christian, being graceful enough to let someone like damian slate, a piece of trash, live these past few days, even after everything he had discovered about him, now felt it was time to make him bid farewell to his life.

    he also felt it was time to make a choice and finally move forward with his own life.

    ''choices, huh.''

    suddenly, christian felt like laughing at the irony of it all. first, it was eva. then, his sister. and now, his surroundings, his very circumstances, they were all forcing him to make fucking choices.

    but this time, it felt different. because making this choice couldn''t have made him feel any more satisfied.

    "what do you mean by what you said?"

    eva, who felt he was being strangely overly obsessed with that trash, couldn''t help but voice her doubts, conveniently pretending that her earlier outburst hadn''t happened.

    "it means that it''s not just because of the assassination attempts that i''m like this. things have been bad between us for a long time, even before now... even if it was one-sided. our grudge has long since fermented."

    "that trash is the one who killed my parents, after all!"

    seeing no reason to hide it or delay telling her any further, christian immediately replied.

    and eva felt herself freeze at what she heard.

    the first thought that came to her mind was, naturally.

    ''was he using me?''

    ''did he already know i''m related to him and got closer to me because of that?''

    to her, all of this still seemed too fast, after all, and while she couldn''t fully wrap her head around everything happening in the world, she knew there was no need to make running away harder for themselves.

    eva, on the other hand, couldn''t find much fault in christian''s logic. however, her thoughts lingered on what might happen after he really killed that trash. would such an action truly not implicate them?

    slightly doubtful, she asked, "are you confident?"

    "are you confident that after moving away, they would really be unable to find our whereabouts?"

    despite hearing about what christian had done and getting a vague idea of his abilities, especially with the ai and hacking, not to mention his rapid development, eva still couldn''t help but want to hear his undisguised, unfiltered opinion, not something based solely on logic.

    "of course, i''m confident... or not?"

    christian paused slightly after starting to speak, then couldn''t help but look intently at eva and ask.

    "you know? suddenly an idea occurred to me. if it''s just through normal means, i''m really confident that no one would find us. but what if it''s not normal? what if it''s something like a special ability or some essence technique? something like magic, i don''t know?"

    eva, who felt her heart nearly stop at his sudden hesitation, felt slightly irritated upon hearing his next question. she naturally acknowledged that his fears were logical, but coming from an ancient family deeply involved in the other side of the world, she had never heard of something like this, after all.

    "i''ve never heard of something like that... but i will ask sophia later if she knows anything."

    with the possibility of other means in his mind, christian, even after hearing eva wasn''t entirely convinced, began to feel that the situation could really be dire.

    "more than worrying about the ancient families, i''m actually worried that these people from the academy might interfere."

    while annabelle, at the side, began fidgeting with her hands in nervousness, as the thought of these supernatural things had never occurred to her before. she had been so focused on her preconceived thoughts that she had completely overlooked this possibility. now, she looked at eva with hopeful eyes, silently hoping that she might know something. find adventures on empire

    eva, now the center of attention in the room, took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly, as if organizing her thoughts. then, after a moment of careful consideration, she finally said.