Chapter 28 - A Weighty Question
Chapter 28 - A Weighty Question
"Eva…"
"Draco…"
The two involuntarily murmured each other's names while staring dazedly at the other. It was as if small grenades had exploded within their craniums. The two were aware of the other, but had refrained from approaching the other party due to the tense relationship between them.
Who would've thought that they'd be face to face less than a week into their new lives?
While Eva was unaware that Draco had reincarnated with all his memories, Draco was also ignorant of his 'benefactors' decision to allow Eva to recover her memories of her past life.
In a sense, Eva was a reincarnator as well, just without her old soul replacing the new one.
But then again, what was a soul if not coalesced memories?
However, such debate was for another day.
She had all her skills and abilities due to her old memories, just like Draco. She had been reasonably low profile though, unlike Draco because she didn't want to steal his limelight.
Call it… reparation.
After all, while she did ruin his life, it was in another timeline. The Draco here had absolutely nothing to do with her, but emotions often interfered with mechanical logic.
Draco too had largely pretended not to recognize her existence. After winning in their Guild War and reincarnating into a new life, his perspective had been changed overtly as well as subtly.
He was no longer bound by his hatred, but there was still some slight anger as well as sadness over the whole matter, and meeting her like this blew up those emotions into being.
Eva felt immeasurable guilt towards Draco while he himself felt a chaos of emotions ranging from longing to hatred. The two just stood there in silence staring at each other for a long while.
"Uh… hello? Where on earth did a handsome thing like you pop up?"
Sublime Notion's cutesy voice quickly broke the tension as she stared at Draco with a glint in her eyes.
Draco couldn't help but shudder due to her look. While he did like how she looked, Draco had known her in his past life in a much different way.
It was a fact that Draco was an only child. Back then, he had been a bit hapless and cute on top of being handsome, so Sublime Notion had taken a liking to him. She had been sort of a big sister to him, teaching him the ins and outs of being a playboy as well as helping him steal hearts.
She had also been the one to connect Draco and Eva together and was happy beyond words at their relationship. It had been the three of them questing, crafting and fooling around together.
Draco's feelings towards Sublime Notion were purely positive, even during his hatred phase. She had tried multiple times to bridge the gap and mediate the issue, but Draco was too unwilling.
But due to his feelings towards her as his big sister, he had never gone too far in the war in regards to Eva and her own families. After all, his parents were dead and he had no siblings. It would deal an irrecoverable blow to assassinate Eva's family as well as Sublime Notion's.
Yet, here was his big sister eyeing him with a hint of s.e.x.u.a.l interest. Why wouldn't he cringe inwardly? Unlike in the media, Draco found the idea of i.n.c.e.s.t really uncomfortable. Yes, the two shared no blood relation, but he still saw her as his real older sister.
Still, she had managed to break the tension with her shameless inquiry. Draco thought about ways to exit this rendezvous, but something in him felt reluctant… probably his past attachment to these two.
"I'm here to build a foundation for my guild in this area."
Crack open Draco's skull, rummage through everything with a magnifying glass, and you'd still be unable to find a reason as to why he didn't lie to them, instead speaking the truth.
Sublime Notion's eyes widened. While Draco had his Herald's Cloak equipped, identifying him was a dream for current players. Otherwise, wouldn't the random fellows by the roadside have hounded him ever since the first announcement?
But from his words, she was able to put two and two together. Randomly appearing here meant that the fellow teleported here. Since there was no means to do so officially, he couldn't be some random player, but someone who could teleport on his own!
It meant either having a blink skill or an item/weapon that had teleportation abilities. Both of which were beyond the means of current players!
The only player who could pull off something like this… would have to be that invincible Draco fellow!
Wow!
The arguably most powerful and knowledgeable player in the current world of Boundless was standing right before her. Sublime Notion's heart rate accelerated rapidly at the thought.
He also said he was here to build a foundation for his guild, not his future guild. Taking his word's literally, it'd mean his guild was already in existence, not yet to be formed. The only guild currently available was the Umbra guild… whose guild leader was the Draco fellow!
Everything lined up!
But just to be sure…
"You're the guild leader of Umbra! Draco, right?"
Sublime Notion's words came out in a flurry, the excitement audible in her voice.
"Yes, that's correct."
Draco's unhesitant reply nearly made her keel over from the blood rush. Sublime Notion didn't think of herself as cheap, but her tastes were limited to only successful males in fields of interest she shared.
Even if Draco had a billion dollars, he'd be unable to get a kiss from her, much less her heart. But as an avid female gamer and one who was currently enthralled with Boundless, Draco's power as well as success moved her heart to the point where she could hardly think!
'Is this it? Have the heaven's finally bestowed me with my prince charming?'
With that in mind, her first act was to immediately rely on her tried and true weapons: her massive tits!
She giggled cutely, intentionally shaking her impressive bosom, creating a scene that would have any individual with such a preference go crazy. Draco was unfortunately more of an ass man, but still it would be a lie to say that he wasn't moved.
