Chapter 632: Chapter 632

The person I painted... is it you?

Looking up into Feiliya’s emerald eyes and sensing the indescribable complexity within them, Prince Andre fell silent for a moment, then with a look of surprise, he replied:

"Feiliya? Why would you ask that? Who else could I have painted but you?"

The emerald-eyed girl pursed her lips and, instead of answering Prince Andre’s question, turned her gaze aside and said softly:

"I’ve noticed that, when faced with questions you want to avoid, your favorite method is to answer a question with another question."

"Actually, being kidnapped by that maniac these past few days, my mind seems to have become ’clearer,’ and I’ve figured out many things I couldn’t understand before."

Staring intently at her sleeve, Feiliya said with a complicated expression:

"Brother Andre, with your painting skills, there’s no way you couldn’t even finish a simple portrait. The only reason I can think of is that the person you truly want to paint isn’t me."

After listening to the emerald-eyed girl’s words, Prince Andre fell silent for another moment, then, while lowering his head and continuing to paint, he answered:

"No, the person I’m painting is you."

"But you’re painting not me as I am, but the me in your heart, and that’s why you can’t complete it, right?"

With a somewhat desolate gaze, the emerald-eyed girl said:

"Besides some missing memories, I possess most of Feiliya’s soul and an almost identical body, yet you can’t convince yourself to consider me your sister, can you?"

"After giving me a body, you’ve been indulging my whims, even willing to accompany me in doing childish antics... Are you really humoring me, or are you trying to ’replicate’ the original Feiliya?"

Seeing Prince Andre remain silent and just focus on painting, the emerald-eyed girl couldn’t help but bite her lower lip as she asked her final question.

"Brother Andre, can you tell me, if it were the real Feiliya who was captured, would you have ordered the attack that day?"

Upon hearing this question, Andre paused slightly in his drafting, causing the tip of his charcoal pencil to snap.

That would probably be... no.

With almost no hesitation, this rather cold answer emerged from Prince Andre’s heart.

To him, the real Feiliya had long been dead, leaving only a core made from Feiliya’s brain and soul.

Even if he had helped "reshape" her body and treated her as if she were the real Feiliya, insisting on calling her Feiliya rather than Atifei-01, it could not change this fact.

The real Feiliya had long been dead!

"Didn’t we just agree not to talk about that incident again?"

After replacing his charcoal pencil with a new one, Prince Andre continued to work on the canvas while gently comforting:

"Feiliya, please stop this. This time is different from before; I can finish your painting soon."

"And after it’s done?" The source of thɪs content is NovᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt

The emerald-eyed girl said softly:

"After it’s done, what will be different?"

"It will be different."

Without looking up, Prince Andre replied:

"Once I’m sure I can capture your ’soul’ in the painting, I will add you to the ’Royal Palace Night Banquet’; then we can both stay inside the painting together."

"Is it staying in the painting, or being trapped in it?"

Seeing Prince Andre pause his strokes once more and look up in surprise, the emerald-eyed girl bit her lips and said:

"Though I’m not familiar with Soul Encoding Technology, I do know some of the soul research from Zone 01. The body is the vessel for the soul, and the soul is the most reliable carrier of will and Wisdom.

Even though you painted the ’Royal Palace Night Banquet,’ the people within it aren’t fake. Except for being unaware that they’re within a painting and needing to follow certain rules, they are no different from people in reality; they all have souls."

"Brother Andre, when I looked at the Feiliya being held by mother in that ’Royal Palace Night Banquet,’ she was the only one who was still throughout the painting.

What you’re trying to do now is to draw my soul into it, using my fake sister’s soul and existence to bring your painted real sister to ’life,’ am I right?"

"Feiliya, you’re overthinking..."

Prince Andre closed his eyes at her words, then resumed painting, saying calmly while shaking his head:

"There’s no real or fake sister; she is the true Feiliya, and you are the true Feiliya. She is you, and you are her; it’s just that both of you are currently incomplete.

Once I draw you in, she can truly awaken in that world, and you too can lie carefree in our mother’s arms just like her... Isn’t that good?"

Biting her lower lip, the emerald-eyed girl said with full disappointment:

"Even if I’m not the real Feiliya, I have the same soul and body as her, but she’s just a false painting! You simply want to kill me and use my soul to bring back a Feiliya you imagined!"

"She’s not imagined, she truly exists."

Continuing his work on the canvas without looking up, Andre explained patiently with a calm expression:

"Though the space is smaller, it is indeed a real world, just like the one we’re currently in, with people inside also possessing souls and bodies. They’re real, just existing in a different manner compared to the people in this world.

And I’m not killing you by doing this; I’m just letting you in this world fall asleep and waking you up in that world... Did you forget? I’m planning to draw myself in too. Would I kill myself?"

"Andre, you really have gone mad!"

Seeing that no matter what she said, Prince Andre remained stubborn, the emerald-eyed girl shouted angrily in despair:

"That maniac was right! You’re nothing but a clown! A giant infant who can’t face his own faults, seeking solace in a created false world of your own making! You... mm! mm!"

With a gesture made in the air, he sealed Feiliya’s mouth from a distance, veins bulging at his forehead, Prince Andre took a few deep breaths to calm his tumultuous emotions, then said emotionlessly:

"The true Feiliya would never say such things; it seems these days with him have influenced you greatly.

But it’s okay; with his current Ability, he can never escape the ’Royal Palace Night Banquet,’ and once I finish this, I’ll take care of him so he can’t continue corrupting you. You’ll have plenty of Time to amend.

Feiliya, though you might think I’m crazy now, once you and I awaken in that world with our true identities, you’ll immediately understand that I am the one who..."

At the sound of fabric tearing from behind, Prince Andre’s emerald pupils contracted instantly. Gripping the brush, he turned sharply to find a bright silver knife tip protruding from his suspended painting ’Royal Palace Night Banquet’!