After Aiden's deranged laughter subsided into a bitter chuckle, he reflected on his life, feeling it was more of a joke than anything else.
"I thought I could secure a high position in the Independent State by handing over the experimental data, but I didn't expect that they would try to kill me for betraying the master."
"How could I accept that? With help from my family, I escaped from the Independent State, but I couldn't escape their pursuit. I nearly died at sea, only to be rescued by the Shadow Alliance."
"Shortly after I recovered, it just so happened that the Shadow Alliance took on two jobs from the Independent State—one to steal some research data."
"The other was to kill the master. His research was too dangerous; if successful, it would disrupt the balance of power in the Independent State, which they couldn't allow."
