1918: Door Frame

Door Frame

Leonel leaned on a door frame, his expression hard to read.1

On a bed with, a young girl slept soundly. Well, he still saw her as a young girl, anyway. In reality, her age was probably almost double his by now. However, considering her naivete, he really couldn't look at her any other way.

This young girl was none other than Little Nana. It had been years since Leonel had seen her last even if he disregarded the over 20 years he had missed out on. She had grown into a woman now, but her mind didn't seem to have changed very much.

Leonel's emotional intelligence was quite high, but when it came to real psychological theories, his understanding was limited. This was why he had left the raising of Candle and Vice to Wise Star Order despite the inherent danger that came with it.

Back then, Nana hadn't even been 10 years old if he remembered correctly, but she had gone through something that could only be said to be traumatic. It wasn't too surprising for her to carry lingering scars from back then, and the fact that she still seemed to be obsessed with him only went to further prove this.

Yes, he had saved her life when all hope had seemed lost, but that didn't seem like enough for a woman who was almost 40 years old now to still be clinging to him, especially when he was certain that Little Nana's life was filled with blood and carnage.

It was just odd.

Nana's pearly blue eyes suddenly snapped open and she shot up, her head snapping from left to right until she suddenly noticed Leonel standing at the door. Her gaze lit up for a moment, but when she noticed the sternness of Leonel's expression, they dimmed almost immediately. She looked down as though she had done something wrong and she found it difficult to look up again.

Leonel sighed, moving toward the young woman and taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

"Nana, you understand that we stand on two opposing sides of a war, right?"

Leonel had thought a lot about how he would approach this conversation. The smart thing to do would be to toss Nana into a dungeon along with anyone else who had survived and call it a day. However, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Nana's small mouth opened a few times, but nothing came out.

"Not everything will go your way, sometimes everyone works inside the grey and there are no heroes or villains. The ultimate choice with what you do with your life depends on you.

"You have parents, you have a family, you have many who care for you… There will probably come a time where I won't be able to be so lenient. Do you understand me?"

Nana still couldn't seem to make a sound, so she nodded, her tears falling like a string of crystal beads.

Leonel nodded lightly. "I have no choice but to keep you here. If you can escape, that will be up to your skill, but it won't be aided by me."

Leonel stood to his fee and walked toward the exit of the room, but even after he made it to the threshold, Nana still hadn't done anything. He sighed and shook his head, that could be considered to be Nana's last chance of escaping. Here, with just the two of them, overpowering him wouldn't be all that difficult for her, especially considering her Ability Index. But she was still too indecisive to act.

Leonel left and closed the door behind him, sealing it with a powerful Force Art.

His current morality was hard to pin down, maybe even for him. But he simply acted as he pleased. He felt gross taking advantage of a little girl's trauma to gain an advantage over her, so he had given her a chance. Since she didn't want to take it, his conscience was clear and his heart was light.

With long strides, Leonel entered the dungeon of the flagship. As a war machine designed to be used by the highest echelons of the Seventh Dimension, it was unsurprising that their dungeons were incredibly robust. It would probably be difficult even for an expert of the Eighth Dimension to escape, though very much possible. As for those beneath that realm, there was likely no chance at all.

Soon, Leonel stood across from a chained Adrin. He was in a much less comfortable position than his little sister, but Leonel didn't feel the need to treat him very well just because of who he was related to. The two of them owed each other nothing, in fact, if there was anyone who owed the other anything, it was Adrin who owed him.

Leonel pulled up a stool.

"Why don't you tell me what you know about the four Great Families," Leonel said with a smile.

Adrin looked toward Leonel with a pair of piercing blue eyes. His wrists were chained above his head and basically the only thing keeping him alive was the steady stream of Force being pumped into him through them. Even if he wanted to starve to death, he couldn't.

On the bright side, these dungeons were so rarely used that they were practically spotless.

"No answer?" Leonel chuckled and didn't seem to mind.

The souls of the four Brazingers that Aina was torturing were still there. He could go and retrieve them any time and there would be no escaping for them. This meant that he would get information he wanted one way or another.

Leonel had already gained a lot from Simeon, but the problem was that the latter's standing was too low. He wondered if Adrin would know more or not.

"I heard that you four families have quite the feud with my Fawkes family, and even my Northern Star Lineage, it could be said that we're destined to be enemies, no?"

Adrin's pupils constricted.

"It's quite embarrassing, four families that are so powerful, still scared of two Lineage Factors that barely have any remnants remaining, don't you think it's a bit embarrassing?"

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