I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space Chapter 378: Sofia and Razeal

Razeal's POV~

Razeal gazed at Sofia in silence.

He didn't hurry to reply to her. Instead, his eyes stayed fixed on her features, noticing the subtle signs that escaped most during intense feelings—the rigidity in her posture, the clenched set of her jaw as if she was barely holding it all in, the slight shake in her hands clutching the newspaper far too hard. Fury was present, no doubt. Yet underneath simmered something more fragile. Inner turmoil. Dread. A craving for assurance she doubted she'd get anymore.

She craved a response. That was plain to see.

Yet beyond that, she sought stability... something to halt the world from crumbling more beneath her feet.

Through the shattered wall nearby, chilly breezes infiltrated the space, bringing floating particles that swirled idly in the beams of light. Nobody stirred. The quiet dragged on until it grew awkward, weighted down by unspoken matters. Past grievances hovered in that hush, recollections Razeal had ceased attempting to unravel, now subtly intruding on the now. Overlooked justifications. Phrases that once held weight. Instances where words altered zilch.

Sofia refused to avert her stare.

"Is it true?" she repeated, her tone gritty, restrained, and all the more threatening because of that control instead of an outburst.

Razeal stayed rooted in place, serene almost to the edge of apathy, like the query itself lacked any pressing need for him. But beneath that poise, an ancient weariness awakened—the sort born from anticipating how these talks typically concluded.

He murmured a soft tune absentmindedly, seemingly pondering the scene more than responding to it. His glance flicked momentarily beyond Sofia to Maria, positioned not far off. She had halted in the midst of her personal emotional chaos when Sofia stormed inside, her face still disturbed. The tears she'd brushed off lately had left subtle marks near her eyes, even as she strived to regain her poise swiftly.

Maria's eyes darted from one to the other, doubt etched clearly on her features. She had grasped what Sofia discovered. The paper gripped in Sofia's fist revealed that much. Sorrow flashed across her look... not shock, not rage, but nearer to acceptance. She recognized the impending sequence as well. Razeal faced judgment once more. And now, from the woman freshly wed to him.

That mere idea squeezed her heart.

She opposed it occurring. Not once more. Not following all they'd endured. Yet she comprehended its inevitability. Truth—or the perceived version—seldom permitted space for tolerance. She dropped her sight for an instant, concealing the violet necklace clutched in her palm by tucking it behind her, purely on reflex. She wasn't wholly certain why, save that she wished Sofia not to spot it...

Razeal, observing everything,

A subtle grin formed on his mouth, faint and weary instead of mirthful. He breathed out gradually before parting his palms a bit at his sides, a relaxed motion clashing with the room's strain. His gaze swung back to Sofia.

"Well," he remarked casually, though the underlying mockery was evident, "yes or no... does it truly make a difference?"

His head angled a touch as he eyed her, the grin persisting without any kindness. "You won't accept anything I claim regardless... Will you?"

The statement lacked ire. That rendered it harsher. No effort to justify, no rush to clarify. Merely calm assurance. Wisdom from trials where optimism had long faded.

He grasped that truth ages back. When defenses still held value for him. When he strove to clarify for others. Even his kin... his sibling, his parent, had regarded him with skepticism over faith. Eventually, he quit anticipating credence from outsiders. Simpler thus... Hopes wound, but without them, no pain... Hence, he held no hopes for Sofia's faith in him now.

However... Sofia ignored the bite. Her face stayed unaltered... icy, grave, and resolute.

"Oh?" she murmured softly. "I get it."

Her grip intensified on the paper, the sheet wrinkling softly from the force as she advanced toward him. Every stride deliberate, measured, deliberate. Not rash fury. Icier resolve.

Razeal, however, held his ground.

He remained precisely there, stance loose, stare locked on hers, as if beckoning whatever followed... As if truly eager to witness her reaction.

Maria sensed the strain intensify at once. The atmosphere linking them grew off, overly taut, resembling a cord ready to break. Even amid her inner tempest of feelings, impulse drove her onward. She refused this becoming another solitary trial for Razeal. Not akin to prior times at least. Not from one meant to support him presently... especially after years of hard-earned wisdom.

"Sofia... this isn't the proper approach," Maria uttered gently, reaching out as though to halt her next move. Her words held doubt yet firm insistence.

And... Prior to Sofia's reply, Razeal merely raised his palm a fraction without glancing her way, the motion minor yet clear.

Don’t.

The message rang true. He sought no meddling. No shielding or intervention.

And.... Maria's arm paused suspended before descending gradually. She grasped its intent.. He planned to confront this solo, success or failure.

Sofia pressed on until merely paces divided them.

At last, Sofia halted just one stride from him.

