Maria, who had been silently following him this whole time, finally tilted her head to the other side, her brows knitting slightly as she looked at Razeal's back. She walked a little closer, her steps calm but her voice steady, almost annoyingly honest. "Maybe you be better changing if you just accept your mistake…" she said lightly, almost casually, but there was weight behind it. "I mean I've been with you.. for some days and so.. yeah, you aren't the best person to be around, you have very shitty and bad personality… but you definitely better than what you should be."

Her eyes flickered over him, her expression shifting with something between annoyance and reluctant understanding.

"Maybe because of what they did… you improved for better," Maria continued, her lips lifting into a sarcastic, little smile. She didn't even look at him directly now, her gaze staying half-sideways. "At least now you aren't disgusting as what people used to say for you…" She let out a slow breath. "You aren't a bad person. It's just you are running from everything… Maybe it's time for you to forgive yourself."

Her tone softened slightly.. not much, but enough.

"And stop hating women just because… it was your fault to begin with." She shrugged slightly. "They did what they did… what they thought was reasonable. Betrayal won't be the right word for it."

She said it all with that sarcastic smile still tugging at her lips, as if she wasn't fully serious yet somehow was. She was saying the words she thought he needed to hear.. her attempt at helping him in the most Maria-like way possible: blunt, sarcastic, careless on the outside, overly observant inside.

She could see clearly he never recovered from that past incident. It clung to him like a second skin, a wound left open for too long. And it was because of that one thing.. whatever happened back then that he had filled himself with hate for everyone. It didn't seem right even to her.

Maybe he wasn't the best person, maybe he was still morally questionable and unpredictable… but she couldn't deny he did help her a lot. Even though he was the one who put her life in danger several times… that part And well.. again.. It was her who chose to come with him. And for thing she wanted from him, he never actually took advantage of her.

And now seeing him like this… she felt disappointed. Truly disappointed.

It was like staring at someone who had enough potential to make the stars jealous.. yet he walked around like someone who had thrown all his chances away. Someone who had no idea where he was heading. He had hard edges, too sharp for someone his age.. Stronger then most she even knows.. Better looking.. Not shitty persion filled with lust.. Or even well coward or weak.. In all ways he just seems.. Succesful person.. Just cold walls built around him too high for anyone to scale. And the strange part?

She never once saw him sit down calmly. Never saw him relax. Never saw him take joy in anything… for himself. Its like was always racing something invisible, chasing something, planning something, fighting something.. an endless mental battle.

To her, he looked like someone who genuinely didn't know how to live his own life.

"What did he do?" Neptunia blinked her eyes rapidly, looking back and forth between Maria and Razeal. From the way Maria talked, it sounded like he had committed something terrible. "Like… from your words, it seems like he did something bad. And they did that because of that…?"

Neptunia's eyes nerrowed in curiosity, blinking like she was watching some dramatic soap opera unfold right in front of her.

Maria didn't even spare her a glance. She ignored Neptunia completely, inhaling a light, slow breath and still keeping her eyes to the side as she spoke again, this time addressing Razeal.

"You need to forget about them and concentrate on your own life," she murmured. "I get it, you don't like them… but you should at least give yourself a chance to be happy. Maybe that the… favour you can do to yourself…"

She wasn't soft. Not gentle. But her words had weight. A strange, rare sincerity.

Razeal suddenly stopped walking.

"And I am saying you do NOT need to be concerned about that." His voice came out low, trembling slightly with a restrained emotion she hadn't heard from him before. He didn't face her at first, but she could feel the tension filling up his whole back, his shoulders tightening.

Then he turned around abruptly.

"You don't even know anything about me!"

His deep voice tore into the air, sharp enough to cut through the murmur of the marketplace. A few people instinctively flinched and turned.

"The first time you saw me.. NOT even knowing about me you called me disgusting," he continued, his chest rising and falling, his crimson eyes beginning to burn brighter. "You tried to get me kicked out from there! All just because you listened to the words around them!"

His words spilled out fast, raw.

"Even if they all were lies… or something else entirely… You don't know how it feels. To be accused of something you never did!"

His voice cracked slightly not from weakness but from anger. Pure, unfiltered anger.

