Chapter 73: Trust Me

The attack kept replaying inside her mind, vivid and sharp. She couldn’t shake the memory of the assassin’s stealth unit appearing out of nowhere. The black blade flashing toward her throat.

Raevor moving instantly to step into the line of fire. The deafening sound of metal striking metal as his weapon caught the strike.

The moment she had realized how dangerously close that hyper-frequency blade had been to his heart. Her fingers tightened unconsciously into fists at her sides, her knuckles turning pale.

Raevor noticed the subtle change in her posture immediately, his Sentinel senses picking up her heightened vitals.

"You’re thinking about it," he observed.

"I am," Rhaevia admitted, her eyes fixing on the sealed door of the medical chamber.

"You don’t need to," Raevor said, leaning forward slightly on the edge of the platform.

Rhaevia turned her head to look at him, her expression hardening with thought.

"Someone tried to kill me," she stated plainly.

"Yes," Raevor acknowledged with a slow nod.

"They knew about Project Genesis," she continued, her voice dropping as she mentioned the classified name.

"Yes," he repeated, his eyes darkening at the mention of the secret faction.

"They called me the Sovereign," Rhaevia added, the ancient title feeling heavy and strange on her tongue.

Raevor’s eyes darkened further, a dangerous glint passing through them.

"Yes," he agreed.

Rhaevia lowered her voice, taking a step closer to him.

"And you were injured protecting me," she said, her tone filled with complex emotion.

"I would do it again," Raevor said without hesitation.

She stared at him, genuinely puzzled by his unyielding dedication.

"Why?" Rhaevia asked.

Raevor was silent, his dark eyes searching her face as if deciding how much to say. The air between them grew still and charged. Then he answered, his deep voice steady and resonant in the room.

"Because I trust you," Raevor said simply.

Rhaevia blinked, caught off guard by the directness of his words.

"Trust me?" she echoed.

"Completely," he reaffirmed, his gaze unwavering.

The simplicity of his answer caught her off guard, leaving her briefly speechless.

"You don’t even know what I am," Rhaevia pointed out, gesturing vaguely toward her chest where her ancient Guide core resided.

"I don’t need to," Raevor replied smoothly, his tone laced with absolute conviction.

His gaze remained steady, holding hers with an intensity that made her chest feel tight.

"I know what I’ve seen," he said.

He counted, holding up his fingers as he recalled her actions.

"I’ve seen you protect people when you could have escaped," he began. "I’ve seen you stand against enemies stronger than yourself. I’ve seen you refuse to abandon your soldiers."

Rhaevia’s throat tightened as he listed those moments, memories of both her past and present lives flashing through her mind.

"And I’ve seen you choose your family over power," Raevor added softly.

He paused, letting the silence settle around them for a moment before finishing his thought.

"I trust the person making those choices," he stated firmly.

Rhaevia looked away, unable to maintain eye contact beneath the weight of his sincerity. Her chest felt warm with an unfamiliar feeling. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Not in this life, and certainly not in her previous one.

Not as a military commander leading hopeless charges.

Not as a theoretical Sovereign figure from ancient history.

Not as an extraordinary 3S Guide with overwhelming mental power.

Just as her, as Rhaevia.

"Raevor..." she began, her voice soft.

"I’m not asking you to trust me because of destiny," Raevor interrupted gently, his tone softening to a degree few people in the Empire had ever heard.

He leaned in slightly, his dark eyes locking onto hers with earnest intensity.

"I’m asking you to trust me because I’m here," he said.

Rhaevia looked back at him, her heart beating a little faster against her ribs.

Their eyes met, holding the connection without either of them turning away. For a long moment, neither spoken words nor actions were needed to fill the space. The low hum of the medical equipment seemed to fade into the background.

The invisible, guarded distance that had always existed between them seemed distinctly smaller now. It was a wall that had stood for weeks, now cracking under the weight of shared battle and genuine honesty.

It wasn’t entirely gone. There were still secrets, dangerous factions, and unknown pasts hanging over their heads.

But it was undeniably smaller.

Rhaevia finally smiled faintly, the tense lines around her mouth relaxing completely.

"I think I do trust you," she admitted.

Raevor’s strict, intimidating expression softened into a rare, genuine smile of his own.

"That is enough," he said softly.

Rhaevia turned back toward the counter to finalize storing the medical supplies. She closed the emergency casing with a soft click and set it aside. Then she stopped, her hands resting against the cold metallic surface of the counter.

Her mind involuntarily returned to the chaotic battlefield inside the ancestral vault. She saw the dark shadow dropping from the vent, the strike of the blade, and the sudden shift in gravity as Raevor moved.

She saw his body stepping seamlessly between her and the incoming strike, placing himself in harm’s way without a thought. Her chest tightened again, a strange pressure rising in her throat.

She had spent countless years on bloody battlefields, calculating casualties with cold, unyielding precision. She knew how to measure risk, weigh strategic advantages, and accept unavoidable losses for the greater good.

But when Raevor had been injured right in front of her, something inside her had panicked. It wasn’t the concern of a general losing an asset. It was something raw and deeply personal.

She had not calculated the odds. She had not issued a military command. She had simply been afraid.

Rhaevia slowly lowered her gaze, watching the faint reflection of her face in the polished counter surface. Her fingers drifted upward, coming to rest gently against the center of her chest where her heart was pounding steadily.

I was afraid when he was hurt, she realized, the truth of it ringing clear in her mind.