Lord Griffin's Mighty Return

Chapter 4

The deafening roar of cheers filled his ears. He muttered the name: “Arthur…”

“Good, looks like you’ve got your name back,” Selune said, her voice calm but firm.

“Now you need to remember something else. I saved your life, and I’ll take you to a doctor to get checked out.”

“I don’t expect anything from you in return, but…”

Arthur looked at her, waiting for her to finish.

“You’re coming home with me. You’re going to explain the relationship between us. Clear everything up. Got it?”

The cold, no-nonsense command in her voice brooked no argument.

“Fine. And… thank you. I’ll never forget it.” Arthur nodded.

The conditions were reasonable, even beneficial to him. He had no reason to refuse.

Her expression softened for just a moment, satisfied with his answer. “Good. I’ll be at the door in ten minutes.”

As she walked out, Arthur stayed seated on the bed, the weight of the ring in his hand drawing his attention.

He turned it over and over, its cold surface a link to his forgotten past.

Suddenly, something happened.

 The griffin emblem on the ring glowed.

At first, Arthur thought it was just a trick of the light, but then the griffin began to shift.

A golden, glowing image the size of his palm seemed to form, flapping its wings playfully before launching straight at him!

Instinctively, Arthur raised his arm to block it, but it passed right through him—nothing physical.

Instead, a warm sensation spread through his body, easing his headache.

Then came the flood of memories.

The battlefield. Smoke that swallowed the horizon. The roar of fighter jets slicing through the sky. The desperate cries of soldiers fighting in the Abyss of the Dead.

Arthur’s mind raced through the images as they came crashing back, one after another.

He saw soldiers. A sea of them. Some with eyes full of worship, others with pure hope.

“General Griffin!”

Yes, he was Arthur Griffin, the invincible war god!

Before the age of thirty, he had been unmatched. The genius of the country.

His existence, however, was a severe threat to the ten neighboring kingdoms.

Arthur, one-man army, had held off thousands of soldiers for days!

But just before the final victory, Arthur was betrayed by a woman.

The woman he loved most—had poisoned him with the cruelest venom, Hydrolar venom.

Just as he stood ready to wipe out the final forces of the enemy. The poison had hit him just as he was about to win.

Pain. Darkness. Numbness.

His limbs had frozen. His vision had blurred.

The next thing he knew, he was sinking into the sea.

And that was the end of his legendary reign.

The betrayal. The poison. It all came rushing back.

“Phoebe…” The name escaped his lips in a whisper, filled with rage.

“Why? Why did you betray me?!”

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his chest—cold, biting.

The poison was returning to finish its work!

His face paled as it pressed in, trying to spread through his veins. If he had been a normal person, he’d have been dead already.

But Arthur wasn’t a normal man.

He focused, quickly gathered his energy. Warmth radiating from his core as he pushed the coldness back.

Gradually, color returned to his face.

The poison was insidious. Arthur could only allow him to suppress its spread for now.

He knew the poison couldn’t be fully eradicated for now.

His identity could not be exposed.

Phoebe Harrington’s family was one of the most powerful in the country, and if they learned he had survived, they would hunt him down.

Not to mention, if word got out that he was still alive, enemies from other nations would come after him.

“What’s that noise?” Selune, who had been packing, rushed into the room.

She heard something resembling an animal’s cry.

Arthur quickly hid the ring, a slight flashing across his face as something inside it nipped at his finger.

“It’s nothing. A bird, maybe,” he muttered.

Looking at Selune, the woman who had saved him, an idea began to form in his mind.

She thought he had lost his memory. Why not play along?

It would be a good cover.

Besides, Selune is a good person. She was misunderstood by her family because of him.

It was his responsibility to help her. 

He would stay, and pretend to be a man with no memory.