Rudra walked into the infirmary escorted by guards and stood from across his brothers bed as he gave him the same gentle old smile as the character of the old man had given time and time again, yet there was an uncanny spiciness to the smile this time which did not look innocent at all.
Max did not smile back at the old man, yet he did not turn his head either.
" My legs are weak, Ravan, tell your men to bring me a chair " Rudra said as he dropped the honorifics of the lord altogether and demanded that he be brought a chair.
" Give me one good reason why I should not throw you in jail? " Max asked, however, his voice betrayed his pretence of sounding angry as his voice contained lots of traces of self doubt instead of an undertone of authority and anger.
" You can't " Rudra replied calmly as he ascertained what Max already knew that he was much stronger than he appeared and that the Bloodfall clan was not strong enough to make him a captive.
" Who are you? " Max asked, his voice carrying a tinge of hope that the old man would tell him the truth, only because he had bothered to show up to this meeting and did not run away when he could've done that.
" Next question " Rudra said calmly as Max shook his head
" You will answer Lord rava- " Asiva interrupted the interrogation when she realised that the old man did not seem to be too intent on answering Max's question but Max raised a hand to demand her silence, cutting her off.
" Do you wish me or the vampire society or the light faction harm? " Max asked, his eyes fixed on the iris of the old man.
" No, don't care, no " Rudra replied as he looked straight back into Max's.
For sometime Max maintained eye contact with Rudra, then he began shivering as he ordered all the guards and the medical staff to leave the room.
Once he was sure he was alone with only Asiva and the old man around he closed his eyes and shed a tear.
Slowly he began to break down mentally as the flow of tears got faster and faster.
It was absolutely unusual that Max cried like this, but he had reached his breaking point today.
There were a lot of people who manipulated him in the universe, people who he had to be on constant guard against.
There were a lot of people who were helping him at the moment only because they wanted bigger help from him in the future.
They were selfish and only wanted his rise because with his rise came their own.
It was a very materialistic world and in that world there was only one figure who had only given Max favours after favours without ever asking for anything in return.
That figure was his brother and although he had long accepted that he was dead, the old man's demeanour, his aura, his way of talking, they were eerily similar to a person he knew.
The wrinkles, the slow walking, it could fool him for a month or two, because the other party played the part just that well, but in the end it was the small things like the pronunciation of certain words and the concerned shouts when a situation went sideways that betrayed his real identity.
" What am I supposed to do next, old man? " Max asked, snout dripping from his nose as he became 100% docile.
His heart knew who the old man was, he knew he could trust him.
" Become a god, of course, you have already reached the tier limit " Rudra replied casually as Asiva's eyes widened in disbelief, Max's stat panel was impossible to inspect even for monarchs yet the old man seemed to know.
Just who was the old man?I think you should take a look at
As Rudra walked up to get out of the room, Max asked him one last question before he left….. a question whose context would only be understood by the old man if he was connected to exactly who Max thought he was connected to.
" Did you ever read a diary old man? " Max asked, his voice cracking as he desperately seeked answers.
" Yes, one in the top right drawer " Rudra replied as he walked out of the room leaving Max to deal with the surge of emotions himself.
Crying like a little girl, Max was inconsolable. There was only one diary placed in the top right corner, a diary he wrote the day he had reincarnated to capture all the future events that were going to happen.
A diary only ever seen by his brother-
The answer came as a shock to him. He had always thought his brother was dead, yet the old man held a strong connection to his brother having either his memories or some discrete connection to him that he did not fully understand.
He inherently knew that the old man was going to great lengths to not bring his identity out in the open which was why Max did not outright ask him the question.
Just the fact that he wanted the best for him and cared for him deeply was enough for him and it was the only reason why Max did not pursue the full truth behind the matter violently.
Although Asiva repeatedly asked him what was going on, Max did not answer her.
This conversation was strictly between himself and the old man and Asiva had to bite the bullet on this one as no matter how much he pressured him, Max wasn't talking about this secret.
On the other side Rudra also felt emotional. It was difficult for him to see his brother cry so much.
He had known that Max would catch up to the truth sooner or later, however, he did not think that even as a grown man his brother would have such a hard time concealing his true emotions.
He wanted to just run up and give him a hug, but he couldn't.
His brother was smart and had good friends around him who would protect and die for him, Rudra could not do more than just sticking around for now as all he could offer Max was advice which he had already done.
The fiasco of him pretending to be the old man needed to end soon.
If his brother was already close to figuring out his identity, the queen could not possibly be too far away either.
He needed to make his move before he was exposed otherwise all this would be for naught.
If there was a silver lining in this entire episode, it was that he saw that Max's girlfriend was with child.
Max was going to be a father, which meant that he himself was going to become an uncle!
Just the thought itself made Rudra extremely happy as he internally vowed that before his nephew was born, he would rid the universe of the dark faction as his birthday gift.
It was a big resolve, especially for a man who had not even figured out fatherhood yet, but it was a firm resolve as Rudra knew just what wrongs he needed to right to make his absence worth it in the end.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter 1/10, hope you all like it ///