**When She Opened the Door to the Life She Was Afraid to Live by Nora Vale Kingsley**
The stillness in the room was palpable, thick with unspoken fears and unresolved tensions. It was Edric’s voice that finally shattered the silence, cutting through the air like a blade. “Emma,” he began, his tone grave and unwavering, “you must grasp the gravity of the situation. Corvin holds the highest level of clearance within the Empire’s intricate web. If he’s set on finding you, it will take him mere moments. You may not have a choice but to confront him.”
A shiver ran down Emma’s spine at the mere thought of Corvin. His reputation was nothing short of enigmatic, layered with complexities that made her heart race with dread. The notion that he had traversed such a distance only to be rejected sent a wave of anxiety coursing through her. What if he didn’t take her refusal lightly? The thought of the chaos he could unleash left her feeling vulnerable and unprepared.
After what felt like an eternity of internal conflict, she finally relented, nodding slowly. “Alright. I’ll meet him and hear what he has to say.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, laden with resignation.
With her reluctant agreement, Edric wasted no time, swiftly granting Corvin access to the cabin where Emma sat, her heart hammering against her ribcage in anxious anticipation.
Barely ten minutes had passed when the door creaked open, and Corvin stepped into the living room. The sight of him sent a wave of unease crashing over Emma. He looked utterly disheveled—his clothes were coated with dust, his hair a wild tangle, and one lens of his glasses was cracked. Through that broken frame, his blue eyes bore into her, radiating an intensity that spoke of profound anguish. He resembled someone who had just emerged from a tempest, and for reasons she couldn’t quite articulate, a flicker of guilt ignited in her chest.
“So… what do you want from me?” she inquired, taking a seat beside Edric, her gaze locking onto Corvin’s with a mix of defiance and trepidation.
With Edric, a Rank 10 male Etherian, at her side, she felt a strange sense of security that allowed her to hold her ground. Had Edric not been there, she feared she might have crumbled under the weight of the moment.
After all, it was Corvin who had initiated the dissolution process, and she had agreed to it almost instantaneously. So why did he now appear as if she were the one who had wronged him?
As she observed Corvin’s shoulders slump under the weight of her displeasure, his voice emerged, thick and hoarse. “Ms. Tibarn, why did you delete me? Was the star coin I sent not enough?”
Emma blinked, momentarily taken aback by the hurt and confusion lacing his tone. It left her speechless for a heartbeat. “Didn’t you tell me to delete you and apply for dissolution?”
Corvin froze, his expression shifting as if the ground beneath him had crumbled away. His reddening eyes shimmered with disbelief. “Ms. Tibarn, you actually filed for dissolution?”
“Yes.” Emma frowned slightly, confusion knitting her brow. “Wasn’t that what you wanted when you reached out to me?”
Am I completely misunderstanding him? That couldn’t possibly be the case, could it?
Corvin’s voice thickened with grievance. “I never said I wanted to dissolve our bond. I was just… overwhelmed. The Empire’s army was pressuring me to finish a new batch of warships. When you messaged me, I hadn’t slept for half a month. I was utterly exhausted.”
He had been so buried under work that he barely managed to consume any nutrient fluid, nearly collapsing in the manufacturing lab from sheer fatigue.
Emma fell silent, grappling with the weight of his words.
“I even transferred you the star coin,” Corvin continued, his voice tinged with despair. “I thought you’d appreciate it. I never imagined you would block me.”
And worse still—she hadn’t merely blocked him; she had taken the drastic step of applying for dissolution.
It was a fortunate twist of fate that he had rushed over as soon as his work was completed. The window for dissolution hadn’t yet taken effect. If it had, he would have lost his huntress forever.
At that moment, the older Rank 10 Etherian beside him, Jimmy Draemont, stepped forward, his demeanor earnest and sincere. “Honorable Ms. Tibarn, Corvin speaks the truth. That batch of warships was bound for the outer battlefield—he truly couldn’t drop everything to visit you right away. But he never intended to end your match.”
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