Journey to Become the Zenith

The Distance Between Them

Victor could tell she was getting more and more annoyed.

That only amused him further.

She had the kind of temperament that clearly hated being toyed with.

Unfortunately for her, Victor had never been particularly good at resisting the urge to tease someone who took themselves too seriously.

The Marquis took another step forward.

"Stop flirting and answer me."

Victor paused.

"Flirting?"

Her eyes turned colder.

"Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing."

Victor stared at her for a moment.

He actually looked surprised.

Then he chuckled.

"That’s not what I was doing."

"You have been staring at me since you arrived."

"I was examining you."

Her expression darkened.

"That sounds worse."

Victor laughed.

The Marquis didn’t even crack a smile.

Her expression remained completely cold.

"Enough. I am really the Marquis. If you don’t believe me, then don’t. But tell me why you killed my people."

Victor’s smile slowly disappeared.

His expression became more serious.

There it was.

The real question.

Now he understood why she was angry.

From her point of view, an unknown man had suddenly entered her hidden residence.

He had killed one of her soldiers.

He had scattered her archers and completely ruined their attack.

And after all that, he had simply walked straight toward her as though none of it mattered.

If their positions had been reversed, Victor probably would have demanded an explanation too.

His eyes shifted toward the fallen archer.

He looked at the body for a moment.

Then he turned his attention back to the Marquis.

Despite everything that had happened, Victor couldn’t sense any obvious deceit from her.

She genuinely wanted an answer.

So he gave her one.

"You killed one of my men, and you’re asking me why I’m here?" Victor said.

There was almost a cheerful note in his voice.

He was still brimming with excitement.

The Marquis’s expression changed slightly.

"So that’s what this is about."

Victor nodded.

"Oh, so you’re the one who sent that assassin to kill me."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"So what do you want?"

He tilted his head.

"Did you kill my men because I killed one of yours?"

He paused briefly.

"But you were the one who struck first."

His tone remained calm.

"I only retaliated in self-defense."

The Marquis’s eyes narrowed.

"I didn’t send anyone."

Victor’s expression remained relaxed.

"Then someone acting under your name did."

"I’ll deal with that problem."

"Good."

Her grip on the silver Long sword loosened by the smallest amount.

Victor noticed.

She wasn’t preparing to attack immediately anymore.

That was progress.

But there was still something else weighing on her mind.

Victor could see it in the slight crease between her eyebrows.

He decided to explain.

"That’s just part of the reason why I came here. The other reason that made me come here was because of an assassin that uses curses. Someone in your family hired him to kill the whole Kirche family, and I wanna know why."

The Marquis went completely still.

For the first time since she had appeared, genuine surprise crossed her face.

Her purple eyes flickered.

"A curse assassin?"

Victor nodded.

"Someone powerful enough to make an entire family afraid."

She said nothing.

Her mind was already racing.

’Something like that was happening under my nose. Did it happen before my soul got transferred over? Who was the idiot that did it?’

The Marquis’s fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword.

She knew her family.

She knew its people.

But the Elmhart family was old, and its branches stretched farther than she could personally oversee.

Someone could have acted without her permission.

Someone could have believed that they were serving the family while pursuing their own interests.

Or worse...

Someone could have deliberately hidden the matter from her.

While the Marquis was thinking about who could possibly do something behind his back, Victor’s attention shifted toward the knights surrounding them.

One of them still held a sword.

Victor casually reached out.

Before the knight could understand what was happening, Victor took the weapon from his grasp.

The movement was so smooth that the knight didn’t even realize his sword was gone until Victor was already holding it.

The Marquis’s eyes sharpened.

"Wait—"

Too late.

Victor disappeared from where he had been standing.

His body crossed the distance between them in an instant.

The knights barely had time to react.

Victor appeared directly in front of the Marquis.

His golden eyes met her purple ones at extremely close range.

The Marquis’s pupils contracted.

She immediately raised her silver Long sword.

But Victor had already moved.

In the past few days, while searching for the hidden residence, he had spent his spare time practicing his control over Zenith Aura.

He had learned something important.

Power wasn’t always about releasing more energy.

Sometimes it was about wasting less.

His first attempts had been crude.

Too much Zenith Aura had been consumed for simple movements, leaving unnecessary traces behind.

But after days of experimentation, his control had improved.

The difference wasn’t overwhelming, but it was enough.

He was still nowhere near as proficient with Zenith Aura as he was with mana.

Yet when it came to strengthening his body, Zenith Aura had proven to be the better choice.

Victor’s fingers tightened around the sword.

The Marquis stared at him.

For the first time, her cold expression showed something other than anger.

Surprise.

Victor smiled.

And the distance between them vanished completely.

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Authors Notes: Dear Readers, Thanks so much for joining me on this adventure! Your enthusiasm, feedback, and encouragement really keep me motivated to keep bringing *Journey to Become the Zenith* into existence. If you’re loving the Chapters, I’d love it if you supported my book with a Powerstone, review, or even a Golden Ticket—it helps me develop as a writer and lets more readers enjoy the story. I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts, so please don’t hesitate to share!

With love,

Scorpio_saturn777

Creator of Journey to Become the Zenith

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