Chapter 671: The Blame She Refused To Carry

Chapter 670: The Blame She Refused To Carry

Selene’s gaze hardened slightly at Orion’s question.

"Watch your tongue," she said quietly. "There is only so much insolence I can tolerate from you."

The warning settled into the room softly, but there was power beneath it all the same. The air itself seemed to tighten around the words, the moonlight near the window growing heavier as though the goddess did not need to raise her voice for her displeasure to be understood.

But Orion only looked at her calmly.

"Is this truly me being insolent?" he asked.

Selene did not answer immediately.

And Orion laughed softly under his breath before shaking his head.

"You are selfish," he said plainly. "And if saying that makes me insolent, then I honestly do not fucking care."

Noctis stirred sharply at that.

*Orion,*he called again.

But Orion ignored him.

Selene’s expression remained composed, though there was something colder in her gaze now.

"You speak as though you understand everything," she said.

"No," Orion replied immediately. "I speak as someone who is tired of watching you remove yourself from the centre of every problem while pushing someone else into the place meant for you."

That made Selene go quiet.

Orion continued before she could even respond.

"You keep taking pieces from the situation and placing blame wherever it is most convenient," he said. "Noctis. Sophia. Me. My pack. Fate itself."

His gaze sharpened.

"But never yourself."

Selene’s eyes narrowed faintly.

"I am trying to correct the mistakes of the past," she said.

Orion let out a humourless breath.

"A mistake you made, but that’s not even the issue. The issue is that while doing that," he replied, "you are playing with lives."

The words landed harder this time.

"You are playing with all of us," Orion continued. "Sophia. Me. My people. Noctis."

His voice remained calm, but the anger beneath it was unmistakable now.

"You keep moving everyone around like pieces on a board while pretending it is all necessary."

Selene’s expression didn’t shift.

"You speak as though I do not carry responsibility for what has happened," she said.

Orion stared at her.

Then he shook his head slowly.

"No," he said quietly. "You only believe you do."

That seemed to catch her attention more than his anger had.

Orion stepped forward slightly.

"You think acknowledging something is the same as taking responsibility for it," he said. "But it is not."

Selene remained silent.

"You are still pushing the consequences onto everyone else," Orion continued. "And not just the consequences. The blame too."

His eyes darkened slightly.

"You punished Noctis for something that was never his fault to begin with."

"You do not know that," Selene replied.

"I do," Orion said immediately.

There was no hesitation in his voice.

"I know the wolf you gave me," he continued. "I know the kind of being Noctis is."

Noctis stirred again at the words, quieter this time.

"He is ancient," Orion said. "Wise enough to understand consequences better than most people ever will. He is not reckless. He is not thoughtless."

His gaze remained fixed on Selene.

"And from everything I know about him," he added, "there is no world where he stood beside Dolion in silence without trying to stop him first."

Selene didn’t interrupt him.

"You simply do not want to see that," he went on. "Because it is easier to believe Noctis failed than it is to accept that Dolion made his own choices despite being warned."

The room grew quieter after that.

Even the snow outside seemed distant now.

Selene’s pale gaze remained on him, unreadable as ever, but Orion no longer cared whether he offended her or not.

"You wanted someone to punish," he continued. "Someone to carry responsibility for what happened because deep down, you know where all of this actually began."

Selene’s expression tightened faintly.

And Orion saw it.

He saw the exact moment his words struck somewhere deeper than she wanted them to.

"The root cause of all this was you," he said quietly.

"You were the one who interfered with fate," he continued. "You were the one who came down and involved yourself with Dolion."

His gaze sharpened further.

"And you did all of that without stopping to think that perhaps the man you fell for could make terrible decisions."

Selene remained still near the window.

Moonlight spilled over her pale skin and white hair until she almost looked unreal.

But Orion no longer saw a distant goddess standing before him.

He only saw someone who had made mistakes and spent centuries trying to escape the full weight of them.

"You went too far," he said. "And when everything collapsed, you stepped away and let everyone else suffer the consequences instead."

The words came easier now.

"And then Sophia interfered with fate," Orion continued. "Instead of learning from your own mistakes, you did the same thing again."

Selene’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"You blamed her."

The room fell silent again.

Orion could hear his own breathing now, steady despite the anger burning beneath his skin.

He waited for it.

For the familiar ringing in his ears.

For the sharp pull that always came whenever he spoke something false.

But there was nothing.

Not even the faintest sensation.

No pain.

No warning.

Only silence.

He laughed softly then, but the sound carried no humour whatsoever.

Because that silence told him everything he needed to know.

He had not lied.

Not once.

Selene watched him quietly.

And for the first time since she had appeared in the room, the certainty surrounding her seemed less absolute.

The goddess turned her gaze briefly toward the snow outside before looking back at him again.

"I never viewed it from your perspective," she admitted quietly.

Orion said nothing.

Selene’s voice remained calm, but there was something different within it now.

"I still do not fully understand it," she continued. "But..."

She paused.

And Orion noticed it, the hesitation in her voice, the crack in the conviction she had carried until now.

"It seems," she said softly, "that you may be right."