Chapter 69: Lia also made her decision

After a few minutes of tense silence, Lia finally swallowed hard and spoke, her voice trembling despite her efforts to sound steady.

“I’ll… I’ll do it too.”

Her words startled both Lucian and Seraphina because just a few minutes ago, she had been so against it.

One minute ago, she had resisted with every fibre of her being. She had been against the idea of holding a weapon, against the idea of taking a life, even if it was only a monster.

And now, despite the quiver in her voice and the way her fingers twitched slightly in nervousness, she had made a choice.

Her eyes held fear, determination, and an unspoken need to prove herself.

It wasn’t just the jealousy that drove her, though she wasn’t going to deny that it had played a major role in her decision.

She reluctantly admitted that she wanted to measure herself against Seraphina’s awakening.

But more than that, it was the need to be useful—at least a little useful to her brother.

Since Lucian’s paralysis had ended, he had become self-reliant in ways that left her no room for her to help.

Lucian had his mother, who could cook better than her, take care of him better than her.

He no longer needed her to feed him, wash him, or do other things.

He even seemed to have a rich friend, who, to her annoyance, was a beautiful woman and his childhood friend.

He didn’t even need an allowance from her, since she was the one getting everything from him.

She felt a bit useless sometimes, the same feeling Lucian had felt for years during the days of his paralysis—before and after the apocalypse had started.

And now, facing the reality of their new world, she felt that if she didn’t act, if she didn’t do something meaningful, she might be left behind.

Because of that, she wanted to do something for him as well.

Lucian’s gaze softened, but it did not waver from her.

He looked at her properly, wanting to make sure if she really wanted to do this.

He needed to be certain that this decision was truly hers—that it wasn’t the product of some stupid fleeting bravado, or an attempt to mimic Seraphina.

But he saw nothing like that—only a quiet determination.

He knew how much it would take a toll on her to make such a decision.

It wasn’t easy for humans to accept the act of killing unless it was necessary.

Seraphina didn’t say anything, simply letting them continue discussing it.

She had already awakened, and even though she didn’t feel much, she could still sense a subtle difference within herself.

Her fingers clenched slightly as she barely realised that her strength had increased just a little.

She didn’t notice it, but her skin had grown slightly paler, as if she had just stepped out from a vast, snow-covered field.

Even her icy blue eyes carried a faint new shine that hadn’t been there before.

Of course, she remained completely unaware of all of this.

She understood the kind of mental battle Lia was going through, having just faced the same struggle herself.

But she also knew that this awakening was necessary if they wanted to survive in this new, unforgiving world.

The world outside their house was no longer the gentle place it once was. The rules had changed. Mercy alone could no longer protect them.

Strength could.

After a few seconds of carefully observing Lia’s resolve and seeing that it was genuine, Lucian finally nodded.

“Okay,” he said with a soft smile.

Seraphina stepped aside as she gazed at the three other goblins, who were trembling.

They were still alive.

Now that she looked at them properly, she could see multiple stab wounds on their limbs, through which blood was seeping.

The goblins’ bodies shivered violently, their thin chests rising and falling in uneven, panicked breaths.

Their limbs were slightly bent.

At first, Seraphina had assumed it was simply the strange structure of their bodies. After all, goblins looked nothing like humans.

But then her gaze slowly drifted to the walls.

And something didn’t feel right.

The wall had slight damage—almost minimal—but she could clearly see faint stains of dirt and grime on the clean surface, similar to what was also smeared across the goblins’ bodies.

Her eyes slowly widened.

‘Did he just smash them on the walls?’

She thought, studying the room more carefully now.

The green blood on the table.

A goblin lying at the far end of the room.

A bone dagger driven straight through its skull.

It rested at the edge of the room, and she could see the trail of blood that had dripped from its head, leaving a large smear on the floor where it had been dragged into place.

Neither of the women had noticed that goblin before.

Her eyes traced that trail.

Curiously, Seraphina slowly moved toward it, her steps careful and almost hesitant, while Lucian and Lia walked toward another goblin.

Lia slowly knelt in front of the goblin as Lucian handed her the knife.

Unlike Seraphina, Lia’s entire body trembled as she stared at the still-living creature.

Even though Lucian had pressed the goblin’s face down with his shoe, hiding its twisted expression from her view, she couldn’t stop the feeling of dread crawling slowly through her veins.

