Free Web NovelChapter 495: Bad Influence
It wasn’t so much that he didn’t know what to say. He had perfected his story back when he was sitting at the bottom of the cage, with nothing better to do. And with Damien, who knew all about his true rank and abilities, it wasn’t even necessary - he could just explain everything that had happened and the thought process that had led him to abandon Brian and let him drown.
Would that make Damien command him for his actions? Probably not. If it were Damien, he likely wouldn’t give up on another person so quickly. However, at the very least, he would understand Lane’s side, and that his intentions were not malicious. He just chose whatever was the most logical, that’s all.
He knew that they were (probably) going to be fine...
And yet, somehow, he found himself growing more and more nervous, his mouth too dry to speak.
...How many times was Damien going to tolerate Lane’s lack of care regarding people’s lives before he decided that the man was too much for him? There must have been a limit to how much he could turn a blind eye, right?
Well.
Bracing himself for whatever reaction Damien was going to have after hearing the whole story, Lane eventually started explaining, "Ugh, you see, the thing is... At first, I tried to help him, I really did. But... We dove without any equipment. And then, well..."
"Wait." Damien interrupted him. "That’s not it."
"...Huh?"
Lane furrowed his brows, confused.
This wasn’t it? What did he mean?"
"Well, I want to know what happened as well, but that’s not what I’m asking about," Damien reiterated.
"Then..."
"Why did you go there?"
"What? Go where?"
"To the lake when they called you. Didn’t you know that it was a trap? Even Nyla warned you about it beforehand..."
Lane blinked, staring at his boyfriend, dumbfounded. Was Damien seriously asking him why he had... followed the orders? Done his job? freewebnσvel.cѳm
"What was I supposed to do?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Say ’I don’t want to, don’t bother me’?"
Surprisingly, Damien nodded his head. "Yes. Not in those words, of course, but..."
"Well, I’ve tried. But my beloved parents made sure that there was no one else suitable for the task available, so I had no excuse. I was supposed to be on standby, after all, and unusual Mana fluctuations were a good enough reason to warrant asking for assistance. It was all designed so that I wouldn’t be able to refuse."
"...You could have just ignored it and locked yourself up in your room."
Lane blinked once more, his mouth open, but no sound coming out. He was shocked to the point of being rendered speechless.
Had Damien just straight-out told him he should have ignored the orders?
The serious, proper, stickler to the rules Damien Lennox?
...Had his boyfriend been replaced by an impostor?
Or... was Lane a bad influence?
The answer was neither. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Under normal circumstances, that’s something you shouldn’t do, but considering the situation... You knew it was a ploy aimed at you, and there were only experienced Awakened in the dungeon, so even if something were to truly be wrong, the Allen Guild would have been able to handle it. Usually you’re so flippant regarding the rules, so why, the one time you had a valid reason to ignore them..."
Damien paused, letting out a long sigh.
"Never mind. As long as you’re alright."
What was the point of lecturing Lane, if Lane was always going to act however he felt like anyway?
Damien’s resignation brought a wide smile to Lane’s face. "Yup, I’m fine! Are you off now? Then let’s go home..."
Damien, however, shook his head in response. "We need to take you to the hospital first."
"What? I’m fine!" Lane tried to protest, but Damien only threw a quick glance at his red-dyed T-shirt before firmly stating,
"No. You’re injured."
"Tsk, it’s nothing, really. I’ve made all those injuries myself, as a cover-up. They’re all superficial. I’ll be fine with just a Recovery Pill..."
Hearing Lane’s words, Damien couldn’t help but frown. On one hand, he was glad that his boyfriend hadn’t been hurt by the monsters... But on the other... Imagining Lane, sitting in a cage and purposely wounding himself to conceal his true abilities, was deeply disturbing. It was concerning how far the man was willing to hurt himself just for the sake of his goals...
Whatever goals he actually had. Damien still didn’t quite understand what exactly Lane was up to.
It wasn’t the right time to interrogate Lane about it, though. For now,
"It doesn’t matter if you think you’re fine. You should still get treatment," he said. Then, before Lane could try to protest again, he added, "The Allen Guild might check whether you went to the hospital."
That finally shut Lane up. Indeed, whether he was alright or not wasn’t important - what mattered the most was to convince the Allens that he was not. And not admitting himself to the hospital would be like outright admitting that he was fine, since they would easily be able to find out at least this much.
"Fine," he muttered, albeit begrudgingly, as he leaned in his seat with a pouty look on his face, completely forgetting about all the anxiety he had felt just a moment ago. "Anyway... Weren’t you supposed to be on standby in the hotel? Not that I’m complaining, but..."
It wasn’t like Damien to disregard his duties. Even if it were for Lane’s sake, it was unlikely that he had left his post just like that, simply because of Arlo’s call, especially since at that time, Arlo couldn’t have been aware how serious the situation had been.
And sure enough, Damien soon answered, "I had Director Torres’ permission to go. He wanted me to check what was going on, to ensure that there would be no further accidents."
"No further accidents?" Lane’s ears immediately perked up, catching on to the meaning behind his boyfriend’s words. "Does that mean... that something else happened?"