Their proximity allowed whispers to carry, letting Razeal discern the subtle tension under her poise—the deliberate rhythm of her breaths rather than ease, the clench and release of her fingers on the paper like she fought not to destroy it. She met his eyes without flinching, her gaze keen, probing, determined not to yield first.

"So how about this," she stated eventually, her tone hushed but firm. "Look me in the eyes and say you didn't do this... and I'll believe you."

The declaration suspended between them, straightforward and final.

For an instant, Razeal merely regarded her. Then a soft laugh slipped out, devoid of joy and fatigued. He inclined his head faintly, as if the scene evoked odd recognition.

"You think you will?" he queried, a slight upturn to his smile emerging, bereft of affection. His eyes held hers, assessing her gravity, the fervor in her anticipation of his reply. "Others uttered similar words once." He sighed lightly, look wandering briefly before refocusing. "Ultimately, they just..."

He trailed off. Unnecessary to complete. The implication hovered solo.

Sofia disregarded the hint. Her look stayed steady, frigid and intent, as though only the response counted.

"Did you," she echoed softly, "or did you not?"

Her gaze never wavered.

Razeal peered back, hunting for mistrust, for wariness, for the sure instant when trust crumbled ere starting. Rather, he encountered sheer determination. It disturbed him beyond blame.

Nonetheless, he replied.

"No," he uttered directly. "I didn't. I was framed."

He extended his arms a tad once more—the action near offhand, as if the reality ought to have shone clear from the start. No theatrical stress, no bid to sway her. Simply a declaration. A truth, voiced sans anticipation.

"Well," he appended with a minor lift of shoulders, mockery resurfacing as barrier, "not that I anticipate your trust. Thus, if divorce or similar appeals, you're ever welco..."

Yet his speech halted.

Utterly.

For Sofia had already voiced.

"Yes. I can see it too, hmmm."

Her tone stayed composed. Perilously composed. Yet a subtle grin graced her lips—tiny, authentic, like his words merely validated a prior choice.

Razeal blinked.

"...What?"

The retort escaped unbidden. For the initial time in their exchange, his easy facade fractured. Bewilderment supplanted assurance as he gawked at her, striving to verify his hearing.

Sofia dipped her head a bit, her demeanor easing in a manner mismatched to the prior strain.

"I believe you," she stated plainly.

The phrase struck deeper than any charge.

Razeal lingered, gaping blankly, his mind lagging behind events. This deviated from the norm. From every norm. He scanned her visage on instinct, awaiting the skepticism, the pause, the concealed distrust.. but detected zilch. Just serene conviction, as if his truth had always been apparent to her.

Ere he could retort, Sofia extended upward and gently ruffled his hair, the act offhand, nearly tender, like consoling him over interrogating. Then, sans delay, she bent in and planted a quick peck on his right cheek. "Don’t worry, leave this all to your wife.. I'm here now." She remarked breezily.

The touch proved gentle. Toasty. Vanished swiftly.. as did her airy remark.

Razeal remained immobile.

He froze in position, utterly motionless, his brain jamming amid incredulity and astonishment. His form overlooked its duties—whether to retreat, utter, respond. The heat persisted on his flesh well after her withdrawal, abandoning him rooted as if existence had subtly realigned sans notice.

For once, no retort came.

From across the chamber, Maria gawked outright, her cognition similarly stalled. She anticipated yells. Indictments. Disorder. Sofia's entry heralded naught else. Yet this—this serene endorsement, this prompt credence.. seemed near illusory.

She blinked, endeavoring to comprehend. Sofia trusted him... simply so? Merely on his word?

Maria's face stayed vacant, trapped betwixt solace and total bafflement.

But ere deeper rumination, Sofia directed her sight at her.

The abrupt pivot prompted Maria to stiffen a tad.

"It was... what was her name once more?" Sofia inquired, her inflection reverting to steady utility. "Yes... Selena, correct? The saintess. And the Celestia princess of this empire? These pair married the ones who blamed him?"

Maria wavered briefly ere nodding deliberately, yet uncertain how the tide turned so fast. Her thoughts raced to align.. nonetheless, she voiced it..

"Yes..."

Sofia inclined her head affirmatively, like ratifying a settled matter.

"Alright," she declared. "I’ll go meet those two. I’ll return." She glanced rearward at Razeal momentarily, her look tender anew, and tapped his cheek softly. "Wait for me, okay?"

Sans awaiting reply, she pivoted and strode toward the fractured wall of her prior making, traversing the strewn rubble with poised, even motions. From the rear, her bearing appeared at ease, nearly nonchalant, like no oddity transpired.

But had any faced her, they'd behold a stark contrast.

The gentleness fled her features.

