Chapter 2692 Never Again

Chapter 2692 Never Again

"It's not your fault, you know," Aina's voice suddenly called out as she plopped by Leonel's side. She leaned her cheek against his shoulder with a smile, pulling his hand into a sandwich between her palms.

She could feel Leonel's thoughts more clearly now than ever before. She knew that he was wrestling with himself, a battle between the man he naturally was and the man he wanted to be.

She could still remember that scowl of rage Leonel had on his face when he sent her to deliver that letter back in the Three Finger Cult. She could feel that he was suppressing what he wanted to do with what he thought the smartest choice was.

When there were no other variables, Leonel felt that he could take all the risks in the world and still come out on top. But when it was a matter of the safety of everyone around him...

He had no ability to guarantee that.

If he were to describe it cruelly, there were added variables that he couldn't account for. Trying to make sure that everything was dialed in on his part was difficult enough without also having to deal with an array of people that wouldn't act predictably.

That was how Leonel had always seen it. Or, rather, it was the way he had tried to pretend as though he didn't see it, while knowing full well that this was how his mind worked.Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only

It seemed though... that even now his future self, though having disappeared, was still influencing him.

Even before he changed the path of his Dream Force, the back of his mind was still churning with ways of changing himself, of destroying what seemed to be an inevitable future and swapping it for something better.

What he had done to Aina had felt like that first step. It made him greatly uncomfortable, and it also struck right at his pride, but he still forced himself to do it nonetheless.

And now there was the matter with Anastasia... but that was still just one part of it all.

"Alright, alright, mister brains," Aina giggled and squeezed his hand between hers more tightly. "We can carry this burden together."

Leonel looked down at Aina. His heart wanted to say yes, but...

No, that wasn't true at all. It was his heart that wanted to say no. He didn't like it. He didn't want to have to share the burden.

Part of it was his ego again, and the other part was not wanting to put them through this.

Wasn't it precisely sharing the burden that had ended up with Anastasia in tears?

Aina smiled. It was a soft smile, one filled with meaning and double understandings.

"Anastasia is just a child, Leonel," she said in a gentle voice. "Although she's lived for much longer than we have, her mental state is still naive and immature. We have to protect her, but that doesn't mean you also have to protect me. We are stronger together."

Leonel fell into silence and Aina smiled a bit bitterly. She knew that her husband could be stubborn... and the problem was that anything she could say, he had probably thought of a million different ways in a few seconds.

But she wanted him to hear her nonetheless.

Eventually, Leonel smiled as well, pulling his wife into an embrace.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not going to do anything stupid. But... I'll also never give those people a chance to ever say anything bad about you again."