Breathing heavily, Noel, with his bloodshot eyes, looked around himself.
His gaze seed to take in everything with hostility... with the intention to break — destroy sothing. And he was finding it harder and harder to suppress himself.
His soul had already healed, and the pain had faded. But the impact it left behind had only just begun... and he was struggling to cope with it.
He stood up and paced around his room, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles paled. He was trying to calm down — desperately — but nothing inside him seed willing to settle.
The emotions that had suddenly returned didn’t seem to allow that, either.
In his mind, everything he’d read inside the simulations kept replaying, looping, again and again.
And thinking that those were all possible futures for him—
That thought alone seed to ignite sothing deep within.
For the first ti, he realized just how much he had been holding back.
How many feelings had been bent, twisted, and shoved into corners of himself he refused to see.
He hadn’t even noticed them building up until now.
But... he knew that wasn’t all.
Regaining his emotions alone wasn’t enough to explain why they were this volatile.
No. It was Law... the Destruction Law.
Because he had forgotten it before, suddenly regaining his understanding of it now, made sothing snap. It clashed — violently — with the few lingering traces of it still etched into his soul.
The suddenness of everything only made it worse.
But.
Even then.
He was the Cross Heir.
He was the Heir of Ruin.
He was soone who once made everything bend to his wishes... to his whims.
He was the spoiled eldest son of the Cross family — the one who got everything he wanted.
So how did it co to this?
How did he fall this far?
Noel questioned everything. Himself. His reality.
And as he did, a faint red aura began to gather around his body — quiet, trembling, hungry.
His eyes glowed with madness... and sothing inside him finally seed to snap.
He asked himself just one question.
Until when... would he continue to endure?
And the aura around Noel suddenly seed to calm down after that question.
But the gaze in his eyes—
It promised sothing else entirely.
Noel walked toward the door.
And instead of unlocking it and opening it the way it was ant to be used,
He kicked it.
The door cracked — then slamd to the ground with a heavy thud.
And he stepped out calmly... only to catch Lilith, who had also co out, now staring at him with widened, shocked eyes.
No words seed to co out of her mouth.
But Noel still paused when he saw her.
He seed to be comparing the mories he had just regained,
With the ones he’d made up during the past twelve years.
And with those few lines he’d read about her in the simulation.
In the end...
Even if he was going to stop pretending.
Even if he was going to stop enduring.
Doing anything about her... that needed to co later.
When he had the strength.
So, Noel moved past her.
And walked straight downstairs.
Toward his adoptive parents’ room—
No.
Linda and Ryan’s room.
Once again, instead of knocking,
He raised his foot—
And kicked.
The door split open and slamd against the wall.
A few ters ahead, Linda, who had clearly heard the earlier noise and had been about to step out, froze in place.
She looked at him, stunned at first — then said,
"Noel...?"
She said the word with confusion.
And Noel repeated after her, "Noel?"
Then, suddenly, he started laughing.
The grin on his face — twisted, unstable — was anything but one belonging to a sane person.
"It seems like pretending to be my adoptive parent really made you forget your place."
Linda seed tied of words at first...
But then, her deanor changed — and so did her aura.
Her kind expression vanished, replaced by one of cold indifference, before she slowly knelt on one knee and said,
"I greet the forr heir."
Forr?
Noel echoed the word in his mind.
He already knew.
All those simulations — watching them obey Lilith without question — had told him more than enough.
But hearing it now... in reality...
Right after he regained a huge part of his mories —
It still hit differently.
And so, even though he kept laughing, even though the grin didn’t leave his face, he crouched down in front of her.
Lowering himself to et her gaze.
Looking her in the eyes, he said coldly, "You knelt too late."
Linda lowered her eyes.
She didn’t say anything in return.
Noel chuckled quietly, then stood up again and said, "Anyway, you have a pocket dinsion on you, right? You’d need at least one for Lilith’s training... So open a gate there."
Linda didn’t reply imdiately.
Instead, her gaze moved to Lilith — who was now standing by the broken door, watching everything in silence.
It was only after Lilith gave a slight nod...
That Linda stood up and waved her hand, opening a gate before him.
Watching the whole scene unfold, Noel’s eyes narrowed — just slightly.
But in the end, he didn’t say a word.
He wouldn’t forget.
And for now, that was enough.
So, without any hesitation, he finally stepped into the gate before him.
Lilith looked at the white circular ring that Noel had just passed through.
She stood quietly, not following him imdiately.
Her thoughts were many.
But then, she slowly turned her gaze toward Linda and asked, "How much has his soul healed this ti?"
Linda didn’t reply right away.
She seed to take a mont — gathering her thoughts — before she finally, carefully answered, "What should’ve taken dozens of years... was healed."
She paused, then added, "But that’s not the real point."
"Because, if it continues like this... I wouldn’t be surprised if his soul was fully healed by tomorrow."
The space around Lilith cracked slightly at those words.
In the end, knowing things had reached a point beyond what she could handle alone, she closed her eyes for a mont — steadying herself —
Then took out her phone.
And called Selena.
The last woman she ever wanted help from.
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