Her eyes turned glacial.. piercing, concentrated, bearing a lethal aura so subdued it outweighed overt wrath. The slight grin endured, yet failed to touch her gaze. Whichever verdict she formed, whichever resolve she forged, it had crystallized into peril.

Frost under still depths.

Luckily or unluckily, none opposed her to witness.

Meanwhile.. Trailing her

Razeal showed no immediate response.

Not right away. Not even post Sofia's turnaround and departure. He merely positioned himself, stare affixed to her prior spot, his countenance void in a rare mismatch. Not poise. Not mastery. His psyche simply trailed yet.

What transpired resisted logical sorting.

Her uttered phrases, the assurance in her timbre, the casualness of her contact—it all seemed displaced, as if his perceptions misconstrued actuality wholly. His cogitations jammed betwixt denial and dismissal, his intellect softly asserting a mishearing. That clarity loomed shortly. That this proved false data, a glitch poised to self-mend.

It proved not.

The heat on his cheek endured.

He winked leisurely, still eyeing forward, as though awaiting reversal.

"Wait.. WHAT?"

And... Maria's cry shattered the hush. She jerked her head, like bodily ejecting the fog, her lips parting faintly ere speech synced with mind. She eyed Sofia's back.. failing to mesh the observed.

"Really?" she exclaimed, incredulity flooding her voice. "You trusted it just like that?" Her brows furrowed as insight hit fragmentally over wholly. "And wait.. what? Where did you say you’re going!"

Labeling it astonishment understated. Maria appeared truly adrift, as if anticipated result swapped for wholly alien.

Razeal yet to budge.

His sight clung to Sofia's waning form, though his face revealed scant beyond subdued bewilderment.

At Maria's call, Sofia halted en route.

She rotated gradually, peering over her shoulder at Maria, her demeanor serene, nearly quizzically bemused.

"Didn’t I just tell you?" she posed.

Maria's lips hung ajar, riposte perishing unborn. Speechless, she stood.

Razeal observed the interplay mutely, his focus dawdling on Sofia's silhouette, though he too appeared unclear what he sought presently. The earlier strain evaporated, supplanted by odder unease—a strange doubt nesting uncomfortably within.

Then Sofia's look veered anew, landing on Maria with subdued acuity.

"Anyway," she uttered, her tone elongating as doubt infiltrated, "what were you two doing here?"

Her eyes squinted subtly. The query rang casual, yet the subtext diverged. Their solitary presence in the space plainly registered.

Maria twitched nearly unnoticeably.

"Umm.. nothing," she answered hastily, overly so. "Just... discussing something important."

Her digits reflexively clenched the necklace concealed rearward. The shift was faint, yet stiff. She molded her face to neutrality, though her rigid shoulders exposed the strain.

Sofia observed her an extra beat. The reply felt amiss. Dubious. But the notion fled rapidly. Pressing issues beckoned now.

"...Alright," she conceded finally, though doubt faintly echoed in her pitch.

Sans further utterance, her frame blurred into speed. Azure glow sparked around her briefly, power gathering ere she dissolved in a azure flash piercing the fractured wall. The atmosphere snapped gently after, the timber beneath groaning from abrupt pressure. A soft thunder resounded through, succeeded by quiet.

Scattered water beads plummeted where she lingered, sparkling momentarily ere pooling on the ground.

Maria fixed on the void she abandoned.

For numerous extended instants, she stirred not. Her brain labored to align with the transpired.. the clash that fizzled, the swift faith, the abrupt exit. None matched her foresight.

Gradually, she swiveled toward Razeal.

He scarce shifted either.

The space sank into utter calm where even remote gusts via the fracture sounded amplified. Moments elapsed.. ticks, perhaps extended. Neither voiced, each grappling the fallout singly.

At length, Razeal angled toward her.

"...Did that happen?" he queried post a beat, his timbre oddly hesitant. "What I think just happened?"

An nearly endearing quality marked his query. His typical edge vanished, yielding to true perplexity.. near naivety. As if seeking validation that actuality hadn't deceived him.

Maria winked.

Briefly, words evaded her. Rarely, if ever, had she viewed him thus—exposed, doubtful, seeking comfort over bracing letdown. It startled her beyond the day's rest.

Yet, she nodded measuredly.

"...Yeah," she murmured, though her own affirmation rang dubious.

Razeal eyed her another tick, then averted, muting.

So not a reverie, he mused. Nor delusion.

The notion yet absurd.

His palm ascended unwittingly, digits grazing softly his cheek where Sofia kissed. The heat waned, yet its recall clung, persistent and tangible. He scowled mildly, as if wrestling a puzzle defying his grasp of human nature.

Post a spell, he peeked at Maria anew.

"And... where did she go again?" he inquired, evidently missing the ensuing after that pivotal instant.

Maria elevated her arm clumsily, thumb-jabbing rearward toward t