Caecus locked eyes with Nyx, who was sitting across from him.
His breathing sped up a little, feeling his pulse increasing, but he still forced himself to ask the question.
"Nyx, I need to ask you something." Caecus said, voice unfaltering, but hands trembling involuntarily.
The girl's eyes, which had previously seemed dreamy and carefree, shifted back into focus once she noticed the tone in his voice.
But something told him that it was all an act. The way she acted before revealed that she knew at least a little about what made him so serious all of a sudden.
"Yes?" She asked, head tilting, but smile unwavering.
"Now that we are all alone… I want to ask you something." The blind boy said while clenching his fist, which was located behind his body so the girl couldn't see it, and breaking eye contact. He could still sense her face of course, but it was more of a way to hide his expression from hers.
"Tell me. I'm open to anything, we're friends after all."
Caecus took a deep breath and then began.
"I don't understand this whole 'friends' thing. You just came out of nowhere… and then suddenly you b-blackmailed me." The slight tremble in his voice betrayed his forced confidence. "I mean… Why? What do you wish to achieve from this? Is it because you wish to gather more intelligence about my corpus? If not, then why?"
After saying all that, his heart was beating even more rapidly in his chest, and he couldn't bring himself to use his echolocation to look at the expression of Nyx.
"Why you ask? Did it not ever occur to you that I, an heiress, would have something better to do than gathering information?"
This was the first time he had ever heard her voice truly irritated.
'She's right…'
"And even if I wanted to use something against you, wouldn't it be the best for me to reveal it through an anonymous source, instead of approaching you? Let's say you told your family about the arrangement, and I actually revealed it– wouldn't that result in animosity between Caelum and Noctis? Something we cannot afford at all?"
When Caecus activated his echolocation again, her smile was gone. All that remained was her cold expression, exactly how Titus described her in the entrance exams.
It was like she was staring deep into his soul, not one emotion revealed, but Caecus knew better than to care for looks as a blind person.
She was angry at him.
And in this moment he realized that she could kill him right there with ease.
The only person who'd care would be Titus, and he wouldn't know.
But what he didn't feel was pity, no it was anger.
Anger at the world, at Nyx, and at himself.
'Why is it always me? What did I do? Why can't I just live in peace?' These questions flashed through his head, but he only had one ready for the person sitting next to him.
"Why me? Why do I have to suffer for the wrongdoings of others? My family treated me like shit, because I was a discardable piece of shit! Can I blame them? Yes I can! But looking at you, who is exploiting my previous suffering, just to threaten me with more of it if I don't agree to your whims and decisions… I feel disgusted! Do you not possess any sympathy, any emotion?" Caecus raised his voice for the first time ever, since coming to know her, his thoughts spilling out without any filter.
But her reaction was different than he expected.
She always seemed so calculated, like she always knew what he would do and say next, but this time… she reacted differently.
Tears were streaming down her face.
…
Nyx was to grow up to be the heir of her corpus.
She had to be perfect, because a purpose greater than herself rested on her shoulders.
As soon as she began to be able to talk, she was taught theory.
As soon as she was able to walk, her family made her train.
That's why growing up she never showed any connection to other humans.
She didn't have any friends, but still had to learn empathy, so that later on she wouldn't turn out like a social outcast.
So she was taught manners as well, and at the age of six, she attended gatherings of other corpora.
There were a few other gatherings, but she attended the ones which were made specifically for children.
But when she tried connecting with people, it just didn't work.
The other children complimented Nyx on her beautiful purple eyes, long eyelashes, and silky black hair, but she never knew how to react.
At the gatherings with adults she was complimented on how well behaved she was, but when she was amongst other children, she heard a few of them whisper.
"Nyx is scary, whenever we play she's never happy!"
"Nyx even beat the boys at dueling, and when she won, she just told them to get better!"
Soon at every gathering rumors began to appear, until she finally made friends with one little girl.
She was from a smaller corpus, and not even the heiress, but she was always by the Noctis heiress' side.
Whenever the other children talked about her behind her back, she walked up to them and interrupted them.
"If you have something to say to Nyx, say it to her face!" She would tell them, and then walk towards Nyx with a happy expression on her face, proceeding to hug her arm.
But one evening when they were both nine…
She came over to Nyx's house, but unbeknownst to them there were cameras located all over the estate.
Nyx, who couldn't wait to see her friend, even though she struggled expressing it, had already looked at the camera feeds.
But then she overheard the conversation the little girl had with her mother.
"Make sure that you get even closer to her today, okay?" The mother said, which was harmless in itself…
But what followed wasn't.
"Okay! I'm very close actually! I think I managed to become her one and only best friend."
The mother in return patted her head.
"Very good! I'm proud of you, my little sun. Now go make her dependent on you, but before you go, I need to make sure you know why."
"So we secure our families future!"
"Good girl, that's right, now go!"
Nyx hated it.
She hated the corpora.
She hated the people.
They were filthy in her eyes.
And so, in her outrage, when the girl came inside the house, she hit her.
All of her frustration was leaking out, and being released on her previous best friend.
But sadly, when years of training and genetic enhancement met the body of a little girl from a lower corpus, nothing good resulted.
When Nyx's fist connected with the little girl's face, it crushed it completely.
But contrary to what you'd expect normally, she didn't stop.
It was like she released all her disgust and hatred for the manipulative people from the corpora onto her.
Nyx hit the little girl again and again, until there was only red left.
But in the end she didn't weep a tear.
"Monster without emotion," the servants called her.
"Does she have no sympathy? I heard she was already dead, but the young heiress didn't stop until her face was crushed completely."
'Why. I should be sad. But all I feel is… hatred? Why? I don't understand.'
Nyx hated everyone affiliated with the corpora deeply, from how they acted to their rotten nature.
'Maybe I really don't have any sympathy, not even for myself.'
She hated herself as well.