227 Prove wrong? (1/2)

Ozul's voice jolted awake Raven from her stupor. She desperately wanted to deny his words, but nothing came out of her mouth.

Because deep inside, she knew that some of what Ozul said was true even if she did not agree with everything.

She might have stopped herself from expressing her emotions to anyone other than him, but it was still undeniable that she loved him.

As if he understood what she would say, Ozul spoke first, ”You cannot call it love. You only had positive feelings towards me which have bottled up to a point where you think that it is your goal.”

”If you try to argue that what I am saying is only what I think, then that little girl in the Sect that you left behind is an example for you. If you can open up to that little girl, you can do it with others too,” Ozul paused; words always drained him.

A moment later, he continued, ”I am not telling you to go love everyone or something. You don't need to become so friendly with everyone. Just express your emotions, whatever they are a little more, and you might one day realize that what you have for me is not love. Find some real purpose in your life.”

Whenever Raven would try to argue about something, Ozul would beat her to the punch and say something that would cause her to think again. She couldn't think of anything to say at all.

Seeing that it was having some effect on her, Ozul took a harsher tone, ”I need people to work for me. I need someone strong and capable of working for me. I don't need a lover, Raven.”

Being together with her for so long, Ozul wouldn't leave Raven just anywhere, but that also didn't mean that he loved her.

'I have too many things to do to even think about something so unusual like love,' Ozul honestly considered the concept complicated enough that he wouldn't waste his time on it.

Once the unconscious strings are attached to others, it comes to a point where the opinions of those others start to hold more importance than your own satisfaction.

Though some would argue that in that case, the person in question would find their satisfaction in fulfilling the wishes of those 'others', Ozul felt that this was not the time nor was he free enough to contemplate such things.

His words were harsh enough that Raven felt a pang of pain jolt through her chest, but she remained quiet. She knew that what she felt towards him was love, but not only did he not believe it, he also didn't care about it.

”What do you aim to achieve? What is your goal?” Ozul asked a question that Raven couldn't find the answer to.

”I... my goal... is to become so strong that one day I will be able to protect those who are dear to me,” Raven declared with a firm voice. Though at the start, it felt like she was convincing herself.

'Well, at least that is a start...' Ozul thought, but he knew that her definition of those dear to her probably includes only three people.

Ozul understood that just words alone wouldn't change her in a matter of minutes, but now that he had told her these things, she would be more open-minded of her own situation.

”Just know that I have spent efforts cultivating you... do not disappoint me,” Ozul wanted capable followers, and Raven had the potential to be one. He didn't have the option to be indifferent now.

He stood up with a sigh and muttered, ”I am sure you would get out of it, Raven.”

'Never!' Raven shouted inside her mind. If he didn't acknowledge her affection, then she'd stop herself from expressing those emotions. Nonetheless, she could never just forget those feelings.

As he was about to walk out of the ground, he turned around and ordered Raven, ”Don't leave him alone. Get him inside first.”

She was following him out of the training ground while Blaze was still lying there in the middle of the ground, looking as if he was dead because of his bloody figure.

”Tch!”

Ozul heard the sound, but he decisively ignored and walked out, leaving Raven to tend to poor Blaze who didn't know if leaving her to help him was a blessing or curse from Ozul.

———————

'Hu... I have done enough. It is up to her now,' Ozul released a deep breath as he directly went to his room to sleep.

'I didn't know I could talk so much in such a short amount of time...' he slept that day with such monologues running in his mind.

Raven's situation was more complicated than how he described it, but now it was her problem. He had warned her, and it would be her responsibility now.

In the first place, Ozul had never imagined that the girl he saved that day would persist for so long with him. Although he had scolded Raven today, it was also true that she had never bothered him about her feelings in any way before.

The only reason he wanted to point it out was so that she would have her own life as well. He wanted capable people, not puppets.