"You just know how to act like you know something," he spat. "And you think that just makes you right when all you doing is being childish and acting like an ignorant noble brat.. which you FUCKING are!"

Maria's just stared at him letting him yell at her.

"Trying to be heroic when all you doing is STUPIDITY!" Razeal roared.

"You literally made me your enemy just because you wanted some attention!" His hands trembled as he pointed at her in small, sharp gestures. "Do you know how stupid that was?!"

People around them stopped walking. Heads turned. Conversations died mid-sentence. The entire street slowly froze.

"If I wanted.. I could've killed you," he growled. "You think I didn't have ways?!"

Maria still said nothing. Her gaze held him calm, steady, almost challenging him to let it all out.

"I just DIDN'T FUCKING want to become the villain that world wants me to fucking become…" Razeal continued, his voice rising again. "I don't kill people unreasonably or for small things… I don't kill Children's.. which you FUCKING are.."

His breath hitched. His jaw tightened.

"You still are just crying over the thing I did to TEACH you a lesson! To NOT do that again! And being FUCKING stupid!"

People whispered now. Eyes widened. Some stepped back. But Razeal didn't seem aware of any of them.

"Can't you SEE I am trying to be a better fucking person.. which I ALWAYS was!" His voice cracked again, anger mixing with something deeper. Hurt. Frustration. A buried wound ripped open.

"I am NOT some fucking villain," he said through his teeth. "I never did something bad or unreasonable… so NO ONE.. fucking NO ONE deserves to call me that!"

The air trembled with the force of his voice.

"And YES," he roared, "IT WAS A BETRAYAL because I NEVER did that!! Keep THAT in your Fucking head, Maria Graves!"

The name struck the air like a blade.

Razeal stood there, chest rising up and down, breath unstable, every muscle tense, crimson eyes bright like burning rubies.

Maria, surprisingly, didn't look embarrassed at all despite being screamed at loudly in front of a whole street. Instead, she just stared at him… stunned.

Not because he yelled.

But because..

For the first time since she met him…

Razeal was actually showing emotions.

Real ones.

Not coldness. Not apathy. Not that dead expression he always wore.

But anger. Hurt. Rage. Frustration. Pain.

He looked human.

And that surprised her more than anything else.

She wasn't offended. She wasn't Even flustered or ashamed.

She was… shocked.. Like weirdly, deeply shocked.

Because the Razeal she knew.. the one who hid behind cold eyes and emotionless face suddenly cracked open. And from inside came a storm she never expected he was even capable of holding.

Not a mask.

Not an act.

Just… emotions.

Pure and raw.

She didn't even look away from him as he glared at her, breathing hard. She didn't blink or even retreated.

She just looked at him, absorbing everything, her mind processing his words..

Razeal Virelan, the boy who always looked like nothing mattered, actually feels something.

And that… was more shocking than his yelling.

"Heyyy guys everyone is looking at us… should we not do this? Calm down, calm down, will yaaa?!" Neptunia suddenly threw herself between Razeal and Maria, practically jumping into the heated space between them. Her hands shot up, palms out, waving frantically as if trying to push down the thick, sharp tension that had sliced the air a moment ago.

Razeal froze. Not because of Neptunia.. her voice barely registered but because in the next second, awareness slammed into him like a blade to the skull.

He dragged one trembling hand up to his face.

His crimson eyes still blazing, still shaking were wide with something he almost never showed: confusion… no, shock. Violent, raw, unbearable shock.

"What the hell…?" his breath tightened, barely audible. His frown deepened further, lines forming sharply between his brows as he pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead.

Why… why did I get angry over something that useless?

His thoughts clashed against each other like broken glass.

Why can't I control it?

Why the hell isn't it stopping?

What is this?

What's wrong with me?

His hand trembled harder, fingers digging into his scalp.

He could feel it like a storm roaring inside him.

Too many emotions, too fast, too loud.

Anger.

Fury.

Grief.

Hurt.

Resentment.

Hatred.

Confusion.

A hundred things swirling and crashing with no filter, no wall, no control.

His whole body felt like it was going to split open from the intensity of it.

Fuck these vampire heightened emotions… He cursed inside his mind, jaw tightening.

