The silence was suffocating.
Ardyn stood frozen in place, his gaze locked with the woman who'd just declared she was here to kill him. Neither of them moved. It was as if the room itself had ceased breathing, waiting for one of them to break the fragile stillness. Her dagger remained raised, the gleam of its blade catching the morning light seeping through the cracks in the wall. But it trembled now, if only slightly. Her icy blue eyes, once sharp and resolute, flickered with something new. Not mercy. Not fear. But doubt, subtle and unsettling.
"You didn't scream," she said again, this time softer. Her voice lacked the certainty it held before, as if she was questioning herself more than him.
"No," Ardyn said, his voice low and steady despite the hammering in his chest. "Screaming wouldn't stop the blade in your hand."
She blinked. The faintest twitch in her posture betrayed surprise. Her grip on the dagger didn't loosen, but it no longer felt like it was meant to end him in the next heartbeat. Instead, she studied him, eyes narrowing in scrutiny. He could feel her analyzing him, dissecting every twitch of his muscles, every shift in his expression. But beneath the surface of her composure, there was hesitation. Not enough to lower the weapon. Just enough to hesitate using it.
"I was told you'd beg," she murmured. "That you'd grovel. That you'd wet yourself at the first glimpse of steel."
Ardyn gave a dry smile, tilting his head. "Sorry to disappoint. Maybe I'm not the man you thought I was."
The muscles in her jaw tensed.
Inside his head, the system pulsed.
[Thread Initiation: 32%]
[Detected: Emotional Instability. Conflict between Programmed Duty and Present Perception]
[Warning: Host's current stats do not support direct combat. Recommendation: pursue psychological influence.]
He ignored the caution. Something inside him had shifted. Moments ago, he was choking to death on noodles in a dingy apartment. Now he was in a stranger's body, in a world that followed new rules, facing an assassin who was hesitating to kill him. It wasn't fear that held him steady. It was instinct. Or maybe madness. But in this surreal world, his death felt further away than it did in the one he'd just left.
"I don't remember who I used to be," Ardyn said slowly. "But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it means I get to decide who I am now."
She stared at him like she couldn't believe he was still speaking. Her expression shifted from guarded to almost curious.
"You've lost your mind," she said flatly.
"Maybe," he replied. "But I'm standing here, facing you without a weapon, and I haven't begged for my life. Doesn't that count for something?"
The silence pressed in again, more oppressive than before. The tension between them thickened, heavy enough to suffocate. Her fingers tightened around the dagger, and for a second, Ardyn thought she would go through with it after all. But then, she took a small step back. Her arm lowered just slightly.
He released a quiet breath, one he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"You said someone sent you," he said carefully, trying not to shatter the delicate balance between them. "Who was it? And why?"
Her eyes remained locked on his, searching for something. Doubt lingered in her gaze, but so did calculation.
"Your name is Kael," she said, the name leaving her lips like a curse. "You're the third son of a disgraced noble house. Selfish. Cowardly. You fled after your family's downfall and hid here, in the slums, hoping the world would forget you."
He blinked. "Huh. That guy sounds like a mess."
Her lips tightened, but for a second, it almost looked like she was fighting a smile.
"Your older brother hired me," she said. "He claimed you survived the execution meant for your family. He said you were an embarrassment, a rotting stain he wanted wiped clean."
"Must be fun at family reunions," Ardyn muttered.
[Thread Initiation: 54%]
She didn't react, but her stance had changed. Less rigid. Less prepared to kill. Ardyn saw it the way her shoulders relaxed by an inch, the way her breathing slowed. The threat hadn't vanished, but it had faded, just slightly.
"What's your name?" he asked, voice gentler now.
She hesitated. "I don't tell my name to men marked for death."
"I'm not dead," he said. "Not yet."
She didn't reply. But the system stirred again, warmer now, like a pulse of heat from beneath his skin. The connection between them, fragile as it was, had begun to solidify. Something tethered them together, invisible but real.
"You're relentless," she said at last.
"I prefer 'determined.'"
Another pause.
Outside, birds chirped faintly, a breeze whispering through the cracks in the wooden walls. The world seemed to hold its breath again, balanced on a knife's edge.
Then, without warning, she lowered the blade and sheathed it.
Ardyn blinked.
"You're not the Kael I was hired to eliminate," she said, almost to herself. "But that doesn't make you trustworthy."
He nodded. "I wouldn't trust myself either."
She turned and moved toward the door, her movements graceful and silent. But just as she reached it, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder.
"Don't leave this room. Not yet. They're still watching."
Then she slipped outside, vanishing into the light like mist in the morning sun.
Ardyn stood frozen, the room unnaturally still once again.
[Thread Initiation Complete. Emotional Bond Established.]
[Ability Unlocked: Assassin's Reflex. Enhanced evasion against ambushes. Bonus Skill Acquired: Shadowstep. Cooldown: 8 hours.]
[Thread Status: Unnamed Assassin. Bond Level: Fragile]
He exhaled slowly, his entire body sagging under the weight of relief. His legs gave out, and he dropped back onto the mat, letting himself collapse.
"This is madness," he murmured. "I just… talked an assassin out of killing me. With what? Honesty and sarcasm?"
The system chimed in.
[Clarification: Host's survival attributed to charisma output enhanced by system influence. Probability of success before system: 4.7%.]
"So basically, I'm still useless?"
[Correction: Host displayed initiative under pressure. Adaptive response noted. Latent potential confirmed.]
He let out a short breath of laughter. A real one. Not bitter or hollow, but startled and raw.
From choking on instant noodles to surviving an assassination attempt in a world he didn't understand. From zero to… something. He wasn't sure what yet, but it was something. And that was enough.
He sat up slowly, turning toward the door the assassin had left through.
"They're watching," he repeated to himself. "So whoever 'they' are… they think I'm still the Kael she came to kill."
He didn't know the politics of this world, didn't understand the names, the stakes, or the danger waiting outside. But now he had information. A name. A family. A starting point. And one very sharp woman who, for whatever reason, hadn't slit his throat.
For once, life wasn't happening to him. He was part of it. He had a place in it.
He rose and walked back to the cracked mirror. His reflection stared back, young, lean, unfamiliar. This wasn't the face of a loser in a rundown apartment anymore. This was someone reborn in a world that rewarded cunning, boldness, and hunger.
He didn't need to be the man Kael used to be. He didn't even need to remember who that was.
All that mattered now was what he would become.
And he would become everything this world feared.
One sin at a time.