THE RISE OF WHITE CONQUEROR

Chapter 102: Sorry & Thank you

No matter how much he tried to force the words out, no matter how clearly he ordered his brain to speak, nothing happened. It was as if his body itself refused to say something it considered too submissive. And so, for quite some time, he could only awkwardly open his mouth... and close it again. Over and over. Like some malfunctioning machine.

’What the fuck... just come out, damn it... what’s happening?’

As for Kei, just watching Kelly act strangely in front of her was enough to make her uneasy all over again.

When he had smiled in that creepy way earlier, she had been more creeped out than scared, and after the initial confusion, she had managed to calm down. But now?

Watching him mumble incoherent words, talking to himself and opening and closing his mouth like he was trapped inside his own world, she could only stare in disbelief.

’What’s going on with him...? Why does he keep opening and closing his mouth? Is something stuck in his teeth or what... wait... has this guy finally kicked a bucket in his head? Ahhh, this is not going anywhere... without him, what am I even supposed to do here alone...’

As if somehow synchronized with Kelly, Kei also began suffering in silence, groaning internally while wearing an expression that looked like she had just been personally offended by life itself. Still, after a moment, she forced herself to calm down.

When she finally collected herself, she looked straight at Kelly, exasperation written all over her face, and asked pointedly as if trying to dismiss all the fear she had felt before.

"Are you alright?"

"HUH?"

Kelly reacted as if he had been suddenly pulled out of his thoughts, looking at Kei with the same cold expression as before, though this time there was a clear hint of confusion in his eyes. Kei noticed it immediately. Reading his face, she gave him a little space and simply waited, watching him calmly for an answer.

"Ye... yeah... I-I am good... great, actually... what about you? Are you okay?"

For Kelly, even saying that much felt like a struggle. But to Kei, something else stood out far more. His voice. It had changed.

The last time she remembered him speaking when he had come to her rescue his voice had been confident, almost teasing. Even though his tone had sounded sure of itself and his words carried a strange maturity, she could still sense the impulsiveness underneath it, along with the fear he was trying to hide about the dangerous situation they were in. But now?

Now he was fumbling. His voice was colder than ice itself, sharp and distant, and yet beneath that coldness, she could hear something else much more clearly. Doubt. Confusion. Uncertainty. She could feel it. He was unsure of himself.

For Kei, Kelly had always been someone she could read easily. No matter how he acted or what he tried to hide, everyone knew Kelly’s emotions were always written plainly on his face. There was a reason Daichi and his gang used to make his life miserable.

It was simple. No matter how submissive he tried to appear, his tone, his expressions, and his emotions always betrayed him. Kelly was never exactly an open book, but from how much Kei had observed him over time, he wasn’t far from one. That was why, comparing the Kelly from before to the one standing in front of her now, the sense of inconsistency felt far greater than she had initially realized.

’He doesn’t seem fine... what happened to him?’

Kei kept dissecting his behaviour inside her head, her gaze becoming more and more probing as she studied him. Kelly, on the other hand, was still deeply lost in his own thoughts, growing increasingly worried about his own condition.

’Why can’t I say what I want... sorry... thank you... why is it so hard? It feels like it’s beneath me... I don’t think I’m fine.’

The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he became. Kei quickly realized that Kelly was once again disappearing into the rabbit hole of his own mind. She clicked her tongue internally.

Just standing there and overthinking things on her own wasn’t going to solve anything. If anything, she would only end up giving herself a headache. It was better to ask the person standing right in front of her. So, she did. With the most obvious question that had been bothering her from the very beginning.

"What happened to your face... scratch that, what happened to your body? How do you look so different? I swear to God, if I didn’t know you from before and if we hadn’t fallen together, I would have never recognized you... like, what the fuck? Did you get plastic surgery or something?"

"Huh?"

Kelly once again let out that confused sound. Almost instinctively, he reached up and touched his face. He knew he had changed. After all, he could feel it. From the moment he regained consciousness, he had already noticed how different his body felt. His senses were sharper, his strength absurdly beyond what he remembered. So much so that he felt like he could wipe the floor with those Squire Knights back in the capital and that was no small feat. He could feel it in everything. His endurance. His speed. His reflexes. All of them had taken a massive leap. Even his awareness felt completely unnatural, as if the world itself had slowed down around him. He could breathe more sharply, more cleanly, more deeply. He could feel his own blood flowing faster through his body, his lungs taking in far more oxygen than before.

Looking down, he stared at his own hands. They were far larger than he remembered. His forearms alone looked bigger than his old biceps, veins running across them neatly like streams of water. Through the tears in his clothes, he could even see his abs...actual abs which he swore he had never had before. His core felt stronger, tighter, more stable than ever.

All in all, Kelly felt physically amazing. It was like he had suddenly been placed inside the perfect body. But mentally...

It felt like he was completely out of sync with himself. Even realizing all of this had only taken him a brief moment, which shocked him all over again because of how much his mental capacity seemed to have sharpened.

Still touching his face, Kelly finally spoke again, his voice carrying clear doubt.

"What do you mean?"