Chapter 49: Isabella

Softness pressed against his back, his whole body sprawled across something plush.

Wasn’t I just walking a second ago? Why does it feel like I’m lying in a bed?

His hands drifted outward, brushing against a soft pillow, fine fabric spread beneath him.

He really was back in a room now, somewhere real.

Then familiar text bloomed into view in front of him.

✦ [HARMONY CONFIRMED: CONDUCTOR SUCCESSFULLY RELOCATED]

Text only he could ever see, the kind he hadn’t laid eyes on in what felt like ages, flickered back into existence in front of him.

From the way it phrased itself, this wasn’t a case of the text choosing to stay away. It read more like it had simply lost track of him entirely while he’d been inside that domain.

Whatever barrier existed inside that place, it seemed capable of blocking out interference from outside entities altogether, this text included, unless something inside chose to let it through.

✦ [HARMONY CONFIRMED: INCREASE DETECTED IN CONDUCTOR’S PHYSICAL STRENGTH]

✦ [HARMONY RUNNING FURTHER DIAGNOSTICS...]

Warmth spread through Lucian’s entire body without warning.

✦ [HARMONY CONFIRMED: CONDUCTOR’S PURITY VERIFIED SAFE]

✦ [HARMONY CONFIRMED: CONDUCTOR’S MANA CORE DETECTED ADVANCING TO GRANDEST CORE]

Lucian’s attention locked onto that line, disbelief holding him frozen as he tried to process whether his Mana Core had genuinely just advanced.

He reached inward, testing it.

Mana surged through his body the instant he did, flooding every corner of him, production ramping up at a pace he’d never felt before.

The sheer speed of it left no room for doubt. His Core really had grown.

It was a sensation he’d been chasing for years. No matter how hard he’d pushed himself over the past five years, his Core had refused to budge an inch, stuck dead in place the entire time.

With a jump in strength like this behind him now, competing for a place at Orvis Academy suddenly felt far more within reach.

✦ [TALENT {HEARTWHISPER} UPGRADE STATUS: SUCCESSFUL. CONDUCTOR CAN NOW SUSTAIN THIS TALENT FOR 1.5 SECONDS]

This talent. Isn’t this the one that let me hear that strange thing Lumina said before?

A second and a half. If he used it carefully, rationing it against how fast it had drained him last time, he might be able to put it to real use investigating some of the people arriving from that empire.

The talent felt like it could genuinely help him track down more information on the Kirana crystal.

But given how much it still cost him, leaving him weak and shaky afterward, it wasn’t something he could lean on constantly, only for the moments that actually mattered most.

Maybe once my Core keeps growing, I’ll be able to hold this talent open longer.

✦ [{GOD-EYE} REACTIVATION STATUS: SUCCESSFUL]

✦ [SEAL LIFTED. CONDUCTOR MAY NOW USE {GOD-EYE} AS A VISUAL AID]

Behind the fading text, faint lines began weaving themselves together, threading through the space in front of him, gradually resolving into the shape of a room.

After a moment, those lines had built out an entire space, complete with furniture, a full visualization Lucian could actually see.

The sensation of seeing through God-Eye felt nothing like what he’d experienced lost inside that hollow domain, nowhere near as natural.

Different or not, being able to see at all was going to change the entire shape of his life from here on.

He found himself lingering on the view regardless, taking it in even though he’d never laid eyes on this particular room before. Somehow, some faint sense told him exactly whose space this had once belonged to.

So this is what Mother’s room used to feel like.

White dominated every surface, the walls, the decor, all of it arranged with a quiet, understated elegance rare enough that few people ever got to own a space like this. Every piece of furniture carried that same pale, unbroken theme.

Wait. Looking at this room now, I remember feeling something almost identical the moment I first stepped into that domain.

Is this room connected to that place somehow?

While he turned the thought over, his hand brushed against something long resting beside his leg without him meaning to reach for it at all.

A white sword lay right there next to him. His attention locked onto it instantly, tracing every inch of its length.

Its shape matched, almost exactly, what he’d seen inside that fracture in the hollow space.

But here, fused into the center of the blade, sat the Kirana crystal, still cracked, still broken, exactly as he remembered it.

This has to be the same shape as the crystal I saw back there. If it weren’t split, the only real difference between it and that red one would be color.

But who was that woman who took the red half of the Genesis crystal...

No. Not now. I need to focus on finding the missing piece of Kirana first, so I can wake Miyu.

He pressed a hand to his temple, forcing his thoughts back into order before pushing himself upright off the bed.

He turned to his left, taking in a sky already gone dark outside, lit instead by a scatter of beautiful lights moving along the road below.

The lights drifted steadily toward the estate’s main gate.

Looking closer, the source became obvious: a procession of horse-drawn carriages, arriving one after another.

A dark sky.

Carriages arriving.

Hmm.

Damn it, I need to find something to wear, fast.

The party had clearly already started, and here he was, still in torn, filthy clothes from everything he’d just been through.

He kicked himself upright off the bed at once, scanning the room for anything he could throw on.

This wasn’t his own room, not the one Sebast usually helped him dress in, but his attention snagged on a large white wardrobe standing against the far wall regardless.

Maybe there’s something in there I can wear.

He crossed to it and pulled both doors open.

His mouth fell open slightly, caught completely off guard by what greeted him.

There were no clothes waiting inside at all.

Instead, three people lay crumpled together at the bottom of the wardrobe.

Two of them were maids, still in uniform.

The third was a girl with cream-colored hair, dressed in the robes of the Order of Lumielle.

Judging by the staff she carried, an Archpriest. Something about the presence radiating off her felt familiar, like he’d crossed paths with her before.

Her face, from what little he could make out, looked remarkably delicate, framed by a red ribbon tied into her hair, the kind of face that probably had every man nearby feeling instinctively protective of her.

Lucian moved closer without quite deciding to, wanting to check whether she was actually alright.

Just as his face drew close enough to nearly brush against hers.

Her eyes snapped open, locking directly onto his. Lucian flinched back, startled by the sudden, unblinking stare.

"Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. I just wanted to check if you were okay."

Something in her expression shifted the moment she registered him properly, a flush of embarrassment creeping over her, her head dipping low.

She tried pushing herself upright, attempting to climb out of the wardrobe on her own, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

Lucian reached in instinctively, taking hold of her to help ease her out.

The instant his hands made contact, a soft, startled moan slipped out of her, her body clearly far more sensitive than he’d expected.

Damn it, why is she making a sound like that?

Something about that voice, though, tugged at his memory, pulling a name loose before he could stop it.

"Forgive me, Lord Lucian. I should have been the one helping you out of that place, and instead you’re the one pulling me out of a closet. I’m mortified, in front of you and Saintess Lumina both."

She’s close to Lumina? Is this the help Lumina must have sent while I was trapped in that domain?

As far as Lucian could recall, there was really only one Archpriest who spent much time around Lumina these days.

"You’re Isabella?"

The woman nodded, cheeks still flushed, a small smile tugging at her lips. Lucian’s hand, still wrapped around hers, trembled faintly at the confirmation.

Because this girl, delicate and unassuming as she looked, carried Crimson power of her own, a fact most people had no idea about at all.

Anyone who’d actually witnessed the brutal, merciless way she fought against a Shadow Hunter would never believe how well she kept that side of herself hidden behind a face this innocent.

"Lord Lucian, are you alright? Why is your face covered in sweat like that? Did that spirit girl do something to you?"