The Discarded Husband: Lucian Vale - The sovereign Collector

Thick blood dripped slowly from the edge of Lucian Ravencroft’s worn robe.

The dark, viscous liquid stained the luxury of the red velvet carpet in his wife’s residence.

A severe, brutal tear split open his left shoulder without mercy.

His flesh was exposed, revealing flashes of white bone from the deadly battle in the Eternal Ruins.

Tonight’s fight was the absolute price for his dwindling abilities.

Yet, Lucian’s eyes shone with overwhelming relief.

In his trembling, numb hand, he tightly clutched a wooden box.

The Fire Lotus Core artifact pulsed, radiating warmth inside the filthy box.

"This will definitely break her cultivation bottleneck," Lucian murmured with hope.

He pushed the carved oak door open with the last of his strength.

Instead of a warm welcome, a scroll of parchment flew and struck his face harshly.

The white paper landed on the floor, absorbing the drops of blood from his chin.

"Sign it." Seraphina Dawncrest broke the silence of the room with a flat voice.

The woman stood at the end of the hall, wrapped in a flawless silver silk gown.

"What paper is this, Seraphina?" Lucian held his breath as he tightened his grip on the box.

"A divorce letter," Seraphina replied calmly while folding her arms across her chest.

"Divorce? Don’t joke, this is our wedding anniversary!"

"I almost died fighting monsters for this Fire Lotus Core for you!"

"Save your nonsense about sacrifice, Lucian." Seraphina descended the marble stairs with steady steps.

"I prepared and signed that paper since the instructions said you truly wouldn’t be able to cultivate a year ago."

Lucian’s steps halted, his entire body frozen cruelly upon hearing that confession.

"A year ago? So all this time, you were just using me?"

"You are an investment that has proven to be a total failure, it is highly illogical to maintain you." Seraphina adjusted the folds of her dress flawlessly.

"I was only waiting for the right faction transition moment so my public reputation wouldn’t be tainted by the behavior of a crippled man."

"On the high faction chessboard, you have completely lost your value."

"Your existence, statistically, will only continue to lower my worth in the eyes of the council elders."

"I will formalize my marriage with Aldric Stormbane once you leave quietly."

Seraphina pointed at the scroll on the floor with a slight movement of her chin.

"Aldric has direct political access to the academy council that I desperately need to ascend the throne."

"Aldric? That cunning man only wants to exploit the influence of your power for his faction!" Lucian shouted loudly.

He picked up the divorce letter with a rough motion from the marble floor.

With a swift movement, he tore the thick parchment into pieces in his hand.

"I will never sign this rotten contract you secretly planned!"

"It is unfortunate that you ruin this peaceful separation with emotional behavior."

The sound of armored boots cut through the one-sided argument from the doorway.

Aldric Stormbane stepped into the living room with absolute calm.

Four giant-bodied guards followed behind him without making a sound.

"We have kindly prepared appropriate compensation for your retirement, Lucian." Aldric smiled politely as he positioned himself beside the woman.

"Why are you instead shouting slander and acting as if Seraphina is the villain here?"

"Compensation? She threw me away like trash after all the sacrifices I made for her!" Lucian shouted in fury.

"You two deliberately planned all of this so your image would remain pure in the public eye!"

Aldric glanced at Seraphina while letting out a long sigh full of fake sympathy.

"Look, Lady Dawncrest, this man has truly lost his sanity because he cannot accept reality."

Aldric replied in a professional tone.

"As a good future husband, my duty is to clean my future wife’s property and protect her reputation from the ramblings of a madman like you."

The faction heir gave a small, almost invisible signal with his index finger.

Two elite guards instantly dashed forward, splitting through the living room like shadows.

Bang!

One of them swung his leg, striking Lucian’s knee without hesitation.

The marble floor cracked under the impact of Lucian’s shin bone.

"Ugh!" The man fell to his knees, screaming as pain burned through his nerves.

The second guard pressed down on the back of Lucian’s neck, forcing him to bow and kiss the floor.

The wound on his shoulder was pulled open, spilling fresh blood.

"Let me go, you pack of boot-licking dogs!" Lucian struggled with all his strength under the crushing force of gravity magic.

Aldric crouched right in front of Lucian’s face without losing his polite smile.

The golden-haired man pulled out a phoenix feather pen from his chest pocket.

