I Can Copy Curses

Chapter 345: 345. Unexpected Confrontation

Everyone fell silent once again. What Drake said was true, and they all knew it—Orion Darkwood, the most wanted criminal, had surpassed them all.

Even if they wanted to ignore it, they couldn't.

"Oh, well, forget about that guy," Orion tried changing the subject, noticing how tense the atmosphere had become. "Let's talk about the geniuses of the Human Federation Realm. Who is the strongest genius in our domain?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Victor looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Who?" Orion asked.

"Neil Reed," Erza answered. "He's considered the strongest genius of our domain, and many say he might even be stronger than the top genius of the Martial Domain, Zhao Tian."

"No, Neil Reed is strong, but he couldn't be stronger than Zhao Tian," Victor disagreed. "Zhao Tian is slightly stronger, if I'm not mistaken."

"Neil Reed, Zhao Tian," Orion muttered their names before turning to Victor. "Any other strong geniuses?"

Victor laughed wryly at Orion's question. "There are many geniuses who could easily defeat us without even trying, and the number of such people is huge. So, forget about it for now. You'll eventually meet them when we reach the Federation Council."

Orion nodded with a smile. In truth, he wasn't interested in them anyway. He just wanted to steer the conversation away from Orion Darkwood for now.

He was drawing too much unnecessary attention to himself, which was a little awkward.

"Ray, are you going to talk to her or not?" Erza whispered something only he could hear.

'Damn!'

Orion almost cursed. He had just gotten out of one tricky situation only to get stuck in another.

"Henry is here, so I can't right now," Orion whispered back.

In fact, he hadn't looked her way once since arriving, unsure of how to respond to her hopeful and emotional gaze.

Orion felt guilty every time he saw her, which led him to avoid her even more.

"I see everyone's doing well." Billy arrived at that moment with his usual smile.

"The trip will take some time, so enjoy your stay here until then," he said, still smiling.

Henry remained silent, his gaze shifting between Erza and Orion, his expression growing uglier.

The tension in the room escalated again.

'Wait a minute!' Orion suddenly realized. 'Why didn't Mark do anything to save her?'

Now that he thought about it, Mark should have known about Tracy all this time, yet he hadn't done anything.

Did he not care about her?

'No, that's not it.'

Orion remembered how Mark had gone berserk when he threatened her with Tracy's life the last time they had met. So, it wasn't that he didn't care.

Orion turned slightly and saw Mark clenching his fists tightly. He couldn't tell if Mark was angry about what had happened to Tracy or something else.

"This is all your fault!" Mark suddenly stood up and shouted at Orion.

Orion was slightly surprised by Mark's outburst but understood the anger and hatred behind it. He could see it in his eyes.

"Yeah, it's my fault," Orion replied through gritted teeth, his face full of anger. "I'm so weak. Too weak to protect her."

Everyone looked at him with pity. They understood how Orion felt. One man couldn't fight an entire guild, and someone as young as Orion certainly couldn't.

"It's not his fault," Tracy stood up and stepped in front of Orion. "It's not my brother's fault."

"You!" Mark trembled with anger seeing Tracy defend someone impersonating her brother. He was furious at Orion for pretending to be Ray and for giving Tracy hope—a false hope that would only make her already difficult life even worse.

Sooner or later, that illusion would shatter, and when it did, it would destroy Tracy. Her fragile life, already on the verge of collapse, would become a living hell.

Mark's heart ached at the thought, but his fury overpowered his compassion. He couldn't stand by and watch someone play with Tracy's emotions like this. Not her—not after everything she had been through.

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