"I'm a Doctor, not God." Schiller swirled his glass as well and said, "My specialty is analysis, not treatment. Even a personality skilled at treatment needs the patient's cooperation. Even if you refuse to cooperate completely, you at least have to give the Doctor enough time."
Alberto raised his eyes to study Schiller's expression. Schiller looked back at him. After a long silence, Schiller said, "No, you don't owe me anything. You know better than I do that Evans would never have allowed me to erase you back then. You're his brother."
"But you could have gone against his wishes."
"I wouldn't." Schiller looked at Alberto seriously. "You're viewing this from the perspective of someone who came later, weighing gains and losses, and thinking I should have considered you an unstable factor. So even if Evans didn't want to kill you, I should have arranged an accident."
"That would indeed have been very easy for me. Evans trusted me well enough. All I had to do was suggest treatment, and it would have been easy to erase you when you were still unstable."
"But I wouldn't have done that. That kind of intervention would have been meaningless." Schiller looked into Alberto's eyes. "And now you're thinking that if I had done it back then, Evans wouldn't be at risk of disappearing."
"Unfortunately, there are no such easy answers in this world. It isn't true that if someone had chosen another path back then, things would be better now. More likely, that other path would have led to even worse consequences."
"I can tell you responsibly that your existence was one of Evans's supports. You delayed the process of him growing weaker. Without you, he might have suffered a mental breakdown even sooner."
Alberto suddenly lifted his glass and took a