Eris remained seated, her fingers absently tracing the rim of the untouched glass of wine before her.
Alex had not moved, his blue eyes watching her with a mix of patience and intent.
The weight of their past conversation—the only one they ever had—still lingered in the air, thick and oppressive, as if waiting for her to say something.
Eris could still remember every detail of that conversation and everything that Alex had said.
But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t understand some things.
She took a deep breath, steadying herself before speaking. "You claim to know my future, to understand the path I am walking better than I do." Her voice was measured, devoid of the frustration that had tinged their last encounter. "And yet, you refuse to tell me everything."
Alex’s lips curled into the faintest of smirks. "Knowing too much too soon can be just as dangerous as knowing nothing."
Eris narrowed her eyes, leaning forward ever so slightly. "And who decided that for me? You?"
Unlike last time, she didn’t feel distant when talking to Alex. The conversation flowed as if she were talking to a long-time friend.
Alex didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he exhaled slowly, his gaze never wavering. "I decided to give you the choice," he said finally. "What you do with that choice is entirely up to you."
A flicker of something—confusion, perhaps—crossed her face. "And if I choose to ignore everything you’ve said?"
"Then that is your right," Alex admitted, leaning back in his chair. "As I’ve said before, I won’t force you to believe me, nor would I demand your trust, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stand aside and let you walk blindly into ruin."
Eris stared at him, her fingers tightening around the stem of her glass. He was frustrating, infuriating even, but the worst part was that he made sense.
Everything about him was contradictory—he was a man who spoke bluntly, yet there was a strange sort of gentleness in his words.
He claimed not to care about her choices, yet he was here, warning her, preparing her for something she had yet to understand.
She exhaled sharply. "You truly are insufferable."
Alex chuckled. "I’ve been told."
For a moment, silence stretched between them again. Eris found herself studying him as if trying to peel back the layers of mystery that surrounded him.
He had appeared in her life so suddenly, disrupting everything she had thought she understood about herself and her future.
Worst of all, even now, when she knew that he was the one responsible for her brother’s suffering, she felt that he wasn’t completely wrong, making it hard to bring up that topic.
Her emotions were a mess. She felt complicated whenever she thought about it.
The brother she loves so much that his every fault automatically becomes the right thing in her eyes now looked to be the one in the wrong.
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Alex was irritating, so much different from her gentle and timid brother, and yet, there was something undeniably compelling about him.
She couldn’t understand what was happening anymore, so she decided not to focus on that problem anymore. It wasn’t like her brother would be killed.
At most, he would be forced to jail for a month.
It wasn’t that big of a deal.
Finally, she set her glass down and rose to her feet. "If you truly believe my future is so dire," she said, her voice quieter now, "then prove it."
Alex tilted his head. "Prove it?"
Inwardly, however, he smiled. ’That was easier than expected.’
"Show me," Eris, seeing his confusion, clarified. "Show me why I should listen to you. Show me why I should care about the warnings of a man I barely know."
Alex studied her for a long moment before a slow, knowing smile crossed his lips. "Very well," he said. "But remember—you asked for this."
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Eris didn’t look away. "I know."
As she turned to leave, she could feel his gaze on her back, an unspoken promise lingering between them. Whatever came next, she knew that it wouldn’t be something she would want to see, but she had to.
She wanted to know who would cause her downfall and why Alex wanted her safe—she wanted to know more about him.
’Phew...’
Only after she left that Alex finally relaxed.
He didn’t reveal anything major right now, as he knew that Anos, although not here, must be hearing their conversation.
His ability to control demons and have absolute control over them was annoying.
If it was a demon who had been by his side for some time, then he could even see what they see and hear what they hear—perfect spies.
[The referee of the competition must be the same,] Sophie said as if reading his mind, making him nod.
’Possibly.’
Anos wasn’t present in the Colosseum when the third-year students’ fights were ongoing, and knowing his personality, the man would’ve already known about what Keryu was scheming.
So, there was no way he would miss the matches.
That meant that he had other ways of watching the matches, and that was the referee.
As for why he let Keryu do whatever he wanted, it was probably because he found it amusing.
No matter what Keryu did, Anos never stopped the guy, and it was all due to the same reason.
Alex had a feeling that even if Anos were to know about Keryu’s body being taken over by someone else who had transmigrated into this world, he wouldn’t be much affected.
He would most likely find it more intriguing.
All Anos would care about would be the one who Keryu is on the outside, not on the inside, even more so when the new Keryu is way better than the one in the past.
After all, Anos never had any love for his children. He evaluated them based on what they showed him.
Of course, Keryu didn’t know that yet, or he would’ve used it and already amassed a lot of support in the demon empire.
Anos wouldn’t even have cared about that, as the man had little to no desire to do anything anymore. He is just a guy who’s waiting for his death, and his death would be a stepping stone for the protagonist, Keryu Ivanovich, to progress emotionally and physically.
Alex, however, wanted to change that. He would change that because, like Eris, Anos was also restricted by the plot.
Anos, the demon emperor, was capable of much more than he was right now—that was something everyone who had faced him had said, including his mother in the novel.
Of course, after he died.
No one had said anything until he was alive, as that would’ve given Anos another backstory, making him look more like a main character than Keryu.
Soon, however, breaking Alex out of his musing, James walked into the mansion, his black hair tied in a manbun and his gray eyes staring at Alex respectfully.
He was supposed to be on the trail ground in the desolate, helping Lilia with whatever he could, but due to drastic changes in the situation, he was called back and assigned a task by Alex.
"Is it done?" Alex asked as soon as James came closer, making James bow his head in acknowledgment.
"We are just waiting for your orders," he replied.
Hearing those words, Alex relaxed in his seat, smiling. "Good. You guys can start."
’With this, I can put my plans for Keryu’s end in motion,’ he added inwardly, imagining the look on Keryu’s face when Alex was done with him.