effer Kingdom. He began his story with a recount of his childhood in Sarus, followed by all of the theatrical events of the Pillow Sword Tournament, the major turning point in his life that was the battle of the Canston Plain, and the journey to the north that came in the wake of that battle. He talked about the fearsome ice dragon that he encountered during the journey, and the tribe of wereleopards he encountered in the Terarody Mountain Ranges after surviving the ordeal presented by the ice dragon. After that came their arrival in Belama, and of course, he had to mention Elder Lia of the Universal Church, who he had encountered in Belama and had recognized his talents. It was truly a spectacular journey that was also not short of tragedy and heartache. Even the best stories of the time couldn't compare with the marvelous story of Erwin's life thus far.

Theresa was completely entranced as she listened to Erwin's vivid retelling of his life, and her eyes were flashing with amazement and envy.

After listening to Erwin's story, Theresa was silent for a long while before finally heaving a faint sigh. "What an enviable life you've led."

"Is it really that enviable?" Erwin asked with a wry smile. "All I wanted was to lead a quiet and uneventful life as the son of a count, yet fate has taken that away from me. I really can't bring myself to thank fate for putting me in the position I'm in right now."

At this point, Theresa's arms had already been released from their bindings by Erwin, and she patted the back of Erwin's hand in a comforting gesture as she said in a soft voice, "If it weren't for the journey that fate led you on, I wouldn't have ever met you."

"Is meeting me supposed to be a good thing?" Erwin asked with a wry smile. "You are the daughter of a duke, yet you've been reduced to a slave to serve me. Is that really something that can be considered to be fortunate?"

"What does it matter if I'm a noble or a servant? If I don't meet the person that I'm destined to meet, my entire life would be spent in gloom and darkness," Theresa said in a nonchalant voice.

"So you're happy to be in the position that you're in?" Erwin jibed as he raised an eyebrow.

"So what if I'm happy in my current position? Does the same not apply to that princess and the Lana that's always on your mind?" Theresa countered.

Erwin could only blame himself for revealing everything to her, including even his story with Lana. Otherwise, Theresa wouldn't have been able to use that against him. However, it simply didn't feel right to omit Lana when telling a story about his past. Furthermore, he was still very concerned for Lana and wanted to share those worries with someone else in order to lessen his own burden.

"Come to think of it, you really are a promiscuous man. Is there any place where you don't have a lover stashed away somewhere?" Theresa suddenly said in a displeased voice.

"I've never gone out of my way to try and win any woman's heart," Erwin said with an indifferent expression, but deep down, he was feeling extremely pleased with himself. For Erwin, shamelessness was something that he lived and breathed, it was an inseparable part of his very being.

"So you're saying that all those women threw themselves at you and begged you to love them," Theresa scoffed with a disdainful roll of her eyes. "By the way, didn't you say that you came to the north to search for your mother? Have you found her yet?"

"I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but after arriving in the north, I've focused all of my time and effort on trying to survive, so my mother will just have to wait a little longer," Erwin replied with a resigned smile.

To his surprise, Theresa didn't mock him for this. She knew that even though Erwin had spoken with a joking tone in his voice, he had to have encountered a great deal of hardship and adversity throughout his journey.

"Do you have some insight about this?" Erwin suddenly asked.

Theresa took a glance at the book on his bedside table, then said, "You told me that this book was left to you by her, and through that, you've arrived at the conclusion that she's also a time and space magician, right?"

Erwin nodded in response. "In my opinion, the fact that she gave this book to me indicates that she's already mastered all of the content presented in its chapters. In that case, she must be an extraordinarily adept time and space magician, in which case there's no way that no one in the world would know about her."

Even though Duke Eru was still alive, Theresa was the true ruler of the Boll Dukedom, which made her one of the highest-ranking nobles in the entire Fulway Empire, so surely she would've heard about Erwin's mother at some point.

"But out of all of the dukedoms in the Fulway Kingdom, I've never heard of any exceptional time and space magicians," Theresa said after some careful pondering.

Erwin heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he mused, "I came all this way to the north to find my mother, thinking it would be an easy task, but it seems that even fate is trying to keep us apart."

Listening to Erwin's musings, Theresa couldn't help but think of her mother, who had passed away at a very young age. However, compared with Erwin, she still seemed to be more fortunate. At the very least, she still had her father by her side. At the same time, she was also wondering where Erwin's mother could be.

It could be said that ever since that traumatic incident in her childhood, she had been filled with hatred toward the world and all of the people in this world. The only thing that gave her the will to live was her hatred and her desire for revenge. However, one day, a burst of color and light suddenly appeared in her bleak and colorless world.

The man before her was like a gift that had been bestowed upon her from the heavens, shedding a ray of light upon her numb and lifeless soul. If it weren't for the glimmer of sympathy he had shown her on the Canston Plain, she would've struggled to find a worthwhile reason to live.

Looking at the man before her right now and thinking about the story of his past, thinking about how fate had been so cruel to him, she couldn't help but be moved by just how resiliently he continued to live and how he was making every effort to maximize the gift of life.

In comparison with him, she was sorely lacking in courage and willpower.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not someone to be pitied," Erwin said as he turned to Theresa with a faint smile. "There are countless people in this world who are far more unfortunate than I am. The misfortune I've suffered isn't even worthy of mention. The only reason I'm telling you so much is because these things have been weighing down on me for a long time, and I needed to get it off my chest."

