The Duke's Passion

Chapter 697  Hard riddles to crack

With that being said, Samael and Lilou set forth to the borders to help Heliot and his troops. Since she 'didn't' know how to ride a horse, she had to ride with Samael. As they galloped away from the driveway of the estate, Stefan was staring at them from the window on the second floor.

His lips curled up subtly. "In the end, her heart will always seek him," came out a low voice while holding his hand behind him.

"Hell came in here and told me Lilou recognized Law. She also mentioned Yulis subconsciously," he continued, recalling that Samael dropped by Stefan's office to update him about Lilou's progress. Although Stefan and Samael didn't agree about anything, the latter took initiative and informed him about it.

"He probably thinks I deserved that much." He laughed weakly. "Do you think she'll hate me once she retrieved her memories?"

"Who knows…?" Tilly's voice came from behind him, making Stefan look back, eyes falling on the futon where Tilly was enjoying a cup of tea. Tilly placed the teacup back on the saucer and then raised her eyes to him.

"I can't see the future. You do. Why don't you check?" she suggested in her classic toneless soft voice.

"Peeking at the future had messed with my head." Stefan shrugged as he strutted towards the armchair on her right and perched comfortably on it. "I've grown dependent on my… gift, that I heavily relied on it in the past. And what did it do to me?"

"There might be good things that happened because of it, but the losses and sacrifices weren't worth it," he continued casually. "My relationships were damaged permanently. Because of it, I made a decision that I regretted and still do. I let her go, thinking that's the best for her. Look what Hell is doing. He's just keeping her around and will even invite her to a dangerous place as if it would be an ideal place for a date."

"I'm not saying I feel bitter or anything. All I'm saying is… wondering about the future is better than knowing it." Stefan smiled at Tilly. "Although I'm curious what will be her reaction, I'll leave that worry for tomorrow."

Tilly studied the resolve and peace in his eyes, tilting her head to the side. She had heard about him, but she hadn't truly spent time with Stefan that much. But from the This time, Stefan's smile grew bitter. "He had all the right to hate me. I murdered his parents, let Lena trigger him, and leave without a word. I can't even use the excuse of short time she interacted with him, Tilly could tell Stefan wasn't truly vile. Well, he wouldn't be here if he was, nor would he leave a warning letter to her before the regression.

"Claude hates you," she replied with an entirely different subject since there was no point in dwelling on his resolve. Stefan had already decided.

This time, Stefan's smile grew bitter. "He had all the right to hate me. I murdered his parents, let Lena trigger him, and leave without a word. I can't even use the excuse of having a blood contract with Quentin since I had done many wrong things to him even before that."

Stefan smacked his lips and sucked air through his gritted teeth. He gazed at her and leaned back, resting his leg over the other.

"He had gone through a lot after unleashing such power. I don't blame him, nor do I criticize his hatred towards me. I think it's just and if he comes to me, challenging me to a duel, I will happily accept it."

"He didn't unleash such power." Tilly picked up the teacup and raised it to her lips while Stefan's smile lines faded.

"What do you mean by that?"

There was a moment of silence between them while Tilly took her precious time to drink her tea. When she put it back on the saucer, she raised her gaze back to him. Her expression was still the same as if she was simply having a normal conversation without revealing a shocking truth.

"Claude's power is still unstable. All his life, he can only reverse the time for a minute at max. He is a chosen seed, but without proper control or enough knowledge, the seed will devour him if he unleashed such power," Tilly explained, but instead of giving enlightenment, it only confused Stefan. "What he did is simply put us all in between the past and the present. Thus, there were two of him."

"The regression of time… is done by someone else," she added.

Once again, silence descended on them as her explanation was like hard riddles to crack. Claude's ability was to reverse the time. Although there was no record that he could reverse it for such a long time as ten years, Stefan believed Claude's emotion was enough to push his nephew beyond his limits.

Now, Tilly was saying Claude simply sealed them between the past and the present, and didn't reverse the time?

Tilly sighed quietly as she noticed the plethora of questions in Stefan's eyes, but the latter was simply wondering what question to ask first. She would explain it in detail, but honestly, she was so lazy about it since she knew she would have to explain it again in the future.

"My sister," was all Tilly said. "She's the real holder of time. I do not know how you knew about the regression of time, but whoever told you about it, must have known about my sister and waited for the right time to strike so Claude can seal the world in this timeline."

"In other words, the world is unstable as it is, with two Claude in the same timeline. If one of them dies…" Tilly trailed off as she pondered about it. "Right… I shouldn't have left the young Claude, but never mind."

"Wait." Stefan massaged his temple. "Are you saying the young Claude will be in danger?"

Tilly pressed her lips and averted her eyes. "No."

"Ahh… you left Samael's daughter on the mainland despite knowing it was dangerous…" Stefan let out a deep sigh as his trust in Tilly continued to deteriorate every time he would speak with her.

"Sunny has her own mission and the young Claude will be safe for sure," Tilly defended. "After all… they will rather target the older version to change their future."