I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space - Chapter 378: Sofia and Razeal

Chapter 378: Sofia and Razeal

Razeals POV~

Razeal looked at Sofia without speaking.

He did not rush to answer her. His gaze lingered on her face instead, studying the details most people missed when emotions ran high the stiffness in her shoulders, the way her jaw remained locked as if she were holding herself together through sheer force, the faint tremor in her fingers where they gripped the newspaper too tightly. Anger was there, yes. But beneath it lay something less stable. Conflict. Fear. A need for certainty she was no longer sure she would receive.

She wanted an answer. That much was obvious.

But more than that, she wanted something solid.. something that would stop the ground beneath her from shifting further.

The broken wall behind them allowed cold air to seep into the room, carrying dust that still drifted lazily through the light. No one moved. The silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable, heavy with things unsaid. Old accusations seemed to linger in that stillness, memories Razeal had long since stopped trying to untangle pressing quietly against the present. Forgotten explanations. Words that had once mattered. Moments when speaking had changed nothing.

Sofia didn’t look away.

“Is it true?” she asked again, her voice rough, controlled, and far more dangerous for that restraint than if she had shouted.

Razeal remained where he stood, calm to the point of indifference, as though the question itself held no urgency for him. Yet behind that stillness, something older stirred familiar exhaustion, the kind that came from knowing how this conversation usually ended.

He hummed softly under his breath, almost absentmindedly, as if considering the situation rather than reacting to it. His eyes shifted briefly, moving past Sofia to Maria, who stood a short distance away. She had frozen midway through her own emotional turmoil when Sofia burst in, her expression still unsettled. The tears she had wiped away moments ago left faint traces around her eyes, though she tried to compose herself rather quickly.

Maria’s gaze moved between them, uncertainty written plainly across her face. She had already understood what Sofia must have found. The newspaper clenched in Sofia’s hand made that clear enough. Sadness flickered through her expression.. not surprise, not even anger, but something closer to resignation. She knew what came next too. Razeal would be judged again. And this time, it would be by the woman who had just become his wife.

The thought alone made her chest tighten.

She didn’t want that to happen. Not again. Not after everything. But she also understood why it would. The truth, or whatever version of it people believed, rarely allowed room for patience. She lowered her gaze briefly, hiding the purple necklace she still held in her hand behind her back, almost instinctively. She herself wasn’t entirely sure why she did it only that she didn’t want Sofia to see it..

Razeal though seeing all this

A faint smile appeared on his lips, small and tired rather than amused. He exhaled slowly before opening his hands slightly at his sides, an almost casual gesture that contrasted with the tension in the room. His eyes returned to Sofia.

“Well,” he said lightly, though the sarcasm beneath his tone was unmistakable, “yes or no… does it really matter?”

His head tilted slightly as he regarded her, the smile lingering without warmth. “You aren’t going to believe whatever I say anyway.. Though are you?”

The words were not spoken in anger. That made them worse. There was no attempt to defend himself, no urgency to explain. Just quiet certainty. Experience speaking where hope no longer bothered to.

He had learned that lesson long ago. Back when explanations had still mattered to him. Back when he had tried to make people understand. When even his own family.. his sister, his mother had looked at him with doubt instead of trust. At some point, he had stopped expecting belief from anyone else. It was easier that way.. Expectations hurt but if you never have them they never will.. So currently he have zero expectations for sofia to trust him.

But.. Sofia didn’t react to the sarcasm. Her expression remained unchanged.. cold, serious and unyielding.

“Oh?” she said quietly. “I see.”

Her fingers tightened further around the newspaper, the paper crumpling faintly under the pressure as she began walking toward him. Each step was slow, deliberate, controlled. Not impulsive anger. Something colder.

Razeal though didn’t move.

