Reborn: Apocalypse Ready. War Goddess by My Side novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124 Snap at Her

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“That’s what I see when I look at you, and it’s why I walked away from this disappointed. We aren’t the same kind of people, and we never will be.

“The reason you came to find me today, the reason you need an answer, is because your pride took a hit. You realized I have the standing to walk beside you, and I chose not to. You want to ask me why. That’s what’s really going on here.

“You’ve cast yourself as the one who was abandoned. You’re telling yourself I’m the cold one.

“Or maybe you’re looking at Bianca, seeing how she stuck by me before I ever showed what I was really capable of, and somewhere inside, that comparison doesn’t sit well with you.

“You came here looking for comfort. You came looking for a reason that makes you feel better about yourself.

“Lilliana, you might think there’s a point in all this, but I assure you, there’s none.”

Steven’s eyes held nothing. No warmth, no residual feeling, nothing at all.

Lilliana felt every word land like a blow aimed specifically at her.

“Everything you do comes from calculation. Even the classmates you choose to connect with are people you think will be useful someday.

“And this visit right now, this push to stay friends, tell me honestly, does Bianca’s SSS–rank factor into any of it? Am I wrong. Lilliana?”

Lilliana’s face went bloodless in an instant, and she felt completely, brutally exposed, stripped of every careful layer she wore.

“Lilliana, having some ambition in life isn’t a flaw. Everyone has it to some degree, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

“But when every relationship you build, every choice you make, every person you value runs through that same cold filter, that’s where you lose something real.

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“You’ll never have a truly meaningful friendship. You’ll never know what it feels like to have someone willing to throw themselves into the fire for you.

“That is why I knew we could never walk the same road, and it has nothing to do with the difference in our Sigil rankings.

“You didn’t do anything wrong in the technical sense. This is just who you are, Lilliana. But I’m not built this way, and I’m not going to keep offering you something real in exchange for something calculated. Real friendship isn’t built on keeping score. When you finally figure that out, you’ll understand everything I just said.

“You were the one who said we’d move on and never cross paths again. Now that you’ve seen what I’m capable of, you’re the one standing here asking to be friends again. Does that not sound even a little absurd to you?

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Chapter 124 Snap at Her

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“Please don’t come find me again. I want absolutely nothing to do with you going forward.”

Steven walked away.

Lilliana stood in place with the look of someone whose entire inner world had just gone silent.

Her calculations had been wrong.

She genuinely didn’t have a single person in her life she could be completely honest with. Two quiet tears broke loose and ran down her face before she could stop them.

“Have I… really been wrong this whole time?”

Everything her parents taught her about how to move through the world suddenly felt like a crumbling foundation.

In his eyes, she was laughable.

She looked back across the landscape of her own life and found exactly what Steven described. There wasn’t one person in her inner circle she could truly call a friend.

Steven walked into the building with an expression as flat and unreadable as still water.

Someone whose whole world was built on what people gould do for them wasn’t worth his proximity.

She stopped when she saw there was someone else standing there.

Steven looked at her.

Recognition hit him immediately.

Finished

Right. He almost forgot about this entirely. Nelson found himself a romantic interest the moment he set foot in the Awakened Academy.

Unfortunately, this particular flower came with thorns.

Steven let his eyes narrow slightly. “So that’s why you’ve been a stranger lately. You dropped me the second a girl showed up.”

Nelson’s face flushed red immediately.

“Steven, stop making things up. We’re just friends.”

The girl looked mildly flustered herself, but she still turned to Nelson with a curious expression.

“Nelson, is this your

friend?”

Nelson jumped into introductions.

“Amy, this is my best friend Steven. He’s the one with the level 5 combat rating.”

Amelia Worcester’s eyes lit up the moment those words registered.

“Wait, you’re Steven?”

Nelson grinned. “Steven, this is my classmate Amy, full name Amelia Worcester. We got put in the same group, so…”

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