Quinlan looked dryly at the crying woman as her words echoed in his head.
'Even the nameless nobody who couldn't raise a fist to me mere months ago beats me.'
His lips thinned. "I'm not a nameless nobody, Raika. I'm the man known as Devil. At the risk of sounding way too full of myself, I've been the talk of not only the Consortium itself or the duchy of Greenvale, but the whole country as of late. Even a brute who lives under a rock must've heard of Devil by now."
The words hung in the air for a beat.
Raika's tears slowed, then momentarily stopped. She blinked up at him with bloodshot eyes before croaking hoarsely:
"Who?"
The emotional damage was instant and catastrophic. Quinlan shut his eyes for a moment as his entire soul exhaled one long, silent groan. "… Never mind."
