Chapter 88: Decided

An hour later…

Alice’s eyes snapped open as she suddenly sat up in bed, letting out a sharp cry. Her hand extended forward as though she were trying to grasp something, but her fingers closed around nothing. When her surroundings finally became clear, she realized she was lying inside a large room that lacked the luxurious decorations of her personal chambers in the palace.

“Where am I?” she murmured.

A soft white sheet covered her body, and a small robot stood beside the bed, monitoring her condition. Then, as her memories returned, her expression changed. She closed her eyes, remembering the last thing she had seen before losing consciousness. It had been Neolan’s back as he stood between her and the people who had taken her away.

The memory brought everything rushing back, and her breathing grew uneven.

‘I-I was kidnapped by the pope… so how am I here? Was this all a dream?!’ Alice tried to understand how she had arrived in this unfamiliar room. She remembered what the pope had wanted from her, and the thought alone made her uneasy, she also remembered the last thing she had seen was Neolan’s back.

But before she could think any further, she noticed movement near the door and turned toward it. A familiar figure entered her field of vision. Neolan walked into the room, carrying a small tray in his hands.

The moment Alice recognized him, her breath caught in her throat, and she stared at him without moving. For a few seconds, she could only look at his face, as though she needed to confirm that he was truly standing before her.

“It seems you are awake, Alice. I prepared some soup for you,” Neolan said as he approached the bed. “From the analysis K-01 performed on your body, it seems you haven’t been eating properly lately.” His tone remained calm, but he had noticed her poor condition.

Alice still hadn’t said anything as her eyes moved over his face as she struggled to process his presence, and the shock in her expression gradually gave way to something more painful.

“I know what you might be wondering,” Neolan continued, noticing her reaction. “I also have a lot of things to tell you about that matter, but for now, you need to eat. After all, you need the energy to listen to my explanations.”

His words brought Alice’s attention back to him. Her trembling hands reached toward the tray, although her movements lacked their usual steadiness. Neolan watched her for a moment before moving the bowl out of her reach.

“Nah-ah. I’ll feed you the soup, just like we did back in the days. Just relax and let me feed you.” Alice paused and looked at him again before withdrawing her hands and giving him a small nod. Neolan settled beside her and picked up the spoon, allowing her to adjust against the pillows before bringing the first spoonful toward her.

Neolan fed her at a steady pace, giving her time to swallow each spoonful. Neither of them spoke during the meal, and he didn’t press her with questions about what had happened. He let her finish without interrupting her with explanations.

A few moments later, Alice finished the entire bowl.

Neolan set the spoon aside before speaking in his usual composed manner. “Although the soup might not have been enough, it was prepared using very high-quality ingredients. It should be enough to help you focus with a clear mind.”

Alice nodded, lowering her gaze. Her thoughts clearly had little to do with the room or the food. Neolan placed the tray on the table beside the bed before sitting on the edge of the mattress.

He watched her lowered head for a moment. Instead of asking her to explain herself, Neolan reached out and gently lifted her chin until their eyes met. He noticed the tears gathering in her eyes and wiped them away before they could fall.

“Why are you crying?” he asked.

Alice tried to lower her head, but Neolan kept her chin raised. She pressed her lips together, struggling to hold back her emotions.

“F-Father has changed…” Before she could continue, Neolan interrupted her gently. “I know that, and you also know who is responsible for it, right?”

Alice nodded, her voice unsteady as she explained what had happened before she lost consciousness. “I-It’s the pope. She asked me to offer my body to the God of Light. When I heard such an absurd statement, I rejected it and was just about to return to my room, but suddenly, I felt dizzy, a-and…”

Her voice trailed off. Neolan understood why she couldn’t continue. Her father had been in the palace when she was taken away. Given his position and the circumstances, she believed he should have known what was happening, yet he had done nothing to stop it.

Even after noticing the changes in Lucien’s behavior, she had hoped he was still the father she remembered. His failure to intervene when she was in danger made that hope difficult to hold on to. She had wanted an explanation for his behavior, but the possibility that he had knowingly allowed her to be taken was still painful to consider.

She could barely bring herself to say it aloud, so she left the thought unfinished.

Neolan let out a quiet breath, “I see, so that’s what happened.”

Alice nodded again but said nothing further. Neolan let her collect herself before explaining why her father’s behavior had changed so drastically. When Neolan finally spoke again, his tone grew serious.

“Alice, I have to tell you something that will be very painful for you to accept but you need to accept the truth nonetheless.” Alice raised her eyes, confused by his serious expression, and waited for him to continue. “Your father is not actually your father anymore.”

Alice stared at him, her brows drawing together as she got confused but didn’t have to wait long for an explanation, “Lucien Marsona is now being possessed by someone else. Although I doubt they could have killed his soul that easily, they must have at least subdued it.”

In an instant, Alice’s eyes widened. “Wh-What? Possessed?!” Neolan nodded quietly.

“Yes, possessed. He didn’t die, but at this moment, he isn’t actually himself.”

The man she considered her father was still alive, yet someone else was controlling his body. It explained Lucien’s strange behavior, but raised questions she had never considered. If his soul had been subdued, she wondered whether he could hear or understand anything happening around him. She searched Neolan’s face for doubt and found none.

Meanwhile, another thought crossed Neolan’s mind.

‘Did a demon do it, just like the royal d…? In my previous life, he was killed by the Federation chief, so I never dug into anything about him.’ He narrowed his eyes. He had no proof of who had possessed Lucien or why, only that the person controlling him wasn’t the father Alice remembered.

Alice stared at Neolan as though something precious had been taken from her. Learning that her father was no longer in control of himself was difficult to accept, so Neolan gave her time to absorb the revelation. Only after several minutes did Alice finally speak.

“I see… Father is being possessed.”

She spoke quietly, repeating the truth as if to understand it. The changes in Lucien’s behavior had already made her suspect something was wrong, and she trusted Neolan enough to accept his explanation.

Accepting the truth didn’t mean she had stopped cari-ng about her father, Lucien, however. After considering what Neolan had told her, she raised her head slightly and asked the question that mattered most to her.

“You said Father is alive. Does that mean we can still bring him back to normal?” Neolan nodded immediately. “We can, but the process would be extremely difficult.” He didn’t offer her a simple promise or pretend that restoring Lucien would be easy.

He wanted her to understand that there would be obstacles, even if he was confident, they could eventually find a way. His answer offered no easy solution, but it gave Alice hope. If Lucien’s soul was still alive, he might be saved, and she wanted to believe he could eventually return to normal.

Neolan slowly leaned closer until his forehead rested against hers, “Don’t worry, Alice. I have ways to save him, but that will require a considerable amount of time.”

Alice could feel his breath as she remained leaning back against his forehead, trusting that he would do everything he could to save her father. He had already brought her out of the pope’s grasp, and she believed he would keep his word.

After giving her a moment, Neolan straightened slightly, “For now, I have something else to tell you. Something extremely important for both of us and all our loved ones.”

Neolan’s focused and serious eyes met her ones, preparing to finally reveal the truth about his ability to cross between worlds every twenty-four hours.