Responsibility

Claude exhaled smoke from his mouth after sucking on his cigar for quite a while. He let Sofia wait for her reaction after telling him what he knew about Lucien's condition.

After coming to her senses, only Sephie so far has met Lucien in his room. Lucien seemed reluctant to meet anyone just yet at this point. His mood was still very chaotic after that night's incident. He still couldn't think straight.

In contrast to Claude who still looked calm, Jayden actually felt irritated and uneasy. That night he and several executioners had to attack Lucien in order to subdue him so that he would stop his rampage. He still couldn't believe it, it took several monsters to stop Lucien's rampage and it made him feel very angry.

"What do you think, Jay?" Finally after five minutes of silence, Claude opened his mouth. He knew that the only person who could judge how strong Lucien was was him.

Hearing that question from Claude made Jayden feel even more irritated. He had already measured Lucien's beast strength and he could feel how strong Lucien was.

"Does my opinion matter?" Jayden asked again. To be honest, he just didn't want to admit it.

"You feel annoyed because you finally realized that Lucien is much stronger than you thought?" Sephie threw a question that was quite surprising. Jayden looked at her with a sneer as if trying to tell Sephie that he had just said something unnecessary.

Sephie didn't feel scared at all even though Jayden was glaring at her like that. Since yesterday, she knew that Jayden was very angry with her for her rebellious attitude. However, last night's fight happened because she brought Lucien to an unsafe place.

If she had listened, last night's fight would not have happened. They almost made the mistake of causing a commotion in such a public place. Luckily they were in a quiet area where humans rarely passed by.

"You're very sharp, aren't you, Sephie?" Claude chuckled. He didn't understand why Sephie wasn't afraid of Jayden, who was known as the toughest and heinous killer in The Hunters.

"I know you feel that you are safe because you are enough with Lucien, right? You feel like someone will protect you if I attack you!"

"I'm not such a coward, Jayden! I just have immense courage because I know a devil like myself no longer needs to be afraid of anything. I've already died and I know where I'm going. So what else do you think can make me feel scared? You? Hahaha...forgive me, Jay! I'm not afraid of you at all!"

"Tch, damn fox-"

An annoyed Jayden couldn't hold back his emotions and tried to grab Sephie's neck who was in front of him. With only one hand, Jayden managed to lift Sephie's body several inches off the ground.

"Ugh..."

"You're getting more and more arrogant as time goes by, don't you think? I think this fox mouth of yours needs to learn a lesson soon!"

"Stop it Jay! I hope you're not taking it too seriously!" Claude immediately stopped Jayden whose grip almost choked Sephie to death.

"Tch, you bastard!"

Jayden, who was irritated, kept cursing in annoyance as he let go of his grip and pushed Sephie's body away.

"Cough..."

Sephie was coughing hard, she almost died if Claude didn't stop Jayden immediately. Jayden is a very scary person, that's what Sephie believes. There is no demon that is much crazier and more dangerous than Jayden. But no matter how crazy Jayden was, he couldn't keep up with Lucien's power.

"Listen to me, Sephie! I know you're deliberately trying to stir up a fuss right now to make me look like a pathetic idiot. I can already read what game you want to play. But just so you know? Lucien who is so much proud of is just a wild wolf who is aggressive and will only harm the group. He is clearly not a good fighter! I better get out of here before I hear any more sickening crap coming out of your mouth again." Jayden said as he walked away.

Claude had no intention of stopping Jayden, he knew that right now he couldn't force Sephie and Jayden to talk to each other calmly. For Jayden, Sephie is the culprit who always underestimates her abilities. But for Sephie, Jayden is just a man who enjoys being the center of attention. Each of them has reasons to hate.

Claude took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He placed his cigar on a small plate on the table. Sephie took a place on the sofa opposite Claude so they could have a good talk.

"What are you thinking?" Asked Claude. He knew that Sephie had desires that she could never say.

"I know you already know what I want!"

"I understand, but this isn't the time for you to do that. You know that the shortlisted candidates are the strongest demons and a fox can't possibly be the leader of the wolf pack. Right now I just want you to focus on Lucien. Jayden and the execution team said that Lucien's powers are too dangerous for him to use before he can fully control them. You're the one who made him part of The Hunters and after all, you're still responsible for him."

"Isn't that what you want? The strongest monster you can use as a killing weapon? Lucien is the demon you've been looking for, so controlling him is a risk you have to live with. You are the leader, Claude. You must be the one who can keep Lucien under control."

"You're right, but more than me, right now you and Jayden are the people Lucien needs the most to survive!"

"What? Me? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm not kidding at all, what I'm saying is the result of my observations. I know it's too much of a rush to make you hold this big of a responsibility. However, instead of a mentor or a strong group leader, what Lucien needs is someone who can he believes and right now all he can trust is you."

***