"I may not love Kaden, but do you?" Mia bluntly asked. She raised a brow and tilted her head.

  In that moment, Lina was struck in the chest. She was painfully reminded of how similar Mia and Kaden were. It even boiled down to their interrogation habits. She recalled Kaden did the exact same thing just a few hours ago when he was questioning her words. She let out a laugh of deniability.

  Even when Mia was birthed by different parents, with two life spans apart, she bore similarities to the man that was once her biological older brother. Lina was rendered speechless.

  "Shall I take your silence as an ominous answer?"

  "Would you love a man who gave you amnesia? Who denied you the opportunity to speak the truth and refused to listen?" Lina calmly asked. There were so many other things that Kaden did to her.

  Not to mention the atrocity of their second life. His blatant lies… the words that drove a young and unsuspecting woman to her death. Lina wondered how she could ever forgive him. His words, his comforting behaviors, all of it was shaking her resolution. For a split moment when she woke up, she was at her lowest. She was disorientated. His words were a beaconing light of hope guiding her out of the darkness.

  Kaden said all the right things. Lina hoped to every god she knew, even the ones she was unfamiliar with, that he was telling the truth. Let it be the reality and not sweet nothings.

  Everything would fall apart if he never meant a single word he said to her. Lina didn't think she could ever trust him again if she discovered his sincerity was all lies.

  "No," Mia finally said. "I would not love that kind of man."

  Lina wondered why Mia had been silent for so long. She saw that Mia was pondering over her answers.

  "But," Mia suddenly said. "If I knew he'd beg and grovel the way Kaden did, if I knew he'd rather die than live in a world without me… If he loved me more than life itself, maybe I would forgive him."

  Ah, young love. So cute, yet so toxic.

  "You would forsake yourself for a love that is more an obsession than logic?"

  "Yes," Mia admitted with a saddened and burdened smile. "My mother once told me… 'A man must love you before you love him.'"

  Lina's brows shot up. Mia's mother's words resonated with what her grandmother, Rina, once said.

  "If you have to choose between a crush and a man who's in love with you, always choose the latter. A woman can learn to love a man, but a man can't learn to love a woman," Mia repeated what her mother once said.

  "You and I have such great role models," Lina dryly commented. "My grandmother once told me I can't change a man just because I love him. He changes because he loves me."

  "Quite sickening, the idea of it, but there is no denying there is some truth to those words," Mia stated.

  Lina pressed her lips together. She couldn't help, but be curious. Was there really some truth to such things? She once religiously believed everything Rina and Lawrence said to her. But now, Lina knew it was just their mind games. An attempt to control her to marry who they wanted her to. A tactic for Lina to put her own feelings aside.

  "I do hope you love Kaden," Mia suddenly told her.

  Lina blinked. She had just remembered that a car was waiting for her downstairs. She felt guilty for making the chauffeur sit down there for this long. She opened the door, but Mia grabbed her wrist.

  "He is his best when you love him," Mia stated. "But he is also his worst when you do not."

  "You want me to love him for your personal gain?" Lina gawked.

  "No." Mia shook her head. "I want you to love him because it is what's right for the two of you. I've never seen a man love someone more than Kaden has with you. You would not understand it, Lina. You never would."

  Lina didn't comprehend what Mia meant. But she knew deep down, Mia was right. Kaden loved Lina more than words could describe. A talented author could write a thousand chapters about their love story and it would not be enough.

  "You do not know anything about us," Lina said. "What you know is what you've seen for the past five years."

  "And I've seen enough," Mia insisted. "I would know because Kaden employed me, his most useful pawn for something as stupid as following and watching over Atlantis… keeping him in check."

  Lina froze. Kaden, my god. What was Lina going to do with Kaden? The very reason the War Between Two Kingdoms started. Ritan went to war with Teran for Lina, a horrifying battle caused by the death of the young Princess of Ritan who was kidnapped by Atlan and died on the journey.

  Mia was supposed to be the most precious thing to Kaden. Lina wondered what changed about Kaden for him to throw Mia into the lion's den like that. Did he really not care for anyone else, but Lina's safety and wellbeing?

  "How did Atlantis not see the trap?" Lina asked. "Your entanglement with Kaden was so obvious—"

  "Atlantis is lonely."

  Three words as impactful as "I hate you." Lina could barely breathe.

  "Atlantis is just a starved soul deprived of love. All he wants is someone by his sida—a companion."

  It was at this exact moment Lina realized how twisted Mia and Atlantis' relationship was. They were both using each other, yet were reassured by those thoughts. They were aware of each other's intentions, and still kept themselves side by side.

  What a tragedy these two were.

  "He seeks solitude in me," Mia admitted in a tiny voice. She didn't realize it at first—not until she said it out loud. Her heart ached for him. She pitied the man who had everything in the world, but lacked what really mattered—a friend.

  "You love him," Lina realized.

  "What? No, I—"

  "You care for him," Lina muttered.

  Mia was floored. "Of course not! Why would you—" she cut herself off.

  Mia realized how worked up she was over such a stupid statement. She was flustered, her heart skipping at this thought. How foolish. What an idiotic woman. There was no way that Mia would love Atlantis. The possibility of that was slim.

  Right?