Chapter 157: What Is Spoken Without Embellishment
Lyria's POV
Duke Valenridge did not answer immediately.
For a moment, he remained seated as he was, his posture unchanged, his expression composed in that same manner he had carried throughout his interview, as though silence, to him, was not something to be filled, but something to be used.
Then, at last, he spoke.
"I do not consider myself particularly interesting," he said.
There was no attempt to soften the statement, nor to dress it in modesty. It was spoken plainly, in the same manner he had spoken everything else.
"And that is the simple truth," he said.
There was a faint shift in the room, though no one spoke.
"I prefer challenges," he went on. "Things that require attention. Things that do not allow for complacency."
His tone remained even.
"Things that keep one… engaged."
He paused briefly before continuing, as though moving from one thought to the next without any need to hurry.