He stood exactly where he was, posture relaxed, eyes steady on hers, as though inviting whatever came next.. As actually wanting to see what she will do

Maria felt the tension sharpen instantly. The air between them felt wrong, too tight, like something about to snap. Despite the storm already running through her own emotions, instinct pushed her forward. She didn’t want this to turn into another moment Razeal would have to endure alone. Not like before atleast. Not from someone who was supposed to stand beside him now.. after he even learned his lesson after all these years.

“Sofia… this isn’t the right way,” Maria said softly, extending a hand as if to stop her from taking another step. Her voice carried hesitation but also quiet urgency.

And.. Before Sofia could respond, Razeal just lifted his hand slightly without even looking at her, the gesture small but unmistakable.

Don’t.

The signal was clear. He didn’t want interference. Not protection or mediation.

And…. Maria’s hand hesitated in midair before slowly lowering again. She understood the meaning behind it.. This was something he intended to face alone, whether that ended well or not.

Sofia continued walking until only a few steps separated them

And finally Sofia stopped only a single step away from him.

The distance between them was close enough that neither needed to raise their voice, close enough that Razeal could clearly see the faint strain beneath her composure the way her breathing remained controlled by effort rather than calm, the way her fingers tightened and loosened around the newspaper as if she were restraining herself from crushing it entirely. She held his gaze without hesitation, her eyes sharp, searching, unwilling to retreat first.

“So how about this,” she said at last, her voice low but steady. “Look me in the eyes and say you didn’t do this… and I’ll believe you.”

The words hung between them, simple and absolute.

For a moment, Razeal just stared at her. Then a quiet chuckle escaped him, humorless and tired. He shook his head slightly, as though the situation itself felt strangely familiar.

“You think you will?” he asked, the faint curve of a smile appearing on his lips, though it carried no warmth. His eyes remained on hers, studying her seriousness, the intensity with which she waited for his answer. “There were people who said the same thing before.” He exhaled softly, gaze drifting for a brief second before returning to her. “In the end, they just…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. The meaning lingered there on its own.

Sofia didn’t react to the implication. Her expression remained unchanged, cold and focused, as if nothing outside the answer mattered.

“Did you,” she repeated quietly, “or did you not?”

Her eyes never left his.

Razeal looked back into them, searching for doubt, for suspicion, for the inevitable moment when belief would falter before it even began. Instead, he found only resolve. It unsettled him more than accusation would have.

Still, he answered.

“No,” he said plainly. “I didn’t. I was framed.”

He spread his arms slightly again the gesture almost careless, as if the truth should have been obvious from the beginning. There was no dramatic emphasis, no attempt to convince her. Just a statement. A fact, spoken without expectation.

“Well,” he added with a small shrug, the sarcasm returning as a shield, “not that I expect you to believe it. So if you want a divorce or whatever, you’re always welco…”

But his words stopped.

Completely.

Because Sofia had already spoken.

“Yes. I can see it too hmmm.”

Her voice was calm. Dangerously calm. And yet there was a faint smile on her face small, genuine, as if the answer had only confirmed something she had already decided.

Razeal blinked.

“…What?”

The response left him before he could stop it. For the first time since the conversation began, the composure he wore so easily cracked. Confusion replaced certainty as he stared at her, trying to understand whether he had heard correctly.

Sofia nodded slightly, her expression softening in a way that felt entirely out of place after the tension of moments ago.

“I believe you,” she said simply.

The words landed harder than any accusation could have.

Razeal stood there, blankly staring at her, his thoughts refusing to catch up with reality. This was not how it was supposed to go. Not how it ever went. He searched her face instinctively, waiting for the doubt, the hesitation, the hidden suspicion.. but found none. Only quiet certainty, as though the answer had been obvious to her all along.

Before he could respond, Sofia reached up and lightly patted his head, the gesture casual, almost affectionate, as if reassuring him rather than questioning him. Then, without hesitation, she leaned forward and placed a brief kiss against his right cheek. “Don’t worry leave this all to your wife.. Am here now.” She said lightly

The contact was light. Warm. Gone almost immediately.. as were her light words.

