Canard's Suspicion 6

However, footsteps approached from behind. They were neither hurried nor slow, ringing out with clear taps.

The sound drew closer and closer before finally stopping behind him.

Canard could feel someone standing at his back—the heat radiating from that person, and the faint current of air stirred by his breathing.

Canard's body tensed instinctively, but he restrained the urge to turn around.

He merely stood where he was, waiting for the other person to speak.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Xia Ya's voice sounded right beside his ear, very close, carrying a probing undertone.

"...What is it?"

Canard forced out the words from his throat, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Why did you decide to side with Jiliang? Don't you hate her?"

Xia Ya's question was like a sharp blade, piercing precisely into the deepest part of Canard's heart—the place he had always tried to avoid and bury.

Yes, he had hated Jiliang.

That hatred had once been his only reason to keep living.

Because she was the "most perfect Coordinator," while he was merely a "failure." Her very existence was a denial and mockery of him.

Countless times, he had wanted to kill her, to prove that he was the superior one.

Xia Ya knew that Canard harbored intense hatred for Jiliang, and he knew why.

Xia Ya had gained a considerable understanding of his past.

That was precisely why he wanted to know.

Why Canard was now here, choosing to stand beside Jiliang—the person he had once wanted so badly to kill—and fight alongside her.

What had changed him? That battle? Or Jiliang herself? Xia Ya was deeply interested in the process behind this transformation.

Of course, this was how Canard answered that question.

He slowly turned his head, allowing Xia Ya to see only part of his