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The fallen girl laid on the floor awaiting her fate. The victorious Wood Elf coldly stood above her, looking down upon her silently; what was to follow could already be predicted by her.

It was her who changed his destiny. He had every reason to exact revenge on her. Even if he had let every Dark Elf before her go, he had a reason for doing so. But when it came to Paliseth, would Solar forgive her so easily?

Unlikely… now that matters had reached this point, whether it was being killed or being @#$#@, she had made her peace.

Then… Solar just left. Without even a single word, he left.

Did he not recognise me? That was the first thought that sprung to mind for the Matriarch-candidate Paliseth. But his eyes clearly showed that he knew who I was… so why? Why won’t he exact his revenge? Why would he let me go?!

No one knew why Solar would refuse to kill her then. Perhaps not even Solar himself knew the answer to that.

What do you mean why? It’s because of love! Pure, unadulterated love!

Having heard the story up to this point, I was practically one of the audience members in that colosseum. The gossip connoisseur in me was on maximum overdrive right now. My heart truly raced with anxiety at what was to come next. Man, this is like watching the eight o’clock soap opera all over again!

The Dark Elven Warrior most likely heard my internal screaming as well as she threw me a scornful look at that point. Then, under the eyes of an overly-eager Jezsere once more, she continued…

Having been defeated, the Matriarch-candidate Paliseth neither received any abuse, nor did she get killed. All because he turned his back on her, without any hesitation whatsoever.

Has he forgiven me? Was her next thought, however that was quickly snuffed out by her own hands. In the face of hatred, everyone was equal. Whether it was the Dark Elves or the Wood Elves, none were spared.

This was the fifth year Solar had spent as slave gladiator, and was also the first time in five years that he had encountered Paliseth after becoming a slave.

The colosseum of the Dark Elves was governed by multiple rules. For example, a slave gladiator only had to fight one match a day unless he requested for another. If the loser of the match didn’t get killed by the slave gladiator, they had to wait at least one year before being eligible to challenge him again. In other words, Paliseth couldn’t challenge him again for one year.

Unable to understand why Solar would let her go like that, she felt immensely humiliated and began training herself furiously for the match a year later.

Yet a year later, she lost once more, by that same hair’s breadth.

Faced with that familiar yet foreign defeated adversary, he made the same decision as he did last year. He turned around and left without any hesitation, leaving behind a confused Paliseth once more. She had honestly thought that he would make a choice this time but… who does this Wood Elf think I am? He doesn’t kill me, nor does he desire me. Does he think I am air?!

From that year onwards, she would constantly challenge him whenever she could. Yet each time she would always fail by that same hair’s breadth, as if that tiny difference was an uncrossable gully separating the two of them.

Slowly, her days became consumed by the desire to become stronger. She wasn’t at all concerned that Solar would die in the colosseum; because there was a rule that prevented warriors of a higher Star Level from challenging those below them.

Simply put, a Five-star couldn’t challenge a Three-star, but that Three-star could challenge a Five-star.

It could be said that this special protection was enacted because the colosseums were not just a place of entertainment, but also an important source of breeding stock. One could just see how much value the Dark Elves placed on a strong male of a different race -they were practically a strategic resource.

Back in those days, there was almost no female who didn’t wish to lay with Solar, but none succeeded. There was no female Dark Elf who could triumph over him because he was practically invincible in his own Star Level. That was also why Paliseth wasn’t worried about Solar dying.

Just like that, Paliseth would challenge him every year and fail. This stalemate continued for a full fifty years… that’s right, fifty years…

The moment I heard that number, my very core shook. Sir Solar is truly undefeatable, a grand sage in the making!

But based on the mood of this story, how the heck did the two of them ever end up together?

It turned out that on their fiftieth year, Paliseth finally ran out of patience and made the wisest decision of her life -at least it was so to her. If one was going to embark on an endeavour, then they should go the whole mile! With that in mind, she poisoned his food… then that was that…

For a not at all short period of time, Paliseth would play with him daily using every position she could feasibly think of -it wasn’t like he could object seeing as he was drugged. It was only until she bore his first child that their unnatural relationship finally came to a close.

