Axel entered the balcony in slow steps. As he entered and looked to his left on the floor, he saw Lumina, her tear-filled eyes fixed on the wall; her beautiful face, usually radiating positivity, was nowhere to be seen. Only a broken girl remained. She seemed to be ready to shout, thinking it was Vyra, but it was not, and when their eyes met.

Her hollow eyes regained another emotion. An emotion Axel never thought he would see on her face. It was Hatred. He sighed, a bitter taste in his heart at the unforeseen situation he had not accounted for. Lumina's face became absolutely cold as she stated in a chilling tone, "GET OUT OF MY FACE."

There was an extremely sharp edge to her voice that he never thought he would hear from her, but regardless, he hadn't just come here to leave just like that, "Lumina, listen, I….,"

But the princess shouted at the top of her lungs, "I SAID FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE."

Axel let out a tired Exhale. Thankfully, he had covered the area around the two of them in a dome of transparent mana. So, her shout did not escape elsewhere. Otherwise, Vyra would have come crashing down, hearing her desperate shout. Axel added, taking a step closer towards her, "No, I can't leave without giving you an explanation."

Lumina's face bubbled in rage; she laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "Explanation?"

"Why would you give me an explanation? Am I your girlfriend or something?"

Well, from a logical point of view, it was true; she wasn't his girlfriend, nothing was going on between the two, Lumina had no right to be upset, nor did Axel have to give her any explanation or consolation whatsoever. But that was only true if you think about it in cold logic. Unfortunately, in extreme situations, humans often think irrationally. No matter what anyone says, humans have always been emotional beings; they were never cold and calculating organisms that could see the reality of the situation and brush off their emotions.

If humans were truly logical, there wouldn't be nine different forces in the mere 1% area of the continent where humans lived. All trying to destroy one another in various ways. The same applied to this situation. Especially a young man or woman in love could not think logically. The same reason Axel couldn't control himself and think of anything when Sophia appeared dressed so beautifully, the exact reason why Lumina was so heartbroken, even though she should not be.

"No… You deserve an explanation, and you didn't deserve to see that. Neither should you be crying like this. It's ok, you can hate me. I deserve your hate. I don't mind. You can hate Sophia as well, but it was mostly my mistake."

"When the show of past illusions was over, I wanted to tell you the truth, the truth about Sophia and me. But I wasn't able to. I knew you would be really sad when you hear it. So, I thought...I could tell you later."

"I can promise you this, Lumina, I will never try to hurt you of my own free will."

"Indeed, I cannot ever see you as a romantic partner, but you're my friend. I would never do something bad to you."

The hatred in Lumina's eyes did not quell in the slightest, even after all those words. Axel was about to reach out to her hand, but she slapped his hand away. Showing an expression of disgust.

"You're a fucking hypocrite, Axel Nomrad. Was it all a lie when you said you only ever loved your dead childhood friend?" she questioned, her tone laced with venom.

Axel's expression turned helpless as he revealed, "Would you believe me if I said a part of my childhood friend is inside of Sophia?"

Lumina laughed again, this time her laugh was tinged with amusement, "Axel Nomrad, do you think I am three years old? You expect me to believe such nonsense?"

But the helpless smile on the face of the man in front of her remained, "I wish I could tell you the truth, Lumina. But I can't, and even if I do. You will not believe me, just like you don't believe me now."

He walked closer, trying to convince her desperately, "Remember the lecture of Professor Darwin, when he explained how other souls get mixed with ours from the trial. Then slowly, as we grow stronger after coming out of the trial. We revert to our original selves more and more."

Lumina narrowed her eyes, unable to understand why he was bringing that irrelevant topic now, and she nodded in hesitation. "It was only when I recovered to my true self, expelling the impurities added in the trial to my soul, that I could recognize why I had always been wary of Sophia and somewhat hated her as well."

Lumina's eyes widened. That's right, she knew, Axel was quite wary of Sophia until a particular time.

Axel explained further, "The reason why I was wary of her is because of certain unnerving similarities in behavior she had with my childhood friend. I couldn't make heads or tails of it at that time since I wasn't completely myself. But when I recovered, I understood that a part of her was inside the valkyrie. I don't know how or why?"

"That is also the reason why she is unknowingly drawn towards me, you know that as well. It is also because she was going through a similar process that she was not able to recognize me completely. Until we both clashed and confronted each other."

SLAP!!

The sound of a crisp slap followed. Lumina had slapped Axel on the face. She slapped him again. Unable to contain her anger and disappointment, "What nonsense are you spouting? Do you think I'm a fool? The valkyrie is a being who was summoned from a completely different world. And you think a part of your so-called childhood friend is inside Sophia? What utter bullshit."

"Just say that you fell for her beauty, or maybe that bitch seduced you intentionally."

Axel inhaled deeply, understanding that no matter what he said, she wouldn't accept it, unless he told her the complete truth, which he wouldn't obviously, so he said something else in a guilty tone, "Like I said, Lumina, you can hate me, you can hate Sophia as well. But I hope you don't let that hate overtake your mind. Please don't let the negative emotions change you into something you are not."

Axel leaned in closer, grabbing her shoulders, "You can slap me more if that makes you feel better…."

Slap!

Slap!

Slap!

Axel clutched his right cheek and stepped back after three consecutive slaps. He was dumbfounded for a moment; he didn't think this innocent little princess would actually go for it. What the actual fuck?

Lumina snorted disdaifully, "Hmm, I do feel slightly better, so let me slap you a few more times."

Axel stepped backward in caution, "Okay, now wait a minute, princess, calm down."

Lumina continued to step closer while Axel continued to step back. Still, to his surprise, she did not get any closer and was about to leave through the balcony door after giving him one last angry look, but Axel caught her hand before she could exit through the balcony door.

She visibly flinched and tried to shake away his grip, but was unable to do so. Axel's tone suddenly became serious as he asked, "Lumina, you do have that necklace I made for you on you, right?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned back with annoyance.

"Answer the question, Lumina." Axel asked, his tone demanding.

Lumina recoiled from that commanding tone of his voice. With hesitation, she answered, "No, Lucien took it."

The statement took him aback. And seeing his absent look, Lumina swung her arm and escaped from his grip, her expression turning sour again from his sudden shift in behavior. At the same time, Axel stood there in a daze.

He simply cursed at his shitty luck, "Fuck."

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