Chapter 688: A Simple talk with an Ash II

Ezra asked without any hesitation.

"Oh, my."

Vera sounded amused.

She smiled faintly at the question, though Ezra couldn’t see her expression from the other side of the closed metal door.

"You’re going straight to the question..."

She paused, allowing the words to hang for a moment before continuing.

"Maybe I should ask my Dancer why you’re suddenly curious about this rumor."

Her tone was light, as though she were merely teasing him.

She had been waiting for this conversation, after all, and Ezra’s direct approach had given her something interesting to work with.

"Vera..."

Ezra called her name from the other side of the door.

"It’s because I’m curious about what you see in me when you look at me."

His answer was plain.

He didn’t try to disguise his intention or offer an excuse for asking.

He had come here because he wanted to understand something about Vera’s ability, and there was little point in pretending otherwise.

"What I see in you, huh?"

Vera tilted her head slightly to the right.

She remained seated inside the room, with the paused theatre movie still waiting on the screen in front of her. The remote rested nearby, but she paid it no attention.

Her interest had shifted entirely to the conversation.

If it’s true that she can see the future, then there’s a possibility she knows something about my past-self.

Ezra’s thoughts continued quietly on the other side of the door.

Although my past-self is a past life, my instincts keep telling me it’s something more than that.

He had considered the matter before, but he still lacked enough information to reach a conclusion.

Vera’s ability might provide him with a clue, even if she couldn’t give him a complete answer.

And it could also answer something that he needed to confirm.

Maybe she can give me some ideas about it.

He settled on that thought and waited for her response.

"So, you never wondered why I fell for you, but now you’re wondering what I see in you?"

Vera spoke lightly, as though she had just discovered a fascinating flaw in his reasoning.

"You really are a player, using a soft-hearted damsel like me however you please. How sad, Ezra Ashenlocke. But I’m so in love with you. Helplessly in love..."

Her voice carried a dramatic sweetness that didn’t quite match the words she was saying.

"Did I already say love?"

She paused.

"Ah... I did."

Vera answered her own question without waiting for Ezra to respond.

On the other side of the door...

Ezra remained quiet.

He had already grown accustomed to the way Vera could turn an ordinary conversation into something strange, and he wasn’t about to let her teasing distract him from what he wanted to know.

"You know, whenever I see people, I can always hear their thoughts."

Vera finally returned to the subject.

"But you can’t hear mine,"

Ezra replied calmly.

"It’s not that I can’t hear your thoughts. I do hear them occasionally, and it’s quite annoying."

Vera’s voice remained casual, with a faint hint of teasing mixed into it.

"Because I want to know what my dear Dancer thinks with his two-mind persona."

Ezra’s eyes flinched slightly.

"Two-mind persona."

He repeated the words thoughtfully.

The words caught his attention.

He had suspected that Vera’s ability might have revealed something unusual about him, but hearing her describe it in those terms gave him a clearer idea of what she had noticed.

Vera continued before he could ask any question.

"The first time we met, it felt like I was hearing two voices mixed together. They said different things, but their tones sounded the same. Their personalities, however, were completely different."

She spoke at an unhurried pace, recalling what she had experienced.

"It was very clear that one voice belonged to the original, while the other was more like a ghost."

She remembered how surprised she had been when she first heard Ezra’s thoughts.

The difference between the two voices had caught her attention almost immediately.

She could understand what each of them was thinking, yet their presence within the same person was unlike anything she had encountered before.

Ezra was different from everyone she had met.

It wasn’t because his thoughts were pure or straightforward.

She had heard plenty of people with those kinds of thoughts, and there were even some whose minds she couldn’t hear completely.

In certain cases, their facial expressions had become so stagnant that reading them offered little help.

But Ezra’s thoughts were something else entirely.

There had been two voices.

On some days, she heard both of them, their thoughts blending together despite the difference in their personalities.

On other days, she heard only the original voice.

There were even times when she couldn’t hear his thoughts at all.

It had been an unusual pattern, one she couldn’t fully understand.

"But after the Fourth Trial..."

Vera’s tone became a little more thoughtful.

"The two voices stopped."

She let that fact settle before continuing.

"Now, I can only hear the original voice occasionally."

The change had been clear enough for her to remember.

Whatever had caused the two voices to appear in Ezra’s thoughts, something had changed after the Fourth Trial.

And that wasn’t the only thing she had noticed.

Because of all these strange phenomena, Vera had never been able to gain a complete understanding of Ezra through her dreams of the future.

Her ability allowed her to see possibilities and work out some of his next actions, but the results were never as clear as they were with other people.

Whenever she tried to see the possibilities surrounding Ezra, she often received no answer.

She would see him standing before two paths.

One was dark.

The other was darker.

Yet Ezra never moved towards either one.

Perhaps he had been hesitating before.

Perhaps there had been another reason she couldn’t understand.

Whatever the case, the possibilities she saw had remained uncertain.

But after the Fourth Trial, something changed.

Ezra had finally chosen a path.

And now, he was walking straight towards it.

Vera didn’t know everything about the decision he had made, but the change was enough to leave an impression on her.

The uncertainty that had once surrounded him had given way to something more direct, even if she still couldn’t see where his chosen path would lead.

"Do you know how many times I’ve dreamt of possibilities in which I get killed, raped, and worse because of this ability?"

Vera asked casually, changing the subject slightly from Ezra’s question.

Her tone was so light that someone listening without understanding the subject might have thought she was talking about an unpleasant dream rather than something so serious.