Hold on… so this story has nothing to do with love?! At least not the love I had in mind… Actually, it clearly has nothing to do with love at all, no matter what definition you had of it!!! Curses, give me back my innocence. What happened to the story of pure love I was promised? How did this turn into a lousy R-rated fanfic?

“Master?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Honestly, I wasn’t fine at all. However, I did not want Jezsere to become worried so I forced a smile for her.

I only had this to say: the city’s a scary place, I want to go home!!

The story continued soon after. Their first child turned out to be a male who later came to be known as Reyage, Jezsere’s older brother. Because of the Dark Elves’ secret art, this child was a pure-blooded Dark Elf. In terms of appearance, Reyage had none of the defining features of a Wood Elf, but he did resemble Solar.

Only to be expected… seeing as they are parent and child.

Wood Elves were fiercely loyal towards their partners. Even though Paliseth had already given birth to five children, it didn’t change the fact that she was his first woman. Because of that, he could never bear to be fierce with her.

Now that they had a child together, Solar could be considered an extended family of the Dark Elves. Even though the both of them had never held a wedding ceremony, Paliseth still brought Solar out of the colosseum, on account of their shared child. That was the start of their normal life together.

So she does have feelings for him then. Honestly, I can’t claim to know how deep those feelings run, neither can I claim to know how Solar felt… but I guess this story can technically still be considered a love story.

Jezsere, on the other hand, was more than happy to continue listening, love story or not. After all, this all happened before she was born.

“I have a question. Since Solar was so strong, how did he get caught in the first place?”

That’s right. If your Sir Solar was invincible in his own Star Level and even defeated Paliseth fifty times in the colosseum, how did he get captured by her in the first place?

Teacher, I would like to report a mistake.

Faced with my plothole destroyer of a question, the Dark Elven Warrior used the look one would only reserve for an idiot to glare at me. “When Solar was captured, he was only an unassuming Three-star guard.”

“So the OP monster Solar only came about because of your clan’s colosseum?”

“OP monster?” The Dark Elven Warrior was stunned for a second -most likely because she had no idea what that term even meant- before using a gentle gaze to address Jezsere. “Sir Solar is a genius, a true genius!”

From her eyes alone, I saw a variety of emotions from respect and reverence to deference. Realising that something was up here, I knowingly asked, “You have challenged him before?”

“…” The Dark Elven Warrior didn’t immediately respond to my question. Instead, she slowly shook her ponytailed head and said, “If you ever get the chance in the future, you can ask those who qualified those years ago… how many of us Shadowhunter clanswomen never thought about challenging Sir Solar…”

That settles it then: she’s a fan of Solar… Now that’s a winner in life. I bet if he really wanted to, he could set up a harem with just a snap of his fingers…my idol… I don’t know why but I just feel so emotional right now. I just knew setting up a harem was the very definition of romance for a man! Ah… so emotional right now…

Naturally, one couldn’t be touched forever. I quickly recovered from my intoxicated state to push the Dark Elven Warrior for more juicy gossip.

Four years after having Reyage, Solar and Paliseth had their second child, Jezsere. Skip forward ten years and Solar was somehow leading an escape with his two children to the home of the Wood Elves.

The Dark Elven Warrior did not specify the reason for this departure but it was worth noting that the then Matriarch of the Shadowhunter Clan, Paliseth, did not dispatch anyone to track them down. After staying at the home of the Wood Elves for five years, they were sent back by Solar…

Hold on… something’s wrong here…

With that in mind, I quietly sneaked a look at Jezsere and found that she was upset -probably because she was reminiscing about the events of those five years.

“Jez, do you still remember why your father would take you two away from the clan?”

In my view, even if they hadn’t been properly married, their relationship was basically a marriage in all but name. In other words, he shouldn’t be against her any longer, else why would he have a second child with her after Reyage.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.