Javien wasn’t angry. Instead, a very thin sarcastic smile formed on his lips. He stepped one more step, forcing Olivia to back up until her body touched the cold wall.

"Psycho?"

Javien repeated that word in a very low tone, almost like a devil’s whisper. He raised his hand, then touched the end of Olivia’s hair with a rough finger.

"If protecting what belongs to me is called crazy... then I’ve been out of my mind for a long time, Olivia. And you should be afraid, because a madman will never release his prey."

His purple eyes stared directly into Olivia’s pupils, locking all that girl’s movement. Olivia slapped Javien’s hand away. She stared sharply toward that man. Then walked away from him. As if she had already put up a wall between them.

"Don’t come near me... from now on."

"I hate being close... to anyone especially you!!"

she said firmly. While walking toward her vanity table.

"Now get out of my room," said Olivia again. Not looking at all toward Javien who was frozen staring at that wall. Silent.

For some reason those words kept echoing in Javien’s head. His heart throbbing.

Several minutes passed, Javien still didn’t move from his spot. Still frozen. Olivia watched Javien’s behaviour that looked strange with curiosity.

While she removed the earrings that had been lent by Ophilia, her eyes looked toward Javien through the mirror’s reflection.

"General?.." she said quietly. She let out a slow breath.

Haih this man... I’m supposed to be the one who’s angry...

She stood then stepped toward Javien. His eyes were looking toward the floor. As if gloomy. Olivia went quiet then crossed her arms while leaning her body against the wall.

"General!!," she called again. But he didn’t move at all. His eyes still the same looking at the floor. For some reason her instinct was telling her to pull that man’s hand.

Then, Olivia pulled Javien’s large hand from his palm. Then pulled her vanity chair to the side of her bed. She sat Javien down on her vanity chair. Javien didn’t lift his face at all. Olivia sat in front of him. At the side of the bed while crossing her arms as usual.

"So what more do you want? General?" said Olivia quietly but every word that came out of her throat felt like ice in Javien’s ears. Javien didn’t answer. He only stayed silent.

Olivia waited for an answer, but Javien was still quiet. The man who had looked like he wanted to swallow the world earlier now looked so... small on her vanity chair.

Javien’s large hands were placed on his knees, gripped tight until his knuckles went white.

"Do you hate me?"

Finally, Javien spoke. Short, hoarse, and the sound of it was very broken. He still didn’t look up, as if he couldn’t bear to see the hatred in Olivia’s eyes.

Olivia went quiet. Her intention to drive that man away completely flew off just like that. How could she drive away someone who looked like his world had just crumbled?

Javien slowly looked up. His silver hair that was slightly messy covered his forehead, but the purple light in his eyes had already grown dimmer, faded and full of hidden sadness.

"You want me to leave?" His voice sounded very tired.

"Yes. Leave," Olivia replied firmly, even though her heart was beating unevenly.

Javien didn’t stand. Instead, he reached for Olivia’s bruised hand this time with a very gentle movement, as if Olivia was made of glass that could easily crack.

"I’ll leave. But let me do this first. After that... even if you call me a devil, I won’t care."

Without waiting for an answer, Javien took out a small bottle containing a clear blue liquid from inside his robe.

He began applying that liquid to the bruise on Olivia’s wrist. Cold. The gripping pain from before disappeared immediately, replaced by a warmth that spread throughout her whole body.

Olivia was stunned. She could only watch the side of Javien’s face that looked so focused treating her.

"Olivia," Javien called without looking at that girl’s face.

"Seven years I dreamed of coming back here... not to be hated by you."

He said quietly. Olivia didn’t answer she only listened to everything Javien said.

"That day... after you promised to come..."

"A soldier came to take me for training... he said," said Javien in a flat voice. As if every word that came out of his throat felt very painful.

"Knight?..." asked Olivia. Her tone softened slightly but still cold. Javien nodded slowly. His hand focused on treating Olivia’s hand.

"I didn’t know how... they said something to me..."

Javien stopped applying that liquid. His fingers still held Olivia’s wrist gently, as if he was afraid that if he let go, Olivia would disappear again.

His memory was pulled back to a dark, musty smelling space, lit only by dim light...

