A storm of thoughts raged in Ezekiel's mind. He tried to make sense of everything, someone had saved him, that much was clear. But what he could not begin to imagine was why this girl was standing in front of him now.
He knew her. Everyone knew her if they were active in all forms of media. Her face can be seen in some shows, advertisement, and billboards. Even his mother had talked endlessly about her when she was alive. She had left an impression on him too that time could never erase.Especially what Viola did for him and his mother.
They had lived in completely different worlds, yet somehow, she was here, involved in his life. How? Why? Every question spiraled inside his head, unanswered, gnawing at him.
Viola's voice broke through his thoughts when he finally asked why she was alive.
She hesitated, the truth weighing heavily on her. She couldn't tell him she had brought him back to life—how could she?
"You didn't die," she lied softly.
It wasn't just a lie to protect him. An S-rank was rare, almost legendary; an SSS-rank was unheard of. Exposing such a thing to the world would invite unnecessary chaos.
She had wanted to tell him the truth, but she feared he would reject it, refuse to believe it. And the last thing she could bear was having him hate her—the very person she had always admired. Who would want their idol to despise them?
Ezekiel blinked, absorbing her words. "you're the one who saved me?"
"Ah… you could say that,"
Viola replied, letting her voice trail into the silence.
His mind raced again. "What about my party? What happened to them?"
Viola's expression hardened, her voice chilling.
"Are you talking about Clyde and his group—the ones who tried to kill you?"
"How did you know?" Ezekiel asked, surprise flickering in his violet eyes.
"I was there," she said, anger lacing every word. "I saw everything. They wanted you dead. Not only that they made you suffer. They even abandoned you in the dungeon when the monsters came."
The words hit him like a dagger. Everything suddenly made sense. He had been betrayed, stabbed in the back, left to die. He had survived, but the truth of their cruelty burned inside him.
On his face, it might have been invisible, but deep inside, a storm of anger brewed. He had known Clyde disliked him, but he had never returned hostility. He had continued his work, hunted monsters, earned his living quietly, never letting personal grudges interfere. Maybe before, he had even admired him and those who had everything, raised in full families, without fear or want.
Now, with his mother recently gone, grief weighed on him heavily, compounding the bitterness he had buried inside himself for years. He had always considered himself unworthy of happiness, believing himself a murderer, a monster. He never explained, never argued, silence had been his armor.
And now, confronted with betrayal, the raw reality of Clyde's cruelty, those old feelings clashed with a new, unspoken rage.
"I have to go," he said finally, voice steady but quiet. "I can't trouble you any longer. But… I'm very grateful for saving me."
He bowed, the gesture precise, controlled, showing gratitude without a word of complaint, and turned toward the door.
But before he could reach it, Viola stepped in front of him, her presence unwavering.
I don't think going out now is a good idea," she said firmly, blocking his path.
Ezekiel stopped, his eyes meeting hers.
Ezekiel froze. Something in her stance, the firmness in her tone, made him pause.
"Why?" he asked quietly, a mix of suspicion and weariness in his voice.
Viola bit her lip, unsure how to explain the full truth. The current situation was complicated, dangerous, and impossible to sum up in a few words. After a tense moment, she picked up her phone and handed it to him.
Ezekiel took it, his violet eyes narrowing as he scrolled through the screen. His expression darkened with every passing second.
"What is this?" he demanded, his voice tight. "I… I never did any of these things."
The screen displayed the news, Ezekiel was being blamed for the disappearance of dungeon resources worth millions.
"I know, you didn't," Viola said softly, trying to steady him.
"But everyone thinks you're dead now," she continued, her voice steady but tinged with urgency. "The Ozburn Company is pinning all the blame on you. If anyone finds out you're alive, they'll drag you straight into prison and they'll definitely try to silence you again to hide the real culprit."
Ezekiel's grip on the phone tightened, hesitation flickering in his eyes. He knew Ozburn was not a simple opponent.
He looked up at Viola, his gaze sharp but wary.
"Then… why are you helping me?"
Here's a polished, more dramatic and emotionally resonant version of your passage while keeping your ideas intact:
"Then… why are you helping me?"
The reason? Viola didn't know. Or perhaps she wasn't sure there was a single reason that had led her here. Was it guilt? Pity? Or the fact that he had once been her savior? Was it Rebecca's request that guided her steps? Or could being his fan, cherishing him from afar be enough to explain this quiet, unwavering devotion?
She wasn't certain. Perhaps it was all of these things at once, intertwined like threads too tangled to separate.
The only clarity she had, the one truth that anchored her, was this: she needed to keep him alive. She needed to shield him from suffering, to ease the weight he carried, to bring even a small spark of happiness back into a life that had been cruelly shattered.
But she couldn't voice all of that. The truth was too raw, too heavy to put into words. Instead, she smiled softly, hiding the storm inside her heart, and said quietly,
"I'm just… repaying my debt."
Her words were simple, but in them lay everything she could not say—the guilt, the devotion, the longing, and the promise in her past life that she would not let him face the world alone.