To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 408

Chapter 408: King Lear and Cordelia 3

ALDRIC

"I suppose you’ve already figured it out," I began, my tone measured, almost gentle. "Your father and I—"

"No."

The interruption came clean and absolute, slicing through whatever I had intended to say next.

Her voice had changed, stripped of hesitation and sharpened into something resolute, something that left no room for doubt.

"You’re him," she said, her gaze locking onto mine with unsettling clarity. "You’re him."

I stilled, not because I was caught off guard, but because there was no longer any reason to pretend otherwise.

"Don’t insult me by pretending this is anything else."

There it was. Certainty.

The mask, carefully constructed over time, slipped away without resistance. I let the concern drain from my expression, let the warmth I had worn like a disguise dissolve into something colder, something far more honest.

"So," I asked, my voice lowering as I studied her, "did you follow me out here, or was this stroke of insight purely instinct?"

She did not even acknowledge the question.

"Oh my goddess," she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper now, though the horror in it rang louder than any shout. "You are genuinely evil."

Her eyes widened as if seeing me for the first time, as if the man she thought she knew had finally been peeled away to reveal what had always been underneath.

"How are you doing this?" she demanded, her voice trembling despite her effort to steady it. "How are you controlling him, wearing him like this?"

I tilted my head slightly, considering her, though not her question.

"Does the answer truly matter to you, Elara," I asked, "or are you simply trying to delay the realization of what this means for you?"

"You took his life," she snapped, anger rising now to meet the fear, "and now you’ve taken his body as well. Do you even hear yourself? Do you understand how sick that is? Because I promise you, once this comes out, everyone else will."

A smile tugged at my lips, slow and unrestrained, and I allowed it to settle fully this time.

It felt... relieving.

"We are quite far from the main estate," I said calmly, gesturing faintly to the empty stretch of land around us, "and you did not tell anyone you were coming here, which I know because I raised you and have always been intimately familiar with your tendency to act first and consider consequences later."

A soft laugh slipped from me, quiet but genuine.

"In fact, I should thank myself for not correcting that particular flaw of yours. Had you been more cautious, more disciplined, I might have found myself exposed far sooner."

Her expression twisted, revulsion overtaking whatever disbelief remained.

"You would kill me?" she asked, though the question lacked the defiance she likely intended.

I lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug.

"That depends entirely on you," I replied. "Would you expose me?"

She took a step back, subtle but telling, her body stiffening as if instinct alone was urging her to put distance between us.

"No," she said quickly, too quickly, the word tumbling out before she could temper it. "I wouldn’t."

We both knew it was a lie.

"But what do you plan to do now?" she pressed, as if reclaiming some measure of control through the question.

"Revenge," I answered simply, the word settling between us with deliberate weight. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Revenge for what?" she challenged, her brows drawing together. "Everything that happened to you was the result of your own actions. That isn’t injustice, it’s consequence. Some would call it karma."

The word were lingered, though it was the one she chose next that struck deeper.

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