"I understand, Caroline. I bear a 'curse' that none of you can comprehend.
But precisely because of that,
we should transcend fate.
Humanity should transcend fate all the more."
As he looked at the countdown before him, one he had nearly begun to ignore,
he did not know what he was feeling.
It was like floaters in his vision.
Su Wen could now focus on the system's prompt text only when he deliberately chose to look at it.
So the handsome Scholar merely wiped his glasses, then opened the communications channel so that both Natsume Chie and Caroline could hear him.
"To gain something is to lose something.
But for many people, the only thing they trade is time.
Whether it is the exchange of surplus value in modern society or the pursuit of pleasure and thought, only a very small number of people are granted 'fate' at birth.
Seneca once wrote: 'What we lose in one way, we gain in another.'
Caroline,
you may think I intend to use Chie, and that is why you have lost your usual control over your emotions.
But regardless, the road I walk should not be woven from lies.
So, Chie, I will leave this choice to you. If you want to leave..."
If it had been anyone else, after learning that Chie was connected to the Third Divine Abomination, they might not have let her leave so easily.
But Su Wen did just that.
There was not the slightest trace of falsehood in his words.
Because this was the path of a knight.
It was [Oath].
But before he could finish,
the newly awakened Natsume Chie merely murmured her grandfather's name. She shook her head, yet ultimately spoke before him.
"I have already come this far, Teacher. Let me finish walking this