THE VENGEANCE OF THE WAR GOD

Chapter 3

Dustin stared at the phone for a second, then laughed softly.

“Wow,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “That’s me.”

Serena’s eyes burned. Her hands shook as she lowered the phone. “You are proud uhn? You think this is funny?”

“You asked if it was me,” Dustin shrugged. “It is.”

She snapped. “This is Unbelievable.” She dropped onto the edge of the bed and pressed her palms to her temples. “So you’re the fiancé my father is trying to set me up with.”

Dustin let out a low scoff. “Wow, look at fate doing her thing. .”

She looked up sharply. “Shut up!”

“The woman I’m supposed to marry,” he continued calmly, “is the same woman I met by accident and slept with. That’s crazy, right?” He tilted his head. “Does that mean we are fated for each other?”

“Shut the fuck up.” She looked him up and down with open disgust. “Look at you. And you think I’m really going to accept this engagement?” She laughed bitterly. “They didn’t even inform me. They just decided it. Who does that at this age?”

Dustin smiled faintly. “To think I was on my way to meet you for the first time and we already… you know, fuck” intensionally stepping on her nerves.

“Ah! Are you insane?” she yelled. “Stop using that word.”

“What word?”

“That word!” She pointed at him. “This is a setup. You knew who I was. That’s why you slept with me.”

“No,” Dustin said flatly. “I didn’t have the slightest idea.”

She narrowed her eyes. She already fucked with her suppsoed fiancee. Maybe she should go after it, but with her ego, pride and beauty, she can never be with a poor man.

“Then answer me this. How much money do you have in your account?”

Dustin paused. For a split second, he wanted to tell her the truth, that he is the wealthiest man in the nation. But it didn’t matter. He wasn’t planning to go through with the marriage anyway.

“I have nothing,” he said. “I’m a struggling village boy.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” She dragged her hands through her hair.

She pointed at him. “Listen carefully, village boy. This marriage is not happening. I will not accept it, don't get your hopes high.”

Dustin sighed, amused more than offended. “Good.”

She blinked. “Good?”

“I was on my way to you to cancel the engagement too,” he said simply.

Serena snapped her head up. “What? Are you joking with me right now?”

Dustin shook his head. “Didn’t you just say who in their right mind would engage people against their will in this century?” He looked at her plainly.

“And you’re arrogant. You look down on me. I wouldn’t want you as a wife either. You can’t even make one.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?”

He added, almost lazily, “You’re not even cute.”

That one hit.

Serena stared at him like he had slapped her. Her anger twisted into disbelief. “I’m not cute?” She laughed sharply. “I’m the most beautiful woman in this city.”

Dustin shrugged. “A one-eyed man is king among the blind.”

“Ugh! What the fuck” She stamped her foot. “You are not even handsome either, and as poor as a church rat. The best thing that happened in your life is you taking advantage of me”

“Look,” Dustin said, his tone flattening. “I’m sorry about the sex. But I’m not going through with the marriage. Are we on the same page?”

Her anger faded fast. Relief crept in. She nodded too quickly. “Yes. Yes, good.” Then she paused and added, “I will even give you ten million dollars if you cancel it.”

Dustin straightened. “Who said I want your money? So arrogant”

She blinked. “What?”

“I don’t need it.”

She scoffed. “Look at you. A poor village boy trying to act like a man, rejecting 10 million?. You literally said you have 0 in your account ”

“I don't want your money”

She crossed her arms. “Fine. Then we will say the sex settled things. We won’t get engaged. You took advantage of me. Take it as your reward.”

Dustin didn’t bother arguing. “Okay.”

She dressed up, grabbed her phone and walked toward the door, then stopped. “You will come to our house. The engagement is already written. Only if we both agree to cancel will they shred the document. So don’t get funny ideas.”

“I heard you.”

She turned back, eyes sharp. “Say a word about this to anyone and I will kill you.”

Dustin scoffed and muttered as she passed him, “You will never find a husband with that attitude.”

She raised her middle finger without turning around and slammed the door behind her.

After she left, Dustin scoffed and leaned back against the wall.

“What a woman,” he muttered.

He still couldn’t quite believe the encounter. Annoying. Arrogant. Loud. Yet… she was pretty. Very pretty.

If things were normal, if he wasn’t dying, he would have married her without much thought.

He exhaled and walked into the bathroom to freshen up.

The mirror caught him mid-step. Dustin froze.

He lifted his shirt slowly and stared at his chest. The dark vein that is crawling to his heart. Yesterday, it had crept close to his heart, just an inch away. He remembered that clearly. That was why he had accepted death.

But now…

“It’s… lower?”

His fingers traced the line. The darkness had shifted. It was no longer crawling toward his heart. It had moved down to his abdomen like something had pushed it back.

“What the hell?” he whispered.

He checked again, turning sideways, pressing his skin, searching his body. His breath quickened.

Then his memory jolted. Last night.

The moment he was about to cum. The strange aurora from Sarena’s pendant glowing faintly. The sharp sensation as the aurora pierced into him, then disappeared like it had melted into his body.

His eyes widened.

“That thing…” He swallowed. “What did it do to me?”

He stared at his reflection, heart pounding. The dark vein had retreated. Not cured. But with this, he could live for another 2 months which he does not know yet.

A shaky laugh escaped him. “Don’t tell me…”

He looked down at his chest again. “Was it really that pendant?”