Chapter 69: You’re Not Alone In There, Are You?

Aden silently stood up, his eyes never leaving Lorelei’s struggling form. With a coldness that didn’t come from him, he asked:

“Lorelei. How are you feeling?”

Lorelei blinked twice, her chest rose and fell rhythmically as she jumped to her feet in an offensive position.

A kunai materialized between her fingers as she expertly placed them before her face, her legs crouched to charge at the slightest provocation.

Her voice reverted to its cold, calculative edge, uncharacteristic of someone who had just regained consciousness.

“Where is Lord Aden? I might have failed once, but I won’t fail again,” she proclaimed with narrowed eyes.

A low hum of surprise left Aden’s mouth as he studied her form. ’You were right. She’s incredibly durable,’ he appraised with quiet amusement.

The Entity didn’t respond. He had already gone back into the depths of Aden’s soul, unwilling to watch a manifestation of his failure launch another feeble attack at him.

Aden didn’t take the lack of response to heart. After all, he knew just how prideful he could be, and Lorelei who was currently running towards him with her Kunai outstretched didn’t exactly give him much of a breathing space.

“What happened to my Master!” She screamed as she swung her Kunai with surgical precision and uncanny speed.

Aden’s face turned calm as he dodged the predictable attacks. A small smile tugged at his lips as he felt the endless hatred and ferocity aimed in his direction.

He knew those intense emotions were aimed at the Entity. Yet, he believed he hadn’t done anything to be worthy of her affection or devotion.

’She would’ve been better off without me,’ he thought deprecatingly as he leaned backwards to dodge the Kunai close to grazing his throat.

With a light chuckle, he twisted and did a backflip to avoid the low sweep Lorelei performed.

“You’ve absorbed him, haven’t you?!” Lorelei screamed, her previously Violet eyes faded had returned to its Amber shade, showing just how little power she had left.

Her eyes glistened as she swung the blade. The previously surgical attacks grew sloppy, each strike less effective than the last. Aden could see it. The slight quivering of her lips as she charged forward, the constant blinking of her eyes to clear the tears that were forming and the way her hands trembled with every swipe.

His heart beat a little faster, an unknown emotion passing through every fiber of his being.

He cleared his head promptly and refocused his attention away from the unidentifiable emotion that welled within him.

’That’s… an incredibly sloppy form,’ he noted.

His hands reached out and snatched her arm mid-swipe. The force was strong enough to halt her feeble attacks, but expertly controlled as to not cause her true harm.

Lorelei let out a low, feral hiss, her body recoiling instinctively. She struggled to wrench her limb back, but the grip was impossibly firm. There was no warmth within that grip, only an uncomfortable, metallic coldness remained.

Her lips curved in a defiant snarl as she struggled futiley. “You’re incredibly ugly, you beast.”

Aden’s previously expressionless face changed. He blinked twice, his face showing a genuine sadness from her words.

’But… my face was the only place unaffected by the whole transformation.’

As Lorelei stared at Aden’s bewildered face in defiance, a thought struck her so hard it made her eyes widen.

’Wasn’t the Entity’s eyes silver? Or was it black? Only Aden has blue eyes,’ Lorelei’s eyes softened slightly.

Her hands no longer writhed as savagely as before, but it didn’t halt completely. After all, the Entity could have easily changed his eye colour to fool her.

’But why would he go to such lengths? This bastard is too prideful for that. And that expression…’

Her eyes refocused on Aden’s face, which had somehow become more pleasing to the eyes. That look of confusion was too natural compared to the Entity’s poor imitation.

She had stopped struggling as she fell into thought. More reasons surfaced in her mind, each one clearing the fog of misconception in her mind harder than the last.

Slowly, her mask of anger faded to reveal a blank, unfocused expression.

The blankness on Lorelei’s face lasted only a heartbeat before it cracked, revealing a raw, trembling vulnerability.

Her fingers, which had been white-knuckled around the kunai, suddenly lost their strength. The weapon clattered onto the stone floor, the sound echoing like a final gavel strike in the silence of the cave.

“Lord… Aden?” she whispered. This time, the grinding metal was gone, replaced by a fragile, airy rasp.

Aden smiled wryly, his blue eyes reflecting Lorelei’s teary image. “That’s me.”

Lorelei’s knees finally gave out. She didn’t fall to the ground, she fell into him, her forehead thumping against his chest. She began to shake with the violent, sobbing release of someone who had just walked through hell and found home on the other side.

“You’re an idiot,” she choked out against his blood-drenched body. “You almost… you almost killed us all.

Aden looked over her head toward the back of the cave. Zero was watching them, his face a mask of exhausted relief and quiet pride, while the other Vassals remained huddled, their turbulent energies slowly receding as they watched the scene.

Aden’s hand, still marble-white and claw-tipped, hesitated for a moment before resting heavily on Lorelei’s hair.

’She called you an idiot, host,’ the Entity’s voice drifted up from the his soul, faint and bitter. ’Are we going to allow such insubordination?’

’Shut up,’ Aden thought back with a cold finality. ’You’re lucky I’m letting you stay in the basement. Don’t push it.’

A soft click of the tongue could be heard as the Entity returned back to his abode without another word.

Lorelei lifted her head slowly, borderline reluctantly against Aden’s chest. Tears still clung to the corner of her eyes and its pathways down her cheek were highlighted by the dried blood on her face.

Her lips parted hesitantly, a flicker of uncertainty within her amber eyes as she asked, “You’re not alone in there, are you?”

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