Chapter 90 – Change My Destiny

Shin stared at Croft’s lifeless body, the sight of the fresh gunshot wound leaving little doubt about what had happened. Only moments ago, Croft had put a revolver to her own head and pulled the trigger. Now, she lay motionless on the floor, her blood slowly spreading beneath her as the acrid smell of gunpowder lingered in the air.

Shin forced himself to look away from her face. He had no time to waste.

He crouched beside the body and carefully retrieved the revolver still clutched in Croft’s hand. The metal felt cold against his fingers. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the weapon thoroughly, paying particular attention to the grip and trigger. He made sure to remove any trace he might have left behind, from fingerprints to other biological evidence that could link him to the scene.

Once he was satisfied, Shin tucked the revolver away and turned his attention to Croft’s remaining belongings. He shifted her body aside, his shoes scraping against the floor as he searched for the Halochassis glove. After locating it, he picked it up and examined it briefly before preparing to slip it into his satchel.

He had just begun to conceal the glove when the sound of footsteps reached his ears.

Shin froze.

The approaching steps were steady and unhurried, their rhythm growing clearer as they drew closer. He immediately straightened, gripping the Halochassis glove as he turned toward the source of the noise.

“Who’s there?” Shin shouted, his voice echoing through the otherwise quiet area.

He equipped the Halochassis glove, its mechanism locking into place around his hand. His muscles tensed as he prepared for a possible confrontation. Whoever was approaching had chosen an unfortunate time to interrupt him.

“It’s me, Shin.”

A tall figure emerged from the shadows, accompanied by a familiar, deep masculine voice. The tension in Shin’s shoulders eased slightly as the man stepped into view, allowing the afternoon sunlight to illuminate his features.

It was Adzeel.

His dark blue hair caught the golden light, while the scars etched across his face stood out against his skin. He looked as imposing as ever, though there was something different about him now. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or perhaps it was the coldness in his eyes. Whatever the reason, Shin found himself studying the man more carefully than he normally would.

“We all thought that you were dead,” Shin said with a smile.

His surprise soon gave way to relief, though the expression on his face carried a hint of disbelief. He had genuinely believed Adzeel was gone, another casualty of the events that had brought them to this point.

Shin lowered his hand and removed the Halochassis glove. Once he was certain Adzeel posed no immediate threat, he slipped it into his pocket, concealing the device from view.

“I thought I was, too. Your girlfriend nearly killed me. You, as well,” Adzeel replied, disdain unmistakable in his voice. "You left us to die."

His eyes remained fixed on Shin, and the faint smile on his face did little to soften his accusation. There was no mistaking the resentment beneath his words. Whatever relief Shin felt at finding him alive, Adzeel clearly had no intention of letting the past go so easily.

“I just did what was the best course of action at that moment. We had no way to defeat Alexander Goldheart,” Shin explained.

He spoke calmly, as though the decision were still as clear to him as it had been back then. There had been no easy way out, and fighting an enemy like Alexander without a workable plan would have been little more than suicide. Shin had made his choice based on the circumstances, even if the consequences had been disastrous.

“Oh, now we do.”

Adzeel’s expression changed. The resentment in his eyes remained, but the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a smile. It was not a friendly expression. Rather, it carried the confidence of someone who had finally found a way to turn the tables.

“And you will help me. At least, you owe me that. You owe it to the bandits you failed to save.”

The words struck directly at Shin’s conscience. Adzeel did not need to raise his voice or step closer. He knew exactly where to aim, and he had chosen his words carefully enough to make them hurt.

Shin narrowed his eyes.

“Are you gaslighting me?” he asked, glaring at Adzeel.

Despite his sharp stare, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He seemed more amused than offended, as though he recognized the manipulation but was willing to entertain it anyway.

Adzeel let out a weary sigh. For a moment, his expression softened, and the two men stood facing each other beneath the afternoon sun. Then he smiled again, this time with a more calculating look.

“That, and we will leave your girlfriend alone. That’s what you want, right from the very start, right?”

Shin’s smile grew faintly warmer, though his eyes remained watchful. Of all the things Adzeel could have offered, that was the one he cared about most. He had been willing to make difficult choices for the sake of survival, but he had never wanted Lireina to pay the price for them.

