"Lucien."
He looked up.
"I've tracked down some of those bastards from back then."
Lucien's heart clenched slightly, but his face maintained a facade of innocent confusion.
"Do you want to get revenge?"
The question dropped like a heavy stone cast into a tranquil lake.
Lucien suddenly realized that the tightening in his chest seemed to be a residual reflex from the pitiful soul that had once inhabited this vessel. Even though that child had long departed, he had left behind a body ingrained with deep-seated terror.
Lucien lowered his head, casting his eyes downward in feigned calculation. Then, he gripped his porridge spoon, deliberately exerting enough force to turn his knuckles stark white. His voice trailed off, carrying a clumsily concealed sense of grievance, "I don't want to blow things out of proportion... It's been so long, anyway."
"I'm really okay. Honestly."
Dominic Vance remained silent.
