"Is Dad badly hurt?" Ren asked uneasily, clutching her bouquet as she looked up at Caleb.
"Not badly. He just needs some rest," Caleb replied with a smile.
This was one of the few times he was actually relaxed.
"Then does that mean he won't be so busy anymore?" Ren tilted up her childish little face and asked.
"He probably won't be as busy. He should be able to spend a lot more time with you."
Caleb stopped walking. Marcus's room was right here.
A few days ago, all the enforcers who had fallen unconscious had finally woken up.
Their injuries had never been that serious in the first place. They had simply lost too much blood.
Caleb pushed the door open. The room was empty except for Marcus.
"Dad!" Ren cried out in delight and rushed straight over.
"Hey." Caleb gave a small nod and stayed standing off to the side.
"Ren!" Marcus broke into a grin and scooped his daughter into his arms.
"How've you been these last few days?" he asked at once, carefully looking her over from head to toe.
"I've been really good. Caleb made me yummy food, and he told me bedtime stories too!"
Ren smiled and snuggled deeper into her father's arms.
"Sir... Ren and I had nothing to do with any of this..."
Marcus caught sight of Caleb standing nearby out of the corner of his eye and hurriedly spoke up.
"Relax. I was bluffing you. I'm not a Medarda spy."
Caleb shrugged.
"That's true," a sudden voice said.
The abrupt interruption startled all of them.
It was Camille. At some point, she had already entered the room.
"Because I'm the one who handles intelligence for Clan Ferros, and I have no information whatsoever suggesting that Mister Caleb is a spy."
She still wore that calm, intelligent smile as she slowly walked over to Ren.
"So please keep this between you, your father, and me, all right?"
She stroked Ren's cheek and spoke softly.
"We definitely will!" Marcus blurted out, cold sweat immediately breaking across his back.
"Then I'll wait outside for you, Mister Caleb."
With that, Camille gracefully left the room.
"Sir, I know what I've done over the years."
Marcus lowered his head.
The two people standing in front of him clearly had not come just to visit.
He had already prepared himself to spend the rest of his life in prison.
"You got lucky. Councilor Talis went soft and kept you around."
Caleb simply tossed a letter of appointment onto the bed.
"I'm taking over as Zaun's leader. You'll be handling some administrative paperwork for the lower levels."
"Just so we're clear, it's exhausting work, and the pay's not great."
"The only real upside is that you can work from home and spend more time with Ren."
Caleb spoke evenly. Beside him, Ren only understood bits and pieces, but she still stared blankly at her father.
Marcus, on the other hand, could not hold back his tears.
"Ah! Dad, why are you crying?"
"Caleb... even though I really like you, if you made my dad cry..."
"Then I'm not playing with you anymore. Hmph!"
Ren stamped her foot and glared at Caleb.
"All right, all right..." Marcus quickly wiped his face.
"It's not Caleb's fault..."
"You're going to be Zaun's leader?!"
Only now did it really hit him.
This guy did not even look that old, and he clearly was not from one of Piltover's council clans.
So why him?
Why was he the one becoming Zaun's leader?
And before this, he had claimed he was a Council spy.
"I'm not lying this time."
Seeing Marcus's expression, Caleb just shrugged again.
The appointment letter bore the Council's seal and the signatures of several councilors.
"Caitlyn's taking your post," Caleb added, lowering his head to pat Ren's hair.
The tone made it obvious that this was an announcement, not a discussion.
"I accept." After letting out a long breath, Marcus finally gave his answer.
"Good enough. See you."
With that, Caleb turned to leave.
He had other things to deal with, and it was better to let the father and daughter have some time alone.
"Wait!" Marcus called after him.
"What now?" Caleb turned back and looked coldly at the former sheriff.
Sure, Marcus had his reasons, and what he had done did not amount to some great unforgivable evil.
But the only reason Caleb felt even a shred of goodwill toward him was because of Ren.
Then again, if Marcus had failed to keep Silco appeased and war had broken out early—
if Piltover, without Hextech weapons, had gone up against a Zaun capable of mass-producing Shimmer—
then who would have won and who would have lost would be a lot harder to say.
So in an indirect way, he had actually helped Caleb a great deal.
When Caleb stepped outside, Camille was already waiting for him.
He did not bother beating around the bush.
"Ma'am, you said your clan has the technology for hextech augmentation surgery. Why not make it public?"
"Young man, our clan has already placed a wager on a young crystal scholar in Shurima."
"And besides, life and death follow their own course. The less this kind of technology is used, the better."
"Piltover isn't Zaun. People here would be afraid of it."
Camille's voice was soft.
"That's true."
Looking more closely, Caleb could see that Camille's skin and hair looked no different from anyone else's at first glance, but on closer inspection, they carried a faint metallic sheen.
"I'm planning to replace the Hex crystal in my heart with a Hex gemstone."
Camille moved with the lightness of a gray shadow.
By the time they reached the critical care ward, Caitlyn stood up to greet them.
"He's not in good shape."
That was the first thing Caitlyn said.
It was not as if Viktor had not considered sneaking out again.
But with Caitlyn watching him, and the Hexcore already destroyed, there really was not much left for him to do even if he tried.
"Let's talk inside."
Caleb pulled open the door. Viktor, weak to the point of exhaustion in the hospital bed, looked over at him.
Jayce was already sitting nearby.
"Did you tell him everything?" Caleb asked, glancing at Jayce.
Jayce's eyes were nearly red.
Seeing his closest friend in such a worn-down state could not have been easy.
"I'll have the surgery." Viktor gave a self-mocking smile. "No matter how miserable the process is."
"But if anesthesia's an option, I'd really prefer you use it."
As soon as he finished speaking, he doubled over in another violent fit of coughing.
"The first thing that has to be replaced is his lungs. He's breathed in too much toxic air in Zaun."
Camille delivered the verdict.
"I know a craftsman who can make them, but he doesn't come cheap..."
"That doesn't matter," Jayce said firmly.
"Just so you understand, this procedure demands a very high degree of precision."
"So even if it succeeds, he may not be exactly the same Viktor you know now."
"Go ahead and do it," Viktor said. His voice was hoarse, but it still carried that same unshakable resolve that was uniquely his.
"All right..." Jayce covered his face and looked at his friend.
"One thing to keep in mind," Camille said, "replacing organs with hextech ones isn't the difficult part. The adaptation process is."
"To be more precise, it will be unbearable."
"It's fine."
...
They watched as Viktor was wheeled into the operating room.
The doors shut, and the surgery light above them flicked on.
Neither Caleb nor Jayce wanted to look away.
"It's tragic. The brighter someone shines, the more easily they burn through the energy of their own life."
Caleb murmured softly. For the first time, he truly understood what Heimerdinger had meant by those words.
In terms of talent, Jayce and Caleb together might not even measure up to Viktor.
And yet the irony was that the two of them were standing here just fine, while Viktor had to undergo an agonizing hextech operation.
With how completely Zaun's toxins had ravaged his body, this was probably going to amount to nearly a full replacement.
The lungs and part of his body were only the beginning.
"Tonight, we're having dinner with Mel and her mother," Jayce reminded him.
"Yeah. And tomorrow I have to head to Zaun and officially take office. Busy, busy."
Caleb kept staring at the operating room, never once taking his eyes off it.