And Sarah… Sarah.
“She was wrong for thinking I got with her out of revenge,” Noah murmured, his voice almost wistful now.
“But she wasn’t far off.” His eyes flickered, memories of their time together swirling through his mind. “I was subconsciously using her as a catalyst too. Just like her daughter.”
The realization hit him like a punch to the gut, but instead of regret, there was only clarity. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Sarah, or that he hadn’t enjoyed being with her at one point. He had.
But the truth was that every relationship, every interaction, had been a piece of a larger plan.
But even as the pieces fell into place, Noah was not sure about one thing: if Sarah had stayed with him if she had chosen to stick by his side…
“But I knew you wouldn’t Sarah, everything about you screamed motherly love. You wouldn’t leave your daughter for a man, never.”
He sighed, the smirk fading into a more sombre expression. “But that’s the truth, isn’t it?” he whispered to the empty room.
“I’ve been fooling myself this whole time.”
Noah straightened, the weight lifting from his shoulders as he finally accepted the truth. He had wanted this all along.
The system hadn’t forced him to change—it had simply given him the tools to become who he always was.
The manipulations, the cold calculations… they had never truly left him. He had simply buried them deep within, convinced himself that he was just thinking of the present benefit without thinking of the future consequences. But they had always been there, waiting to be unleashed when the time was right.
“I wanted to come back,” Noah admitted quietly, almost to the reflection in the window. “I couldn’t keep those shackles on any longer.” And with that realization, the conflict inside him began to settle.
He couldn’t go back to pretending. He couldn’t force himself to be someone he wasn’t. But he also couldn’t allow himself to lose all control, to become the person who cared for nothing but power.
The balance would be difficult to find. It would be a tightrope walk between power and humanity, control and care. But it was the only path he could take now.
Noah turned away from the window, the weight of his decision clear in his mind. He wasn’t the person he had been pretending to be. And now, he could finally stop pretending. The path ahead might be uncertain, but at least it was a path he had chosen.
Taking a deep breath, Noah whispered, “I can finally embrace it.”
[Ding! Ultimate Choice System has activated!]
[An Ultimate Hidden Choice has been Completed!]
[Reward: System Upgrade!]
[Ding! The system is currently upgrading! 0.1%… 0.2%…]
[Ding! Estimated Time: 10 Hours]
Noah stared at the flood of notifications from the holographic screen in front of him, the notifications kept scrolling, and with each one, his smirk deepened.
“It seems like even the system agrees with me,” Noah thought, his lips curling into a wry smile.
His decision to embrace who he truly was—had triggered an [ Ultimate Hidden Choice] within the system. Perhaps it had been waiting for this moment, waiting for him to stop holding back, to stop pretending. Now, that he had shed the facade, it rewarded him.
The upgrade had started, but Noah wasn’t interested in waiting around for ten hours while the system did its thing. He needed to move. Needed something to occupy his mind.
He glanced toward the large windows of the mansion, his eyes drifting to the scene outside. The moon hung high in the sky, full and glowing, casting silver light across the garden. Feeling restless, Noah decided to take a walk outside.
The sprawling luxury of the mansion had already begun to bore him, and the quiet within its walls was starting to suffocate him.
As he stepped outside, a cool breeze swept across the grounds, brushing against his skin. It was cold, but not unbearable—just enough to sharpen his senses.
Noah inhaled deeply, feeling the chill of the night air fills his lungs, then exhaled, watching his breath fog in the light of the moon.
“Nice weather,” he muttered to himself, his voice barely louder than a whisper. “Not too cold. Just right.”
He walked down the cobbled path that wound through the garden, the quiet crunch of his footsteps the only sound in the stillness.
His hands slipped into the pockets of his coat as he headed toward the small river that ran through the villa’s grounds.
A stone bench awaited him there, offering a perfect view of the water and the moon’s reflection on its surface.
Noah sat down, letting his gaze settle on the serene scene before him. The moonlight shimmered off the river, its surface rippling softly in the breeze. The gentle sound of the flowing water was almost hypnotic, lulling his mind into a strange sense of calm.
But as he stared at the moon’s reflection, another image surfaced in his mind—one that shattered the peace of the moment.
Horace Wilkins.
The name echoed in Noah’s mind like a bell tolling, bringing with it a flood of memories.
“Mr. Horace Wilkins… you were lucky to have made it out scratch-free before, but now things are different.”
Noah’s expression darkened as the memory of that night replayed itself in his mind. It had been a simple dinner date with Sarah at An’s Gourmet.
They had been enjoying their meal when Wilkins, a fat, pompous man, had approached them—more specifically, Sarah—and completely ignored Noah’s presence.
It wasn’t just that Wilkins had interrupted their dinner. It was the smug arrogance in his eyes, the way he looked at Sarah like she was a toy to be claimed when Noah was there.
He had dealt with Wilkins that night, pulling him outside after the man had made his intentions clear, teaching him a painful lesson.
He had made it crystal clear to Wilkins that if he valued his life, he should never show his face around the restaurant again.
But Wilkins hadn’t learned. He had shown up again, his connection, as if Noah’s threat had been nothing more than empty words.
“No one ignores my threat without consequences.”
He had been patient then due to his shackles. He had allowed Wilkins to walk away, thinking he could get away unscathed. But that time was over. Now was the time for payback.
“He is a good guinea pig to test, how sharp I still am when it comes to…”
He smirked to himself, the thrill of what was to come sending a rush of energy through his veins. Slowly, Noah rose from the bench, his gaze fixed on the moon as it continued to shine down on the river, oblivious to the darker thoughts swirling in his mind.
The man had likely gotten comfortable, lulled into a false sense of security after all this time. He probably thought Noah had forgotten, that he had moved on from the seemingly non-significant issue.
But Noah hadn’t forgotten. And now that he had fully embraced who he was, there was no reason to hold back.
As he started walking again, Noah’s mind began to work, calculating the best way to handle Wilkins for his own satisfaction.
Noah could dismantle Wilkins life piece by piece without getting his hands dirty.
“But I want to get my hands dirty…” Noah muttered with a chilling voice, as his smirk grew.
The thrill of the game surged through Noah, that familiar rush he used to feel when he was in control when he held all the cards.
His footsteps were light as he returned to the mansion, but his mind was already racing ahead. Wilkins wouldn’t just suffer—he would be ruined, crushed beneath the weight of his own arrogance.
“I don’t forget people who wronged me, nor do I forgive.” He muttered.
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