They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System Chapter 686 - Capítulo 686: A Long Time Ago

Capítulo 686: A Long Ti Ago

“When did you have ti to do all this?” Carl asked, gesturing at the docunt.

“I started when my suspicions grew, and I finalized everything in the past few days,” Arthur replied evenly.

“So that’s what you were working on,” Carl said, nodding slowly, enlightened but still tense.

“How did you even know where to look?” Carl asked, not bothering to flip through the other pages, the first one already revealed enough to unsettle him.

“You…” Arthur’s voice was calm but carried that sharp edge of observation he always had. “You gave yourself away. At first, I was suspicious, but that day, when you said you just needed to be sure Nnenna had soone in her corner, I knew sothing was off.”

Carl paused. The mory ca rushing back, vivid and precise.

It had been the day of Nnenna’s final exam, a day thick with tension and expectation. They had been downstairs in the living room of the Prigrian Castle, the early morning sun slicing across the polished floors.

Carl and Arthur were talking quietly, carefully, like n tiptoeing around words heavier than air. Arthur had almost confessed his feelings for Nnenna when the arena was collapsing around them, but hadn’t. Those words, those exact words, had been the clue Arthur needed.

“Honestly,” Carl had said then, voice low and careful, “I just need to be sure she has soone in her corner.”

Arthur had frowned lightly, his gaze sharp. “But she has you.”

Carl’s expression had shifted for a fraction of a second, a flicker Arthur almost missed, but it was enough. “What happens when I’m no longer around?” he asked, quietly, the faintest trace of worry and sadness threading through his words.

Arthur had straightened instinctively, stepping closer, tension in every movent. “I don’t understand. Are you planning a vacation or sothing? Is there sothing going on that I don’t know about?”

Carl blinked, snapping out of whatever shadow had crossed his features. He forced a reassuring smile, masking the storm of thoughts behind calm eyes. “No, nothing,” he said quickly. “Just… thinking out loud.”

The mory lingered in Carl’s mind, not just as a recollection, but as a turning point, a subtle revelation of feelings carefully concealed, a glimpse of the vulnerability he usually kept under lock and key.

“I was careless,” Carl finally admitted, his voice low but steady.

“No,” Arthur cut in, his tone asured but intense. “You were confiding in , or at least, you almost did. That’s what family does. But you held yourself back. Just enough to make suspicious… so I investigated. And I found out why.”

Arthur’s eyes darkened as he felt the weight of the docunt in Carl’s hands, the truths it held pressing down on them both. “Why didn’t you tell us all these years? Why didn’t you tell her?”

Carl’s gaze hardened, the faintest edge of frustration threading through his calm. “Because I thought I had more ti!”

Arthur blinked, taken aback. “More ti?”

Carl nodded slowly. “It’s one of the reasons I beca a doctor. I… I found a cure.” His words were deliberate, heavy with the burden he had carried alone.

Arthur’s voice rose slightly, disbelief and urgency mixing together. “What? If you found a cure… why do these test results still say you’re dying?”

Carl shrugged, the movent casual but controlled. “Well, you already investigated . You should know.”

Arthur shook his head, exhaling sharply. “I… I don’t. There was only so much I could find out. You did a remarkable job hiding everything.” He tapped his cell phone. “I know how much resource it took just to get this far, Carl.”

Carl’s gaze softened slightly, though his expression remained guarded. “Trust ,” he said quietly. “There isn’t much to tell. And this… this isn’t about trust. I just didn’t want you… or her… to go through another grief. Not now. Especially in a ti of peace like this.”

“I see. But I still want to know, how exactly did this happen? How did you get to this extent?” Arthur asked, his tone even, but the tension in his voice betrayed his concern.

Carl’s calm expression didn’t waver. “I was born with a terminal disease,” he confessed simply. “But you already know I’m not one to back down easily. So, I beca a doctor. I developed a temporary cure, sothing that could prolong my life until at least middle age. That would’ve given enough ti to find a permanent one.”

Arthur listened silently, his brows tightening.

“It was working perfectly,” Carl continued, his tone steady, though his words carried quiet weight. “That’s why I didn’t bother telling anyone. And when I t Nnenna, when I took her as one of mine, everything was stable. No issues at all.”

He paused briefly, his eyes dimming as he exhaled. “But then, four months ago, when Anthena used Cynthia to poison … the delay in treatnt ruined everything I had worked on for the past decade. It destroyed the stability I had built. Put right back at square one.”

Arthur’s fingers curled slightly at his side, the realization hitting him.

“I went from living… to dying again in a matter of weeks,” Carl said quietly. “How was I supposed to just drop that on everyone? To throw that kind of burden on you or her? Especially while she was still mourning Somto. So I hid it.”

Arthur’s gaze sharpened. “How is it that Nnenna never found out? She was a student doctor after all.”

“Easy,” Carl replied with a light shrug. “I never let her run tests on or take my pulse. And the few tis she did, there was always sothing else to mask it, the poison, or the day I wasn’t breathing in the Elyndra Arena.”

Arthur’s jaw tightened at the reminder.

“Look,” Carl said softly, his calm voice now laced with sothing fragile almost echoing through the empty road. “She’s been through enough loss. I trust she can handle anything… but I don’t want her to have to. After letting her get attached to all these years, I can’t just walk up to her and say, ‘Hey, you know how you’ve lost so many people you love over the years? I’m about to be one of them. Hope this doesn’t break you. Bye.'”

He acted out the last part with a dry, forced chuckle, but his voice cracked slightly near the end.

The silence that followed was heavy. Even Arthur couldn’t imdiately find words.

“Is that why you didn’t take your chance with her?” Arthur asked after a few minutes, his voice cutting through Carl’s last words.

Carl blinked, brows raising slightly. “What do you an?” He shifted his weight on the gravel of the narrow road, the faint light of the setting sun casting long shadows along the edges. The distant hum of Carl’s car engine lingered behind them, a reminder that neither of them could linger too long.

“I an,” Arthur said evenly, stepping lightly on the uneven dirt, “you have, or had, feelings for Nnenna.” His tone wasn’t accusing, just matter of fact, steady. “I can’t be sure which one it is now. You’re either very good at hiding it… or you simply don’t want anyone to know. But I’ve had my suspicions since Lionara, back when we were all in the hospital.”

Carl stayed quiet, eyes scanning the road ahead for a mont, the soft rustle of the trees at the roadside breaking the silence. He let Arthur’s words settle.

Arthur continued, voice low, carrying across the quiet stretch of road. “You were the first person she trusted. Even before Somto, or , or anyone else except Nurse Courage. Yet you never acted on your feelings. Instead, you chose to be her brother.”

“That was a long ti ago,” Carl replied softly, shoulders relaxing just slightly. The evening wind brushed against his hair, but he didn’t move. “And you’re right. But those feelings…” He exhaled slowly, gaze dropping to the scattered gravel beneath his boots. “They’re gone. What I feel for her now is purely platonic.”

Arthur tilted his head slightly, his shadow stretching across the road as the sun dipped lower. “Is that even possible?” he asked, calm but probing. “Because birds of the sa feather flock together, Carl. The both of us… we understand each other too well. If I can’t let go of sothing once I’ve set my mind to it, I doubt you can either.”

He stepped closer, the faint crunch of gravel under his boots echoing lightly in the stillness. His gaze was steady, unwavering. “But one thing I do believe: you made a choice two years ago. To never act on what you felt. To remain her big brother. And you’ve kept that promise to yourself ever since, even if it ant sacrificing your own happiness for hers.”

Carl stared at him for a long mont, the road quiet except for the distant whisper of the wind and the faint hum of his car.