“Lireina is innocent,” Shin said.

There was no hesitation in his voice. Whatever crimes she might have been accused of, whatever conflicts had placed her in their path, Shin had already made up his mind about her. He would not allow her to become another target in Adzeel’s campaign.

“Lireina is innocent,” Adzeel repeated, as though testing the words on his tongue.

He gave a small nod before continuing, his tone returning to its earlier seriousness.

“So the last Celestial Warden we should kill is Alexander Goldheart. Help me, and you and your girlfriend will be free.”

For a moment, Shin said nothing. He studied Adzeel’s scarred face, searching for any sign that the man might be hiding another motive. The offer was simple enough: help him kill Alexander, and the two of them could finally walk away from the bloodshed.

But Shin knew better than to mistake a simple offer for an easy decision. Working with Adzeel again meant stepping back into a world he had tried to leave behind. It meant risking his life once more, and perhaps placing Lireina’s future in the hands of a man whose methods he did not entirely trust.

Still, if Alexander Goldheart was truly their final target, then perhaps this was the only path left.

Shin extended his hand.

“This is the last time, then.”

Adzeel looked at the offered hand before reaching out to take it. His grip was firm, and the two men shook hands beneath the fading warmth of the afternoon sun.

“Yes,” Adzeel said.

Neither man added anything else. Their agreement had been made, and whatever awaited them next, there would be no turning back.

<><><><><>

The night was quiet, with only the occasional rustle of leaves and the distant footsteps of people making their way home. The streets had grown emptier as the hours passed, and the warm glow of streetlamps cast long shadows across the pavement. Shin had finally changed out of the bloodstained clothes he had worn at the market. He had bought a fresh set of clothes from a shop before closing time, then discarded the old ones where nobody would find them. The faint metallic smell of blood still lingered in his memory, clinging to his senses no matter how thoroughly he tried to put the incident behind him. He had also purchased enough food and other necessities to last him and Lireina for the next couple of days. Carrying the bags in one hand, he walked through the deserted streets, his new clothes feeling unfamiliar against his skin.

Now that Lireina had become a wanted criminal, Shin had to be more careful than ever. Empyrea would not simply overlook her actions, especially after everything that had happened with the First Prince. Sooner or later, someone would come looking for her, and Shin had no intention of allowing anyone to take her away. If protecting her meant using the Halochassis and fighting against the entire kingdom, then so be it. He had already crossed too many lines to pretend that he was still an ordinary man living an ordinary life. Whatever awaited him in the future, he would face it as long as Lireina remained by his side.

Just before he could continue toward the street leading home, Shin noticed a man standing beneath a streetlamp. The man wore a black jacket and a red scarf that stood out against the darkness. His hands were tucked into his pockets, and his posture was relaxed, as though he had been waiting there for quite some time. The dim light illuminated his face just enough for Shin to recognize him. It was one of his coworkers at the Librarium, someone he had no desire to encounter at this hour.

Shin's expression immediately soured. His fingers tightened around the handles of his shopping bags as he regarded the man with open hostility.

“Why are you here, you Foreigner?” Shin asked coldly. “Or should I say your human name… Phyrion?”

Phyrion merely smiled, apparently unfazed by the hostility directed at him. He tilted his head slightly, his red scarf shifting with the movement, and regarded Shin as though their unexpected meeting were nothing more than a pleasant coincidence.

“Is it bad to check on a dear friend?” Phyrion asked. “Besides, everything about you is getting interesting.”

“Yeah, right. It was your fault, after all,” Shin replied, his voice dripping with contempt.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Phyrion shrugged, showing no sign of remorse. “But it was you who was rotten. Rotten to the core. As I said before, you were born defective. You were raised in a peaceful environment, surrounded by people who had no intention of hurting you, yet all you ever craved was chaos and suffering. You enjoy watching people suffer, don't you? Seeing their despair, hearing their screams, knowing that you were the reason behind their misery. It makes you happy. Admit it.”

For a moment, the only sound between them was the faint hum of the streetlights. Shin stared at Phyrion, his face betraying no shame or hesitation. Then, the corner of his mouth curled into an uncaring smile.

“I admit it,” he said. “It was better than sex.”

