Silvana's crying spread far beyond their room, quickly reaching the one couple that was going to bed.
"Well, well, looks like the gift turned out well." Riska said with a slight smile on her face, she was watching sothing on her phone lying on the bed.
Not far from her sat Tron, deep in a chair, his legs were crossed, and on his lap lay a tablet with an open book.
He raised an eyebrow.
"A gift? Oh, Max ntioned sothing about that."
Riska set the phone aside, rolled over onto her stomach, and rested her chin on her two hands, looking at Tron curiously.
"You don't look too surprised."
"Neither do you." Tron said nonchalantly before waving a finger and turning the next page.
Riska shrugged with a slight smile.
"Well, I've spent quite a bit of ti with Silvana lately, so I've gotten to know her well."
Tron waved his hand, no emotion appearing on his face.
"I may not know her as well as you do, but that's not the point. My experience is enough to know that she values her Phantom above anything else in the world."
Tron continued, in a monotone voice:
"The colder, calr, and more calculating the Operator is, the brighter and softer she will be when she reveals herself to her Phantom. Well, at least in the version where the Phantom is in charge."
Riska nodded slowly. Tron was right.
"Yeah, Silvana is a serious girl, but sotis it's good to be a child, especially when you have soone willing to take all your whims and tears."
At that mont, Tron and Riska glanced at each other, then after a short pause coughed and went back to their business.
...
"Hey, though I'm willing to wait as long as I need to, but crying so much could be harmful, don't you think?" Adam said in a gentle voice while looking at Silvana.
She gently lifted her head from his shoulder, looking up at him with one eye like a hidden kitten.
"No... I want more..." Silvana whispered before snuggling her face into his shoulder again.
Adam got an awkward look on his face at that response.
'Hah... This situation is getting weirder and weirder... but, I guess there's nothing wrong with that, right?'
There was silence for a few monts.
Silvana stopped crying, it was unknown if it was because she cald down or because she had run out of tears. Both seed to fit at once.
"Adam... I'm a bad Operator..."
Adam blinked a few tis as his eyes went wide.
"What? Don't talk such nonsense." Adam shook his head, not going to accept Silvana's words.
Silvana gripped his shirt tighter.
"No... I'm serious... I'm no different from an ordinary Operator whose skills and personality can be rated above average."
Adam wanted to say sothing, he wasn't going to listen to this anymore, but Silvana beat him to it.
This ti she wasn't crying, her voice was serious and filled with sadness.
"I was just lucky you chose ... I an, I know Douglas offered you a lot of Operators to choose from, so... it's just a coincidence."
Clutch.
Silvana snuggled deeper into his shoulder, her voice becoming muffled: "You're a Natural Phantom, you're strong, and your will is much tougher than mine. Over many missions, there have been a few tis when your instincts led you to victory, but if you listened to you would have probably died..."
Silvana gritted her teeth tightly as she frowned heavily.
"Any average Operator could replace and you wouldn't even know the difference. And replacing you would hardly work... That said, you're a good person... A Phantom like you is a dream for any Operator..."
Silence.
No one said anything, Silvana was lost, so she decided to finally step away from Adam's shoulder.
The first thing she faced was Adam's cold, stern gaze, which was a stark contrast to his caring tone earlier.
It made Silvana nervous.
But... before he could say anything, Adam made his move.
He clutched Silvana by the shoulders and threw her abruptly onto the bed.
Silvana's mouth opened, but as the first word was about to fly from her lips, Adam's hand roughly clutched her neck.
"Silvana..." Adam said stiffly, not going to loosen his grip.
Silvana couldn't speak and she could hardly breathe.
"Any Operator can replace you?" Adam narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Silvana.
Clutch.
Then, he squeezed her neck even tighter, cutting off her access to air.
Silvana didn't know what to do, her mind was consud with all sorts of thoughts and emotions, everything was happening too fast for her to make any decisions.
"If I hear sothing like that again, I'm going to stop playing gas and actually punish you, severely."
With those words, Adam loosened his grip.
"Agh!!!"
Silvana imdiately took a deep breath, trying to fill her lungs with oxygen as much as she could.
The lack of oxygen caused all her senses to heighten and her mind to cloud, but... she could clearly hear Adam's words.
"You said you were just lucky I picked you... Even if I did, so what?"
Adam uttered, he didn't need an answer from Silvana, she only had to listen to him carefully as he did earlier. Read latest chapters at empire
"By your logic, I shouldn't be here at all, and I'm not talking about this room or Gray Castle, I'm talking about this life. I'm lucky too, I'm lucky not to die, kill a monster, and beco the Natural Phantom."
Adam's hand still held Silvana tightly by the neck, though she could breathe freely now.
Staring intently at Silvana's shocked eyes for a while, Adam lowered himself to her and hugged her tightly as she did just a mont ago.
"Though you try to be cold and stern, with , you are caring, considerate, and kind. You will always do whatever it takes to make us successful. Your hard work ethic would be the envy of anyone... I need an Operator like you, I need soone like you in my life."
Adam's hands traveled down Silvana's back, hugging her tighter when his eyes closed.
"I need you, Silvana."
Silvana's face flushed, she was shocked and embarrassed in equal asure.
"Ah... How warm and good..." Adam muttered in a quiet voice.
Silence.
This ti neither of them said anything for quite so ti.
And... only after ten minutes, Silvana realized the reason.
She carefully turned her head glancing at Adam who was lying on top of her, hugging her tightly. He was breathing slowly and deeply with his eyes closed.
Adam fell into a deep sleep.
Silvana could wake or throw Adam off her but... she didn't, she wasn't going to ruin a mont like this and the warmth in her chest.
"Well... Looks like I got sothing much more valuable than a bracelet today..." Silvana whispered so as not to disturb Adam's sleep.
She raised her right hand, looking at the bracelet with a slight smile on her face.
"How beautiful... Maybe I shouldn't have cried like a child, but I haven't felt this good in a long ti."
Silvana glanced at the sleeping Adam.
"I'm lucky, I realize that now. To have a Phantom like this would be a blessing for any Operator and I got him... only for ..."
Silvana closed her eyes, falling into a sleep as deep as Adam.
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