Chapter 240: It’s fine. You can cry if you want to

"I do."

The moment those words escaped Lucian’s mouth—

None of them reacted too strongly, as they had already expected something like that.

After all, how could someone this handsome remain alone for long? And with his personality, he would naturally attract attention, whether he wanted to or not.

Though...

There was one person who reacted differently.

Ava’s heart clenched painfully, and her body twitched slightly as those two simple, heartbreaking words reached her ears.

Her gaze slowly shifted towards Selene, her mind making its own assumptions...

Or rather, completely misunderstanding who this girlfriend was.

She lowered her head slightly, her expression turning blank.

Seeing her miserable look—as if she had suddenly lost her entire economy—Ella quietly patted her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Ava asked, her voice trembling, barely escaping her lips.

"It’s fine. You can cry if you want to," Ella said, seemingly trying to comfort her.

Ava’s lips twitched violently.

She immediately slapped her hand away, and seeing that, Ella simply shrugged, wondering if Ava had already recovered.

Jennifer, hearing his answer, raised a brow in amusement while turning towards the masked woman, who let out a quiet sigh, already guessing what they were thinking about.

Lucian, meanwhile, was busy looking around the cave and was completely oblivious to the little drama created by him.

If he had noticed their glances, he probably would’ve rolled his eyes at them for assuming something so ridiculous.

For a brief moment, he felt Lia’s longing through the blood connection between them, a faint, fleeting sense of emotion that appeared for only an instant before cutting off.

’It looks like the connection doesn’t work very well between two worlds.’

[Well, of course. It’s still good that you can feel her emotions, but the connection might become stronger as you grow stronger.]

’I want to do that, but it isn’t that easy.’

He really wanted to devour all these monsters in here, not just the ones they had already killed, but every single monster hiding somewhere inside this dungeon.

If he had been alone, he might’ve already done that.

But now the problem was...

[They’ll get suspicious about the strange vanishings.]

’Yup.’

That was the annoying part.

If it weren’t for Isaac’s team, he could’ve long since completed the entire dungeon on his own, and could’ve also gathered every single core for Selene without having to share the kills with anyone, while devouring the corpses for his own growth.

But well...

He didn’t need to.

Or, more accurately, he didn’t feel like doing that.

There had been plenty of situations where he could’ve simply rushed through everything.

Take the registration, for example.

When he wanted his registration ID—he could’ve simply used his charm on the Director to make the entire process effortless.

Or...

He could’ve even charmed the guards outside the dungeons, making them step aside while he completed the dungeon anonymously.

He could’ve even gone to that dead zone, though that would’ve been a bit more difficult for now, since the monsters there seemed to be around the same strength as him, or perhaps even stronger.

Though that wouldn’t have worked either, as he wanted his mother to grow stronger through actual combat too.

The only thing stopping him from taking the easy route was...

That it was boring.

Plain, simple, and stupidly boring.

If he had done all that, then he wouldn’t have been able to experience all of this.

He couldn’t have spent these small yet strangely enjoyable moments with his mother. He couldn’t have met Isaac and his squad, and wouldn’t have gotten to know these people at all.

And perhaps most importantly...

He wouldn’t have felt the faint thrill that came from actually fighting.

That was why, even now, he was keeping almost all of his physical stats restricted to those of an F Ranker.

People might think it was a bit stupid, but as he had said previously...

Fuck them all!

He was doing it because he wanted to.

Simple as that... just as simple as all those complainers’ love lives.

Meanwhile, Jennifer slowly moved towards Selene. There was an obvious cheeky and curious smile on her face, and the sight alone made Selene feel slightly uneasy, already knowing what she might ask.

Lucian glanced at them for a brief moment before shifting his eyes towards the path ahead.

Ava walked blankly ahead, while Isaac, leading the team, walked in front of them all.

Jennifer opened her mouth.

"So, a—"

But before she could even ask anything of the masked woman—

Lucian suddenly stepped in front of them before immediately grabbing Isaac by the shoulder.

"Wha—?"

Isaac’s eyes widened as he was abruptly pulled backwards with enough force to cause his vision to blur.

Thud!

Isaac fell onto the cave floor, and Jake, who had been walking immediately behind them, was also pushed backwards by Lucian and stumbled down alongside his leader.

"What are you doing?!" Isaac muttered with a glare, clearly irritated by the sudden treatment.

But Lucian didn’t answer.

