楼上的上瘾女士

"When I first saw the chrono-spheres in the Payne family vault, they called to me, and in their call, I saw hope. Hope that I could have my life back.

But I had been taught well enough by my master on the Art of inscribing and Artifact maintenance and repair to know the Chrono-spheres were not complete.

The core was present but now it needed housing.

So I got it out of the vault and I left Salmon city..."

At this point, Svetlana paused and looked at Hal who motioned for her to continue while he looked confused at her decision to stop.

Svetlana took a deep breath as she seemed to feel the urge to explain herself,

"It could have never worked between Gregory and me. He was good enough to take the edge off. A brief moment for me to forget my troubles but I could never build a family with him."

"And you are telling me this, why?" Hal asked.

"I thought it best you know why you could never grow up in a whole family. With a mother and a father. Well, except if you consider your stepmother as your mother" Svetlana said and Hal rolled his eyes.

"I didn't ask for this, Svetlana. I asked why I was born defective."

Svetlana searched his eyes and then continued, 

"Within my master's notes were techniques to create an Artifact which was practically what I was going to have to do to create a housing for the spheres but such techniques are considered forbidden.

And that is because they sacrifice the life force of the Runemaster who creates them, or alternatively, the lifeforce of others can be used as a substitute for the Runemaster's.

I saw the alternatives in the form of those still after me.

I had attendants with me and together we stopped running but instead focused on setting traps and picking them off one by one.

While I was at the time, a Rank 6 Runemaster and at the Cosmic Pagoda realm, it was far from easy.

For one, those sent after me were also in the Cosmic Pagoda realm and were battled hardened enough to not move separately or underestimate a daughter of the Doxon Duke.

However, I and my attendants did succeed in getting one by himself, and right where I killed him, I used him to power up the start of the creation of the housing.

From then, it took two months of playing cat and mouse with the bastards before I finally got enough to complete the housing..."

Once again, Svetlana paused but soon continued, 

"Since I had all I needed, I took all precautions to avoid complications through the backblast of energy that was coming off what was sure to be a very powerful artifact but it was not enough.

The backblast was due to the spheres resistance with a housing -Orb- they felt was unworthy of housing them.

Even all I had done had not been enough.

The blast went right through me and left me uninjured due to the spheres already choosing me but the same could not be said for you."

There was a pause in which Hal paused his stroking of Rita's back, 

"Hmm, interesting" he said with a slight smile.

"I knew what had happened the moment it did but it was far from being the time to cry over what I could not change. I had to focus on what I could change which would be the fate my brothers had forced on me. On my family."

Hal nodded his head almost absentmindedly, 

"I see. But what about the fate you had forced on me through your experiments and Quest for power."

Svetlana frowned slightly, 

"I did not plan for it. I had no idea I would not be able to defend against the backblast"

"And if you had known?" Hal asked.

"What?" Svetlana seemed confused.

"If you had known my meridians would be damaged, would you still have done it? Would you have still chosen power if you had known what the results would be beforehand?" Hal asked.

Svetlana opened her mouth to speak but Hal interrupted, 

"And don't lie" Hal said.

Svetlana frowned, 

"I wasn't going to. I was going to say yes, I would still have done it." 

Another moment of silence... one in which the two looked at one another and Rita frowned at the tension in the air while Hal's lips were twitching occasionally as though he was holding back a smile.

Eventually, Svetlana looked away, 

"I don't expect you to understand my reasons for doing so. At the time I had no idea what would be the outcome but if I got to do it all over again, I would do the same. The whole Duchy and my family's legacy was at stake.

It was about to go from Doxon Duchy to Borel Duchy."

Hal shrugged, 

"You're right, I don't understand your reasons and you know why? Because they are not any of my concerns. I have no part in this family and I have no interest in it.

I could quite frankly care less about some legacy because I am only striving to establish my own. The only thing that truly concerns me is that while the Doxon family prospered, I was disabled.

Made useless.

And left with my asshole of a father who tried to kill me"

Svetlana looked at him suddenly and then at Rita, 

"Gregory did? I can't believe him. The only reason I did not keep you with me was because of the danger I felt you would face in such a competitive and high-powered region.

If you could live your life peacefully anywhere, I believed it would be with him in Salmon city and... He tried to kill you?

The nerve!"

Svetlana's blue eyes flashed but Hal rolled his, 

"Settle down mama bear, Gregory already got what he deserved and then some."

"It's not nearly enough! I thought the mere thought of me would keep him from doing something stupid but clearly it was not"

"Would you calm down and stop all this false display of care? You were partially to blame. You broke the man's heart and stole his balls, how did you want him to react to the offspring of his mistake. Trust me, you did not think it through."

There was another pause and then Hal asked the only other question he had in mind right now,

"Who is Elsa and why is she stalking me?"

Svetlana looked a little turned around at the sudden change in topic, 

"Elsa is a family friend. She's an Evgeny. A powerful family in the Doxon Duchy. And she is not stalking you, just... Surveying you from a distance."

"That's stalking. And why, pray tell, is she 'surveying' me?" Hal asked.

"Curiosity. Elsa was there when you were born and is one of the few who know you exist. She also knows you cannot cultivate. Or you could not.

When she heard that you could, she was curious and decided to see you 'in your element'. I wanted to know what you were up to so I saw it as a win-win.

Her full name is Elsa Evgeny and her family and the Doxons have always been quite right knit. In fact, it goes even further than my father's friendship with Anton Antonov."

Hal nodded to the information and then said with a chuckle, 

"You're not about to tell me I'm betrothed to her, are you?" He asked.

Svetlana's eyes widened slightly, 

"What? No no. There is hardly anyone who knows you exist and those who do, believe you can not cultivate. Surely, no one is going to be selecting partners for you."

Hal nodded at how reasonable that sounded but he had nodded too fast as Svetlana added, 

"But that is subject to change now that you've shown yourself as a cultivation genius"

Hal who had been looking away suddenly snapped his face back to her,

"What's that supposed to mean?"