CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 963: Car Talk-2

Seeing the silence return, Asher couldn’t help but change the topic. They couldn’t sit in silence for the rest of the ride, although they were almost at the racing track, only about ten minutes away.

"If you don’t mind me asking, but since your friends are going above and beyond to get you to find love, does it mean you hate love, aren’t interested in finding love, don’t believe in love, or something like that?" Asher asked calmly, the engine of the car roaring like a beast as it sped along the asphalt road.

Only the stars knew how much horsepower the cars in Crymora actually had.

Arianna stayed silent for a moment, her eyes shifting toward Asher before she spoke. "You know, men who usually get close enough to me in terms of distance, generally ask questions like what’s your favorite color or hobby and things of that sort," she paused for a moment, "but here you are digging into my love life," she mused with a shake of her head, a faint smile finding its way onto her face.

Asher simply chuckled for a moment before replying, "Well, such details can always be known down the line, but of course, if you want to tell me now, I’m all ears."

Arianna remained silent for a moment before she began to speak. "Well, it’s not like I actively avoid love or anything of the sort like my friends think I do," she explained. "And I do believe in love. After all, I was raised in a loving household and saw how my father and mother loved each other every single day, so the two of them are the greatest proof that love exists," she added, her amber-gold eyes drifting toward the passenger-side window as the scenery continued to rush past outside.

"I just personally don’t believe that love can be actively sought out or anything of the sort," she stated. "You can’t just walk around every day hoping to fall in love with a random man or woman. We don’t choose who we love; the heart simply chooses who it wants," she shook her head as she spoke. "So it’s not that I’m not interested in love or entering a relationship. I just don’t see the point in throwing myself out there like I’m desperate or something," she mused aloud. "If it comes, I would happily accept it. If it doesn’t, then nothing changes." Her voice remained calm from beginning to end.

Asher stayed silent for a moment as every syllable that had left Arianna’s mouth was nothing short of the epitome of truth. One couldn’t force their brain and heart to suddenly feel a spontaneous spark of love and connection with another person.

It was just as Arianna had said; one couldn’t choose whom they fell in love with. Something had to draw two people closer together first, a common ground, a shared history, similar likes and dislikes, mutual experiences, or something else entirely. Only after that foundation existed could genuine feelings naturally begin to bloom without either party consciously willing them into existence.

Although one couldn’t choose whom they fell in love with, they could choose whom to stay in love with.

Seeing Asher not say anything, Arianna decided she wanted to hear his opinion on the matter.

"So, what about you?" she asked, her head resting comfortably against the seat’s headrest.

Asher blinked for a second before speaking. "I’m actually of the same opinion," and that was all he had to say.

Arianna blinked at his short answer. "That’s all you have to say?" she asked.

Asher smiled as he spoke. "Well, I could have gone into more detail, but you’ve practically said everything there is to say regarding the matter. So we pretty much share the same view and insight," he explained with a small shrug.

Arianna remained silent for a moment before accepting his explanation, as she had indeed gone into considerable depth with her own thoughts, leaving him with very little to add without simply repeating everything she had already said.

"Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about yourself," she followed up with another question.

Asher stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Well, I’m Asher Wargrave. Nice to meet you," he joked with a casual laugh.

"I see you’ve got jokes," Arianna replied with a shake of her head and a chuckle, her amber-gold eyes returning to him as she clearly had no intention of letting him escape the question that easily.

Asher turned toward her for a brief moment, his purple eyes meeting her amber-gold ones. As they held each other’s gaze for a fleeting second, Asher broke eye contact before speaking.

"If you want to know anything about me, feel free to ask. But if you don’t, I don’t actually have anything to say about myself," he stated as they approached their destination, steadily closing the remaining distance between themselves and the racing track.

Arianna was stunned by Asher’s reply. She couldn’t help but smile for a moment as she shook her head. She knew that if she asked almost any other man to tell her about himself, he would immediately begin recounting his life story from childhood until the present day. Yet here Asher was, calmly telling her to ask whatever she wanted instead of volunteering information on his own.

"Well... if you want me to personally ask, then I won’t hold back or shy away," Arianna spoke, her eyes still fixed on Asher as curiosity quietly flickered within them.

"Were you bullied as a child?" she asked as she went straight for the heart.

Asher arched an eyebrow at the question. Even if someone had given him a billion chances to guess what Arianna’s opening question would be, he never would have imagined she would begin with something like this. Still, he didn’t shy away from answering. She had answered all of his questions honestly, and it was only right that he did the same for her.

"Physically, not at all," he answered as he carefully bent the question without bending the truth.

Arianna remained silent before following up.

"Verbally?"

"Yes..." Asher replied calmly.

Although he would have loved to answer no to that question as well since it had been the original Asher who had suffered through those experiences rather than himself, he ultimately decided not to play that card simply because it happened to be convenient. Whether the memories belonged to him originally or not, they were now undeniably a part of him, and denying them felt strangely inappropriate.

Arianna remained silent for a moment, her eyes shifting back toward the road as she couldn’t help but imagine what Asher might have gone through during those two years.

She knew all too well how noble families often treated children who turned out to be untalented or failed to live up to the standards expected of them. Although she had never experienced such treatment herself, she had heard enough stories over the years to know that reality could often be cruel.

Personally, she wanted to ask more questions, but she feared she might end up digging into childhood trauma and emotional scars that were better left untouched for the time being. So she decided to let the matter rest there until Asher chose to speak about it himself.

Just because she had been raised in a loving home didn’t mean she was ignorant of the pain other people experienced. She was an incredibly empathetic person, and she understood that some wounds couldn’t simply be healed by asking someone to talk about them before they were ready.

"I don’t want you to have the wrong idea about my family, though," Asher spoke. "If I were to die today, any one of them would trade their lives for mine, and I would gladly do the same for any of them," he added.

Memories of the original Asher’s back-and-forth interactions with Thalric surfaced in his mind. His thoughts drifted to the scene of Thalric kneeling before him, apologizing through tears, overwhelmed with guilt and regret for everything that had happened between them.

’I wonder how he’s doing...’ Asher thought silently as he continued driving.

Although he had seen Thalric at the award ceremony, he sincerely hoped the boy hadn’t contemplated, or wasn’t currently contemplating, suicide the way the original Asher once had. Some regrets became unbearably heavy only after it was already too late, and Asher genuinely hoped Thalric would never have to carry a burden like that for the rest of his life.