Razeal still didn’t move.

He stood there, completely still, his mind stalling somewhere between disbelief and shock. His body forgot what it was supposed to do whether to step back, speak, react. The warmth lingered on his skin long after she had pulled away, leaving him standing there as though the world had briefly shifted without informing him.

For once, he had no answer.

Across the room, Maria stared openly, her own thoughts equally frozen. She had expected shouting. Accusations. Chaos. The way Sofia had entered had promised nothing else. And yet this this quiet acceptance, this immediate belief.. felt almost unreal.

She blinked, trying to make sense of it. Sofia believed him… just like that? Because he said so?

Maria’s expression remained blank, caught somewhere between relief and utter confusion.

But before she could process further, Sofia turned her gaze toward her.

The sudden shift made Maria straighten slightly.

“It was… what was her name again?” Sofia asked, her tone returning to calm practicality. “Yes… Selena right? The saintess. And the Celestia princess of this empire? These two wed the one’s who accused him?”

Maria hesitated only a moment before nodding slowly, still unsure how the situation had changed so quickly. Her mind struggled to keep up.. still she said it..

“Yes…”

Sofia nodded once, as if confirming something already decided.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll go meet the two of them. I’ll be back.” She turned back toward Razeal briefly, her expression soft again, and gave his cheek a light pat. “Wait for me, okay?”

Without waiting for a response, she turned away and began walking toward the broken wall she herself had created earlier, stepping over the scattered debris with calm, measured movements. From behind, her posture looked relaxed, almost casual, as though nothing unusual had happened.

But if anyone had been standing in front of her, they would have seen something entirely different.

The softness had vanished from her face.

Her eyes had gone cold.. sharp, focused, and carrying a killing intent so quiet it felt heavier than open rage. The faint smile remained, but it no longer reached her eyes. Whatever conclusion she had reached, whatever decision she had made, it had settled into something dangerous.

Ice beneath calm water.

Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately no one stood before her to see it.

While.. Behind her

Razeal did not react.

Not immediately. Not even after Sofia had already turned her back and begun walking away. He simply stood where he was, eyes fixed on the space she had occupied moments ago, his expression blank in a way that rarely suited him. It wasn’t composure. It wasn’t control. His mind simply hadn’t caught up yet.

What had just happened refused to arrange itself into something logical.

The words she had said, the certainty in her voice, the casualness of her touch it all felt misplaced, as though his senses had misinterpreted reality entirely. His thoughts stalled somewhere between disbelief and rejection, his mind quietly insisting that he must have misunderstood something. That it would make sense in a moment. That this was wrong information, an error waiting to correct itself.

It didn’t.

The warmth on his cheek remained.

He blinked slowly, still staring ahead, as if waiting for the moment to rewind itself.

“Wait.. WHAT?”

And… Maria’s voice finally broke the silence. She shook her head sharply, as though trying to physically clear the confusion from it, her mouth opening slightly before words finally caught up with her thoughts. She looked at back of Sofia.. unable to reconcile what she had witnessed.

“Really?” she said, disbelief spilling openly into her tone. “You believed it just like that?” Her brows drew together as realization struck in pieces rather than all at once. “And wait.. what? Where did you say you’re going!”

Calling it shock would have been an understatement. Maria looked genuinely lost, as though the expected outcome had been replaced with something entirely unfamiliar.

Razeal still hadn’t moved.

His gaze remained fixed on Sofia’s retreating back, though his expression gave little away beyond quiet confusion.

At Maria’s voice, Sofia paused mid-step.

She turned slowly, looking back over her shoulder at Maria, her expression calm, almost mildly puzzled.

“Didn’t I just tell you?” she asked.

Maria’s mouth remained slightly open, the response dying before it could form. She had no idea what to say to that.

