She thought in her mind again, ’Even so, I can’t tell you the whole truth, or you might actually hate me, I can’t let that happen, you’re mine.........MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE.....MINE...YOU’RE MINE TYLER.’
Axel, oblivious to Sophia’s thoughts, showed her a charming smile. Looking at her flushed and beautiful face, he almost lost himself for a moment; he himself was close to losing control of his mind and body. The demon bloodline inside of him wasn’t helping in that moment either. His obsession was reaching a dangerous level; if it wasn’t already bad enough that he had outright dismissed the notion that Sophia had single-handedly ended the 7.3 billion population of humanity.
And if you consider the number of humans she killed, combining all of her reincarnations, it would cross 10 billion in total. But his obsession with her only made him think about how badly she suffered in the trial. That’s how toxic his obsession was.
He asked her, while barely managing to recollect himself, to shift the awkward atmosphere that reappeared between the two, "Did Prime Nexus grant you the wish? What did you ask for?"
She bit her lip and took a few moments to register what he said, then she replied, "Actually, I... don’t remember."
She hesitated for a moment, her head placed on his shoulder, "After I exited the trial, I did not remember anything, to be honest. It was almost as if I were operating on instinct. I only knew that I was close to Lumina and Lucien; I did not even have the complete memories before entering the trial, or the memories of our original world before I was summoned."
"When I first saw those blue eyes of yours, they instantly caught my attention, but I didn’t know or understand why, and the look in your eyes at that time was different. That difference in your gaze was something I didn’t like. But I still always felt drawn to those blue eyes; this created a string of complicated feelings inside of me, which I didn’t understand."
She pulled her head back and gazed at him questioningly, to which Axel sighed and revealed, "I was in a kind of similar situation to yourself, though I did remember everything. The remnant soul of the original Axel had the upper hand as my original soul was fragmented after returning from the trial."
"Which is the reason I couldn’t help but look at you....like that, but you can’t blame me entirely though, you’re too beautiful... I couldn’t help it." Axel moved his fingers over her soft cheeks as he said that.
Sophia’s face turned as red as a tomato; her gaze shifted in another direction, unable to look him in the eyes, and his eyes narrowed involuntarily on that gesture of shyness. Could anyone even imagine in their wildest dreams that the frost-cold valkyrie was even capable of being so shy and so damn cute? He swallowed his own saliva. Sophia’s loud heartbeat reached his ears. She was so beautiful that it was almost unfair for him.
As he watched the changes in her expression with an almost predatory gaze, a voice of caution spoke in his mind, ’This is bad, really, really bad, I mean. Maybe I should stop teasing her and keep my mouth in check; the summoning brand in her soul might take control of her and do something worse to her if I go too far. I don’t know how badly it can tamper with her soul, since the valkyries are all only allowed to have relationships with the pureblood suncrests. I have to make sure that there is a certain level of distance between us.’
This situation reminded him of a familiar helplessness, ’Why is it always ? Back on earth, I couldn’t tell her the truth because of her father, now because of Leonidas Suncrest. How long, for how many times must I be helpless ? Why can’t the world let me tell her how much I... want her?’
He then made a silent promise, ’Doesn’t matter, I’ll burn down the world for her if that’s what I need to do to have her, even if she one day hates me for it.’
With a sigh, he continued where he left off, "After that, as you know, I started to behave coldly towards you, seeing and remembering the certain similarities you had with my once dearest friend." ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
"Since you were someone essential to the real me, the remnant influence of the original Axel was deliberately trying to deny the truth continuously that you were not who I thought you were. After all, how could such a miracle happen?"
"This thought process continued until a few days ago, when I finally managed to overcome that remnant influence. And accept the truth laid open to me."
He paused for a moment and let the information sink into her mind. Sophia had an understanding look on her face as things came together in a way that made sense.
Axel asked her in return, "But what about you? How did you....?"
Letting out a complicated exahale of breath, she revealed her own part of story, "From our first proper conversation, when I requested a runic weapon, I started to realize something was wrong, something was very wrong with me, how I started speaking with you, revealing things about myself out of my own volition, then how I touched your face unconsciously, but did not feel a single trace of disgust. It almost felt like I was losing control of myself."
"From then on, from time to time in sleep, in the dreams, I would see bits and pieces of the memories from the past, each akin to the pieces of a large puzzle. But a part of my mind was still unwilling to accept it, because the biggest piece was missing, or maybe I was just too afraid, what if it’s not you, what if it’s a false hope, created by my own subconscious, to have someone I could rely on in this foreign world where I was all alone, after all, how could such a miracle happen? To suddenly have you here?"
"It seemed impossible," she stated while touching his face, her eyes gleaming in a possessive desire.
"Until just now, when you said you were going to kill yourself and were about to....... Then everything came together in an instant, and I regained full awareness of myself." She glared at him furiously at what he was about to attempt.
But he did not avoid her furious gaze, like a man who was determined to see it through to the end. Sophia pursed her lips, seeing that look, she added in displeasure, "Why did you......? How could you even...."
"I meant every word I said, I would rather die than see you acting like a stranger to me," he iterated with a firm tone that left no room for argument.
She punched him in the chest a few times, but there was no actual strength behind it,
"You bastard, Tyler, why must you be so difficult? Don’t you understand the disgusting situation I am in? What if something happened to you because of me? If someone tried to harm you so that they could use me, I wouldn’t be able to bear it. I wouldn’t know what I would do."
Axel grabbed both of her hands, "Don’t worry, I will never become your weakness."
Sophia smiled at that answer, ’But you already are my weakness.’
She snorted, "You’re too weak to say such bold words."
Axel couldn’t help but think back to the part of the story he once read, ’The valkyrie in the story, was it always Sophia, my Sophia?’ As far as he remembered, at a certain point in it, the valkyrie and fourth prince silently agreed to enter a relationship.
Just the thought of it made his blood boil in chilling rage, but he kept his expression fully controlled on the outside. ’No, the valkyrie in that story definitely isn’t my Sophia, because she did not even touch a single man in the 100,000 years she spent in the trial. Her disgust for every other male but me is absolute, she said it herself, it was the same for the fourth prince.’
Sophia suddenly grabbed his face out of nowhere, bringing him back to the present, "What are you thinking about so deeply?"