Chapter 345
His right hand reflexively rose, patting his chest twice, hard, as if to make sure his heart was still beating and his bones were still intact.
Within his heart, a very clear decision immediately took shape.
He stated to himself, with absolute conviction, that without needing to be ordered by anyone, he would do everything in his power to ask—or ensure—that he would never again be brought anywhere near Aldraya.
That, of course, was not a desire without reason.
Aside from the lingering specter of his own despicable actions—his attempt to seize Aldraya's purity during the violent turmoil of that girl's core essence weeks ago—there was another, far more urgent and terrifying reason.
Ilux could clearly feel, and firmly believed, that the dense and threatening aura Aldraya had released earlier bore an unmistakable resemblance.
That aura resembled—perhaps was even identical to—the presence emitted by the depraved samurai obsessed with women's bodies and money, the man named Theo Vkytor.
Or at least, someone who had once been known as Eshura Birtash, before choosing to change his name for reasons unknown to the public.
And yes, it was precisely the actions of that depraved samurai that had given him a bloody lesson.
His memories immediately drifted to the four days he had been forced to miss class, compelled to recover both hands and arms after they had been torn loose, dislocated from their joints, by the consecutive and brutal slashes of Theo's hand.
At the time, Theo's hands had moved as if dancing, motions that appeared almost poetic yet carried horrifying destructive power, capable of severing not only human limbs but even steel if struck directly.
That physical trauma was still fresh, and now, he sensed the same stench of power in Aldraya.
'Protected by the soul whose honor I nearly tore away, while her flat gaze—like a breathing corpse—judges me more cruelly than death.'
After that, Ilux blinked twice in quick succession, as if trying to wipe away the lingering shadows of darkness from his retinas.
Then, in what seemed like a last-ditch effort to regain control of himself, he decided to close his eyes.
His eyelids shut tightly, severing visual contact with the outside world that had suddenly become unbearably threatening.
He held that position, standing stiffly in the empty corridor, for four seconds that felt unbearably long.
Within the darkness he had created for himself, his mind began to murmur.
A prayer—or more precisely, a desperate plea filled with fear—flowed from his heart.
He prayed earnestly, begging fate or whoever might be listening, that Theo would not issue any additional instructions to Aldraya.
Specifically, he pleaded that Theo would not order Aldraya to watch him without pause.
The mere thought was enough to draw cold sweat to his temples.
The image of being constantly watched by Aldraya was a living nightmare for Ilux.
Terrifying, not only because of the dark power he had just witnessed, but because of the nature of that surveillance itself.
He would be continuously observed by a woman whose face never showed any reaction beyond blankness, an unreadable mask that concealed all intentions, judgments, or perhaps plans for revenge.
And what gnawed most violently at his soul was the fact that this woman was someone who had nearly become the victim of his own sexual crime.
Every empty stare from Aldraya would become a mirror reflecting his disgrace, every silent presence a reminder of an unforgivable sin.
Such surveillance was not discipline, but a subtle and relentless psychological torture, capable of shattering his mind more thoroughly than any physical blow.
'I feel like killing him right now.'
The scene shifted back to Aldraya.
She had now walked far enough away from the site of her harrowing encounter with Ilux.
The distance stretched between them, separating her from the source of that trauma and tension.
She chose to keep walking, without pause, as if by continuing to move she could leave behind not only the physical space, but also the lingering waves of negative emotion she had just buried deep within herself.
Her feet, wrapped in school shoes, moved rhythmically, carrying her along another, quieter corridor.
At first, nothing at all changed about her outward appearance.
Aldraya, with her usual flat expression devoid of emotion, continued to move her body with an almost dance-like fluidity.
Every movement was measured and efficient, with no wasted energy.
The atmosphere along her path was profoundly silent, filled only by the soft clicks of her shoes against the floor and perhaps the sigh of wind from an open window.
She was like a ship gliding across a calm sea, its surface smooth while its depths remained unfathomable.
However, after about five minutes passed, an entirely unexpected change finally emerged.
Without warning, Aldraya's usually controlled body displayed a spontaneous and violent physical reaction.
Her left hand, which had been hanging loosely at her side, suddenly clenched with tremendous force.
The muscles in her forearm tightened until a sharp, dry cracking sound rang out, an unsettling noise considering that Aldraya's skin and muscles were known to be extremely supple and soft to the touch.
The fist clenched so tightly, as if trying to crush something invisible within her grasp.
Within her heart, a confession finally surfaced.
Her inner voice, usually flat, now spoke with a deep and strained tone.
She admitted, with complete honesty to herself, that she had tried her very best.
She had restrained with all her might the emotions, anger, and fury boiling inside her toward Ilux.
She had worked tirelessly to prevent that negative surge from leaking out, from influencing her actions, and from violating Theo's instruction not to harm him.
That hardened fist was physical proof of an intense internal struggle, a pressure valve releasing the strain of nearly uncontrollable turmoil, while her face remained an unshakable fortress to the outside world.
'If only the authority of Judgment, my beloved younger sibling Anh-Bu-Sisi, could be used without consequence, I would have already passed the harshest sentence upon him.'
For a moment, Aldraya fell silent.
She chose to remain quiet, taking a brief pause in her journey for several seconds that felt long.
Her mind, usually filled with streams of data and analysis, fell still, making room for something deeper and darker.
Yet her feet did not stop.
They remained set to move forward, carrying her away with automatic motion that required no conscious command.
Her body moved, while her soul dove into reflection.
After twelve seconds passed, that inner silence shattered.
Aldraya spoke again within her heart, her internal voice flowing with a cold and deliberate tone.
She articulated a disturbing thought.
If there truly existed a concept of absolute judgment that could be delivered without even the slightest consequence or violation of cosmic law, then perhaps—just perhaps—she would bestow it upon a bastard like Ilux, with all his cowardly traits.
The cowardice of one who sought to steal another's purity in a despicable way, before even considering taking a life directly.
Within Aldraya's moral logic, warped by her experiences, Ilux's actions constituted a crime layered with a particular kind of depravity.
Clearly, these thoughts were not spoken without reason or foundation.
What Aldraya knew about the concept of judgment was no empty notion.
Her knowledge stemmed from her former position.
She knew that her younger sibling, Anh-Bu-Sisi, who was also one of the Thirteen Supreme Angels, possessed special access.
To be continued…