Ascension Of The Villain

Chapter 228: The Variables

"Clyde!" Althea called after him, catching up as he stopped halfway down the corridor. "What was that about? Why did you storm out like that?" she pressed,

He spluttered, at a total loss. "You—wait—that's cheating! You can't just say it when I am unconscious! That totally doesn't count!"

"Oh, fine." She leaned in, her voice dropping to a gentle whisper. "I love you."

Clyde's face went bright red, and he clutched his chest like he had just taken an arrow. "Oh, my Goddess. This is not fair at all. You can't just go throwing that around without warning."

She chuckled, pulling him in for a soft kiss. "Better now?"

"Better?" He was still catching his breath, wide-eyed. "If by better, you mean that I am about to pass out… then yeah, absolutely. You are going to be the end of me, you know that?"

Althea just laughed, giving him one last kiss before pulling back. "Well, you better not pass out, honey. Someone has got to stick around to be responsible, right?"

———

After Clyde had some time to absorb Althea's confession, they made their way back to Vyan's office where they found him busy with paperwork already.

"So?" Vyan asked expectantly, not looking up.

Clyde pumped his fist in the air and said, "I will make sure you get to babysit our kids!"

Vyan looked up, clearly bewildered. "Pardon?"

"What he means is, he wants to help make sure you live a very long life, Vyan, long enough to babysit our kids," Althea clarified.

"Oh… that's, um, good to know, I suppose?"

With a confident stride, Clyde took a seat across from Vyan, folding his hands in his lap like he was about to negotiate a treaty. "Alright, let's hear this master plan of yours."

Vyan gave a dry chuckle. "You two give me too much credit. I have got no grand plan."

Althea came to sit beside Clyde and urged, "Come on, you always think of something. You can figure this one out as well."

"Well, so far what I have realized, it's that we can't make any major changes to our current plans. All we can do is," he let out a small sigh, "keep an eye out for the variables."

"And what would be the variables?" Althea prompted.

Vyan shrugged and answered, "Who else? Easton and Sienna."