The creature’s weak, struggling movements.

The faint, pitiful whimpering sounds.

The sharp, metallic smell of blood lingering in the air.

Everything combined into a suffocating pressure that seemed to press heavily against her mind.

Her hands, holding the knife, trembled violently.

The blade shook so much that it almost slipped from her fingers.

But just as it was about to slide out of her grip—

Lucian’s hand gently wrapped around hers.

His grip was steady and warm.

The trembling stopped almost instantly.

“It’s fine. It’ll be over soon,” he gently whispered.

His voice was soft, almost soothing.

Lia’s body slowly recovered from the trembling.

Her breathing gradually steadied.

But what reached her more than his words was something else entirely.

She could hear the sharp, heavy guilt in his tone.

Lucian never—never—wanted any of them to suffer even a little.

Not even the smallest amount.

Yet here he was.

Forcing his sister to kill.

Forcing her to stain her hands with blood.

But he also knew that if he didn’t push them now… the world would eventually force them in far worse ways.

Suffering brought growth.

He knew that.

But knowing that truth and forcing it upon the people you loved were two completely different things.

His fingers tightened slightly over hers.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

The words were almost inaudible.

“I won’t ever ask you to do this again.”

Lia froze.

Her movements stopped as she slightly glanced toward him, listening to his soft words that she couldn’t quite hear clearly, and the sight only made her heart tremble a little more.

Lucian’s eyes had turned lifeless and empty, and he bit his lip hard enough to taste the faint metallic hint of blood.

Still, she didn’t say anything to him—more like she didn’t know what to say.

She knew he was trying to act tough.

Trying to carry everything on his shoulders, just like he always did.

She thought that even he might have been slightly shaken by the goblins.

But that wasn’t the case.

The sight of the goblins didn’t faze him at all.

Not their blood.

Not their twisted, broken bodies.

Not even the desperate, terrified screams from earlier that were coming from the outside.

What truly shook him… was her trembling.

He knew they had been fighting upstairs, and by the expressions on their faces, it was even more obvious.

He could feel the tension still lingering between them the moment he had stepped inside.

Still, he hadn’t said anything about it, choosing instead to focus on their awakening.

Lia, unaware of his thoughts, looked at the goblin again.

This time, her gaze changed slightly.

There was a faint sharpness in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

“Kill it,” Lucian said in an emotionless tone.𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Lia tightened her grip on the handle as she thrust the blade downward.

Just before the knife touched the goblin’s body, Lucian removed his hand from over hers.

He didn’t want the kill to be counted as his.

The moment the blade thrust in, a wet, heavy sound echoed from the stab.

The knife sank deep into the goblin’s chest.

Lia’s eyes trembled slightly as the goblin’s body slowly stopped twitching.

Its eyes turned dull and lifeless.

For a few seconds, the room fell completely silent.

Then—

Multiple golden screens flickered into existence before her, the same kind of screens Seraphina had seen earlier.

Meanwhile, Seraphina’s eyes widened as she clearly saw the look of the dead goblin near the wall.

The smell hit her first—rotten and metallic, thick with the scent of blood.

Looking at the blood and a disgusting liquid still dripping from its skull, her face paled.

Her stomach twisted violently

She almost puked.

Her throat tightened.

A bitter taste filled her mouth.

But she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Her body trembled slightly as she forced herself to swallow it back down.

Just like Lucian, she knew that she might have to get used to this sight.

If monsters existed now… then scenes like this would become common.

So she swallowed it in.

Her breasts heaved slightly as she forced herself to calm down.

‘He killed it so brutally,’ the thought came to her mind.

She glanced toward Lucian for a second before turning to the corpse again.

Her son… he had changed.

Even though she hadn’t seen his entire childhood after separating from him…

Even though years had passed between them…

She never thought that Lucian was this cold-hearted.

The way he had crippled the goblins.

The way he had killed them.

It was so different from the boy she remembered.

But even as that thought appeared, her love for him didn’t lessen even a little.

Not even a fraction.

Even if he had become a cold-blooded murderer…

Even if his hands were forever stained with blood…

She would never leave him.

Never.

And this wasn’t even that serious.

He wasn’t killing innocent people. He wasn’t hurting the weak. He was simply doing what he had to do.

He was just doing this to survive.

Even he must have felt hesitant while doing such a thing.

She knew what kind of person he was…

Or at least…

She hoped she did.

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