"Welcome back."
When Margaret and the others returned, Noah had already adjusted her mood. She sat in her wheelchair, quietly waiting for everyone to return safely. When she heard footsteps outside the door, she greeted them first.
"Noah… you, switched back?" Margaret, who walked into the room, was not accompanied by anyone else. She was there to see Noah alone. After Noah fainted, Maria immediately came online. After explaining her swap with Noah and the situation of the past few days, Margaret finally understood that the so-called [serious illness] was just a delaying tactic Noah used, and even if she hadn't been there, Noah should have had her own way to deal with the two knights, Decay and Withering.
It was just that Noah wasn't confident in achieving [not killing], and Margaret's arrival resolved that matter.
"As you can see," Noah said with a smile, "Is Maria doing well? I'm sorry I didn't protect her body properly."
"It's alright, Shining and the others have already helped with the treatment. I didn't come back alone, I brought companions I met outside. I'll introduce them to you in a bit." Margaret nodded and proactively went to Noah's side, pushing her wheelchair to a spot where the sun could reach. Feeling herself enter a warm area, Noah also understood Margaret's intention, so she spoke with a touch of helplessness.
"Sunbathing isn't a panacea… neither is drinking hot water," Noah complained helplessly, "Forget it, Margaret, you're just like that."
"But getting more sun is always good," Margaret shrugged, showing no reaction to Noah's complaint, as if she had long been accustomed to it. Although the two hadn't seen each other for several years, when they met, it was as if there was no barrier at all, and they chatted together very naturally. Time had not broken the tacit agreement between them; instead, it had become even richer, like rice wine buried for many years.
Noah sat in her wheelchair, but she was slightly turned towards Margaret. Through Maria's eyes, she saw Margaret's growth. She was much taller than before, already a head taller than herself, and looked heroic and spirited. At first glance, she even looked like a gender-neutral young man, especially with her golden hair, which, when it fluttered with her Stone source art, was truly like a real Pegasus descending.
When Margaret broke through the outer wall and arrived at the arena, everything instantly became meaningless—
Because Shining Knight had already arrived, Noah retracted her ultimate move that hadn't been fired yet, and Decay and Withering were too shocked to press their advantage.
After all, she was Shining Knight, Kazimierz's true top figure—
Although she was on her side, Noah always felt a sense of defeat when she saw her back. It was as if all her efforts and sacrifices were meaningless in front of her. She had originally thought that if she hadn't been Infected with Oripathy, she might have been able to compare to her, but after truly seeing her, she felt she had thought too much. In terms of belief and strength, she was far inferior to Margaret.
It was just that she was stronger than her when they were little, but now she still treated Margaret as an extension of her childhood—
Girls change a lot as they grow older…
While Noah was still sighing with emotion, Margaret's mood was even stranger.
She had originally thought their first meeting would be a warm hug, then Margaret would tell her about her adventures outside, and Noah would tell her what happened when she wasn't in Kazimierz, just like when they were children.
But it didn't happen—
Both were adults now, with the sense of distance and rationality that adults should have. Just a simple—welcome back—ended the emotional aspect.
Margaret felt a bit lost for some reason. This wasn't quite the reunion she had imagined—perhaps because their true reunion was during their time fighting side by side in the arena, which diluted the impact of this meeting.
However, what surprised Margaret even more was… Noah in her memory, though beautiful and a No.1 existence in her heart, when she saw the grown-up Noah, she fell into a state of confusion—Noah's appearance was too different from the past. Now, she looked sickly pale, perhaps due to long periods without sunlight, and then there was her very thin body, with skin so transparent that the bluish veins beneath were clearly visible.
Perhaps sick people are more sensitive to cold; there was a blanket on her wheelchair, and she was dressed warmly, showing almost no skin.
When she sat in her wheelchair, she looked just like a painting…
But there was indeed a big difference from the Noah Margaret remembered, who had led her to escape in that heavy rain.
"Margaret? Are you spacing out?" Just then, Noah's words finally woke Margaret, who was lost in past memories. "You didn't hear a single word I just said, did you?"
"...Ah, sorry, I zoned out." Margaret scratched her head. "Could you say it again? I'll listen carefully this time."
"...Honestly," Noah said with a hint of reproach, "Still as flighty as ever. Alright, I'll be clearer. Now that you're back, Maria doesn't really need to continue competing. Her dream is to be a Craftsman, so let her go back to being a Craftsman. You just take on the main knight position of the Nearl Family. I think she's pretty much reached her limit. After experiencing her physical condition, I realized she's actually accumulated a lot of injuries, which she can slowly recuperate from."
"Hmm, if she agrees, I have no objections." Margaret nodded. "I came back intending for Maria to get some good rest."
"I understand what you mean, but more importantly…" Noah was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Also, you'll need to sign some documents later. Revitalizing the Lingguang Family isn't that easy. Not only do you need a main knight, do you remember that your copyright was sold to the Knight Association as the price for preserving your honor? Do you know how popular your various merchandise is? You don't get a single penny. What you need now is—capital, a lot of capital."
"...Hmm?" Margaret scratched her head in confusion. "Isn't it enough to have enough money to spend? I don't have a habit of buying many things."
"You're going to revitalize the Lingguang Family, aren't you? That's absolutely impossible without money," Noah shook her head. "So, I prepared all of this a long time ago. You just need to sign."
Noah took out two contracts from her embrace, still warm from her body. Margaret took them and examined them carefully, only to find that they were property transfer agreements. Everything was already written; she just needed to sign her name.
"I intend to transfer all my real estate, financial reserves, and company shares to you," Noah said. "With this capital, you can completely establish your own Knight Order. Whatever you plan to do, having an absolutely loyal investor is definitely a good thing. Secondly, I've also arranged for my companies to have successors trained. You just need to simply collect dividends; there's no need to worry about business matters. They are all very capable."
"...Noah, what is this?"
"Don't rush, there's another one. Finish reading it first," Noah interrupted Margaret's inquiry and continued, "It's more efficient to ask all your questions at once, isn't it?"
"...Alright." Margaret took out the second contract, but its contents made her even more confused, because it was a personal safety insurance policy… The activation conditions were if Noah experienced a personal safety incident, such as force majeure, death due to Oripathy, or assassination, there would be a large payout, and the beneficiary's signature had not yet been signed. Now this contract was in Margaret's hand.
This contract even included the first heir in her will—
One must know that Noah was still the head of the Kielanlet, so her inheritance rights should theoretically be left to her next generation—but Noah didn't have a true next generation, so she handed this inheritance right to… Margaret.
If Margaret signed her name, she could now fully inherit everything of the Kielanlet.
Everything Noah had worked for after their separation would become Margaret's.
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