However, the instant that notion appeared, a sudden disgust bubbled up and crushed that image totally. It was the same as a young fellow having an attractive mother or aunt or sister.
Naturally, such thoughts would pass through any fellow with agreeable levels of testosterone in his body's mind, but he would feel instinctive disgust. It was the same thing here.
"Alright, Sublime it's enough. I want to talk to Draco alone."
Riveting Night decided to bite the bullet and resolve the knot in her heart. She didn't know why the Draco in this timeline was so adept when the one in her memories took a longer period to reach this level, but she attributed it to the multiverse theory.
After all, she was in an alternate timeline! She was well aware that under such theory, different universes might have similar events and histories but there was always a diverging path.
Draco was surprised that Riveting Night would single him out. Could it be that his handsomeness had moved her to the point where she couldn't even hold back?
That… might be possible!
He was the world's most dashing bloke after all.
'Sigh, the curse of handsomeness is one that I lament.'
If Riveting Night could hear Draco's thoughts, she might just decide to continue their old war on the spot!
Sublime Notion felt indignant at first, but gave up with a sigh. After all, these two best friends had declared themselves sisters! They also swore that no matter what, they'd never fight over a man!
Even if they both loved the same man, they would unhesitatingly cut off all romantic ties to the fellow together! No guy was worth their eventual discord over love.
In the rare case that they both loved the fellow to the point that they couldn't break off no matter what, they'd just marry him together!
You can take anything from them, but their sisterhood was a thing they'd rather die than give up!
This was why Sublime still sided with Riveting Night, even though Draco was her unofficial little brother. While she shared pseudo-familial ties with both of them, her vow to Riveting Night was inviolable!
"Sigh, you Eva… if you want some cuc.u.mber so badly, do you necessarily have to kick away your beloved sister like this?" Sublime Notion asked with a mischievous smile.
"Scram!" Riveting Night roared.
"I'm scramming right now! I definitely don't want to see you receiving the 'blessing' of Lord Draco here, tee hee!"
Sublime Notion had to say that last part while skipping away since Eva tossed a throwing knife her way. She eventually left their field of vision altogether.
When the two were alone, they both just stared at each other quietly, wondering how to deal with the elephant in the room. Draco decided to take that role since Riveting Night had decided to kick away her friend.
"Might I ask why this beautiful young miss would like to talk to this dashing fellow here?" Draco asked with a gentle smile.
"You… shameless!" Riveting Night couldn't hold it in and responded the same way she always did when Draco praised himself.
Her entire reaction was done subconsciously and it was the exact same as what she did when they were together during their past lives, down to the very breathing.
Draco was stunned and so was Riveting Night. She immediately regretted. Doing that was exactly like breaking up with your ex and immediately flaunting a new partner who was 90% similar to him, but slightly better.
It was simply rubbing salt on old wounds by forcefully bringing back pleasant memories. Just as Riveting Night was thinking about how to resolve the situation, Draco's next words stunned her to the point her soul almost fled.
"So, you reincarnated along with me, huh? Tell me, was it you who assassinated me?" Draco asked with a smile that wasn't a smile.
Draco wasn't clairvoyant or even the smartest fellow but as a Control master, he was privy to the infinite physical secrets of the world around him. Even though he hadn't activated his Void of Perfection, just unlocking it allowed him to have inhuman perception.
He had seen her reaction. It was the same as the Eva in his timeline with not a single margin of error. Still, one could argue that no matter the timeline, a person was the same no matter what.
Draco wanted to believe that, but couldn't, because he had also seen her eventual regret from her body language. What the hell was there to regret about when chastising an arrogant fellow?
Along with that, Eva hadn't began reacting that way towards his antics until they started going out.
Nonsense, would a cool beauty like Riveting Night even respond to such a shameless question? She'd most likely just ignore the speaker and proceed with an important matter at hand.
And Draco could confidently conclude this because he knew her best!
F.u.c.k, if Draco claimed that he knew her second best in the world, not even the Heavenly Emperor would dare to claim he was the first.
Riveting Night initially thought about denying, but soon cast that thought away. The same way Draco knew her, she also knew Draco at the same intensity or even higher!
Also, she had her memories from her past life, so she could instantly put everything together. Draco was killed and unbelievably reincarnated into this timeline.
Armed with his skills and knowledge from his past life, it was exceedingly easy for him to achieve his current feats. In fact, Riveting Night easily surmised that everything announcement so far was unintended and Draco was trying to be low profile.
Otherwise, things would be a thousand times more exaggerated!
Realizing that, Riveting Night had a bizarre feeling. Draco died and reincarnated into this timeline while she was the same, only receiving memories from the timeline Draco died in.
Beat her to death with a piece of corn and she'd still refuse to believe it was all coincidence!
"I did not die, so I'm not a reincarnator. Well, I did die, but I was killed a few days after you."
Riveting Night's reply seemed contradictory but it was the truth. While Draco's memories of his past life naturally ended with his death, hers didn't. She knew of the cataclysmic events that occurred after his death.
Unfortunately, she died soon after for reasons she didn't want to remember.
"Hm? If you aren't a reincarnator, how do you remember the old world?"
