Chapter 242
'And even now, she still chooses silence.
Always like this, arranging devastation as if it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience not worth mentioning.'
"Is that enough?
If you want, I can take you to the nearest hospital right now."
Hhhh!
"Sooner or later, your wounds will have to be treated."
Silence once again ruled the space between them, a stillness that now felt heavier and more private.
Aldraya seemed to have run out of strength or desire to continue speaking, her pale body barely able to maintain a seated position that grew increasingly unsteady.
Meanwhile, Theo focused his attention on the small yellow book in his grasp.
The tip of his pen—or his finger—moved swiftly, carving line after line of sentences across pages already crowded with notes.
He recorded everything meticulously, documenting every detail of Aldraya's alarming condition.
Skin the color of ash, ragged breathing, a posture signaling deep shock, and even the possibility of complications from unseen injuries.
Every word he wrote was a cold diagnosis from an observer too well-trained, a report that might one day become a valuable archive or merely a reminder of this grim day.
Then, a small movement from Aldraya caught his attention, even though Theo did not lift his gaze from the book.
Aldraya's left hand slowly rose, her cold fingers touching her temple before sliding through her hair, until her palm fully covered the left half of her face.
The position held, as if she wished to hide an expression of pain, shame, or perhaps tears she could no longer restrain.
At the same time, the head that had been facing Theo drooped weakly, her chin nearly touching her chest, forming the silhouette of someone enduring a wave of unbearable sensation.
That movement was body language more eloquent than a thousand words, a wordless confession of how fragile she truly was.
Without shifting his gaze from the yellow book at all, as though he could see through its pages to read Aldraya's condition, Theo finally spoke.
His voice was flat and practical, detached from the intimate scene unfolding before him.
He asked, not as an expression of sentimental pity, but as a logical and urgent consideration.
He asked whether Aldraya now required assistance to be taken to the nearest hospital.
The reason was simple and indisputable.
Sooner or later, Aldraya would have to receive proper medical treatment.
'Final notes complete.
It should be time to examine her condition—at the very least to check her pupils, muscle response, or signs of a mild concussion.
But… why did my hand stop?
Or rather, why was it stopped by her?'
Fiiiiih!
'Her grip isn't strong, but it's precise.
And her gaze—that isn't the gaze of someone in pain.
It looks like someone verifying something, as if I were an object under examination.'
"Aldraya, you are fully conscious, aren't you?
Just now, your hand stopped me.
If this is a side effect of trauma or post-injury disorientation, we cannot ignore it.
There are several referral hospitals with good neuropsychiatric services.
Try the one in Downtown or near the Eastern Gate—"
"The Erusha Birtash standing before me right now… is not the real Erusha Birtash.
At least from observation, there are two souls residing within that depraved man's body."
Aldraya's left hand slowly fell from her pale face, settling upon her kneeling thigh in a position that remained graceful despite her injuries.
She shook her head gently, a small motion as if to dispel lingering dizziness or perhaps to clear her thoughts of residual pain.
Theo, having finished his notes and now intending to check Aldraya's condition more directly, reflexively extended both hands forward.
However, his movement abruptly halted midway.
Not due to physical obstruction from injury, but because of an unexpected intervention.
Both of Aldraya's hands, with surprising remnants of strength, rose to block Theo's approach, gripping his wrists with a force that was weak yet unmistakably firm.
After stopping Theo's advance, Aldraya's face showed neither anger nor fear, but settled into a profound calm.
Her eyes, still dim yet sharp, now fixed on Theo's face with extraordinary focus, as if scanning every pore, every line, and every blink.
Theo, startled by the sudden physical refusal, immediately questioned Aldraya's mental state.
In his mind arose the concern that trauma and severe physical injury might have caused perceptual disturbance or dissociation.
He was even preparing to list a series of hospitals and specialists as referrals, a catalogue of practical solutions for what he assumed to be a purely medical or psychological crisis.
However, before a single name could leave his mouth, Aldraya spoke.
This time, her voice was clear, fluent, and entirely free of hesitation, sharply contrasting with her obvious physical weakness.
She delivered a claim that chilled the blood, an observation that struck directly at the core of identity.
Aldraya stated calmly that Erusha Birtash, the man standing before her now, was not the true Erusha Birtash.
The statement did not remain a hollow accusation.
Aldraya continued with structured logic and sharp observation.
She explained that, based on her careful assessment, within the body of that depraved, money-hungry, womanizing man, there resided at least two distinct souls.
Her claim was not metaphorical or symbolic, but a spiritual or existential diagnosis delivered with absolute conviction.
She spoke of dual existence, a shifting consciousness inhabiting a single physical vessel.
'She's looking at me again like she did back then—
The same gaze as when she first asked who I was inside Flo Viva Mythology.
Not the gaze of a student.
Not the gaze of a victim.
But the gaze of an entity weighing roles behind the curtain.'
Shuuuuuh!
'Back then, I concluded with certainty that Aldraya had never fractured.
She was one, whole, possessing only two spectrums of nature.
Not a split personality.
Not an identity conflict.
But a single, expansive consciousness.
And now, that conclusion is almost entirely correct.'
Rhooooh!
'I still do not know what has truly happened to her.
Whether this is resonance from the seed of the Administrator, or the lingering Authority of a Supreme Angel not yet fully extinguished.
But there is one thing I can no longer deny.'
Uuuuhh!
'She is no longer merely living within this world.
Gradually, she has begun to read it.'
The silence that enveloped the cave was so dense that even the surrounding stones seemed to hold their breath.
Theo remained still, offering no reply, no murmur, not even allowing a single thought to flow freely through his consciousness.
He let Aldraya's claim hang in the damp air, refusing to react immediately, as though granting the words space to resonate and reveal their truth.
Yet his silence was not empty.
It was a deliberate vacuum before the storm of contemplation arrived.
Then, slowly, that wave of reflection began to rise.
Theo started piecing together fragments of memory.
He recalled an earlier moment when Aldraya had once asked, with confusion, who Theo truly was within the world of Flo Viva Mythology.
The same question, with the same core, now returned in a sharper and more threatening form.
Theo drew upon his old thread of understanding about Aldraya.
To be continued…