"The thoughts of people return to me in my dreams. They show me all the possibilities of what could have happened if those people had followed their thoughts. It’s quite amusing and troubling at the same time."

She explained the matter plainly.

Her ability wasn’t limited to what she heard when she encountered someone.

Their thoughts could return to her through her dreams, revealing possible outcomes based on what they had considered doing.

Some of those possibilities were unpleasant enough to make anyone wary of the people around them.

For Vera, however, they had become part of her life.

"So that’s why you have trouble sleeping."

Ezra’s reply carried a hint of understanding.

He had already known that Vera’s ability was unusual, but hearing her explain the connection between people’s thoughts and her dreams gave him a better idea of the burden it placed on her.

"You’re feeling sympathy?"

Vera asked lightly.

"Well, I did say those things to gain your sympathy. Is it working?"

She sounded almost pleased with herself, as though she had successfully carried out some clever plan.

The dramatic shift in her tone made it difficult to tell how much of her earlier explanation she intended him to take seriously.

She had been talking about something deeply troubling, yet she was now treating it like a simple attempt to win his concern.

"You’re quite good at ruining a mood, aren’t you?"

Ezra asked, already expecting her to say something like that.

"People say I’m the greatest at it."

Vera answered without hesitation.

Her response came so naturally that there was little room for doubt about how she viewed herself.

On the other side of the door...

Ezra remained quiet for a moment.

The two personas she mentioned must mean that my past-self was influencing my thoughts, but I never even realized it.

He considered what she had told him.

I assumed she must have already seen a lot about me through her ability.

The thought was reasonable, considering what Vera had just explained.

If she could hear people’s thoughts and dream about the possibilities that followed from them, then she might have gained some understanding of him that he himself lacked.

But the two voices had disappeared after the Fourth Trial, and her ability could no longer provide her with the same information.

Ezra let out a faint sigh of relief.

"Ahh..."

"Thinking about violence is quite rude, Inventor."

Vera’s voice came from inside the room.

She stood up from where she had been sitting and stretched her arms.

The movement loosened her posture after sitting through the conversation, and she took a moment before turning her attention back to Ezra.

"I have to consider how much of a threat you could become if we ended up as enemies."

Ezra’s answer was flat.

He didn’t try to make his statement sound less serious than it was.

Vera’s ability could reveal information about people that they might never willingly share, and he had to consider what that meant.

"And I wonder why you would think that."

Vera placed her hands behind her back and began walking slowly away from the door a few steps, before turning back and walking towards the door.

Her steps were unhurried, and her tone remained casual.

"You know I would never betray you. But knowing how much you tend to consider people’s thoughts and actions in relation to your own path, I can see why you would be wary."

She nodded slightly to herself as she finished speaking.

Vera understood that Ezra didn’t make decisions carelessly.

He considered the people around him, their intentions, and the possible consequences of their actions.

It wasn’t surprising that he would also think about the danger her ability might pose if their relationship ever changed.

Yet there was another detail she found more interesting.

"But the fact that you made your thoughts clear, came here to ask me directly, and showed your true intentions tells me you have some level of trust in me, don’t you, Ezra?"

Vera stopped near the door.

She looked towards it, as though she could see him through the metal separating them.

Of course...

She couldn’t.

Ezra remained on the other side, just as she remained inside the room.

Still, she knew he was there, and she had no trouble directing her words towards him.

"I don’t know what you mean by that."

Ezra replied plainly.

He stood up and adjusted his clothes.

The conversation had given him some of the information he wanted, but he wasn’t interested in discussing the meaning Vera had attached to his actions.

Vera, however, wasn’t finished.

"Just know that I’m the one who will make you crack, Ezra Ashenlocke. You’ll be mine in the end."

Her voice was calm and confident.

There was no hesitation in the way she said it.

She spoke as though she had already decided how things would turn out, leaving little room for Ezra to argue against her claim.

Ezra remained silent.

He looked towards the closed door with his usual, almost extravagantly plain expression, though there was no one on the other side who could see it.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

The room remained quiet, with the paused theatre movie still waiting for Vera to resume it.

Outside, Ezra stood near the door, considering what she had told him.

Vera also kept quiet.

The silence lasted long enough for the conversation to settle.

Then...

"The second voice you heard was my past-self."

Ezra spoke.

His words were plain.

He offered no additional explanation and made no attempt to elaborate on what he meant.

It was the answer he had decided to give her, and he left it at that.

Inside the room...

Vera’s eyes widened slightly.

She had heard his words and then, his thoughts.

The words and thoughts had caught her interest more than she expected.

"Ehnnn... That’s not fair. You can’t stop there, not after making me this interested."

She placed her hands on the door lightly, her earlier amusement returning to her voice.

Unfortunately for her, Ezra wasn’t offering anything else.

"You didn’t say much either, so I guess we’re even."

His reply came calmly.

He had asked what he wanted to know and received an answer that helped him understand his situation a little better.

Vera had also shared information about her ability, including the way it had changed after the Fourth Trial.

That was enough for now.

"Have a safe day, Vera."

Ezra waved his hand lazily as he walked away from the door.

He had no reason to stay any longer.

The conversation had served its purpose, and he wasn’t going to prolong it just because Vera wanted more answers.

Inside the room...

Vera remained near the door for a moment.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot."

She muttered the words to herself before returning to the couch.

She picked up the remote and resumed the theatre movie she had paused earlier.

The familiar scene returned to the screen, but her attention lingered on what Ezra had said.

Past-self, huh?

A faint, amused smile appeared on her face.

Interesting.