He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 13

He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 13

My mind went blank. I had no way to explain any of this.

How I knew the code. Why I was standing here.

So I deflected.

“Did you do this to him?”

Julian let out a quiet hum. Something flickered in his eyes, almost bright.

Like a child showing off something he’d made.

“He did bad things, so he deserved to be punished, right?”

I was silent.

Nathan had it coming. He’d betrayed Julian, tried to kill him, kidnapped me.

The system saw an opening.

[Now, Host! Talk him down! Show him compassion! Get him to let the anger go!]

Something in me resisted.

But I didn’t want him to keep becoming this. So I tried.

“He’s still your brother, Julian. He’s still family.”

“Family…”

He tasted the word like it was poison on his tongue. And took a step closer.

I’d never seen that look on his face before. I stepped back without thinking.

| Just one step.

\ Julian froze.

He saw it. The flinch. The distance.

When he finally spoke, his voice cracked, barely holding together.

“You’re… afraid of me?”

“How can you be afraid of me?”

“You’ll defend him. But you can’t even look at me.”

He started laughing. The kind of laugh that had nothing to do with humor.

“You’ve got so much mercy for everyone else. Can’t you spare some for me, Chloe?”

The system’s voice came through shaking.

[His Corruption level just hit 999…]