Chapter 280
Time flowed slowly, measured by the rhythm of reading that finally reached its end.
A soft closing sound eventually broke the silence.
The cover of the old book met itself again, sealing away the troubled teenage world of love within its pages.
Aldraya did not move immediately.
She allowed the book to rest upon Theo's chest for a few moments, as though giving the words she had just read time to settle.
Then, with a movement that still carried weight, she lifted her head slightly.
Her silver hair, silk-like in texture, spilled down and brushed against Theo's shoulder.
Her eyes now stared straight at a point on the wall, avoiding direct contact, before her voice finally emerged.
Her voice was flat, almost devoid of intonation, yet her question cut straight to the heart of the matter.
She questioned the true intention behind Theo's visit that night.
Was this merely a pastoral visit, a routine inspection of an "asset" that was currently unstable?
Or was there a change of heart, a longing to reverse the decision, so that Theo now wished to bring her along and allow her to be part of the surveillance over the development of Erietta's and Ilux's romance?
"Aldraya, my reason for coming isn't merely—"
"No need. I am already full of intentions that are never fully spoken."
Fooooh!
"If, to you, I am nothing more than a burden contaminating the storyline you desire, then dying early would be far more meaningful than living on as an unwanted fragment of RWIA."
Before those words could fully form on Theo's lips, a subtle change had already crossed Aldraya's face.
The flatness of her expression, already like a porcelain mask, seemed to harden further, as though an additional layer of ice had frozen over it.
Yet behind that absence of movement, the eyes that usually only reflected light now seemed to hold back a storm.
A flash of something deeper than disappointment alone.
Something bordering on petrified pain.
She caught the hesitation still hanging in the air, reading the pause and uncertainty in Theo's gaze as a silent confirmation.
For Aldraya, who had spent her life as a tool, a prototype, and later as an entity whose usefulness constantly needed to be measured, Theo's inability to immediately declare her presence as a value rather than a risk felt like a verdict far crueler than outright rejection.
Still atop Theo, Aldraya withdrew in a way that was almost imperceptible.
Her shoulders stiffened.
Her breathing became regulated.
An emotional distance was created without a single step taken.
That small movement felt final, like a boundary being redrawn over a closeness that had lasted for so long.
Her shadow covered part of Theo's body, yet her face turned away, rejecting both light and further conversation.
In her silence, her posture declared a decision—pulling away without leaving, ending things before the wound could deepen.
Without turning back, a voice emerged from her, flat and monochrome, yet carrying a weight of meaning that was utterly devastating.
She stated an extreme choice, a black-and-white logic born from a life filled with functionality and rejection.
To her, if her existence in this mission, and perhaps in Theo's life more broadly, was destined to be regarded only as a burden, a complication to be managed, then death was the more honorable alternative.
Better to be erased from existence entirely than to continue living in this form, connected merely as one node within the RWIA network, an entity constantly analyzed, monitored, and ultimately deemed a disruptive variable.
"Please, don't go yet. Give me one chance to be heard. Just this once."
Before the first step could be taken, before that distance truly became an unbridgeable chasm, a touch intervened.
Theo's hand, moving faster than his still-chaotic thoughts, landed gently yet firmly on Aldraya's shoulder.
The touch was not rough.
It was not forceful.
It was a tangible plea, a physical anchor trying to hold back a ship about to sail into its own sea of solitude.
The pressure was light, yet it carried such desperation and need to be heard that it pierced through the layers of frost enveloping the girl.
Theo's voice had not yet emerged, but the vibration of his request—to wait, to grant one last chance—had already traveled through his slightly trembling fingertips.
And the touch succeeded.
Aldraya froze in place.
Her entire body, which moments before had been poised to slip away, now became a rigid statue at the edge of the bed.
There was no movement to retreat, nor any movement to accept.
She simply stopped, as if the current animating her had suddenly been cut.
Her shoulder beneath Theo's grip felt hard as stone, her muscles tensing to the point of trembling, yet she did not jerk away or free herself.
The silence enveloping them both grew denser, heavier.
Aldraya no longer breathed, or at least her breath was held so deeply that there was no rise or fall of her chest.
She froze even her most basic bodily functions, as if trying to erase all signs of life, all proof that she was affected, that she was still there and forced to listen.
"What was the meaning of pinching my nose without warning?! That was utterly rude and infuriating!
My nose is not an object for careless amusement! Do you think this is funny?!"
Ooohh!
"I held myself back to listen to your explanation, and what I get instead is a pinch on the nose?!
This behavior is truly childish—even the coward Quil-Hasa has never delivered a message in such a manner!"
Faaaah!
"Aldraya."
"What?!"
"Honestly… I don't actually mind if you come along tomorrow.
What made me hesitate wasn't fear of you being recognized, nor because I see you as a burden.
It was your emotions. The feelings that are still so unstable after merging with RWIA."
Hssssh!
"You are now a part of RWIA.
If tomorrow you see Erietta and sudden anger or hatred surfaces, RWIA could respond to those emotions. And they might assist you in doing something… impulsive."
Uuuuuuh!
"I'm afraid of that happening. Afraid that the system within you will amplify malicious intent, and that you'll do something irreversible.
It isn't Erietta that I fear. It isn't your disguise failing.
It's the possibility that the RWIA inside you will help you harm Erietta—or yourself—because of emotions that have yet to stabilize.
That is the worst-case scenario I'm trying to avoid. Worse than any other possibility."
Seeing the total rigidity enveloping Aldraya, Theo instead let out a light breath.
An unexpected smile, gentle and slightly weary, appeared at the corner of his lips, briefly dispersing the tension in the air.
Rather than weaving complicated words, his hand moved with childlike spontaneity.
His index finger and thumb gently pinched Aldraya's straight nose, tugging it slowly with just enough force to annoy, but not to cause pain.
The motion lasted only a few seconds, a foolish and unexpected physical interruption to the intense drama unfolding.
When he released the pinch, the effect was immediate.
The rigid ice statue melted at once, replaced by an Aldraya whose eyes widened, cheeks faintly flushed with heat, and mouth opened to release a long string of protests.
The rant, centered on her displeasure at such careless treatment, shattered the silence with something vividly alive and emotional, no matter how irritated that emotion was.
Theo merely smiled faintly, watching Aldraya as she continued to complain, her once-flat expression now cracked by irritation.
There was relief in his heart at this reaction, because visible anger was far more human than the terrifying stillness from before.
After letting the outburst subside on its own, his gaze shifted upward, staring at the empty ceiling as if searching for words among the shadows there.
To be continued…