Chapter 268: Toward Transcendence
She remained silent, which was an answer enough.
"And you just watched this whole time. You saw others getting hurt. You watched as I kept struggling to survive because of something I never asked for, never chose, and had no knowledge of. Tell me, did you enjoy it?"
"I couldn’t interfere directly without making things worse-"
"Making things worse?" My laugh was hollow. "For whom? Certainly not for me."
I ran a hand through my hair, a bitter smile fading into something more tired.
"You know what really gets to me? It’s not even the danger. I’ve gotten used to that. It’s the helplessness. The feeling that my entire life has been nothing but a chess piece being moved around by forces I can’t even see, let alone understand. But I can guess they must be people like you, who stay in the shadows and manipulate things from behind the scenes."
I knew it all too well since I had done similar things before. But there was a difference between them and me, like between the sky and the ground.
I also realized I was saying too much, showing too much.
I took a breath and straightened up, my expression becoming more neutral.
"Anyway, that’s how it is." I shrugged. "And I apologize if I said something wrong in the heat of the moment. And... thank you for listening to my rambling."
Nisha’s expression softened, her ’guilt’ giving way to a profound understanding.
"It’s alright," she said in a gentle tone. "You had every right to say what you did. I would be more worried if you hadn’t. And my daughter, she..."