"I'm not pitying you, don't flatter yourself," Theresa said as she rolled her eyes at Erwin, then buried her face into his chest.

"Hey, are you going to cling onto me all night? When are you going to let me go?" Erwin asked with a resigned shake of his head.

"I've already become your slave, you have to let me get something out of it as well, don't you?" Theresa was like a little kitten that was curled up against Erwin's side, rubbing her head gently against his chest, allowing his hand to roam back and forth over the back of her neck to her slender waist.

"You make it sound like I'm taking severe advantage of you," Erwin said with a feigned expression of disappointment, pretending to put on a dejected display even though he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Alright, then ask yourself this: have you had a taste of the princess yet? What about Lana? You haven't been given a taste of either of them, right? In that case, why is it that I'm the only one that should give you what you wish for?" Theresa asked with a displeased pout.

"You're my slave, aren't you?" Erwin asked with a shameless expression.

"The entire Boll Dukedom is about to be yours soon. Why focus on me?" Theresa asked, wisely changing the subject.

"If I'm going to take over the Boll Dukedom, your aunt is going to be a massive obstacle that stands in my way. Are you sure you don't want to talk to me about her?" Erwin asked.

"Why do you want to hear about her? All you need to know is that she's someone I have to kill. If I die someday, then you have to kill her for me," Theresa said in an indifferent voice, but the unadulterated hatred and fury that appeared in her eyes as she spoke came as quite a surprise to Erwin.

"Are you sure she's the one behind the assassin that was sent after me?" Erwin asked.

"Who else could it be but her?" Theresa was clearly confident in her theory. "The assassin that's been sent after you is a man by the name of Renjay Min. He's from the Delair Dukedom, and his archery skills are unmatched. He was already renowned across the entire western part of the empire 20 years ago, but for some reason, he's made very few appearances these past few years. I can't think of anyone aside from that old slut that can recruit the services of such a powerful assassin."

"Then it looks like we really do have no choice but to fall into your trap. We'll have to work together to deal with your aunt," Erwin said, and even though he was smiling as he spoke, a cold look had flashed through his eyes.

"What do you mean you fell into my trap? She's the one who's trying to kill you, not me," Theresa said as a sly look appeared in her eyes.

The two of them then exchanged a knowing smile.

"There's only one thing I don't understand."

"Why is that?"

"You could've just surrendered to me from the very beginning, why did you go to the trouble of putting on that act?"

Theresa heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this. "I had to at least put up some resistance for the sake of my father and the soldiers of Newfando. If I represented only myself, I would've been perfectly content to surrender without putting up a fight. However, I can't bring myself to surrender when I'm representing the entire army of Newfando. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't challenge the princess."

"So you did that just to prove a point?" Erwin sighed. "Even though it came at the cost of permanently damaging your own magic power?"

"Are you feeling bad for me or do you only feel bad for the magic power that I lost?" Theresa asked as she looked straight into Erwin's eyes.

"Based on my understanding of magic, that spell that allowed you to split yourself into two could've potentially taken your life, is that right?" Erwin asked as he looked back at Theresa with a serious expression.

"There's no way that could happen," Theresa protested, but at the same time, she averted her gaze, unwilling to look into Erwin's eyes as she spoke.

"All of you women are far too proud for your own good. For the sake of pride, you're even disregarding your own life!" Erwin said with a displeased expression. This criticism naturally also extended to Onean. If she weren't also this proud, then he wouldn't have had to consider her feeling when he was deciding whether to step in and save her during her battle against Theresa.

Then again, he was also the exact same type of person, so he really was in no place to be criticizing them.

"So you put your life on the line just to see if you could beat her?"

"What else could I have done?" Theresa asked. "I know that I can't compare with her when it comes to looks and magic power. I know I'm inferior to her in all aspects, but I still want to pit myself against her and throw everything I have at her. Even if I have to sacrifice my own life, I want to score a victory over her."

"So what are you going to do now that you've lost?" Erwin jibed.

"I'll just have to accept my loss and stay obediently by your side," Theresa said as she raised her head to look up at Erwin. "Don't worry, I won't try to compete with her in the future."

Erwin shook his head with a smile as he looked at her dejected expression, then tapped the band around her neck with his fingertip. "With this thing in place, you won't be able to do anything so reckless even if you wanted to."

"Are you planning to just confine me to your side like a caged bird?" Theresa asked as she raised an eyebrow, putting on an act of displeasure toward the control that Erwin was exerting over her, but deep down, she knew that he was only concerned for her safety.

"It's time to sleep," Erwin said, ignoring her question as he wound his arm around her waist again. "We've been chatting for the entire night, I'm so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open. It's been a long time since I've gone to sleep with a woman in my arms."

He took a long whiff of the fragrance emanating from Theresa's hair as he spoke, then exhaled as a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Shortly thereafter, the sound of slow and even breathing rang out beside Theresa's ears, indicating that he really had fallen asleep, and an amused smile appeared on her face.

Erwin was holding onto her in a tight bear hug, rendering her exasperated and completely unable to move. However, she didn't struggle excessively as she didn't want to wake him up.

Erwin's heavy breathing was repeatedly brushing over her ears, and a deep blush appeared on her face. Thinking back to everything that had happened during the past day, her heart was filled with warmth, and she wanted nothing more than to be locked in this embrace for the rest of her life. As these thoughts were crossing through her mind, she was also gradually overcome by a wave of drowsiness.

From what she could recall, this was the happiest night of her life.