Act 18. Can I?

Furious, his disciple protested. "What do you think you're doing?"

Unconcerned, Regis gazed at Max as he recalled what Jubelian had said in the past. It was the answer to the question regarding her ideal type.

"I'm not sure. Maybe someone stronger than you, Father."

Regis sighed. 'He has a long way to go. Moreover…' Aside from his daughter's condition, his disciple needed to grow stronger if he wanted to dethrone the emperor in the future. Max had yet to make the leap to becoming a transcendent being.

'I can't leave him be.' With a patronizing smile, Regis provoked, "I can't leave a wild beast to hover around my daughter unsupervised."

'A wild beast?' His master's blatantly condescending attitude ignited Max's anger. 'All right. If he is that bent on dueling against me, then…' Max immediately moved his hand toward the hilt of his sword. However, he was reminded of what Jubelian had said before.

"I never wanted you to be exiled, nor did I ever want you to be rude to my father."

His murderous desires gradually faded.

'She will hate it if she knows what I'm doing.'

As Max lost the will to fight, his master jeered, "Are you too frightened?"

Furrowing his brow, Max responded, "You keep ridiculing me as if to pick a fight. Why is that?"

With an objective gaze, Regis studied his disciple. 'His patience has indeed improved.' He felt proud of his pupil for a moment. Nevertheless, it was merely a fleeting thought. He rebuked in a chilling voice, "You're sneaking in to visit my daughter at a late hour. No father would approve of a good-for-nothing like you." Regis was confident that Max would be enraged. Nonetheless, he chuckled.

"A good-for-nothing?! You're my father-in-law. Don't you think you're being too harsh?" Regis scowled in response to the uncomfortable address. It was only a subtle change, but Max, who had spent many years with his master, noticed it quickly.

'It seems he's irritated.'

As if to confirm his speculation, Regis threatened, "Did you think I would easily recognize you as my daughter's companion?"

Max had been frequently displeased by such words in the past. However, after realizing that Jubelian was fond of him, he was not bothered by it in the least. "Isn't it time to admit what's true? You will be my father-in-law, after all," Max goaded.

Regis' expression further stiffened. Sighing heavily, he broke off a branch from a tree beside him. Having sharpened the wood into a fragile weapon, he declared, "You're allowed to use your sword, but you must surpass this test if you want to see my daughter. I will let you pass if you manage to even touch the hem of my clothes."

Max wrinkled his forehead slightly at the undemanding challenge. 'He underestimates me.' He was also due to become a transcendent being soon; no matter how skilled his master was, Max was confident that he would be able to reach his master. After all, he was only wielding a wooden branch.

'If he wants to test me, so be it. I will take this opportunity to show his arrogant self how much I've grown.' Smirking, Max met his vexed master's eyes. "It's a deal."

* * *

I had been racking my brains for an adequate reason to begin a conversation with my father. My attempts were fruitless, however—no matter how much I thought about it, I simply didn't know what a normal relationship between a child and their parent or parents looked like. I grew up with a single mother in my previous life, and we did not have a particularly close relationship. Therefore, I wasn't familiar with these kinds of things. To make it worse, my current life was no different in terms of a parental-child relationship. It was no wonder I was struggling.