Draco asked with a reasonable expression of confusion.
"I received memories of our past world only. It started just as Boundless began," Her reply sent Draco into silence.
It seemed like whatever allowed him to reincarnate also allowed the Riveting Night of this timeline to possess her old life's memories. Why, he had no clue. It was painfully obvious that there was something big going on here, and he as well as Riveting Night, were only chess pieces on the board.
"So then, do you know who killed me?"
Draco's tone grew sharp and there was a weird glint in his eyes as he asked the question.
With a weak tone, Riveting Night spoke another truth, "I don't know."
Draco was understandably disappointed, but he understood that knowing would do no good. Whoever had dared to kill him must've been backed by a powerful entity, something bigger than he could muster.
After all, he was the leader of the goddamn Cartel, the biggest underworld organization in drugs, prostitution and money laundering. With his nurturing and 15 years of Boundless, the Cartel had become a hundred times more powerful than it was before.
He had even managed to procure nuclear weapons, though just one warhead. Though, it was a strong deterrent to even the superpower countries of the world, much less corporations, guilds or even a flimsy individual.
Otherwise, on his climb to the top, wouldn't he have been killed like a c.o.c.kroach?
Decisively dropping the matter, Draco breathed deeply before asking Riveting Night the one question he had never received an answer to in his past life.
"Why did you betray me?"
Five words but with a weight reminiscent of the conflict of two timelines. One question that could either bring prosperity or ruin to this timeline as well.
Riveting Night was quiet for a while, seemingly expecting the question. Her usual response was to remain silent and stare at Draco quietly, because circ.u.mstances dictated that should she spill the beans, a tragedy would occur.
But no such limitations existed here because the circ.u.mstances leading to that fateful event hadn't occurred yet in this timeline. As such, Riveting Night took a deep breath before pulling her hood back and revealing her face for the first time in this timeline.
This action stunned Draco to the point where he almost screamed in fear. Even in the real world, Eva kept her face hidden for majority of her life, not daring to reveal her beauty even with her powerful backing.
She only ever showed her real face when it was just the two of them together. It was a sign of her absolute trust towards Draco and her love for him.
After her betrayal, she had never shown him her face again. He had taken that to mean that she had broken all ties with him! He stood in the same spot as all the other fellows on earth, never deserving to lay eyes on her again!
To show him her face when the two hadn't ascertained if there were any watchers afar, what did this mean? Draco knew very well but the answer scared him so much that he ignored it.
Immediately pushing his Void of Perfection to its utmost limit, Draco assessed a radius of 50km around them before sighing with relief. No one was peeping on their talk. Even Sublime Notion had teleported away decisively.
Assuming the upper score was 10, Rina would have had a score of 7 for her face, 8 for her body and 9 for her attraction. Maria would have had a 7 for her face, 10 for her body and 10 for her attraction.
But Eva would have a straight 100 out of 10 for her face alone. Her body was a 6 and her attraction value was 6 with her veil on and over 1000 with her hood down.
Had there been any other man here, he would have been driven into madness from Eva's sheer beauty. Draco remembered that his first reaction was to froth at the mouth as he fainted.
It sounded like an exaggeration, but Eva's beauty surpassed what a mortal could reasonably lay claim to, entering the realms of the divine.
She had bright green hair that was cut short, only reaching her shoulders. After all, too much hair and she couldn't wear hoods. Her eyes were pitch black, seemingly identical the abyss of endless darkness.
This was what spawned her name 'Riveting Night'. Eyes so black that they seemed to pull your very soul into a ceaseless labyrinth of intoxication. Eyes that could keep one riveted to the color of the night forever…
Her skin wasn't as jade white as Sublime Notion's but rather a healthy creamy color. Her face was like Draco's, angular and extremely perfect. She had full red lips that contrasted with her skin color to the point where one could only gulp at the sight, wishing to taste that bright cherry but never getting the chance.
Her body was a lot more moderate, with a B-cup chest and a reasonably perky peach. It was nowhere near Rina, Maria's or Zaine's level that could induce infinite l.u.s.t.
However, the feeling that Eva invoked in males was different from what the three s.e.xy ladies could induce. While these three could invoke feelings of possession, l.u.s.t or even love that was the limit. However, all one would feel when seeing Eva was worship and adoration.
The very idea of her image being tarnished by any living male seemed disgusting, a feeling like imagining yourself kissing a toad. As such, she remained covered up for her own peace of mind as well as to protect Draco.
However…
"Draco. You died and reincarnated into this timeline. I suddenly received memories of another life that I never actually lived. These are things that should logically never occur. Can you agree with me that there's a chance that certain illogical things might exist in the world?"
Draco felt uncomfortable with the train of thought she was putting forward, because the thoughts he had earlier were returning in full force with every word she spoke.
"Yes, that might be so. But what does that have to do with what occurred in our past life?"
Eva once again took in a deep breath and seemed to strengthen her resolution once more before dropping a bomb that blew Draco off the face of the earth.
"Would you believe me if I told you that the two of us… aren't humans?"