Wescott stared fixedly at the man before him in disbelief.
At his smile.
It seemed he had always worn that expression.
Forever carrying a gentle, warm smile that made him likable.
Yet that smile always seemed veiled by a layer of mist. No matter what happened, it was as though none of it concerned him, as though he had never truly cared.
Only when the disguise of that smile vanished could others realize that he had merely been watching.
Looking on coldly.
Standing in a corner, silently watching everything, wary of everyone, Huai Shi with an obsession ordinary people could never understand, climbing upward at any cost, removing every stumbling block.
Even if the one standing in his way was the person he loved most.
From beginning to end, he had never trusted anyone...
He had merely pretended to be everyone else's companion.
Pretended he was qualified to receive all of this.
That was all.
"Ha, ha ha, ha ha ha."
In the silence, Wescott's shoulders trembled. Unable to suppress the laughter surging from deep within him any longer, he covered his face.
How laughable. How detestable. Compared to this, even Golden Dawn seemed ridiculous... But for that future, what did it matter if he had betrayed everyone?
"How pathetic, Russell!"
Beneath Wescott's fingers, his face suddenly twisted viciously. "What right do you have to steal the legacy of Utopia and call yourself the master of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage?"
"Mm... perhaps my skin is thick?"
Amid countless phantom beasts, Russell's face shifted endlessly—fox, wolf, snake, gaunt tiger—as he looked at him. "Otherwise, how could I have survived as your enemy?"
"To be honest, I don't like a world where everyone lives in harmony, like children playing house and games with smiles on their faces.
"I don't believe this world