We were on our way back to the city but Cynthia was oddly quiet, I was a bit concerned so I tried speaking to her.

"Cynthia, the thing with Jack... just ignore it okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, governing an entire kingdom is a very hard task. The lives of the citizen are on your hands, one small mishap could cause a kingdom to fall and it's always the royal family who takes the fall. Jack only thought of himself and the pain and the pain he's been suffering when the kingdom fell but he never considered the pressure the royal family has been enduring for god knows how long" I tried my best to comfort her

"...Thank you" Cynthia smiled with satisfaction, I also can't help but notice the small tear that rolled down from her left eye

It was once again silent between us, Cynthia had a very satisfied smile. Looks like I managed to cheer her up but I still had a weird feeling of unease in my heart, I can't settle down until I figure out the cause of this feeling.

"Cynthia...may I ask what decision you made" I meekly asked Cynthia, her behavior is giving me the creeps.

"Do you really need to know?" Cynthia asked with a blooming smile, which sent shivers down my spine

"...Yes" I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this

"hmm... I decided that Zeno is all I need... only Zeno understands me..."

"What?" My smile cracked

"After everything that has happened, I decided that Zeno is all I need. I've tried to open up my heart after the incident with Acacia but all I got was another betrayal... but Zeno still stood beside me, you were always there..." Cynthia tried to suppress her tears before continuing

"Now that I mention it... you also saved me from those bandits, you know it's funny... dad always said that the world was corrupted due to corrupt men, he always said that it's very rare to find a man with a pure heart. I still believe in what he says, corrupt men and all but whenever I look at you... I can't help but see you as the most wonderful man in the entire world..."

I remained silent in front of her but deep inside...

'LILITH, CODE RED! CODE RED! look for ways to reject a woman softly'

'Request acknowledged.... choices found:

1: "I'm really sorry babe but I ain't that into you"

2:"I'm a free man I can't be tied down"

3:"Sorry but you're too ugly for me"

4:"I'm gay"

Please pick your choice'

'LILITH! what the hell?!'

'These are the choices gathered from the data that was based on observing Johny'

'Lilith, delete that data!' what the hell was with those options... especially number four.

"Cynthia, let's talk about this later" I was looking for a way out, luckily some ogres popped out of nowhere and tried to fight us

"...yes" Cynthia was a little disappointed

We killed the ogres with ease and returned to the inn we checked in earlier, it was getting dark so we both decided to call it a day. While I was laying down on my bed I kept thinking about what Cynthia was about to say, was she about to confess? am I reading in too much into this? I stopped thinking about those and just went to sleep

'Compiling data... Data compilation complete, reviewing data: Cynthia seemed to have fallen in-love with Zeno. Zeno, however, seems to believe that he has no experience with women. Also, Cynthia seems to be a possessive person, I came to this conclusion from observing her behavior'

'DK still has 70% energy while Zeno's core still has 90% Zeno's emotions also seemed to have risen to unprecedented levels, it seems like the memory of platoon leader Vicereine is the cause of this... I need to know more just in case this happens again... Gather all data available about Vicereine Engelbertha... Gathering complete;

Vicereine Engelbertha

Female

Age: 19 1/2

She was born and raised in Germany, attended a good school and enrolled a military school wherein she always came in first. her weapon of choice was 2 energy blades and an AWP-Rail gun hybrid sniper rifle, she was the leader of platoon 90. Platoon 90 was composed of:

1: Zeno Abaddon

2: Johny Wise

3: Nactasha Anthropos

4: Mordred Phanta

5: Abel Wing

Johny Wise died on operation Queen wherein they were tasked to gather information about the enemy Queen. They obtained valuable information but during the escape, the teleportation device malfunctioned causing Johny Wise to sacrifice himself to buy time for Zeno and Abel to fix the device and escape. Additional information states that Johny fell in love with Nactasha, Zeno and the others supported their relationship.

Nactasha Anthropos was found out to be a traitor who sold out information about operation Queen, she was also found guilty of sabotaging the teleportation device that caused the death of Johny Wise. She was hunted down by Zeno and was killed by throwing her out in the dwarf star called NZ-11

Mordred Phanta was the medic of the team, she died on operation Rouge. Platoon 90 was tasked with saving the survivors of the alien-infested planet Maria

Abel Wing, he also died along with Mordred Phanta, his last words to Zeno was "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LOVE?! YOU"RE JUST A MACHINE!" this memory always causes Zeno grief, better make sure this memory never pops up

Vicereine Engelbertha, her death was the most painful for Zeno. During operation 'Silence before the Storm' Vicereine and Zeno fought the hive King that infiltrated our main base, Avalon, Vicereine entrusted Zeno with the task of killing the queen before selflessly sacrificing herself by throwing herself into a black hole along with a bomb that the hive King planted. Her final words were recorded: "Listen, Zeno, I know that life has been hard on you... you've lost so much already thanks to these aliens...I'm also sorry for joining the body count haha... but Zeno, please promise me that you don't get so hung up on getting your revenge that you forget what you have.. Alisa... you know Zeno, I've always been in love with you... I did my best to make you look my way but... you've always been too busy killing these aliens... I don't want Alisa to suffer the same fate so take a step back and look around you...before you lose them..." Zeno was unconscious due to the battle with the hive king, this was something Vicereine uploaded to me, I've already informed Zeno about this message but the death of Vicereine caused him to go berserk and charged at the Hive. Zeno only recharged and restocked his supplies before joining operation 'Hive Queen' that shortly came after operation 'Silence before the Storm'

'I should find the right time to show Zeno Vicereine's message'