A flashback began to return,

"Don’t be long..." small Javien whispered in that basement. He watched Olivia wave for the last time before the door closed. He waited for tomorrow with a full heart full of anticipation.

But tomorrow never came. Instead, that door was wrenched open by strange men.

"Don’t you want to be strong?" That sentence was what took away his world.

Javien snapped out of his daydream. He tightened his grip slightly on Olivia’s hand, as if wanting to make sure Olivia was really in front of him now.

"You don’t know how many times I wanted to run from that hell just to find you, Olivia,"

Javien whispered again.

Olivia looked toward Javien who had gone quiet. Curious she tried to ask. But she cancelled it.

"Forgive me Olivia... back then I only wanted to think about how to get out of that dark room..." he said again. Even though the light in that room looked slightly dark.

But Olivia could still see the bitter smile carved at the corner of his lips. Olivia was slowly stunned. She knew her favourite character had been through something very painful.

Olivia pulled her hand roughly, as if Javien’s touch was burning her skin. She looked at Javien with empty eyes not the peaceful kind of empty, but the kind that had already broken.

"You’re apologising because you think you only left a friend, Javien?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Olivia laughed sarcastically, one tear finally fell.

"Seven years ago, when that basement door closed and you disappeared... you didn’t just leave this place. You took away the only reason why I still wanted to breathe in this foreign world."

Olivia stepped closer, her voice grew quieter but sharp like a blade.

"I went through seven years without knowing who I really was. I woke up every morning hoping my memories would disappear too so I wouldn’t have to feel the pain of waiting for something that would never come back. I felt like I was... fate’s mistake."

She pushed Javien’s chest weakly.

"So don’t come here today, after seven years you ’died’ in my life, and suddenly want to be the master of my life again. You don’t deserve it, General. My heart died a long time ago in front of that empty basement door."

Then, she stood and walked toward that open window. Throwing her gaze toward the bright moon that night. Not looking toward Javien at all. Her eyes glistening.

Javien said nothing. He could only watch Olivia’s back that looked so fragile under the moonlight. That room felt very large, but the distance between the two of them felt like thousands of kilometres.

Every word Olivia had said just now wasn’t just an outpouring, but a truth that Javien had never imagined. He thought he was the one suffering in training hell, but it turned out he had left Olivia in a loneliness far more devastating.

Javien stood slowly. His steps no longer sounded like a proud General, but like a guilty person waiting for a death sentence.

He stopped right behind Olivia, but he no longer dared to touch that girl. He only stared at the reflection of Olivia’s face streaked with tears in the window mirror.

"...I didn’t come to be the master of your life, Olivia," Javien whispered, his voice almost breaking.

"I came... because I thought I was the only reason for you to smile, just as you are the only reason for me to keep living."

Javien lowered his head, hiding his purple eyes that were now full of immense regret.

"I didn’t know that for seven years... it turned out I was the cause of your tears."

He turned, walking toward the darkness of that room before disappearing through the window’s shadows.

"Forgive me... for being the cruelest mistake of fate for you."

Olivia still didn’t move. She only heard the sound of the night wind coming through the window after Javien disappeared. Javien’s name seemed to still be echoing in that room which now felt extremely quiet.

"Reason to smile..." Olivia whispered to herself.

She touched her wrist that no longer felt painful. The bruise had already gone, replaced by the warmth of that blue liquid earlier, but her chest still felt like it was being pressed down by a large rock.

She thought if she poured everything out, she would feel satisfied. She thought if she drove Javien away, her heart would be at peace.

But watching that proud General’s shoulders fall for the first time... watching those cruel purple eyes go dim because of regret...

It didn’t make Olivia feel like she had won.

It only made her realise that they were both just two broken souls, trying to find their way home in a world that had never been fair to them.

Olivia slowly closed that window. She leaned against the wooden frame, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

"You really are the cruelest mistake of fate, Javien,"

she whispered slowly, her tears falling again.

"But you are also the only fate... that I know."

That night, Olivia slept in the same coldness, but this time, she knew she was no longer waiting in front of that empty basement door.

Because the person she had been waiting for had returned, even in a form she no longer recognised.