Razeal watched the exchange in silence, his attention lingering on Sofia’s profile, though even he seemed unsure what exactly he was looking for now. The tension from earlier had vanished, replaced by something stranger an unfamiliar uncertainty that sat awkwardly in his chest.

Then Sofia’s gaze shifted again, this time settling on Maria with quiet sharpness.

“Anyway,” she said, her voice stretching slightly as suspicion crept into it, “what were you two doing here?”

Her eyes narrowed faintly. The question sounded casual, but the undertone was not. The fact that they had been alone together in the room clearly hadn’t escaped her notice.

Maria flinched almost imperceptibly.

“Umm.. nothing,” she replied quickly, too quickly. “Just… discussing something important.”

Her fingers instinctively tightened around the necklace she still held hidden behind her back. The movement was subtle, but not entirely natural. She forced her expression into something neutral, though the tension in her shoulders betrayed her effort.

Sofia watched her for a moment longer than necessary. Something about the response felt off. Suspicious. But the thought passed quickly. There were more important matters waiting for her now.

“…Alright,” she said at last, though the uncertainty lingered faintly in her tone.

Without another word, her body dissolved into motion. Blue light flared briefly around her form, energy condensing before she vanished in a streak of blue light that shot through the broken wall. The air cracked softly in her wake, the wooden floor creaking under the sudden release of force. A faint boom echoed through the room, followed by silence.

A few scattered droplets of water fell where she had stood, glimmering briefly before settling against the floor.

Maria stared at the empty space she left behind.

For several long seconds, she didn’t move. Her mind struggled to catch up with everything that had just happened.. the confrontation that never became one, the immediate belief, the sudden departure. None of it aligned with what she had expected.

Slowly, she turned her head toward Razeal.

He hadn’t moved much either.

The room fell into a quiet so complete that even the distant sound of wind slipping through the broken wall felt loud. Time passed.. seconds, maybe longer. Neither of them spoke, both still processing the aftermath in their own way.

Finally, Razeal turned his head toward her.

“…Did that happen?” he asked after a moment, his voice unusually uncertain. “What I think just happened?”

There was something almost disarming in the way he asked it. The usual sharpness in his tone was gone, replaced by genuine confusion.. almost innocence. As if he were asking for confirmation that reality itself hadn’t played a trick on him.

Maria blinked.

For a brief moment, she found herself speechless. She had rarely, if ever, seen him like this unguarded, unsure, looking for reassurance instead of expecting disappointment. It caught her off guard more than anything else that day.

Still, she nodded slowly.

“…Yeah,” she said quietly, though even she sounded unconvinced by her own answer.

Razeal stared at her for another second, then looked away again, falling silent.

So it wasn’t a dream, he thought. Or a hallucination.

The idea still felt absurd.

His hand lifted unconsciously, fingers brushing lightly against his cheek where Sofia had kissed him. The warmth had faded, but the memory of it lingered, stubborn and real. He frowned faintly, as though trying to make sense of something that refused to fit into his understanding of how people worked.

After a moment, he glanced back at Maria.

“And… where did she go again?” he asked, clearly not having registered everything that followed after that moment.

Maria raised her hand awkwardly, pointing her thumb over her shoulder toward the direction Sofia had disappeared.

“She said she’s going to meet… those two,” she replied, her tone uncertain, the situation still feeling strangely unreal even as she said it.

The room fell silent again

Razeal remained silent for several seconds after Maria answered him.

His gaze lingered on the broken wall where Sofia had disappeared, though his thoughts were nowhere near the present moment anymore. What occupied him instead was something far simpler and far more unsettling. She had believed him. Not after evidence. Not after explanation. Not after pressure or persuasion. She had simply… believed him.

The thought refused to settle properly in his mind.

For as long as he could remember, belief had always come with conditions. Proof. Doubt. Suspicion hidden beneath polite words. Even when he had tried to explain himself in the past, even when he had brought evidence, it had never been enough. Not for strangers. Not for teachers. Not even for the people who were supposed to know him best. His mother. His sister. The memory passed through him quietly, leaving behind the familiar hollow feeling he had learned to ignore.