Phyrion burst into laughter. His voice echoed through the otherwise deserted street, startling a bird perched on a nearby rooftop. The creature flapped its wings and disappeared into the darkness, but Phyrion continued laughing as though Shin had just delivered the most entertaining joke imaginable.

“Hahaha! Now you are finally at the point of no return!” he exclaimed. “Whatever you do from now on is entirely your own doing. You can no longer blame anyone else for your actions. Your destiny is in your hands.”

“Fuck you,” Shin muttered, his smile vanishing. “You were the one who influenced me. You were the one who told me to kill that priest. For no fucking reason.”

Phyrion's laughter gradually subsided, leaving behind an irritatingly pleasant smile. He looked at Shin with an expression that was almost affectionate, as if he were watching a student finally understand a lesson that had taken far too long to learn.

“If you hadn't killed that priest, you wouldn't be hunted,” Phyrion replied. “And if you hadn't been hunted, you wouldn't have fled into the woods. If you hadn't gone into those woods, you wouldn't have met your lover back then. You might have continued living your peaceful little life, never knowing that someone like her existed. But you did meet her, didn't you? Everything happened exactly as it needed to. It was all part of your destiny, Shin. You were meant to meet the love of your life.”

Shin stared at him in disbelief. The words sounded absurd, yet Phyrion delivered them with such confidence that they were almost insulting. He was taking a chain of horrible events, each stained with blood and regret, and presenting them as though they were the carefully arranged pieces of a romantic fairy tale. Somewhere along the way, a priest had died, Shin had become a wanted man, and Lireina had suffered more than she deserved. And now Phyrion was telling him that all of it had been necessary for the sake of love.

“That's a fucked-up way of looking at destiny,” Shin said.

“Do you hate it, though?” Phyrion asked.

Shin said nothing. His gaze lingered on Phyrion for a few seconds before he looked away. He could have argued, cursed at him again, or demanded that he take responsibility for the role he had played in Shin's life. But none of those things would change what had happened. Phyrion would only continue smiling, twisting every accusation into another excuse to prove his point.

Instead, Shin put down his shopping bags long enough to slip into his fresh coat. The fabric settled comfortably over his shoulders, and he adjusted the collar before picking up his supplies again. Without offering Phyrion another word, he turned and continued down the street.

Behind him, Phyrion remained beneath the streetlamp, watching Shin's retreating figure with a smile that revealed nothing of what he was thinking.

Shin kept walking until he reached the quieter residential streets. The sounds of the city gradually faded behind him, replaced by the soft crunch of gravel beneath his shoes and the occasional rustle of branches swaying in the night breeze. He passed shuttered shops and darkened windows, his shadow stretching across the pavement whenever he walked beneath a streetlamp. The bags in his hands rustled with every step, reminding him of the food and supplies he had bought for their little household.

For all the bloodshed and trouble he had caused, he found himself thinking about something as mundane as preparing breakfast. Perhaps Lireina would want something warm to eat when she woke up. Perhaps they could spend the morning together, away from the eyes of the kingdom and the people who wanted to see her captured. These were ordinary thoughts, almost laughably simple compared to the violence that had brought them here. Yet they were the very things Shin wanted to protect.

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived home, it was already late into the night. The neighborhood was silent, and most of the houses around him had long since gone dark. He unlocked the door as quietly as possible, careful not to let the metal click too loudly against the lock. After stepping inside, he closed the door behind him and paused to listen. The house was still, save for the faint creaking of the wooden floor beneath his feet.

Lireina was already asleep in her bed.

She had every reason to be exhausted. Her battle against the First Prince and Adzeel had pushed her to her limits, and the injuries and strain she had suffered were not things she could simply shrug off. Even now, she needed time to recover before she could move around as freely as she used to. Shin stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her breathe beneath the covers. The sight eased some of the tension in his chest, and he silently decided not to wake her. She deserved a peaceful night, even if the rest of the world had no intention of giving her one.

He set the shopping bags aside and approached the bed, taking care not to make the floorboards creak. The room smelled faintly of clean linen, mixed with the lingering scent of the ointments used to treat her injuries. Moonlight filtered through the curtains, illuminating the strands of hair scattered across her pillow. Lireina's face, usually marked by confidence and determination, looked softer in sleep. Without the tension in her brows or the sharpness of her gaze, she seemed almost like an ordinary young woman who had nothing to fear.

