I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space Chapter 379: Razeal X Maria

Her hold on his arm grew tighter without her realizing it.

"I can’t pinpoint when things took a turn," she confessed. "But understand this: the version of me you saw wasn’t the real one." Her tone grew gentle, nearly cracking. "I don’t hate you. I never did, and I never will."

A slight quiver affected her eyes as she raised them to meet his.

"Plus, I didn’t join you for some hidden motive or whatever you might suspect," she pressed on, the words tumbling out quicker, like a dam once broken couldn’t hold back. "Yes... I deceived you. But the deception came from my desire to remain near you. To check if you’d transformed. If you remained... the man you used to be. Not the one the world claimed you’d turned into."

She edged a little nearer, narrowing the gap separating them.

"I simply yearned to stay by your side," she murmured softly. "Nothing more drove me."

"And... what are you getting at exactly?" Razeal questioned, the furrow in his forehead intensifying. Her stare locked onto him with a fervor that unsettled him, her digits still quivering lightly around the pendant. The gravity in her words, her approach, her mentions of letdown and significance—all swirled around an idea he couldn’t fully seize.

He truly couldn’t fathom her intent.

Maria gulped once. The reluctance that had restrained her for ages finally shattered.

"What I mean is..." Her breathing faltered, yet she pushed the declaration forward regardless. "I love you."

The admission struck the chamber like a thunderclap.

And... Razeal gazed at her.

"Huh?"

He blinked, seeming to await his thoughts aligning with what his hearing had captured.

"Umm.... What?"

Instinctively, he retreated a step, the action so sudden that Maria’s grasp slid from his limb. The newfound space between them cut like a blade. Bewildering.

"You?" he uttered in astonishment, a skeptical chuckle slipping free. "Sure... No way."

His skepticism showed plainly. It etched oddly on his features: initial stun, followed by denial. Among all the possible twists the day might bring, this lay far outside his expectations.

"This is just messed up," he grumbled, dragging a hand over his hair. "What next? Riven reveals she’s a woman and proposes marriage too? Sure.. No thanks.."

The irony surged rapidly, instinctively, bordering on protection.

And

Strangely, the space around them grew motionless afterward. The atmosphere linking them thickened, loaded with an explosive tension. Maria glanced briefly at her empty palm—the one that had clutched his arm—before returning her eyes to him.

Her expression had shifted. The urgency had evolved into greater vulnerability. Wounded.

"Wait," Razeal interjected hastily, lifting a palm as though to halt the pace. "First off, no." He directed a finger at her. "Second, you’re aware I’m married, correct?" Next, his digit veered to the splintered barrier where Sofia had exited just before. "She stormed through that exit moments ago."

His gesture swung back to Maria, his inflection hardening. "And third, you expect me to accept your words at face value?"

The patronizing edge in his speech stood out clearly. It wasn’t deliberate. Merely pure guarded incredulity.

Maria recoiled.

"Hey, no, don’t.." she advanced a pace, her poise unraveling. "You don’t get it."

"Get what?" he retorted sharply.

"Our history," she maintained, her pitch elevating unwittingly. "If you recalled.. if you truly recalled, you’d understand."

She advanced once more, dread infiltrating her features as though witnessing an escape. "Allow me to clarify. Let me recount what transpired between us."

And at the same moment.. Abruptly, a known voice resounded within Razeal’s thoughts.

[Sigh... what she’s saying might be true, host. I can’t restore your erased memories. But if you want, I can show you what I observed from my perspective. It might help you understand something.] Villey’s tone held subdued warning.

Razeal halted briefly, absorbing both Maria’s and Villey’s statements simultaneously.

Yet once more, he dismissed it in that instant, devoid of any doubt.

"No need," he stated bluntly.

Maria stiffened. "What? Why wouldn’t you.. You should at least.. " she started, moving ahead once again.

He raised his palm abruptly, halting her advance.

"It’s not important."

Her visage altered in a flash.

"It’s not important?" she echoed, skepticism fracturing into fury. "It’s not important?"

Her self-control crumbled.

"It is important!" she bellowed, tone fracturing. "It’s important to me!"

Her palms shook as she balled them tightly. The control she’d gripped so fiercely disintegrated.

"I just fucking told you that I love you!" she roared, the phrase ripping forth. "I told you I love you. I revealed my true emotions and you refuse to hear me?"

"Even after you’ve forgotten damn near everything or are just faking amnesia?" she went on, sentiments overflowing. "I still had the grace to confess! To elaborate! And you won’t even listen?"

Razeal refrained from cutting in this time.

"Looooook at meeee!!! I’m still here!" she screamed, her restraint vanishing entirely. "I still love you after all this time! I followed you to the sea. I turned criminal against the Empire for you! I endangered my life, my prospects, my whole world just for you..!" Her bosom rose and fell with each gasp. "I did it all even knowing exactly what you.fuckingg are!"

"Obviously you won’t grasp why I fucking love you!" she sobbed. "It’s because of this."

With a quivering grip, she raised the pendant. The alloy reflected the glow as it dangled amid them, a delicate item amid their burdensome legacy. Her pitch soared, hoarse and shaky. "Because this fucking held meaning. Because we fucking held meaning."

Her cry reverberated off the ruined surfaces, unbridled and wild now.

She unleashed all she’d bottled up, oblivious to duration, in a torrent of feelings. Though Razeal caught only what he ought or she shouldn’t have voiced.