And yet Sofia had listened once and accepted it.

No hesitation. No interrogation.

It left behind a strange sensation in his chest, unfamiliar enough that he didn’t know what to do with it. Relief wasn’t the right word. Neither was happiness. It was something quieter, almost disorienting, like standing on ground that should have collapsed but didn’t.

He exhaled slowly.

Whatever the reason, she had gone somewhere with purpose. And knowing Sofia, that purpose was unlikely to be gentle.

He shifted his weight and finally took a step forward, intending to follow. He needed to see what she was planning. A faint unease stirred beneath his thoughts worry that she might do what he’s thinking she might do.

But before he could take another step, a hand caught his arm.

The sudden contact made him stop. He turned back, confusion flickering across his expression as he looked down at Maria.

Her grip wasn’t forceful, but it was firm enough to keep him from moving.

“Wait,” she said.

The word came out quieter than usual, but there was urgency in it. When he looked at her properly, he noticed the tension in her face the way she held herself as though something long restrained was finally pushing its way out.

“What?” he asked, brows faintly knitting together.

Maria swallowed, her gaze lifting to meet his. There were too many emotions there at once hesitation, fear, determination all tangled together. She seemed to struggle for a moment before speaking again.

“Our discussion before… it isn’t over yet.”

She bit her lower lip briefly, as though steadying herself. She knew if she let him walk away now, she might never get another chance to say this. The moment would pass, and with it, whatever courage she had managed to gather.

“You might not recognize what this is,” she continued, raising her other hand slowly. The pendant rested against her palm, catching the faint light. “But this… is very important to me and to you.”

Razeal’s eyes dropped briefly to the pendant again not recognizng it.

“Hear my explanation before you go,” Maria said, her voice trembling despite her effort to remain composed. “Or you might always remain in misunderstanding.”

The words came out heavier than she intended, carrying the weight of everything she had kept buried like forever.

Razeal hesitated. His instinct still pulled him toward the door, toward Sofia, toward the unfinished situation waiting outside. “I will listen to you,” he said, already shifting slightly as if to move again. “But first let me go see where Sofia…”

“Please.”

The interruption was soft, but it stopped him more effectively than force could have.

Maria looked up at him, and for a moment the vulnerability in her expression made it impossible to ignore her. This wasn’t argument or manipulation. It was fear.. fear of being left unheard again.

Sighh.. Razeal sighed quietly.

He could have pulled away. He knew that. But something in her expression made that feel unnecessarily cruel. After a moment, he exhaled and nodded faintly.

“…Alright. What is it?”

Maria drew in a deep breath, as though preparing herself to step off something irreversible.

“The first thing you need to know,” she began slowly, “is that I never hated you.”

The words came carefully, each one deliberate. “Whatever I showed you back then… at the academy. The way I argued against you. The way I cursed you, called you disgusting, said you should be expelled, questioned your integrity… even the hostility. The duel or whatever…” Her voice faltered slightly, but she forced herself to continue. “It was never because I hated you.”

Her fingers tightened around the pendant as she lifted it again between them.

“I was just disappointed,” she said quietly. “Disappointed because… you mattered to me and on what you became.”

Razeal’s expression remained calm, unreadable, but he didn’t interrupt.

“You see this?” she asked softly, indicating the pendant again. “You gave this to me once. That’s why it means so much.” Her voice lowered, emotion slipping through despite her efforts. “You were important to me. You still are.”

She looked down briefly, gathering herself before continuing. “When that everything happened… and when I saw you again after so long… I didn’t know how to react. I was angry. Sad. Confused. I didn’t recognize the person you had become, and instead of asking why, I turned that into anger.” A small, bitter breath escaped her. “Everything just… became that.”

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