Eternal Thief

Within the massive bed-chamber of the Everlasting Endearment Palace, Ace and Eva were panting after their fierce and long ‘battle.’ Their skins were rosy and hot as their bodies were entwined with each other.

“Ah, how I missed this…missed you,” Eva whispered close to Ace’s ear in her somewhat chaotic yet seductive voice.

Ace lovingly replied blissfully, “I missed you a lot, but I was more worried about your safety. It seemed the ‘Black Fox’ hadn’t lost her touch at all.”

When Eva heard ‘Black Fox,’ a hint of nostalgia surfaced in her dreamy eyes, and bittersweet memories of her past flashed in her mind.

“What Black Fox? She was just a slave of Asher Kelby and the Grant Family. It’s E.V.A (Evil Venerable Angel) now!” Eva retorted as she bit on Ace’s earlobe softly.

“Haha, alright, mercy!” Ace laughed as he pretended to be hurt before they started messing with each other again, and the chamber was filled with laughter and love.

After a while, Ace looked at Eva, who now rested her head on his chest as if hearing his heartbeat. Her eyes were closed, and her face was filled with a gentle smile.

He hesitated momentarily before asking, “Tell me honestly, the new order of the Thief House, how long have you been planning for this? And don’t try to lie to me. You might be able to deceive the entire world, but you can’t deceive me as long as you have ‘that’ ring.”

Eva suddenly opened her eyes, and a hint of surprise flashed past them as she raised her head and locked her devilish eyes with Ace’s. His eyes were clear, without any anger or resentment. In fact, she could only see his love for her; she could feel it clear as day.

Suddenly, an enthralling smile bloomed on her peerless face as she playfully asked, “Careful with your words. What if others heard it, and they thought I was manipulating their fierce House Leader into doing my bidding?”

Ace smiled wryly. “You would never manipulate me, but you did manipulate the scenario and make me choose between order and disorder. Everyone else was just a catalyst to help me realize the importance of my role.”

Eva’s eyes shone fiercely, and she appeared somewhat dangerous at this moment. “You know, only after joining the Thief House did I realize how powerful it is. But when you revealed the truth behind this terrifying power, I no longer thought of it as a fortune but a misfortune.

“Still, I know without it, you wouldn’t be what you are now, neither do I have met you. So, I’m grateful to ‘it,’ yet at the same time, I hate ‘it’ for controlling your life and death like this, and I’m afraid. But what can mortals like us do but fight against our fates and overcome our destiny?

“However, to do that, YOU can’t be gentle and kind anymore. You need to be merciless and decisive to gain control over this power. Thief House is your ‘tool,’ not your ‘responsibility.’ All those rules and regulations are for ‘you’, not for ‘us’; they are there for one reason: to give you absolute control over it.

“But you are too kind to the people you care about, even if they don’t have the same thoughts about you or are just following you out of the fear of your position and fear of death!”

Ace’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Eva, “You know what you’re saying, right? It’s hearsay!”

“No, it’s not.” Eva shook her head gently, “Just like now, you might’ve detected what I was doing long ago, yet you refused to believe I would do anything against you, so you simply ignored it. Only after everything happened did you acknowledge it and still hesitate to confront me. So tell me, why didn’t you stop me way back when you realized I was up to something or simply confront me?”

“I trust you.” Ace answered without hesitation, “Just like I trust every other member of the Thief House!”

Eva suddenly sneered coldly. “Alright, give me an honest answer. If one day the Thief House Rules and Regulations cease to exist, will you still trust them all? Except for me, Alina, and let’s include Noa as well. But can you fully trust Freya, Winter, and that new member with your life without those rules and regulations?”

Ace’s eye twitched slightly; Eva had left him completely speechless, and his confidence a moment ago suddenly wavered.

‘Without the Rules and Regulations of Thief House, indeed, I would never be able to trust Freya and Winter, not to mention Zaria, who’s still resentful towards me…’

Sensing Ace’s hesitation, Eva sighed. “See? Despite your early confidence, the moment I remove the source of your confidence, your true nature as a thief instinctively takes over.

“Furthermore, I have another speculation, or let’s just say it’s my imagination, but ever since I’ve thought about it, I couldn’t get rid of it as if it had taken deep roots in my mind. Do you want to hear?”

Ace was surprised because, at this moment, he could feel a hint of fear in Eva’s heart. He asked, “Tell me.”

Eva took a deep breath before she shared her speculation, “Ever since you revealed the origin of the Heaven’s Stealer, I’ve been thinking and closely paying attention to everything, especially the Thief House, and just when I was analyzing the rules to make sure there weren’t any loopholes for others to exploit, it just struck me out of nowhere like a bolt of lightning.

“I thought: That ‘enemy’ of yours, who has been beating and killing your predecessors for who knows how long despite all these powers, abilities, and even the Thief House under their command, what if…I mean, what if that ‘enemy’ has a way to give the House Members ‘Freedom’ from the Thief House deterrence and Thief House fails to detect this change?

“After all, who would want to become a Thief willing or live their entire life in terror of dying with another person or living under the shadow of a person who had control over their life and death?

“So, won’t such a person jump at the chance to regain their freedom, and with some push, or by simply giving them hope of making them the owner of this power, they might even be willing to change sides? If that happened, you can only imagine what kind of damage it might cause if a traitor appeared when we blindly believed that it was impossible.

“It’ll create the perfect weapon of extermination!”

Ace’s eyes widened as he suddenly felt a chill running down his spine because he never thought about this possibility at all; in fact, the more he thought about Eva’s speculation, the more he felt his heart turning cold!