"And.. What I am?" he echoed softly, his gaze sharpening as he regarded her, head cocked aside.

And.. Maria halted. Rage fled her countenance, supplanted by abrupt dread. She comprehended her near-misstep, what desperation had unveiled.

"No... I didn’t mean that." Her tone mellowed at once, alarm seeping in. "That’s not what I meant."

Razeal observed her for an extended beat before responding.

"Hmmmm." The murmur escaped him softly, nearly contemplative. No scorn tinged it this round—merely an odd aloofness.

"Well... that’s precisely why it doesn’t matter," he concluded eventually.

"I don’t care to uncover my history," he proceeded, his delivery firm, nearly detached. "With you or anyone. Since it alters nothing presently." His stare remained fixed on her, unwavering. "Whether you loved me or otherwise.. Why should it count now?"

His serenity clashed oddly with the tempest she’d unleashed.

"Look at you," he appended, motioning vaguely her way. "Perhaps I might have heard you out. Perhaps I could have embraced your affection if you’d truly trusted me... if you’d trusted I was innocent. Because I truly was."

He inclined his head a touch

"But you didn’t."

"So now.. If I discover our shared past," he elaborated, "It’ll merely worsen my pain...Because then," he maintained coolly, "I’d face the reality that someone who claimed love still deemed me capable of that."

"And if no bond existed," he tacked on, "Your proposal gets rejected anyway. So what shifts either way?"

The directness hit without softening.

"So why plunge into that deliberately?" he queried softly. "Why unearth something bound to breed regret? Logic dictates against it."

Maria regarded him as if slapped.

"What are you implying?" Her inflection splintered despite attempts to stabilize it. "You’re claiming that my response.. that my actions render it meaningless to you? That I must simply trust you and pretend it never happened? When you damn well did it? And now you’re flipping it onto me?"

"And I just stated," he interrupted smoothly, "I didn’t."

Razeal merely shook his head faintly.

She fixed her eyes on him..

"You still doubt me," he pressed on steadily. "Thus, it’s pointless."

"You did do it!" she erupted. "And we both recognize it! So what’s the purpose here? If the past means nothing.. if you don’t want me, then admit it! Admit you reject me! But don’t lie outright or shelter behind this!!?"

"I already explained," she declared, her delivery quaking yet forceful. "I don’t mind if you did it. I forgive you. I’m open to offering another opportunity." She jabbed at her own form, nearly aggressively. "I’m not demanding reciprocation. I merely... I merely wish to accompany you. That’s it."

"Regarding whether you did it or not..." she chuckled harshly, shaking her head. "It’s common knowledge. No shred of proof exists showing your innocence. None. Your sole defense is your claim.. your damn words alone. You seriously believe that constitutes solid proof? That anyone would swallow it?" She bellowed now, the noise bouncing off the shattered barriers.

Razeal, however, simply shrugged.

"Well," he replied levelly, somewhat reflective, "did you catch what I witnessed moments ago?"

He thumbed loosely behind himself.

"Since someone just trusted me.. Solely on my word."

"So, obviously."

"That’s because she’s fucking naïve," she retorted. "A fucking fool. Who swallows nonsense like that? You expect a rapist to confess? That’s absurd."

The term lingered heavily in the space dividing them.

Razeal’s face held steady at first.. But gradually

He arched one brow marginally and eyed her.

Without a word.

Maria sensed his scrutiny bearing down.

"And you know what?" she erupted anew, unable to rein herself. "I don’t care. Cling to it. Cling to everything."

Her tone fractured as wrath intertwined with agony.

"I just needed you to know.. because you ought to care," she stated, drawing nearer once more against her will. "Because a person like me, aware of your deeds.. still chooses forgiveness."

She tapped her breast lightly with her knuckles, underscoring it.

"Chooses to trail you. To turn criminal—no, a foe—in the empire’s view, the church’s view, the entire damn world’s view, all for you.. Is prepared to abandon it all for you."

Her gaze burned fiercely, tears at last streaming down.

"I’m even set to hazard my life for you, and I love you still amid all you’ve wrought. And you reject me solely because I lacked faith in you? As you claim?"

The phrases cut deep, rough-edged.

"Doesn’t loving you despite recognizing the monster you are offer stronger evidence of devotion than blindly assuming your innocence?"

The charge struck viciously and.. Raw.

The chamber contracted beneath its burden.

"Anyway," Maria rasped, scrubbing at her tears furiously, "Go fuck yourself."

She shoved by him, her shoulder grazing his limb harshly as she pivoted to the entrance.

"I was mistaken," she whispered, voice splintering. "I shouldn’t have bothered."

She advanced a few strides before halting suddenly, as though struck by a thought.

"And also fucking take this," she hissed, whirling back fiercely.

As she drew her arm rearward and hurled the violet pendant forcefully onto the surface between them. It clanged sharply against the flooring and skidded over the timber until settling by Razeal’s boots.

The tiny item shimmered dimly amid the grime.

"If you can’t recall," she uttered amid sobs, "why should I hold onto it?"

Quiet ensued.

Maria spun away anew, frame shuddering, and proceeded to the shattered barrier without a backward glance.

Razeal stayed rooted in place.

His attention drifted downward gradually to the pendant lying close to his footwear.

He made no move to retrieve it.

He uttered not her name.

He merely lingered, eyes on the minor relic bearing a legacy he’d opted to ignore, as remnants of her outburst hung in the damaged space.

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