This is insane… this is too much. I can't even

He clenched his other hand into a fist so hard his knuckles popped. His body shook not in fear, but in the consuming effort to hold himself together. To keep from exploding again. From ripping something apart. From shouting again. From… losing himself.

The worst part?

He wasn't sure he was succeeding.

He lowered his hand slowly and looked up only to see dozens of eyes staring at him. Curious. Startled. Afraid. Whispering.

That made him feel weird.. Like vulnerability..

But he swallowed it down.

"…Let's go," he muttered, voice low, rough, still shaking at the edges. He turned with sharp, abrupt movement and walked ahead, one hand still pressed against his forehead like he needed physical pressure to keep himself from breaking apart.

Maria and Neptunia exchanged glances.. Maria sepcially..

He looked… wrong. Too wrong.

His steps were steady, but his shoulders were trembling. His breath uneven. His aura chaotic like flickering flames trying to stabilize and failing miserably. Even Neptunia's playful expression disappeared as she quietly fell into step behind him, eyes repeatedly flicking between his back and Maria.

Maria remained silent for a long moment.

Her gaze followed Razeal, her expression unreadable mixed with thought, hesitation, uncertainty. Even as the crowd began to disperse, she could still feel the echo of his outburst vibrating in the air.

His body…

It was still trembling.

What's happening to him…? The question echoed in Maria's mind. For the first time since she'd known him, she felt something unfamiliar bloom inside her chest concern.

A tiny, quiet, reluctant concern… but still there.

For a moment, she even thought of reaching out to ask him if he was alright.

But she didn't.

Instead, she looked away, her Aqua blue lashes lowering as she replayed his words in her mind.

He said… he never did it... They betrayed him?

Her brows drew together.

Could it… could it be true?

She kept walking behind him, footsteps slow, mind full of questions she never expected to be asking. Thoughts flickered through her head hesitant, conflicted, tangled. She wasn't ready to believe him not really that shs could believe him. But she was certainly confused about this now.. Like why would someone have these kinds of emotions if he was guilty?..

After several silent minutes, she finally let out a soft exhale.

"…I was just trying to help," Maria said quietly. Her voice wasn't defensive just tired. "I had no other intentions."

She didn't lift her head and she didn't expect him to respond.

And he didn't.

Razeal didn't so much as look back he just walked ahead like her words didn't even reach him.

But inside his mind

System… what is happening to me? His thoughts were frantic, laced with anger and fear both.. Even restraint..

Why the fuck are these emotions getting stronger and stronger? Why is it like like I just want to let everything out? Like I want to tear something apart? What the hell is

[Being a vampire is hard, host…]

The system's voice finally cut in, echoing into his head with an uncharacteristically calm tone.

[I warned you beforehand, but you took it lightly. You thought you could handle it. You can't handle it. Not like this. Not uncontrolled. Not without feeding… or grounding yourself. It'll keep getting worse… until you do something about it.]

Huh?.. Razeal was even more confused now..

What do you mean? Do what?

He questioned

But the emotions were suffocating.

Every step he took felt like stepping on cracking ice.

A single wrong thought could trigger another explosion.

The system continued:

[Your emotional state amplifies thousands of folds the moment you suppress them.. what was hunger, anger, or any intense emotion. Vampires don't numb emotions they magnify them. Every feeling becomes louder, sharper, heavier. That's why you.. Nothing Comes withput a price host.. I thought you know about that better..]

"Enough…" Razeal cut villey off, rubbing his forehead harder, trying to steady his breathing.

He didn't even wanna hear this bullshit..

He didn't want to accept it.

He didn't want to admit that his emotions were no longer entirely his to control.

Neptunia watched him from the side, worry replacing her earlier teasing spark. She had never seen someone visibly trying not to fall apart like this

Maria, though quiet, kept sneaking glances at him.

Her expression shifted frustration mixing with confusion, softening at the edges with something she didn't want to name.

Because seeing him like this…

This wasn't the Razeal she knew.

He was always composed.

Always still.

Always unreadable.

But right now…

Right now he looked like he was fighting a war inside himself.

And losing.

Maria swallowed, then spoke again, softer this time.

"…I didn't mean to upset you."

Still no reply.

Maria just sighed.. Loudly seeing him not reply again..

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