Esther didn't speak, she lifted her hood, took off her silver mask and stuffed it back into her satchel, Benjamin sat to her left, closing her eyes and relaxing, and the two sat quietly for ten minutes, as if as long as they didn't speak, this peaceful relationship could continue.

But that was impossible, Benjamin thought, and a smile returned to his face.

"What did he tell you?" Benjamin opened his eyes and stared at the marked scales on the ground.

He pressed his hand over the collar of the dress to the shoulder, and the traces of loss of control below had basically subsided, and he deceived his body's reaction when it was subjected to traction, extending the part of the loss of control from his right eye to the shoulder and neck covered by clothing, and then suppressing the abnormality on his face.

Esther's hands were clenched together, and if she hadn't put her hands on her lap, the gesture would have looked a lot like praying:

"The patriarch of the house of Jacob is already suspicious of you. Their fear of you is due to the external causes of the Zoroasd family, as well as the old things that seem too suspicious to you. Dealing with the doppelgangers today may dispel some of their doubts, but more importantly, because the Jacob family has no choice, have the direct descendants really withered to this extent?"

"Yes, unlike the unfortunate ancestors of the Jacob family, the ancestors of the House of Zoroaster should not have had an accident," Benjamin looked at Esther, "but he will not appear in front of anyone at all, and his whereabouts are still unknown...... Someone has been looking for him."

Esther subconsciously looked at Benjamin, his eyes were very calm, but the deep lake green was particularly cloudy, revealing endless darkness, which made Esther suspect that it was the sequelae of being on the verge of losing control.

"What are you watching me do?" Esther lowered her head again, stared at her hands, and asked in a low voice.

Benjamin did not answer Esther's words: "What about Him? What did he tell you?"

For the same question, there is no difference even in the tone of the question, only the pronoun is different.

Esther understood that Benjamin was referring to a few of Amun's clones who had sneaked into the hall earlier.

Her hands tightened, the leather gloves almost cracking under such forceful twisting, and Esther took a deep breath and tried to spit out three words:

"Yes, or, no?"

The silence gained weight, pressing on Benjamin's eyelashes, making him slowly close his eyes, and he thought he would have a clearer, more rational short answer, but it was as if an invisible finger was close to his lips, forcing him to silence him, and his logic was punctured like a bubble.

Yes or no, Benjamin's silence has already given Esther the answer.

But she still waited, she wanted to hear what Benjamin had to say — or at least hear him admit it himself.

Although there was no point in waiting like this, Esther knew it in her heart.

As the silence grew, another courage gradually settled and grew in her heart, gently supporting her neck so that Esther could lift her head and turn to Benjamin.

She doesn't look at people very closely, either out of respect or because of eye contact during communication, which allows her to express and capture their emotions more clearly.

Esther looked at Benjamin, who of course had a very different appearance from Amon, less skinny, more urbane, with a higher nose bridge but shallower eye sockets.

It's just that when Benjamin has a smile on his face, once Esther has an association, the similarity will continue to bring the two faces closer together, and the inadvertent familiarity will fit into the perfect keyhole.

"If that's too hard to answer, ......."

"Yes."

When Esther had already decided to give up the inquiry and wanted to leave, Benjamin answered her, which caused Esther's body to fall back into her chair.

She was still staring at Benjamin, just in time to see the lens in his right eye: "Was it from the beginning?"

Benjamin's right hand was raised, but it fell back very subtly, and rested on the arm of the stone chair, and he opened his eyes, the smile on his face was gone, and the cold eyes that turned to Esther did not fluctuate:

"This

It makes sense, doesn't it? Why did I look for you, why did I invite you, because this was just a scene we had planned for the fools of the 'Hermit of Destiny'. Your use value is very good, and now that it's all over, you're staying to wait for the ontology?"

Hearing Benjamin's threat, Esther smiled instead, "Then you should know that after the connection with Zoya has become closer, 'lies don't mean anything to me.'"

Benjamin's face darkened, "Why are you still laughing?"

"I don't know."

Esther whispered, and she leaned forward, closer to Benjamin, the distance between the two stone chairs was only half a meter, and Esther reached out again, and she could touch the glasses on the bridge of Benjamin's nose.

Benjamin was a little stunned, but did not dodge, but let her take off her disc glasses, and Esther pressed lightly on the right lens, and the already loose lens immediately fell off the frame and lay in her palm.

Esther's eyes lit up slightly, and her vision became chaotic, and in a thin line of fate, a black hole-like shadow rested in the palm of her hand.

She blinked vigorously, regained her normal vision, and spread her palm to hand the lens back to Benjamin.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Benjamin picked up the monocle and held it close to his right eye socket, he did not change his appearance or clothing, but looked at Esther through the transparent lenses, a little blankly.

The darkness in the depths of the green eyes dissipated and became clear.

"He said to me, 'I believed the wrong man. They made me open my eyes and see who Benjamin really was." Esther whispered, playing with the glasses with one missing lens in her hand.

"Now, do you have an answer?"

"I don't need answers, how can there be so many things in this world that have answers? Life is not decryption, and fate has always been a mess." Esther's smile deepened, "And I, I just know he's wrong, I don't believe the wrong man."

