Novel's Extra: I Awakened The Strongest Physique From The Start - Chapter 69

Chapter 69: CHAPTER 68 – Struggle.
Alex had been trying to ignore the fact that Zahara’s love for him wasn’t just some illusion or infatuation—he knew that wasn’t the case anymore.

Sophie knew that as well.

But Alex still didn’t want to accept her. He wanted her to move away from him, and although he came up with things like her imminent death and her complicated circumstances, they weren’t the real reason for him trying to distance himself from her.

The real reason was that, unlike Lilia or Mira, Zahara loved Alex, and she was open about it. She never backed down from showing her love.

By being together with Zahara, he wouldn’t be able to tell his mind that ‘It’s fine; she just thinks of me as a friend’, or ‘She doesn’t even know what she’s feeling’. Being next to her and talking to her would mean that Alex wanted to accept her feelings.

But… he wasn’t sure about it. Even after being all proud about not caring about Sophie’s opinion if he found a good woman, Alex just couldn’t ignore her. Sophie was the only woman he loved like that after all.

Alex wanted to know her take on this. He wanted to know what Sophie thought about it. Did she really not have a problem with there being more women around him?

Sophie had answered that question multiple times already. And he knew that she wasn’t lying, but he still didn’t know…

That was until he heard Sophie’s words.

[Alex… that girl Zahara loves you. So… don’t kill him.]

The moment he heard those words was the moment Zahara’s face, ridden with tears, looking at him with a heartbroken expression, flashed before his eyes, and his body stopped moving for a moment.

‘I can’t…’

He finally accepted it. He accepted that he couldn’t just ignore Zahara. That girl, unlike others, who just looked at him with admiration, calling it love, saying that they could die for him but not willing to stand with him in his hard times, was a loyal and devoted girl.

Alex knew how to differentiate between good and bad after all.

‘Hah…’ He sighed inwardly; his eyes, which seemed to be flashing coldly a second ago, returned to normal, but he lowered his head, not wanting to show those emotions to Reganath, and spoke.

“If you continue… she will die.”

Those words, barely a whisper, were like claps of thunder to the ears of Reganath, who didn’t even need to ask whom Alex was talking about.

The first image that flashed before his eyes was Zahara’s. His poor girl, who was sleeping in her room, sobbing in her sleep, unaware of a shadow lurking in her room, ready to reap her life—that was what he saw, and his body trembled.

“You wouldn’t dare—” He growled, fury mixed with fear gleaming in his eyes, but his words were cut short by Alex.

“If you can do this much just because your daughter cried…” With his head rising to look up at Reganath with an almost dead expression, Alex added, “What do you think my mother would do once she knows about your doings?”

Step

Reganath, looking into those electric blue eyes, staring at him without any emotions, flashing with a strange purple light, instinctively stepped back.

‘M-My daughter will die..?’

He muttered inwardly, his body shivering violently, unable to come up with a way to deny it. From what he had heard, Vanessa was a crazy woman who could do anything at any moment—or so was what his father told him.

So, would she kill his daughter? Were Alex’s words about him crushing 1/5th of his kingdom a while ago not just a bluff?

As soon as his daughter—the one he was fighting for—was brought into the topic, his mind started to clear up a bit.

‘Will my family accept my actions?’

No, they won’t. Reganath knew that if he were to go back to his kingdom after harming the only son of the strongest human alive, then he wouldn’t be praised. He might be backstabbed, or maybe his father would just send both him and his daughter to Vanessa and beg for forgiveness.

Alex wasn’t just anyone after all. He was Alex Drakathor, the son of Vanessa Drakathor.

As the reality kicked in, Reganath’s mind reeled. He thought of several ways to avoid getting implicated by Vanessa, but he couldn’t think of anything. If Alex so much as mentioned anything about today’s events, then Vanessa would be knocking at their doors.

After all, she would believe her son’s words and his injuries would just serve as a catalyst for her anger.

It was then that a dangerous idea flashed through his head.

‘What if I just kill him and leave—’

He thought of just running away after killing Alex, leaving no traces behind. That seemed like the best course of action right now.

He had already killed the two teachers who came here, so there was no one alive who knew about his presence there.

“F-Father?”

But just then, cutting off his thoughts, a voice filled with uncertainty, doubt, fear, and familiarity reached his ears.

Reganath turned to look at the source of that voice, only to see his daughter, the one he was fighting for, looking at him with some fear in her eyes.

‘…Zahara..?’

His lips moved, but no words came out of them. He could see worry—intense worry—in her eyes. Unfortunately, they weren’t directed at him but at Alex.

‘W-Why?’ Again, Reganath’s lips moved, but no voice came out.

Why was his daughter looking at Alex like that? Didn’t he just make her suffer? Wasn’t he the villain in this situation?

‘T-Then why are you looking at me like that…?’

Zahara’s fearful eyes hurt him more than any wound had ever. Yes, there was still the same look of familiarity and recognition in her eyes, but fear was the only thing Reganath could see.

But then his eyes fell on the other girl next to Zahara.

‘A Bunari…’ His eyes sharpened, and a ferocious glint passed through them. ‘Another witness.’

Reganath didn’t know who she was or if she was someone with a huge image; he just knew that she was a bunari, she was weak, she didn’t have a strong force backing her up, and she was a witness.

He didn’t know that it was Fenna Hearthhop, the female body council head. But the other two knew that.

Shiver

‘W-What?’ Fenna, on the other hand, felt a chill run down her spine, and a feeling of dread clawed down at her heart.

Her body trembled as she tried to understand what exactly was happening. Her mind was a bit sludgy from the moment she saw Alex’s clothes stained with blood as he rested his back on the wall.

‘W-Why is Zahara’s father…’ Fenna had many questions in her mind, but she couldn’t voice them out Not with Reganath’s bloodthirsty eyes staring at her, making her feel suffocated.

Why was Reganath here? Why does it seem like he was attacking Alex? Was he the one who killed the teachers who were lying dead? Or was it all some misunderstanding?

There were many such questions in her head, but all of them felt unimportant when she saw Reganath’s claws extending, still dripping with red blood.

Her body shook violently, her long rabbit-like ears folding in fear. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. But one question still appeared in her mind…

‘Am I going to die..?’