"Looks like you were able to guess I was coming?" Noktis shifted his gaze, picked up the teacup on his side, and raised his eyes slightly. "Though I know that wouldn't have been difficult for you."
He took a sip of tea and smiled slowly. "After all, you're young, intelligent, fortunate—the savior chosen by this world, the darling of the gods. It's only been three months since you stepped into the extraordinary, yet you've already become an angel."
He looked up at He Ao's face. "Some children's winter vacations may have only just ended, while you've gone from an ordinary student to someone standing at the very peak of this world. The world loves you so dearly, as though you were her own child."
"I'm grateful for the 'good fortune' I've encountered along the way, but this 'favor' you speak of," He Ao said with a smile as he sat across from him, "may not be as wonderful as you imagine."
"Of course, I know you want to talk to me about things like equivalent exchange." Noktis lowered his hand and sighed softly. "But do you know? Some people may not even be qualified to seek an equivalent exchange. Those chosen by the world, like you, cannot truly understand the anguish of ordinary people treated unfairly by fate."
"I was an orphan too." He Ao gently lifted his tea and took a sip. "But when I was very young, when I still had family, my grandfather taught me to obey the law and be a good person."
"Oh? So this young man intends to lecture an old fellow like me on morality?" Noktis looked at He Ao and laughed quietly.
"I was merely feeling sentimental." He Ao turned to look at Noktis. "You were fortunate too, weren't you?"
"I don't