“I…”

Hearing the hesitation in her voice, Lazer continued to move forward—his back facing her—and asked, “What else do you want to know?”

The girl froze for a moment before hurrying up to him.

“How did you know that it was Jharif?”

“It was easy to figure out after going to the market and listening to the market gossip. After you were kidnapped, there were only a few people who drastically changed their business operations. After eliminating Shaen from the possible culprits, I was about 80% certain that it was Jharif. Shaquille’s reaction verified my assumption.”

She nodded despite not fully understanding the situation. “But why did Jharif betray Shaen…”

“Perhaps to benefit from the throne war. This is obvious. Shaquille was just Jharif’s pawn.”

“Shaquille said that the kingdom would contribute to its own demise, that means that Jharif is devising an evil plot and that it will not stop just because Shaquille died,” she said, raising her head while trying to think back on what Shaquille had said.

“What other plot could it be but to put an end to the throne war?” said Lazer, sounding tired.

“I believe he can do it.” She sounded positive.

He remained quiet for a while before opening his mouth to say something, but then quickly decided against it. She witnessed this behavior, which made her increasingly alert and almost certain about the following: Lazer was hiding something. Ever since killing Shaquille, Lazer’s attitude had been strange.

“If he really does put an end to the throne war, you will not have to be a part of it anymore.”

She gasped awkwardly. The atmosphere between them returned to that of the night on the hill.

“What if his actions cause the demise of this kingdom?” she asked.

“So what? Kingdoms are created to be destroyed.”

This answer was so shocking that she almost forgot to ask more questions.

“Wait. Do you not care about the kingdom’s future…”

“No.”

“Because you are a human being? But you killed so many human beings for us…”

“Do you really want me to say it? To me, the kingdom and honor are both bullshit. I kill to survive.”

“Has this… always been the way you think?” She was even more shocked to hear this.

“Yes,” he glanced at her. “Just that you paid no attention to it before.”

She carefully recalled the ways they had interacted in the past and found that she could not refute what he said.

She never talked to him about stuff like these before, not even his personal background; all she did was silently observe his actions… She wondered why that was. If she had talked to him about these things, maybe she would have realized that he was not the person she thought he was.

Although he appeared to be vigilant, he actually just doubted and hated everything. Even his words were like sharp blades that inflicted wounds. Why had she not noticed this before?