He frowned, slowly raising himself from the ground, while everyone else went silent, confused by Lucian’s sudden behaviour.

"What happened?" Isaac asked again, this time his voice considerably calmer, since he no longer felt like Lucian was doing it just for fun or to annoy him.

But instead of answering—

Lucian turned towards him, a smile appearing on his face.

A smile that suddenly made Isaac feel something was wrong.

Before he could even ask another question—

"See for yourself."

Lucian muttered those words before suddenly grabbing Isaac by the arm.

"Huh—?"

He slightly shoved him forwards.

Isaac’s eyes widened at the sudden pull, but the moment his feet touched the ground—

Whoosh!

The floor beneath him immediately sank in, making his eyes widen in horror as his body suddenly dropped.

His stomach lurched from the unexpected fall, but before he could disappear into the darkness, Lucian pulled him back.

"Now you can see why I stopped you."

For a moment, Isaac didn’t answer.

His heartbeat pounded heavily from the sudden shock as he slowly looked into the darkness of the pit before finally snapping his head towards Lucian.

"What... the fuck is wrong with you? You could’ve answered me normally?!" he barely managed to keep his voice under control.

Despite being in a shocked state, the last thing he wanted was for his shouting to echo through the cave and attract monsters towards them.

Seeing the rage and faint hint of fear in his eyes, Lucian slightly tilted his head.

"Didn’t you ask me? I thought you wanted to know why I stopped you..."

He felt disappointed, especially since he had just helped him understand the reason for stopping him.

Jake, who had been standing a short distance behind them, swallowed quietly.

For some reason, he felt extremely thankful that he hadn’t been the scapegoat.

Perhaps his fangirling had finally worked, and Lucian had spared him because of that.

If only Lucian could hear those thoughts...

He would’ve surely thrown him into the pit before even covering him with mud and completely burying him down here.

Everyone stared at Lucian with the same expression, as if wondering whether there was something wrong with his brain.

"Was he always like this?"

Jennifer couldn’t help but ask, standing beside Selene, who let out a quiet sigh.

"...No..."

Her voice barely escaped, since even she wasn’t entirely sure.

She hadn’t been there to witness Lucian’s entire childhood with her own eyes.

And she wasn’t exactly sure what had happened after Lucian had recently become far more expressive and playful—perhaps more troublesome...

And sometimes, far more threatening.

Especially after training under the Duchess.

Just what had Valentina done to her son...?

"Though that was a bit hot," Jennifer muttered, only closing her mouth the moment she felt the intense gaze of the masked woman beside her.

"...My bad."

She immediately apologised, though there wasn’t even the slightest trace of sincerity in her voice.

Isaac let out a long, frustrated sigh before leaning towards the pitfall he had almost fallen into.

"How did you even find this out in this darkness?"

Even with the torch in his hand, he hadn’t noticed it, since there wasn’t anything remotely different from the surrounding ground.

"Didn’t I say? My eyes are better than yours."

Isaac’s fingers twitched, but he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

’I’m smarter. I’m calmer. I need to keep my cool against this guy...’

He silently chanted those words, cooling his mind.

And when Lucian was speaking about his eyes, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

He had been able to see the faint depression in the ground with his heightened senses and night vision, and mainly...

Because of Echo Awareness, which had been deviating faintly beneath the echoes of the team’s footsteps, as if there was a hollow space beneath them.

And...

He was right.

’Even I didn’t expect this skill could be used like this.’

Lucian smiled inwardly.

He had been using poor Isaac like his lab rat to test his skill, and fortunately...

It seemed to have worked.

[The poor guy got afraid because of that.]

Akasha said in a sad yet obviously amused tone, making Lucian’s lips twitch.

The pit was a few metres deep, and if someone fell inside, they would probably suffer at least a few injuries. Even getting out of it wouldn’t be particularly easy either.

Even jumping over the pit wasn’t a realistic option.

The distance itself might have been manageable, but the low ceiling would obstruct them.

Anyone who attempted to jump across would likely hit their head against the stone ceiling without even reaching the other side, and if they were unlucky enough, fall into the pit and gather a few more injuries.

After thinking for a moment, he finally made his decision.

"Let’s go through the other path."

Everyone followed, and they took the other path—the one that the now-burnt Kobold had tried to escape through.

Neither of them went against his words, and though Lucian could easily move past the pit on his own...

There was no reason to reveal his ability.

And besides...

Following them was far more interesting. And he had to accompany his mother as well.