Benjamin's expression gradually regained his composure, and the smile on his face was faint, but very natural: "This hall is more dangerous than you think, and I really have the intention of keeping you here, not temporarily, but for a long time...... I'll leave you to the ontology of external factors."

"Then I have to thank you for giving up that choice?"

Benjamin's expression gradually became solemn: "Your influence on me, and on Amon's clone, is not just because of the 'thief's uniqueness and Zoya's anchoring, there is a further occult connection between this, and I don't know what it comes from."

"Extraordinary aggregation, perhaps." Esther calmly put forward her previous conjecture, "It's more likely, this is Zoya's means to deliberately disrupt the fate of the clone in order to cause trouble for Amon."

Benjamin sighed, "Then he did quite successfully, even if it didn't bother the body, it caused problems for us clones."

Esther lowered her head and looked at the intricate design of the disc glasses with a spiral pattern, her fingers rubbing against the temples: "Hearing you say that, I always feel that I have done something terrible when I have come into contact with you, and I have intersected......

"I don't need to apologize, believe me, neither do Xiao Qi and Xiao Wu."

The small movement of Esther's hand immediately stopped: "Please don't say that."

"Look at me, Esther."

In Benjamin's rather forceful tone, Esther looked up into a pair of crow-like black eyes.

Benjamin did not completely change back to Amon's appearance, only his eyes, and his eyes were gentle, with an inexplicable smile in them: "You must know that time is only a unit of measurement for mythical creatures, and even a tool that can be used. The most important thing is that in this very short period of time, I, or we, have gained something very important......

He paused, pondering his words before nodding solemnly, "Fun."

"It can't be more important than life." Esther muttered quietly, but she was visibly in a good mood

up, with a feather-like soft warmth, gently brushing the bottom of my heart.

"At the end of the day, we're all just doppelgangers," Benjamin said as he removed the monocle from his sockets, and his eyes returned to the physical features that Benjamin should have. We are less different from Him than you think. You need to adjust your perception of this, otherwise you will only be at a disadvantage forever in the repeated tug-of-war like this."

Benjamin gently tossed the monocle, defrauding the speed of its fall, allowing it to slowly hover over the palm of his hand: "We are all anchors of the body, so we also know our existence best."

Esther stared at the monocle, the smile on her face fading, and she handed the frame to Benjamin: "I want to ...... It's time for me to go."

Benjamin took the frame and stuffed the lens back into the hole on the right: "Do you need me to send you?"

Esther did not speak, and the hall fell silent again.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts, drawing courage from the conversation: "If I'm gone, will I see you again?"

"Benjamin Jacob will always exist, if not me, but other clones," Benjamin said nonchalantly, "all the same."

Esther stood up and pulled up her hood with a smile, "It's not the same for me, or do you want me to be called different?"

Benjamin thought for a few seconds: "Ben is fine, if you want to call me Amon directly, I will be happy too."

Esther still felt a chill in her back: "Forget that title!"

Benjamin smiled happily: "I thought you were going to turn against me, but now this is the ......

It was unexpected, but it was reassuring to him.

Under Esther's hood, there was also a smiling response: "The person who asked me for trust is you, you stole a friendship, do you want to return it now?"

Benjamin didn't speak, he watched as Esther pronounced "Hermit of Destiny" in Ancient Hermetic language, and the pre-established "disengagement" mechanism was activated, and her form disappeared from view.

"Of course I don't."

Benjamin curled the corners of his mouth and looked around the empty silent hall.

He had been sitting quietly until a few hours had passed, when another figure in a black robe suddenly appeared on the dial in the hall.

"Are you waiting for me?"

The young man in the monocle smiled brightly as he slowly walked towards the clone who remained in the Jacob family.

"yes, waiting for the ending you've been planning for a long time." Benjamin leaned back in his chair and lifted his frame, "But will everything really go the way you expect?"

The black-haired youth stopped in front of this doppelganger and looked down at him:

"Accidents can be a lot of fun, just like now. I thought you weren't running away, but you were trying to use this hall to fight back against me, but you didn't do anything. Don't you even have the determination to do that?"

Benjamin's smile was mocking: "I don't know, probably because I don't have a choice."

Amon quietly observed the doppelganger for a moment, but there was nothing abnormal about "Benjamin Jacob", and he was unable to resolve any emotions that would cause problems, and even his self-perception as "Amon" was stable.

He was rummaging through the memories and thoughts that the doppelganger possessed, but Benjamin acted unconcerned, just sitting quietly in his chair and looking up at his body.

Amon stretched out his hand expressionlessly and tapped the lens in front of Benjamin's right eye, "Haven't you always wanted to change your clone to be Ben?" Congratulations, now you're free."

Benjamin ignored the remark: "Who will be next? The doppelganger can't touch her essence, and she doesn't want to see us as you."

Amon looked indifferently at his seemingly normal clone, suspecting that this clone had been overinfluenced.

Benjamin smiled even more happily: "It's your turn, and since you want to control Zoya, you'll have to face 'Esther's day.'"

"It won't be too far." Amon replied with a smile.