Shin slowly sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped slightly beneath his weight, but Lireina did not wake. He reached out and gently caressed her hair, brushing a few stray strands away from her face. His fingers moved carefully, almost hesitantly, as though he were afraid that even the slightest touch might disturb her rest.

Then, one of her long elven ears twitched.

Shin paused, staring at it for a moment. The unexpected movement amused him, and a small smile crept onto his face. It was such a tiny, harmless reaction, so different from the fierce woman who had faced powerful enemies without backing down. For a brief moment, he forgot about the kingdom, the pursuit, and the terrible things waiting beyond their door. There was only Lireina, sleeping peacefully in front of him.

He lowered his hand and gently took hers. Her fingers rested against his palm, warm and reassuring. Shin held them quietly, looking down at their joined hands as he gathered the words he had been carrying inside him all night.

“I'll fight for our destiny, Lena,” he whispered. His voice was so soft that it barely disturbed the stillness of the room. “I will make sure that nobody will ever hurt you again. Not like this. I promise that we'll go somewhere far away, where nobody knows who we are. We'll leave all of this behind and start a new life together. Maybe we'll return to your island, Yggdra. We could settle down somewhere quiet, away from the fighting and all the people who want to use you.”

He paused, imagining the life he had described. For once, he allowed himself to picture a future that did not involve bloodshed, revenge, or running from their pursuers.

“We'll have half-elf kids,” he continued, a faint smile returning to his face. “I'll work on the farm, and you'll live a simple housewife life. You can take care of the house, grow flowers, and do whatever you want. I'll make sure we have enough food, and we won't have to worry about anyone coming after us. Everything will be in order. We'll be happy, Lena. I promise.”

The words hung in the air, unanswered. Lireina remained asleep, her breathing steady and peaceful, seemingly unaware of the future Shin was trying so desperately to promise her. He continued holding her hand for a little longer, reluctant to let go of the warmth that made his imagined future feel almost real.

Eventually, Shin released her fingers and slowly stood up. The bed shifted as he moved away, and he waited to make sure she had not stirred before taking a step back. He looked at her one last time, memorizing the peaceful expression on her face.

Then he bit his lip.

There were things he wanted to tell her, things that had been weighing on his conscience for far too long. Yet he knew that if he allowed himself to speak any further, he might say something he could never take back. Lireina was an elf, after all. Her hearing was sharp enough that even a careless whisper might reach her ears. He could not risk waking her, not when she needed the rest so badly.

I'm sorry, Lena.

The apology remained trapped inside his mind, where he could repeat it as many times as he wanted without having to face her reaction.

I know that I've committed unimaginable sins, especially against you. I'm sorry about Croft. I'm sorry about your fellow Celestial Wardens. I know that I can never undo what I've done, no matter how much I regret it. There is no excuse for my actions, and I don't expect you to forgive me just because I want to change.

His fingers curled into fists at his sides. For a moment, the memories threatened to overwhelm him: the choices he had made, the lives he had ruined, and the blood that could never be washed away. He forced himself to breathe slowly, swallowing the bitter taste that had risen in his throat.

But I promise that I'll change my destiny. I won't let the things I've done decide what happens next. I'll protect you, and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure we can live peacefully after all this is over. I want to become someone who deserves to stand beside you. Someday, I want us to have that normal, happy life together.

Shin stood beside the bed for another moment, his expression hidden in the dim light. Then he turned toward the door and walked out of the room, moving quietly so that Lireina could continue sleeping. He left her alone beneath the covers, believing that she had heard none of his words and that his promises would remain a secret until the day he could finally fulfill them.

The door closed with a faint click.

The room fell silent once more.

Lireina did not open her eyes. She did not move from her position beneath the covers, nor did she call out to the man who had just left her side. Her breathing remained almost perfectly steady, and the moonlight continued to fall across her face as though nothing had happened.

But beneath her closed eyelids, tears began to gather.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, followed by another. They traced a glistening path across her skin before disappearing into the pillow beneath her head.

Lireina had heard everything.