Xane stared at the ridiculously bright blue suit in the maid's hands.
Zayn corrected him. [Dude, that's just the Zenaris family ceremonial suit.]
Xane froze. He looked at the suit again and asked,
Zayn said in frustration, [Come on, just put it on! How do you even have the energy to fuss over a suit when there are so many things going against us?]
Xane sighed. He was about to change when he remembered the letter inside his pocket. He glanced around and saw that the maids had returned to their work, once again ignoring him.
Casually, he took out the folded letter from his pocket and started unfolding it.
Zayn mentally screamed in panic. [What are you doing? There are others in the room!]
Xane said casually, [Why bother? It's just some random paper.]
Zayn froze for a moment, then glanced around. Sure, the maids had glanced at them, but with how casually Xane acted, they went back to their work. He sighed, realizing he was getting overly sensitive about everything.
This became evident when he compared himself to Xane. Unlike him, Xane looked calm and composed. He couldn't help but ask, [Hey, Xane, how come you're so calm knowing all this mess? You know, we could lose our lives if we're not careful.]
Xane raised an eyebrow at this question. He wasn't expecting it, but then he remembered that Zayn was just a college kid.
Now that he thought about it, Zayn's ability to navigate the situation and keep his cool under pressure was impressive.
Zayn reminded him of his past self. He couldn't help but smile.
[But... but there's danger at every moment. This family announcement thing, I don't know if we'll get surrounded by warriors again.]
At that, Zayn froze. The scene before his death played in his mind, this time much clearer. The crazed faces of his family.
The way his father squeezed his neck with red eyes, as if he had finally lost his mind.
The shout of his sister from behind before she hit him with that metal pipe.
The wailing of his mother when she pushed him. All these memories gave him more frustration.
Even though he had succeeded in placing the last nail in their coffin, what was the point of it all when he didn't even survive to witness the aftermath?
After the initial shock, he calmed down a bit. That was when it hit him—he felt no sadness or regret about his death. Even at the end, he was still obsessed with his family.
He sighed. 'After all, I guess I was broken.' He stopped thinking about his death and glanced around with newfound clarity. 'Do I want to live again just by thinking about others?'
It was still unclear if he was just some voice inside Xane's head or if there was more to it. Still, with what Xane had seen in his vision, there was a chance that there was more to him than just a mental voice.
He mentally nodded to Xane. [Yeah, you're right. No point in worrying that much, but I just don't want to waste this chance to live again.]
[Oh, that's a relief. With how calm you looked, I thought you'd given up on life.]
Xane grinned widely.
Even with his limited social understanding, Zayn sensed the confidence brimming from Xane's words. This was the first time he'd felt Xane getting this serious.
He might be wrong, but he felt there was more to that sentence. Now that there was no immediate threat, it hit him that he knew nothing about Xane. Not wasting any time, he asked, [Xane, who are you?]
Xane stopped and asked,
[Don't take it weirdly. I mean, we don't know how long we're stuck together. Don't you think it'd be better if we knew more about each other?]
Instead of answering, Xane asked again,
[Oh, don't be like that. You already know I used to be in college. I want to know who I'm stuck with.]
Xane thought for a moment about whether he should reveal it or not, but then he said,
Zayn asked in an uncertain tone. [Black Crown? As in the crime syndicate Black Crown?]
Silence.
Zayn was stunned, and the next second, he almost shouted, [What?! Don't tell me you're the Crucified King of Black Crown!]
[Shit, so all this time, I've been stuck with the biggest psychopath.]
Xane couldn't help but click his tongue.
But at that moment, Zayn asked, this time with part excitement, part confusion, [Wait… but you don't seem like a psychopath to me.]
Xane froze at Zyan's reaction. In past life, those who know about him show fear, disgust, anger, or even loathing. But this was completely different. Zayn looked more intrigued than anything. Interesting.
Xane said,
Zayn nodded, then suddenly realized something important. [Damn, you're just three years older than me. Shit, I thought you were some old guy who'd lived through his life!]
Xane couldn't help but burst into laughter. Even the surrounding maids started looking at him like he'd gone senile.
Not caring about them, he mentally asked Zayn,
Zayn said in frustration, [Dude, that's the main thing. Your position in your past life doesn't matter in this one.]
This reaction told Xane everything he needed to know about Zayn. As he'd suspected, this college kid was also an anomaly.
He shook his head and pointed to the open letter.
Zayn wanted to ask more about Black Crown, but he knew the letter was more important right now. He focused back on the only clue left behind by Viyron.