Night fell.
Inside the small house, Lathel and Viviane sat side by side before the fireplace, wrapped together in a thick, worn blanket.
Viviane, like a lazy cat, clung to his arm and leaned against him, her eyes half-closed.
"Lathel," she whispered softly, "if you were still on Earth right now… what would you be doing?"
Hearing that, Lathel tossed another log into the fire. The flames dimmed briefly, then flared brighter, dancing across their faces.
He thought for a moment, then said, "Working from eight in the morning until six in the evening. Then I'd eat, shower, maybe play games or scroll through my phone until ten. If I couldn't sleep, I'd take a walk… and if I got tired, I'd go to bed."
Viviane smiled faintly. "A peaceful life…"
"Heh?!" Lathel laughed. "Hahaha… Peaceful? Don't you mean boring?"
Viviane chuckled softly but said nothing more. After a quiet pause, she suddenly asked,
"Lathel… do you want me?"
Lathel slowly turned his head. Viviane's beautiful face was already turned toward him.
Their eyes met—each could see their reflection in the other's gaze.
"You… won't regret it?" Lathel asked with a gentle smile. "I'm really just an ordinary man—and I'll always be ordinary."
"You're so beautiful. You could easily find a noble or a high-rank Adventurer. I'm sure they'd treat you like a treasure."
At those words, Viviane's eyes dimmed. She took a deep breath, her hands tightening around his arm.
"Do you… want to know about my past?"
Lathel, intrigued, said nothing—but his silence was answer enough.
Viviane began to speak softly, her voice trembling like fragile glass.
"When I lived on Earth… my family wasn't happy."
"My father was a drunk. He beat my mother mercilessly. When I was six, she took me and ran away. We went to another city to start over."
"Life was hard, but at the time… I was happy. Because I thought my mother hadn't abandoned me."
"When I turned ten, I was even happier—we finally stopped wandering. We had a small home. It was just a cheap, cramped apartment, but I loved it… because I could see my mother every day. I wasn't that little beggar girl anymore, mocked by the other kids."
"Two years later, my mother started bringing men home. At first, I thought they were just her friends. But the apartment was tiny. I slept in the attic—and from up there, I could see everything they did."
"When those men were done, they'd toss her a bit of money. That was when I realized just how ugly the world really was. But I wasn't afraid… because my mother still needed me. She used that money to send me to school."
"When I was 16, she brought a man home and forced me to call him father. I was so scared that if I wasn't obedient, she wouldn't want me anymore, so I called that strange man father."
"A year later, I... was almost raped by that man."
Viviane wasn't finished, her body involuntarily trembling, her hands gripping his even tighter as if searching for something to hold onto.
Seeing this, Lathel squeezed her hands firmly.
Viviane took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
"If it's a painful memory, don't bring it up," Lathel said gently.
Viviane shook her head: "No! Lathel, I... I like you."
Lathel was somewhat surprised, but only a little. After all, as an adult, he could tell what the other person's feelings were at a glance.
If Viviane didn't like him, how could she share a blanket with him and sit here warming herself?
"That's why..." She continued: "I want to let you know the darkness in my heart. I don't want to hide anything from you."
Hearing this, Lathel squeezed her hand tightly, staying silent to let her continue.
"I was so scared at that time," Viviane said, her eyes welling up as if about to cry: "I tried to struggle, but he hit me. He slapped me, causing me to lose hearing in one ear."
"Fortunately... I finally escaped from his grasp. But after running away from that house, I didn't know where to go, so I went to where my mother worked."
"But instead of comforting me, she... told me that..."
Viviane suddenly burst into tears, tears flowing like a stream, her body trembling violently, her hands gripping Lathel's arm so tightly that her nails seemed about to dig into his flesh.
But Lathel didn't care about the pain in his arm. He only raised his other hand to gently wipe away her tears.
"Don't worry, I'm still here with you," Lathel said softly.
Hearing this, Viviane seemed to receive a dose of sedative. She took a deep breath and said chokingly: "She, my mother... the person I had always loved was jealous of me."
"She said that because I was too beautiful, it made that man like me and stop paying attention to her. She called me a bastard, seducing the man she loved."
"She resented me, kept hitting me, saying I was a slut, cursing me so much... I... I didn't understand why she did that."
"But I was truly terrified then, so I ran away. When I was exhausted, I realized I had been caught by a kidnapping group and thrown into a small van."
"I thought my life would end there after the kidnappers took one of my kidneys. They planned to sell me to the autonomous zone to work and wait for someone to bid higher for the remaining organs in my body."
"Fortunately, the police came and rescued me, but I didn't want to return to that house anymore. I was afraid... I was afraid to face the eyes full of contempt and anger from my mother, I was afraid to face the greedy eyes and be raped by that man once again."
"I found another place to live, but because I had lost one kidney and half my liver, I could only live in sickness for two years and died at the age of 20."
"After I opened my eyes again, I was in this world."
Hearing this, Lathel sighed. Although she didn't say much about the process of being kidnapped and having her organs taken by those bastards, he knew what she had endured was extremely terrifying.
He reached out, hugging her tightly in his arms, and said gently: "Don't worry, I will protect you, I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."
Hearing this, Viviane couldn't control her emotions and cried. She cried very loudly, but the sound was drowned out by the howling wind outside.
Outside, snow was falling heavily, the temperature dropping to an unbelievable degree, but inside the room, two hearts were warming each other.
"Lathel..." Viviane suddenly said: "I have nothing, only this body, can you... take it?"
Lathel held Viviane's thin hand, an arm so small that when he grasped it, his middle finger could touch his thumb.
His heart ached. He sighed, about to say something when the System notification suddenly appeared.
[Ding! Destiny Choice activated.]
Choice 1: Accept Viviane, warm her heart.
Reward: 200 free attribute points; hunted by the Church.
Choice 2: Reject her, let her return to the Church.
Reward: 100 free attribute points; position: Fake Inquisitor of the Church.
Choice 3: Delay the time, let her complete her talent awakening.
Reward: 100 free attribute points; Skill: Insight (Rank A)
Seeing the System's information panel, Lathel was startled. He wasn't surprised by the choices displayed but rather by the word 'Church'.
'Why does Viviane still have connections to the Church? Moreover, it seems she's important enough that if she loses her first time, the Church will definitely not let me go.'
'Could Viviane play an important role in the Church? Impossible! If so, then why would she leave that place to come to a remote place like this and live with an ordinary person like me?'
Lathel truly didn't understand, nor did he know what Viviane's identity in this world was.
But looking at her, he realized she probably wasn't lying to him but rather had some secret she couldn't reveal.
Lathel frowned, thinking to himself: 'I choose Choice 3.'
[Ding! Choice successful. You received 100 free attribute points; Skill – Insight (Rank A).]
Lathel didn't rush to check the skill he just received but looked at Viviane, smiling and saying: "Mm! I like you too, but right now you're still too weak. Wait until you're healthier, I will definitely..."
Lathel didn't finish, but Viviane could feel the warmth and care from him.
She smiled happily, resting her head on his chest, closing her eyes, slowly falling asleep.