"Please sign this copy of the divorce paper so we won’t have to damage the academy’s good image."

The pen was forcibly shoved into Lucian’s palm.

"My guards are instructed to break every one of your fingers if you insist on spreading slander out there."

"Seraphina, will you just stay silent and let them do this in your house?!" Lucian looked at his wife in desperation.

The pale-skinned woman continued staring at the fire in the fireplace without interest.

"I do not know the madman causing trouble in my living room."

Seraphina’s cold denial pierced deeper than any monster slash Lucian had ever faced.

"You two are truly monsters obsessed with appearances!"

Lucian slapped the golden pen away with all his strength and spat directly onto Aldric’s shoe.

With the last of his strength, he broke free from the restraints.

His bloodied fist swung wildly, nearly hitting Aldric before striking one of the guards in the chest.

Aldric looked at the spit stain on his expensive boots with a soft sigh.

"Such anarchic behavior only proves that Lady Dawncrest’s decision to divorce you is the most logical step."

The guard who was hit immediately delivered a powerful kick to Lucian’s chest.

Thud!

The man was thrown backward, his back slamming hard against the marble floor.

Another guard’s massive steel boot stomped down mercilessly on Lucian’s wrist.

Crack!

The sound of bone breaking rang sharply through the silent room, followed by a suppressed scream from Lucian’s throat.

"Use your remaining fingers to write now, or I will sever this arm from your shoulder."

With his remaining hand trembling violently, he was forced to scratch his name onto the paper.

His signature came out crooked and filthy, mixed with thick drops of blood from his temple.

"A very peaceful proof of separation, this will be perfect to announce at our faction’s press conference tomorrow."

Aldric snatched the paper and examined it with great satisfaction.

"Please remove this poor slander-spreading man from my future wife’s property immediately."

The two guards instantly grabbed Lucian’s limp shoulders and waist roughly.

They dragged his struggling body across the marble floor.

"The world will know your filth! I will make sure your perfect masks shatter!" Lucian shouted with a broken voice.

Aldric’s steps suddenly stopped at the doorway upon hearing the shout.

"Silence that liar so no neighbors are disturbed by his yelling."

The guards released Lucian’s body simultaneously at the terrace.

A steel boot swung casually yet with tremendous force into his ribs.

Blood sprayed freely from between Lucian’s teeth from the brutal blow.

BAM!

The next iron fist struck his jawbone, making his vision spin.

"A suitable habitat for liars like you is the muddy streets." Aldric looked down at him from the marble stairs.

The guards swung Lucian’s limp body together into the air.

They threw him past the gate, sending his body crashing hard onto the asphalt road in the cold night.

"My artifact... where is the gift..." Lucian crawled slowly, trembling, groping blindly around him.

Eventually, he found the dirty wooden box shifted near a puddle.

He immediately hugged it to his chest as if it were his life.

Lucian forced himself to crawl unsteadily through the darkness of the night.

His vision blurred, covered by blood continuously dripping into his eyes.

From the thick darkness, a group of thugs stepped forward, blocking the alley.

"The master has classified your slander as a potential anomaly that must be cleanly erased."

The leader spoke hoarsely while pulling a thick steel rod from behind his back.

Red destructive magic runes hissed violently along the rod.

Without any warning, the rod struck Lucian’s abdomen directly.

Crack!

The sound of ribs shattering echoed loudly against the alley walls.

Lucian was thrown backward, crashing into a pile of garbage that collapsed over him.

Without wasting a second, the storm of attacks from the thugs continued.

Blunt rods and magic-infused kicks destroyed his muscle tissue mercilessly.

They broke every joint as if carrying out a neatly structured cleansing operation.

The leader walked calmly toward the nearly dead, ruined body.

He stepped on Lucian’s chest simply to keep the target from moving.

His sharp eyes caught the worn wooden box still clutched by Lucian with his remaining strength.

"Please... don’t destroy that artifact..." Lucian’s voice came out only as a gurgle of blood in his throat.

But that desperation meant nothing to the hired thugs.

CRACK!

The Fire Lotus Core shattered under the steel rod, exploding into thousands of glass-like fragments.

Its warm magical light instantly died in the filthy gutter water.

Lucian’s golden eyes widened as he witnessed the end of all his unappreciated sacrifices.