All Chapters of Auden’s Blessing: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Half drunk and half conscious, I became vaguely aware of someone supporting me as I was led away. I mumbled a few words, though I couldn’t remember what I had said. After that, everything faded into complete darkness.Then, I had a dream.In the dream, a black-haired man sat with his back to me, his upper body bare as he wrapped bandages around a wound. I didn’t know where we were, but I knew I was sitting on a bed while he sat at its edge. From behind him, I kept insisting that I could help, yet he ignored me completely. I threw myself forward and hugged him from behind, rubbing gently against his broad back.He only said coldly, “Don’t move. If it starts bleeding again, you’ll be responsible.”Strangely, I didn’t feel afraid at all. Instead, I smiled happily and replied, “Alright. I’ll take responsibility. I’m willing to take responsibility for anything about you.”He still didn’t respond, continuing to bandage himself, though his movements noticeably quickened.After finishing, he

After that, I wanted to find Loki and get to the bottom of things, but I couldn’t find him for several days. And Xiya was unbelievably irritating. I went back and told her that I had no intention of getting engaged, and she actually became angry. She said Loki was wonderful and demanded to know why I refused. I told her we didn’t know each other well enough. She rolled her eyes and said that everything that was supposed to happen had already happened—how could I say we didn’t know each other well enough? At that point, I was speechless. She said I had never truly opened my heart to him, and of course I didn’t understand him well enough.Xiya seemed to be deliberately provoking me. Every day she brought Tis to the house, kissing and hugging him right in front of me. Even when she was working on the assignments given from above, she never forgot to reward Tis with a kiss after successfully mixing a bottle of solution.Tis, of course, was flattered beyond measure. He had probably never b

I paused for a moment, then walked in. It felt as if something were lodged in my throat, and when I spoke my voice sounded slightly hoarse.“Lord of Fire is a typical man. I realized that long ago, but today I understand it much more clearly.”“What do you mean by a typical man?”“Once he possesses someone, the moment she starts to care about him sincerely, he breaks up with her.”“Gullveig and I are not a couple. The concept of ‘breaking up’ doesn’t apply.”“A relationship like the one you have with her is exactly what people call a couple.”“Sleeping together makes people a couple? Then are we a couple?”“Of course not.”At that moment, I was terribly afraid he might do something again that I could not accept. It felt as though if I revealed even a little more of my true feelings, I would end up completely hurt. I quietly clenched my hands, gathered my courage, and finally said,“That time was just an accident. We don’t like each other. You and I both know that.”Loki held his glass

The process of the second round was for the goddesses to choose their warriors. The warriors first had to compete with the guardians of the World Tree. The guardians would then allow twice the number of warriors to climb up the tree, giving the goddesses a chance to select suitable partners. Each warrior had only two chances to make a choice—if he was rejected by a goddess the second time, he would be eliminated. Likewise, if a goddess received no suitors or firmly rejected all of them, she would also be eliminated.The branches of the World Tree were so thick that the largest ones could easily match the width of three of my waists. Sitting on one of them gave me a strong sense of security. But before long, I found myself exchanging hostile glances with the blonde beauty across from me. Not long after, a young giant knelt down on one knee in front of her, gazing at her with sincere eyes.“I don’t speak Giant,” Shia said, waving her hand.The giant refused to give up and said a few mor

Of course nothing happened that night. Perhaps afraid that I might overthink it, Loki even suggested going back home to sleep. I kept telling him it was fine and asked him to stay and sleep with me. When we went to bed, I wore a lot of clothes and didn’t dare get too close to him. I barely slept the whole night.The next day I went to the workshop as usual. To my surprise, Fili actually had Lolo breathe fire to weld weapons. I was thrilled when I saw it and quickly told the giants to stop the furnace, saying that from now on we had a natural furnace. Lolo cooed a few times, while Fili turned pale and said, “Boss, please spare it… it’s still young…”Then, for the rest of the day, I kept thinking about Loki. Poor Lolo was almost tormented to death by me. After work in the afternoon, Xia had to continue her lessons and stayed late, so she came back later than usual. When I got home, Loki and Xia’s friend were standing at the door chatting.“What? Nothing happened? Why?” Xia’s friend look